Praying to the Sea

Sig was at a loss. He had never expected that his "God's Sequence," his cheat, wouldn't cause him to lose control, yet the Devil Fruit ability—a power native to this world—would.

Ever since that "loss of control," Sig had kept Seastone Handcuffs on his right wrist. Fortunately, with his strength, after a few days of brief adjustment, they barely affected him.

Unlike ordinary Devil Fruit users, wearing Seastone only restricted Sig's Devil Fruit ability.

Sig had wondered about it, too. Could this be exactly why he had "lost control"?

Thinking back to what Jinbe had said earlier, perhaps... the sea didn't curse those with abilities. Perhaps it protected them instead?

Could it be that by using his "Listener" ability to draw directly on the fruit's power, he had bypassed the sea's protection, causing the Devil Fruit ability to make him lose control?

Unfortunately, Jinbe didn't know much about it either. He simply began paying special attention to teaching Sig how to sense the sea's Water Power.

"Perhaps your ability, which is similar to the 'Voice of All Things,' let the Devil Fruit's power take advantage of the opening, leaving you without the sea's protection... But for us Fish-Men, the sea's power is something we can draw upon! As long as you can borrow enough of the sea's power, you should be able to suppress that..." Jinbe considered his wording.

Sig prompted him. "Losing control?"

"Right. Suppress that loss of control." Jinbe readily accepted the phrase.

After that, whenever the tides changed, Jinbe would sit with Sig on the ship's rail and feel the sea's ebb and flow...

According to Jinbe, sensitivity to the sea's power depended on talent, but it could also be developed through effort.

"Feel the sea. Don't get distracted!" Jinbe didn't need to open his eyes to know Sig was spacing out.

But Sig was staring at the moon overhead. He tentatively asked Jinbe, "Boss Jinbe, the moon has something to do with the tides, right?"

Jinbe opened his eyes and glanced at him, puzzled. "Why do you say that?"

"Patterns." Sig had made a point of observing the tides in the world of pirates.

Though the tides weren't easy to observe directly out at sea, Fish-Men could sense fluctuations in the sea's power. Taking that into account, along with the orbit of this world's moon...

Sure enough, in the world of pirates, the moon was also the greatest influence on the tides.

"Maybe." Jinbe fell silent for a moment before answering.

Could the moon also be connected to the "sea's power"?

After all, the moon in the world of pirates was mysterious, too—not only had the cover stories revealed that a civilization existed on the moon, which was suspected to be the homeland of the Sky Island people, but the Mink Tribe also transformed into moon lions under the full moon.

How was this power related to the "power of the sea"?

To look at it from another angle, if the sea's power and the power that countered Devil Fruits were one and the same, then at their core they ought to be Seastone Factor—or perhaps "keratin factor"—a substance that existed in small amounts even in fresh water, and also existed in the White Sea above the clouds. It might even be directly connected to the formation of the White Sea and Sky Island.

Sea Power, Seastone Factor, the moon... Sig fell into thought.

"But for us Fish-Men, the sea has a different meaning altogether. Honestly, I don't think you're necessarily less gifted in this respect than other Fish-Men. It's just that you've spent your life as a human until now. Unlike the Fish-Men on Fish-Man Island, you didn't naturally praise the sea from the bottom of your heart—and in turn, receive its response."

Seeing Sig wearing the expression of someone who had tried to get to the bottom of things and failed, Jinbe offered a word of advice.

If Sig couldn't figure out the reason, he might as well take a more "pragmatic" approach for now.

"Praise it?" Sig was taken aback.

The speaker might not have meant anything by it, but the listener took it to heart!

Sig still hadn't found the "light" that Sequence 8 of the Sun Path, the "Light Pray-er," was supposed to pray to.

Praying to the sun alone had no effect. Praying to the Sun Pirates had no effect either...

Hearing Jinbe's words, an idea suddenly struck Sig—the Light Pray-er, as defined in the world of Lord of the Mysteries, was a Sequence who commanded spells and rituals in certain domains related to the sun, and was especially effective against ghosts and the undead.

Then he thought of how the sea countered Devil Fruit abilities...

Sig suddenly stood up and spread his arms toward the sea.

Fortunately, Jinbe had never seen Titanic. He only watched Sig in confusion, with no intention of joining him in the "classic pose."

When he saw the heartfelt affection and delight rippling across Sig's face, Jinbe smiled with relief and thought, Though Sig didn't grow up on Fish-Man Island, and didn't even know he was a Fish-Man as a child, as a member of the Fish-Man Race, he truly does have an inborn reverence and love for the sea. It's so easy for him to... Holy crap!

Jinbe's eyes widened. He could already feel the sea responding to Sig!

Sig hadn't noticed anything unusual yet, but Jinbe could feel it: the sea's fluctuations were rapidly synchronizing with Sig's own Water Power.

This...

He was far more than merely on par with an ordinary Fish-Man!

Fish-Man Karate centered on sensing and controlling "waves." At its highest level, its practitioners' strength came primarily from two things. The first was their own physical power and bodily training, and, more importantly, training the Water Power within themselves. The second was how well they could master the sea's power and synchronize themselves with its fluctuations...

At present, the Fish-Men with the deepest mastery of Fish-Man Karate were probably Jinbe and Neptune, King of the Dragon Palace.

Jinbe had tremendous respect for his big brother, Fisher Tiger, but when it came to comparing their mastery of Fish-Man Karate, Jinbe couldn't exactly be modest.

Jinbe and Neptune also represented the peaks of two different schools. Jinbe had mastered his own Water Power so thoroughly that even on land, he could use other sources of water to launch powerful attacks. Neptune, who had been called the "Knight of the Sea" in his youth, was the person currently known to receive the strongest response from the "sea's power."

Yet as far as Jinbe could remember, even Neptune in his youth, when he had just started learning Fish-Man Karate and trying to synchronize with the sea's fluctuations, had never received such a strong response!

The overall scale might not be great, but Jinbe knew better than anyone that this was Sig's first attempt to resonate with the sea's power—and he had succeeded.

The talent Sig displayed in both areas was the very picture of an enhanced "Jinbe + Neptune"...

Jinbe even thought of the legend of the "Sea King"—could the Fish-Man Race... really be about to give birth to the legendary "Sea King"?

Sig opened his eyes, exhilarated. He didn't know Jinbe had already imagined him as a future "Sea King," but he had truly felt the "Light Pray-er" Sequence... receive a response from the sea!

It seemed that in this seafaring world, the sea embodied the light one prayed to. Perhaps the "Light Pray-er" would be better called a "Sea Pray-er" here...