Developing Overtake Mode

Julian started Overtake Mode during the voyage. Every morning, all the division captains, first mates, dragon generals, dragon guard officers, and squadron captains entered Julian's Mud Gravity Space to train like mad. Julian kept Overtake Mode running too.

The officers' strength skyrocketed, but the process was agonizing. At first, inside the Gravity Barrier, the pressure on their bodies felt crushing. After five days, they gradually adapted—those with Zoan Devil Fruits could handle the strain. But Paramecia users like the Sixth Division Captain Pierre and the Seventh Division Captain Cleo, a Bomb-Bomb Fruit user, still struggled to keep up.

Sure enough, Paramecia users' stamina couldn't match Zoans. Even Common Zoans had greater strength and faster recovery. But Paramecia had their own edge—unfair special abilities.

Take Cleo, the Bomb-Bomb Fruit user. He could create Air Bombs with a huge range, plus the Air Bomb Fist. He wasn't afraid of ordinary explosions or high heat—he was a living bomb. His Air Bomb worked by gathering air in his right hand into a bomb he could throw. The longer he gathered, the bigger the bomb. He could also coat his fists in bomb-air for close combat. Way better than that nose-pick bomber who used snot explosions—that guy dragged down the Bomb-Bomb Fruit's reputation.

Pierre, with his Magnet-Magnet Fruit, was even more impressive. He could reshape steel into whatever forms he imagined, usually massive destructive weapons. Five hundred flying swords, training to improve his Sword Control Technique—these moves were incredibly powerful, but they drained his stamina like crazy.

Keeping the Mud Gravity Barrier running for long periods was also a stamina-draining move for Julian. But after eating the Flame Dragon's fruit, his stamina was enormous. As he kept developing it, he could even split his focus.

Julian was still pushing his stamina training, not neglecting strength and speed either. He'd already mastered Soru and Geppo, and was now practicing Rankyaku. Once he had all six Marine Rokushiki down, he could train the ultimate seventh technique—Seimei Kikan. That skill let him burn through food to gain stamina and strength, control his body's form freely in battle—even his hair—and speed up recovery. A true Divine Skill.

Allison was also training in the Six Styles, but he'd only reached Geppo and hadn't mastered it yet. Walking a hundred meters in the air, he'd fall after a few seconds. He hadn't dropped swordsmanship either. Pekki was simpler—he just trained the Six Styles. He'd already started Rankyaku and Shigan, and his Soru and Geppo were smooth as silk.

George trained Geppo and Shigan. He'd learned Soru long ago, plus the Lightning Fist technique. Herbert had already turned both fists faint black with Armament Haki. Julian wanted to train Armament too, but he hadn't awakened it yet. He could only keep toughening his fists. He had too many things to train—daily fist-bone conditioning alone took half the day with two Devil Fruits.

Julian slowly started training Observation Haki too. He closed his eyes and let Herbert swing a staff at him. Julian told Herbert to hit hard and not worry about pain—otherwise, he wouldn't sense the Observation Haki. Herbert understood the seriousness of training and whacked the staff right at Julian's head.

So for days, Julian went back to his room with a head full of lumps. The three women laughed, saying his talent was lacking so he had to get beaten. Julian just grinned. "What's the big deal? Observation Haki needs external help." And so, the other division captains, first mates, squadron captains, and Dragon General Talilun all trained under this super-intense regime, their strength skyrocketing.

Seeing Julian get beaten black and blue too, the officers respected him even more. If the captain trained like his life depended on it, how could they slack off? Julian led by example—the boss worked overtime, so the employees had to keep up. Julian didn't think pirate life was safe.

These past two days, Julian had crushed two pirate crews. The day before, he'd run into the Musketeer Pirates. Julian blew the captain's head off. The rest saw Julian's twenty-meter Fire Dragon Beastman Form and surrendered without a fight. Julian had Pablo recruit them all. The Musketeer Pirates were small fry—three million bounty. Julian burned their ship and flag with a Flame Fist, planted his own Flame Dragon Pirate Flag, and checked the treasure room. Two million Berries—still a broke crew. Julian had Pablo station someone on that ship. The other losers were assigned to cleaning and toilet-scrubbing as logistics staff—three months no pay, then an evaluation. Over a hundred men were split up and sent to different ships.

The next day, he ran into the Giant Ox Pirates. One of them was a Devil Fruit user. Julian got interested, grabbed a bag of fruit, and went to their ship. He saw the opponent had the Ox-Ox Fruit Common Zoan Yak Form. The Giant Ox captain transformed into a five-meter humanoid yak—a black bull-man covered in long black fur, with decent strength. Julian used Flame Dragon Exploding Fist and blew another bull head off. Then he activated the Mud Gravity Barrier, sealing the whole ship.

All space was closed off. The Devil Fruit's soul couldn't escape. Julian placed a dozen fruits on the user's corpse. After a Devil Fruit user dies, the soul possesses the nearest fruit.

Julian wasn't sure if this method was stable, so he used the Gravity Vortex Barrier to assist. Inside the Mud Gravity Space, all airflow spun along the mud walls. Even if the Devil Fruit soul turned into air, it couldn't fly out of this spinning mud space. After half an hour, Julian grinned in surprise—it actually worked. He retracted all the mud walls from the sky and absorbed the ground mud back into his body.

The corpse had been devoured and decomposed by the Swamp Mud. Among the dozen fruits, one had become a Devil Fruit. Julian sighed. "As long as the Devil Fruit's soul can't escape, it'll wander in the air for half an hour and then possess the nearest fruit."

Julian thought to himself: Such a powerful Swamp Vortex Mud, devouring corpses instantly. Terrifying. He mimicked Kizaru's crooked grin. This Swamp Vortex Barrier was the perfect ambush space technique. Pull someone in without massive destructive power, and they'd get beaten one-on-one.

The mud walls in the air formed a red Gravity Mud space. The ground was Swamp Devour Mud with suction—anything would get swallowed fast. Julian laughed again. "I really have the talent of Thousand Speeds, the Chamber Douluo. Next time, I'll use this Swamp Devour ability. Anyone touching the mud walls from outside gets pulled into the Mud Space, then swallowed by the ground mud. Tell me that's not dirty."

Julian chuckled. "Hahaha, no wonder I studied physics and chemistry—I'm not afraid of developing abilities. I can even turn this two-hundred-meter Mud Gravity Space into a Mud Vortex Storm. Anyone caught in it ends up devoured and decomposed by the Swamp Mud. If I add Flame Element, the destructive power is insane—directly a Magma Flame Storm with explosive burning effects. That's one of my biggest damage skills now."

Then there was Magma Chibaku Tensei—another massive area-destruction 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 gets the Yak Form. Not bad."

The Steel-Steel Fruit was even more monstrous—its defense surpassed the Paramecia Gold-Gold Fruit, its destructive power was fiercer, it was harder than the Stone-Stone Fruit, and more durable. It could also transform into steel and control steel. Julian wasn't giving that fruit to his crew.

The second fruit was the Flip-Flip Fruit. Its ability turned everything upside down—ridiculous attack power. It could flip seawater to fall from above the ship, flip the ship directly underwater, flip the sky and earth to drop mud on enemies' heads, flip islands, or flip enemies so they fell and couldn't get up. So Julian couldn't give that to his crew either.

The third fruit was the Logia Rain-Rain Fruit. It could turn into water droplets floating in the sky, with devastating area-of-effect attacks. A torrential downpour like water pillars falling from ten thousand meters—most people would be crushed to death. Julian couldn't give that away either.

The fourth fruit was very likely a Mythical Zoan. It looked like a dragon fruit with lightning patterns—even a pig with lightning patterns, carrying super vitality, stamina, and electric discharge. Julian thought: If it's a Thunder Dragon Form, that'd be even more awesome.

That would double close-combat power. A Thunder Pig was acceptable too. The Paramecia Electric-Electric Fruit didn't look like this—Julian had seen it, an apple shape with similar colors. Julian said, "Even if it's not a Thunder Dragon, I hope it's not an electric mouse! That'd be soul-crushing."

Julian thought: But with those wing-like patterns, it's probably a Thunder Bird Form. Could be a Thunder Dragon too. Still, as long as it's a Mythical Zoan, I'm set. Who cares if it's pig, horse, cattle, or sheep?

Then there was the Bat-Bat Fruit Mythical Zoan Vampire Form from Sleep Town—the animal form was a giant dark vampire bat, the hybrid form a half-bat-winged vampire, and the human form looked normal. Plus the Dragon Fruit from Punk Hazard, the Dog-Dog Fruit Mythical Zoan Okuchi no Makami from Wano, the Snake-Snake Fruit Mythical Zoan Yamata no Orochi Form, the Dog-Dog Fruit Mythical Zoan Daiohnyudo Form, and in Wano's parallel world, a Cat-Cat Fruit Mythical Zoan Owl Form—monkey head, snake tail, tiger body and claws—supposedly found by a man named Koji.

Then there was Count Red's little raccoon Dongpa, who got the Dog-Dog Fruit Mythical Zoan Tanuki Form. It could turn into a pen and draw things that became real, controllable in battle. The rest had been eaten.

Julian still wanted to find Blackbeard's Sixth Division Captain Catarina Devon. He didn't know if she'd been thrown into Impel Down yet. If not, that'd be fun. She had the Dog-Dog Fruit Mythical Zoan Nine-Tails Fox Form, with charm and transformation abilities. But that woman was too ugly—the first skill was wasted. Forget the rest. The Nine-Tails Fox Form was ruined by her.

When Yamato was eight, she ate Kaido's Devil Fruit by accident—though Kaido might have left it there on purpose. Then Yamato used that Mythical Zoan to help Luffy and that brat Momonosuke fight Kaido, turning the Dog-Dog Fruit Mythical Zoan Okuchi no Makami Form into a Mythical Zoan White-Eyed Wolf Form. Whoever ate that fruit got the power of rebellion. Julian also knew the World Government had tons of Devil Fruits—so many they fed them to slaves.