Kizaru's Little Scheme

At the Science Unit's base, in an underground warehouse.

After hearing Kizaru's words, Zephyr glared at him and barked, "Kizaru, what do you mean by that?!"

"Don't get angry, Teacher Zephyr... I'm just worried that Ron, as a Logia Devil Fruit User, will spend all his energy on physical training. The drawbacks outweigh the benefits..."

Kizaru yawned nonchalantly and said lightly, "As a Lightning Person, you possess innate advantages in speed and destructive power that ordinary people can hardly hope to match. Rather than develop evenly, it would be better to strengthen your strengths. Once you develop the Rumble-Rumble Fruit to its limit, no one on this sea will be your opponent!"

Those words were directed at Ron, but Zephyr felt a chill run through his heart.

Because he understood Ron far too well!

After three months of teaching, he knew perfectly well how desperately Ron craved power. It was not because Ron needed power to accomplish anything; he simply enjoyed the pleasure of becoming stronger!

And just as Kizaru had said, compared to balancing physical training and Fruit Development, specializing in one path could bring greater power! In fact, that was the path Zephyr had planned for Ron in advance... After all, he was a Logia Devil Fruit User. As long as his physical skills did not become a glaring weakness, that would be enough.

But Ron was still laying his foundations. Even with outstanding talent, understanding power required time to settle and accumulate. That was true for anyone.

Now that this easier path to strength had been placed right in front of him, Ron's choice was obvious.

Sure enough, after hearing this, Ron nodded. "True! One mastered skill can take you anywhere; being decent at everything is worse than excelling at one thing..."

"Ron? You!"

Zephyr stared at Ron in shock, an inexplicable chill filling his heart. Was his disciple going to walk Kizaru's old path after all?

Kizaru's eyes lit up at that. He pursed his lips and said in a lecherous tone, "Exactly! Your talent is truly astonishing, Ron. Learning Soru and Iron Body in two months—I cannot deny your talent for physical training. But as a Lightning Person, you possess even greater power and yet refuse to develop it. Isn't that putting the cart before the horse?"

"Putting the cart before the horse?"

Ron stroked his chin and pondered carefully. Suddenly, he raised his head and looked at Kizaru. "Then tell me, Admiral Kizaru, how should I develop my Rumble-Rumble Fruit?"

"Well!"

Seeing Zephyr's face darken like oil, Kizaru felt incomparably satisfied and explained, "The destructive power of lightning and the application of electromagnetic force are both paths worth developing. But lightning has an innate advantage in lethality, so you need not worry about falling behind there. I recommend extending your use of electromagnetic force instead... This is the Science Unit. You can use technology here to strengthen that aspect. If that does not work, there is still Vegapunk. His research into electromagnetic force is quite profound."

This was outright poaching!

As long as Ron nodded, Kizaru would keep his word and seriously help Ron develop his use of electromagnetic force.

Not only could he bring Ron to his side, he could also make Zephyr question his entire life. Kizaru had no reason not to do it.

"Electromagnetic force? It really is useful..."

As one of the universe's four fundamental forces, electromagnetic force had a far broader future than lightning alone!

However...

He was a Logia Rumble-Rumble Fruit User, not a Paramecia electromagnetic Fruit User. Building a magnetic field with lightning and directly controlling a magnetic field might seem nearly identical in effect, but there was ultimately an extra step and less freedom. Though electricity and magnetism were inseparable, the starting point determined the endpoint.

If he devoted himself entirely to electromagnetic applications, that would truly be putting the cart before the horse!!

At most, he could develop a few derivative applications involving electromagnetic force...

For example, the electric wave feedback he had released when he first defeated Shuzuo. Combined with Observation Haki, that ability could form a special Mind Net like Enel's, capable of monitoring all of Angel Island, extending his Teleportation range and allowing him to unleash long-range heavenly punishment attacks!

Or he could use electromagnetic force to create a magnetic defensive field. Defense was secondary; what Ron valued was that the electromagnetic barrier could isolate air. In poisonous environments, it would be like carrying an oxygen tank. He could also use it to avoid seawater while in the ocean, allowing him to move freely and bypass the Devil Fruit's weakness.

That was about as far as it could go. Any further would not be worth the cost.

So...

Kizaru, Kizaru, it seemed he would have to disappoint him.

Ron sneered inwardly. Looking at their expectant gazes, his face filled with conflict. "It sounds great, but trading blows fist-to-fist is a man's romance! How about... this?"

Ron's eyes gleamed. "When I develop my Fruit Ability in the future, I'll borrow the Science Unit's equipment and materials. As for physical training, I'll continue troubling Teacher Zephyr. I'll try not to neglect either side!"

Whatever little scheme you have, I'm not taking the bait. What can you do about it?

Hearing this, Kizaru choked on his breath and froze for a long while. Only after quite some time did he remind Ron with a life-questioning expression, "Ron, I meant you should focus on developing your Fruit Ability. You can set physical training aside..."

What the hell do you mean, not neglect either side?!

So everything I just said was pointless?

"But wouldn't that leave a weakness?!"

Ron answered with complete confidence, utterly ignoring the flash of awkwardness and irritation on Kizaru's face. Then he clenched one hand into a fist, while lightning crackled around the other, raising both before his eyes. "And when I develop both my physical skills and Fruit Ability to the limit, when either one alone can stand on its own, how strong will I be?!"

Whoosh!

Ron suddenly turned, his eyes blazing as he stared at the two of them. "By then, will I be able to kill an Emperor?!"

Zephyr: "..."

Kizaru: "..."

That was quite an ambitious goal!

Kill an Emperor?

Garp from decades ago might have been able to do it! After all, he was the man who had made Rocks, the ruler of the New World, die in bitterness and had driven Pirate King Roger into desperate straits time and again!

Thrown off by Ron's "grand" ambition, the two were left speechless as they stared at the ceiling. A moment later, Zephyr's shoulders shook, and he burst out laughing. "Hahahahaha! Just as expected of you, Ron! So that's how it is, so that's how it is!!"

When Kizaru had proposed an easier path to strength, Zephyr had thought he was doomed. Ron had joined the Marines to become stronger, so Zephyr believed that Ron, who desired strength so much, would definitely choose Kizaru's path and abandon physical training.

But he had forgotten—or rather, they had all forgotten—that Ron was not merely someone who craved power!

What he craved was strength itself!

Physical skills?

Fruit Ability?

Sorry, in Ron's eyes, there was no need to choose at all!

Because in his mind, both were merely means, paths toward becoming stronger! He did not pray for them or beg for them from the perspective of someone beneath them. He enjoyed the process of conquering power, turning it into his slave and making it obey his commands!

Without a doubt, this was the Ron Zephyr knew!

A monster who existed solely to become stronger!

Kizaru understood as well. A rare trace of a bitter smile appeared on his lecherous old face as he shook his head. "What a... greedy brat!"

It was not as though he had deliberately set a trap to harm Ron. Vegapunk, the world's greatest scientific genius, had long made it clear that a Rumble-Rumble Fruit User who developed electromagnetic force would not gain power weaker than pure lightning, though the ultimate ceiling would be limited.

That was the dominance of one of the universe's four fundamental forces. Even as a derivative, its might remained extraordinary!

And if Ron chose to develop electromagnetic force, then with Vegapunk's words as precedent, Kizaru would have plenty of chances to draw Ron into Pacifista research and make Zephyr question his entire life.

But all those little schemes had been cut off at the source.

Fruit Ability? Physical skills?

Why choose at all?

I want both!

Ron, who lacked neither talent, opportunity, tenacity, nor wisdom, had the capital to be greedy!

Looking at Ron's shining eyes, Kizaru sighed and said to Zephyr, "Times have changed, Teacher Zephyr! Back then, we didn't have ambitions as great as his!"

That was the truth... Among the Three Admirals, aside from Kizaru, the other two were similarly specialized.

After all, for a Logia Devil Fruit User seeking strength, the best path was only to develop their Fruit Ability. Kizaru had simply specialized too extremely. Zephyr could not correct him, and instead Kizaru had repeatedly gained the upper hand, angering Zephyr half to death.

Thinking back on the decades he had spent leading the New Recruit Camp, Zephyr rarely refrained from arguing with Kizaru. This time, however, he merely sighed. "The times..."

Ron curled his lips faintly beside them.

Just as planned!

"Electrodes one through ten are in position!"

"Electrodes ten through fifteen are in position!"

"Number fifteen..."

In a corner of the warehouse, Ron lay inside a machine, allowing the researchers to attach electrodes to his body. While they worked, Zephyr asked, "How does it feel?"

"Can I get a cushion? Lying flat like this is really uncomfortable!"

Ron pointed at the back of his head. The flat, hard metal plate was digging into him. Zephyr's old face darkened, and with a bang, he slammed the hatch shut. Through the hatch's glass panel, Ron heard him shouting outside.

"Give him the maximum current! Let him get really comfortable!"

What a damn caring teacher!!!

Ron's mouth twitched speechlessly. He gave the researcher peering in an "OK" gesture. The next moment, current began circulating through the chamber, and a numb, tingling sensation quickly spread through him.

Bzzzzzt!!!

Outside the hatch, the dazzling lightning made everyone instinctively put on sunglasses and retreat three meters. The ordinary researchers swallowed with difficulty, staring at the instrument panel with shock and admiration.

Ten Million Volts!!!

It truly deserved to be called Vegapunk's creation!

Such a powerful current had actually been confined within the machine's tiny space by just a few metal plates, without the slightest leakage! Even the smallest trace released outside would be enough to instantly burn someone into charcoal!

And more importantly!

Was that guy inside, picking his nose amid the lightning, really human?!

"It seems effective, but it stops working once the Power Level reaches 2,000... Hmm, that matches the information Vegapunk provided."

After sensing the situation with Observation Haki, Kizaru nodded silently.

Ron's growth rate was obvious to all. In half a year, he had traveled a road others would need a lifetime to finish!

His Power Level had been 700 two months ago. With his terrifying rate of growth, it had long since reached 3,000! In the New Recruit Camp, excluding Zephyr, he was second only to Shuzuo!!

This was also why the entire Marine force placed such importance on this batch of equipment. In fact, in places Ron did not know about, even the Five Elders had silently nodded and approved the Marines' actions in interfering with Pacifista development. Because as long as the equipment proved effective, there was no need to say more—CP0-9, the World Government's intelligence organization, would definitely be the first to use it.

Before a powerful physique, a current of Ten Million Volts would have no effect even without the resistance of a Lightning Person.

Half an hour later, the current stopped. Ron climbed out of the machine, stretched his body, and sighed sincerely.

"Amazing! I really admire Vegapunk more and more!"

Without knowing anything about Ron's methods, he had created a finished product from only a little information. Not only had he perfectly replicated Ron's Lightning Stimulation Method, he had even used an electrical circulation frequency Ron could not understand to reduce the pain and give the user time to catch their breath.

Vegapunk truly was a genius!

Thank you all for your recommendation votes. There are too many names to list one by one, so I can only repay you with more updates.