That was what he said, but Dunn had no intention of leaving Shimotsuki Village anytime soon.
After all, he had already paid. Leaving now would be a loss.
"Can what you described really be done?"
A few days later, Koshiro looked at Dunn with a headache.
He had clearly seemed so steady before. Why had he suddenly become so unreliable?
Controlling flames of fifteen million degrees like an outer garment, covering his body and blade?
What kind of sword could withstand such heat?
And how could flames possibly reach such a temperature?
"That's why I'm asking you for guidance!"
Dunn looked at Koshiro with a serious expression.
Hmm?
Koshiro took a deep breath and suppressed his speechless frustration.
"Sorry, I can't understand the things you're talking about either. But I can tell you that the Nadeshigiri you mentioned can indeed be done. Many great swordsmen on the sea can coat their blades in Haki and unleash powerful slashes.
Such slashes may resemble the Nadeshigiri you described."
After hearing Koshiro's words, Dunn scratched his somewhat overgrown hair, sighed, and stood up.
"Thank you, Master!"
"No need to thank me. I haven't really helped you much. But I can imitate and demonstrate the Nadeshigiri you mentioned. Of course, it definitely won't have the power you described."
With that, Koshiro got up and left. A moment later, he returned carrying a sword whose sheath and hilt were both pure white.
"Let's go. It's not convenient here!"
After saying that, Koshiro turned around, and Dunn followed him.
Before long, the two stood atop a cliff on the other side of the island. Before them stretched the endless sea.
Koshiro took a deep breath and assumed a stance. His right hand pressed against the hilt of Wado Ichimonji. The next instant, Armament Haki covered his hand and spread along Wado Ichimonji's blade.
Dunn watched quietly.
In an instant, there came an iaijutsu slash followed by an incredibly swift cutting attack, then the sound of the sword returning to its sheath.
The flying slash carved a sword mark over a hundred meters long across the sea, but it vanished in the blink of an eye.
"No, according to what you said, it should have been a vertical slash."
Koshiro shook his head slightly.
What he had used just now was actually a diagonal slash.
"That's enough. I roughly understand now."
Dunn stopped Koshiro, who was about to continue trying.
The worlds were different, so the power the techniques could unleash would naturally differ as well.
In that other world, old man Yamamoto's flames could reach tens of millions of degrees at a whim. Achieving that in this world was still far too difficult.
Especially since he had to rely on his Devil Fruit ability to reach that level.
Of course, if he truly could reach such temperatures, there would be no need for any techniques at all.
No matter who it was, no one could withstand temperatures of tens of millions of degrees.
No, there was no need for tens of millions of degrees. Temperatures in the hundreds of thousands or even tens of thousands of degrees were already beyond anyone's ability to endure.
Even the magma of the Magma-Magma Fruit, superior to the Flame-Flame Fruit, was only one or two thousand degrees.
Just a few thousand degrees would be enough to vaporize magma.
At present, however, the flames he controlled were only five or six hundred degrees. Of course, adding other forms of control to his manipulation of flames could raise their temperature.
Since it was the Flame-Flame Fruit, he should focus its development on increasing its temperature.
Dunn sighed.
There was no point in having so many techniques. If the temperature was insufficient, their power would be limited.
At that thought, Dunn's gaze fell upon the data-based Panel he summoned.
[Flame-Flame Fruit (Complete Mastery): A powerful Logia fruit ability, granting the power to transform into and control flames; continuously strengthens the body; fruit drawbacks removed (weaknesses and residing soul); current fruit development (25%)]
Complete Mastery?
So the method he had thought of was correct?
Seeing the change on the data-based Panel, Dunn suddenly understood.
But its development level was only 25%. He had merely come up with an idea and had not even found a concrete way to raise the flames' temperature, yet it had already become Complete Mastery.
Perhaps this Complete Mastery was not the Complete Mastery he had imagined.
Dunn was somewhat confused.
Koshiro, having lowered his stance, looked at the frowning Dunn deep in thought. He did not disturb him and quietly left.
Dunn noticed Koshiro's departure, but he did not withdraw his focus.
The change in the Panel made Dunn fall into thought, and he followed that change to consider how flames could be made hotter.
Compression!
That was the simplest method.
If flames were compressed, their temperature would definitely become extremely high.
Dunn raised his hand, and a fireball the size of a watermelon floated above his palm.
How could he compress it?
With Haki?
Dunn looked at the fireball in his palm and tried covering it with Armament Haki.
But the result was unsatisfactory.
Armament Haki could not come into contact with the flames in his hand.
After trying several times, Dunn flicked his hand and extinguished the fireball.
Either Haki could not cover something like flames, or his Armament Haki training was still lacking.
If it were an element with physical substance, perhaps it could be covered with Armament Haki.
For example, the Swamp-Swamp Fruit, the Magma-Magma Fruit, and the Chill-Chill Fruit.
But the Flame-Flame Fruit and the Glint-Glint Fruit had no physical substance after elemental transformation, if one had to put it that way.
Yet the Mochi-Mochi Fruit, which was very similar to a Logia, could be covered with Armament Haki after creating mochi arms.
If that method would not work for now, was there another way?
Dunn's heart stirred as he thought of another method.
In the next instant, another fireball appeared in Dunn's hand.
When he had first eaten the fruit, he had once controlled the flames to flow—or rather, rotate—in order to roast bird eggs faster.
Increasing the flow would absorb more oxygen and accelerate combustion. Or rather, it would make the plasma forming the flames more active, creating a higher temperature.
The fireball flowed in Dunn's hand, then began to rotate.
Streams of orange-red flame, or plasma fluid, formed several leaf-shaped ribbons. The orange-red flames gradually paled, and as they spun faster and faster, a fireball appeared in his hand—orange-yellow on the outside, with searing white flames wrapped within.
Damn!
Wasn't this freaking Rasengan?
That worked too?
The white flames were at least over a thousand degrees, which meant this method had succeeded.
It was just that the spinning fireball in his hand looked far too much like a Rasengan infused with flames.
With that thought, Dunn directly threw the fireball in his hand toward the sea.
Then, the shocking scene he expected did not appear. After flying only a dozen meters or so, the spinning fireball completely burned itself out.
Well, there was still a long way to go.
Dunn was not disappointed, nor did he continue trying. He turned and headed back.
The data-based Panel changed once more.
[Flame-Flame Fruit (Initial Mastery)]
Its development level had also become 31%.
Did that count as an advancement?
So, as long as he found new ways to develop the Flame-Flame Fruit, it would become Proficient Mastery and Complete Mastery as the development progress increased. Then what?
Could it be Awakening?
Before you continue