Developing Overtake Mode

During the voyage, Julian began Overtake Mode. Every morning, all the Division Captains and First Mates, the Dragon Generals and Dragon Guard officers, and the Squadron Captain-level officers entered Julian's Mud Gravity Space for brutal training. Julian himself also activated Overtake Mode.

The officers' strength improved rapidly, but the process was extremely painful. At first, inside the Gravity Barrier, the pressure on their bodies felt unbearably heavy. After gradually adapting over five days, those with Zoan Devil Fruit abilities were able to slowly adjust to such pressure. Pierre, the Paramecia Sixth Division Captain, and Cleo, the Bomb-Bomb Fruit user and Seventh Division Captain, still struggled greatly with the training.

Sure enough, Paramecia users' physical strength was far inferior to that of Zoan users. Even Common Zoans were stronger and recovered their stamina faster than Paramecias. However, Paramecias had their own advantages: those absurdly special Devil Fruit abilities.

For example, Cleo was a Bomb-Bomb Fruit user who could use Air Bombs over an extremely broad range, as well as Air Bomb Fist. Cleo was also unafraid of ordinary explosions, flames, and high temperatures. He was a true bomb man. An Air Bomb gathered a mass of air in his right hand and turned it into a bomb that could be thrown. The longer he gathered it, the larger the bomb became. He could also coat his hands in bomb air and strike opponents at close range. He was far stronger than that booger guy who could only make his boogers explode, the one who dragged down the Bomb-Bomb Fruit's rating.

Pierre's Magnet-Magnet Fruit was even more powerful. He could recombine and reshape steel into whatever form he imagined, and its attacks were basically all large-scale destructive attacks. He controlled five hundred flying swords as he trained and improved his Sword Control Technique. These moves were immensely powerful, but they also consumed enormous amounts of stamina.

Maintaining the Mud Gravity Barrier for long periods was also an extremely stamina-consuming move for Julian. However, after eating the Flame Dragon's Devil Fruit, his stamina had become immense. As he continued developing it, he could even split his focus between two tasks.

Julian also intensified his physical training, not neglecting strength or speed. He had fully mastered Soru and Geppo, and was now practicing Rankyaku. Once he became proficient in Marine Rokushiki, he could train in the most powerful seventh technique, Seimei Kikan. It consumed food in the body at a mad rate in exchange for stamina and strength, while also allowing him to freely control the shape of his body in battle. For example, he could control his body hair, and it could even accelerate his stamina recovery. It was truly a Divine Skill.

Allison was also training in the Six Powers, though he had only reached Geppo and had not yet mastered it. When he tried walking a hundred meters in the air, he would basically fall after just a few seconds. He had not abandoned his swordsmanship either. Pekki was simpler—he focused solely on training the Six Powers. He had already begun practicing Rankyaku and Finger Pistol, while Soru and Geppo had become incredibly smooth for him.

George trained Geppo and Finger Pistol. He had long since learned Soru, along with that ultimate punching technique, Lightning Fist. Herbert had already trained his Armament Haki until both fists had turned faint black. It was not that Julian did not want to train Armament Haki, but he had yet to awaken it. He could only continue tempering the hardness of his fists. There was nothing he could do; he had too many things to train. Just working on his Fist Bone and his two Devil Fruit abilities took more than half a day.

Julian also slowly began training Observation Haki. He simply closed his eyes and had Herbert strike him with a stick. Julian told Herbert to hit hard and not worry about hurting him, or he would never sense Observation Haki. Herbert understood the rigor required for training, so he gripped the stick and swung it hard at Julian's head.

Thus, for the past few days, Julian had returned to his room with his head covered in lumps. The three women laughed whenever they saw him, saying Julian lacked talent and could only take a beating. Julian merely chuckled and said, "What's the big deal? Observation Haki can only be assisted through external force." Thus, the other Division Captains aboard the ship, including the First Mates, Squadron Captains, and Dragon General Talilun, all saw their strength rise crazily under this super training mode.

Moreover, when the officers saw Julian's head covered in bumps from being beaten, they admired him deeply. Their captain was training with his life on the line—how could they slack off? Julian called this leading by example. If the boss was working overtime to train, didn't the workers have to keep him company? Julian did not think a pirate's life was particularly safe.

Over the past two days, Julian had also defeated two pirate crews. One was the Musketeer Pirates, whom Julian encountered while sailing the day before yesterday. Julian directly blew the captain's head apart. When the others saw Julian's more than twenty-meter-tall Fire Dragon Beastman Form, they did not dare resist and all raised their hands in surrender. Julian had Pablo absorb them all. The Musketeer Pirates were just pathetic trash, with a bounty of three million Berries. Julian burned their Pirate Ship and pirate flag with a single Flame Fist, planted his own Flame Dragon Pirate Flag, then went to the treasure room to inspect the spoils. There were only two million Berries. They were poor as hell. Julian then had Pablo send men to guard the Pirate Ship, while all the other little punks were absorbed as logistics personnel responsible for cleaning and scrubbing toilets. They would receive no pay for three months, and after that they would be evaluated. The hundred-plus men were dispersed among the various fleets.

The next day, they encountered a crew called the Giant Ox Pirates. Their captain was also a Devil Fruit user, which immediately interested Julian. Carrying a bag of fruit, he boarded the Giant Ox Pirates' ship. Julian saw that the other side had an Ox-Ox Fruit, Common Zoan Yak Form. The Giant Ox captain activated his Devil Fruit ability and entered Beastman Form, becoming a five-meter-tall humanoid yak. The black bull-man was covered from head to toe in long black fur, and he was quite strong. Julian answered with Flame Dragon Exploding Fist and blew apart another bull's head, then activated the Mud Gravity Barrier around the ship.

All space was sealed off, and the Devil Fruit soul could not escape. Julian placed more than ten fruits onto the ability user's corpse. After a Devil Fruit user died, the Devil Fruit soul could possess the nearest fruit.

Julian did not know whether this method was reliable, so he used the Gravity Mud Barrier to assist. All the airflow within the Mud Gravity Space spun along with the mud walls. Even if the Devil Fruit soul turned into air, it could not fly out of this rotating mud space. After maintaining it for more than half an hour, Julian was delighted. It really had some effect. He withdrew all the mud walls in the sky and absorbed the mud on the ground back into his body.

The corpse had already been swallowed and decomposed by the Swamp Mud. Among the dozen or so fruits, one had become a Devil Fruit. Julian sighed and said, "As long as the Devil Fruit soul can't escape, after tossing around in the air for more than half an hour, it'll directly choose the nearest fruit to possess."

Julian thought to himself, What a powerful swamp vortex. The mud directly swallowed the corpse, and the pirate's body was instantly digested after being swallowed. That's terrifying. Julian imitated Kizaru's crooked mouth. "This swamp vortex barrier is a must-have spatial secret technique for ambushing people. Once they're dragged in, if they don't have overwhelming destructive power, they can only wait to get beaten up one-on-one!"

The mud walls in the air formed a Mud Space out of red Gravity Mud, while the ground remained Swamp Devour mud with suction power. Anyone would soon be swallowed. Julian laughed again. "I really do have the talent of that secret-room Douluo, Qian Xunji. Next time, I can directly use this Swamp Devour ability. Anyone outside who touches the mud walls can be swallowed into the Mud Space, then swallowed by the swamp mud on the ground. Just tell me, isn't that sinister?"

Julian laughed. "Hahaha, as expected of someone who studied physics and chemistry. I'm not afraid of developing abilities. I can even turn this more than two-hundred-meter Mud Gravity Space into a Mud Vortex Storm. Anyone swept into the vortex mud storm will ultimately be swallowed and decomposed by the Swamp Mud below. If I add the Flame Element, the destructive power will be insane. It'll become a Magma Flame Storm, complete with explosive burning effects. This is one of Julian's strongest damage skills right now."

Then there was Magma Chibaku Tensei, another large-scale destructive skill. Julian took a Devil Fruit and handed it to Dragon General Talilun. "Give this fruit to Dragon Four. Dragon One already has the Storage-Storage Fruit, Dragon Two has the Bird-Bird Fruit, Pigeon Form, Dragon Three has the Great Buffalo Form, and Dragon Four can have the Yak Form. That's pretty good too."

The Steel-Steel Fruit's ability was even more outrageous. Its defense was higher than the Paramecia Gold-Gold Fruit's, its destructive power was fierce, and it was harder and sturdier than the Stone-Stone Fruit. It could transform the user into steel and control steel as well. Julian was not planning to give this fruit to any crew member.

The second fruit was the Flip-Flip Fruit. Its ability could turn heaven and earth upside down, and its attack power was ridiculously high. It could overturn the sea and make it appear above a ship before crashing down. It could flip a ship over and send it directly beneath the sea, reverse the earth and sky so mud appeared above an enemy's head and fell down, flip islands, or flip enemies so they fell flat and could not get back up. Therefore, he could not give it to a subordinate either.

The third fruit was the Logia Rain-Rain Fruit. It could Elementalize into water droplets and drift through the sky. It was also a Devil Fruit ability with massive group damage. It could directly unleash a torrential downpour like water pillars crashing down from ten thousand meters above. Ordinary people would be washed to death, so Julian could not give this one away either.

The fourth fruit had a high chance of being a Mythical Zoan. It looked like a dragon fruit, covered in lightning-patterned markings. Even if it was a pig, it would be a lightning pig, with tremendous vitality and stamina as well as electrical abilities. Julian thought to himself, It would be even more awesome if it were a Thunder Dragon Form.

That would double his close-combat strength. A Thunder Pig would be acceptable too. The Paramecia Electric-Electric Fruit did not look like this. Julian had seen it before; it was shaped like an apple, though its color was very similar. Julian said, "Even if it isn't a Thunder Dragon, it can't be an electric rat, right? That would make me lose it."

Julian thought to himself, But it seems to have some wing-like patterns. It's most likely a Thunder Bird Form, though there's also a chance it's a Thunder Dragon. Still, as long as it's a Mythical Zoan, I'll have struck it rich. Who cares whether it's a pig, horse, cow, or sheep?

There was also the Bat-Bat Fruit, Mythical Zoan Vampire Form in Sleepy Ancient Town. Its animal form was a massive dark vampire bat, its Hybrid Form became a Vampire Form with half-bat wings, and its human form looked just like an ordinary person. There was also the Dragon Fruit on Punk Hazard, the Dog-Dog Fruit, Mythical Zoan Okuchi no Makami in Wano Country, the Snake-Snake Fruit, Mythical Zoan Yamata no Orochi Form, and the Dog-Dog Fruit, Mythical Zoan Great Monk Form. In Wano Country's parallel world, there was also a Cat-Cat Fruit, Mythical Zoan Owl Form, with a monkey head, snake tail, tiger body, and tiger claws. It was said to have been found by a man named Koji.

Then there was the little raccoon Dongpa brought by Count Red. It had obtained the Dog-Dog Fruit, Mythical Zoan Tanuki Form. It could turn into a brush, and whatever it drew could become real objects that it could control in battle. All the others had already been eaten.

Julian still wanted to search for Blackbeard's Sixth Division Captain, Catarina Devon. He did not know whether she had been imprisoned in Impel Down yet. If she had not, that would be fun. She had the Dog-Dog Fruit, Mythical Zoan Nine-Tails Fox Form, with two abilities: charm and transforming into other people. But that woman was too ugly, so the first ability was useless. There was no need to think about the rest. The Nine-Tails Fox Form had been wasted on her.

When Yamato was eight years old, she accidentally ate Kaido's Devil Fruit because she was hungry. Of course, it was also possible that Kaido had deliberately placed it there. Yamato then used that Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit ability to help Luffy and that little bastard Momonosuke fight Kaido, forcibly turning the Dog-Dog Fruit, Mythical Zoan Okuchi no Makami Form into a Mythical Zoan White-Eyed Wolf Form. Whoever ate that fruit would gain the power of rebellion. Julian also knew that the World Government had an enormous number of Devil Fruits—so many that they often used them to feed slaves.