The Abilities of the Devil Fruit

'Slap, slap, slap, slap, slap—'

A small boat drifted across the boundless sea, and from atop it came a continuous sound of something being struck.

'Crack—'

"Huff... huff, huff..."

The striking stopped. Bai Ina stared at the broken wooden club in his hand, panting like a damaged bellows. But his face was twisted with ferocity. This was already the third day since he had left Frost Moon Village...

"Huff... huff. No, still too weak. Even now, I'm still too weak!!!"

Bai Ina muttered with a contorted expression. Then, without even resting, he strode straight into the cabin, retrieved a huge bucket filled with pure water, and hoisted it onto his shoulder.

For a physique like Bai Ina's, merely lifting such a massive bucket made every muscle in his body tremble, and a sharp ache spread through his entire frame.

Yet Bai Ina acted as if he felt nothing at all. Carrying the bucket, he began doing squats, his body shaking with each repetition.

Every squat down and rise up was agonizingly slow, each movement draining every ounce of his strength.

His wobbling body, his flushed and purpling cheeks, his clothes soaked through with sweat—the sight of his small frame would have moved anyone prone to sympathy to tears...

But Bai Ina paid no heed to his body's limits, ruthlessly squeezing every last bit of potential from himself. As he squatted and rose, his face remained twisted, and he muttered like a man possessed.

"No... not enough. This is far from enough. To become the strongest in the world, this is far from enough. To become the world's greatest swordsman alongside Kuina, it's not enough... far from enough!!!"

After nearly thirty consecutive squats with the huge bucket, Bai Ina squatted down but couldn't straighten up again. His legs had gone numb, as if they had lost all sensation. No matter how frantically his brain sent commands, his legs remained unresponsive, like prosthetic limbs.

"Move... move, damn it! This isn't the limit. Move... move!!!!"

A wild, piercing roar echoed across the sea.

Snap—

A soundless crack seemed to ring out from the void. Bai Ina stood up once more, carrying the bucket, as if he had just broken through some kind of limit in that instant.

Breaking through the limit, Bai Ina moved again, doing squats with manic repetition.

This time, he managed over sixty squats—twice as many as before he had frozen up. But this time, he couldn't hold on any longer. His mind was flooded with an overwhelming dizziness.

'Thud—'

With a dull sound, the bucket slid onto the deck, and Bai Ina collapsed beside it.

But he bit down hard on his tongue, forcing away some of the dizziness. With the knowledge from his past life, Bai Ina knew that stopping immediately or passing out after intense exercise would cause blood pressure to drop, leading to temporary cerebral ischemia. When he woke, his body would be stiff and hard to train.

Though Bai Ina didn't care about physical discomfort, he absolutely couldn't accept anything that would hinder his future training.

So, lying on the deck, Bai Ina gritted his teeth and resisted the urge to faint. He began twisting his shoulder and elbow joints, gently shaking his knees and leg muscles to alleviate the side effects of the overload. He kept this up for nearly ten minutes before finally closing his eyes and falling completely unconscious.

When Bai Ina opened his eyes again, it was already dusk.

Half of the sun was hidden below the horizon. The yellowed sea felt so quiet... and empty.

Slowly raising his aching hand to shield his eyes, Bai Ina murmured softly, "Kuina..."

He had dreamed—a beautiful dream. In it, Kuina walked with him through a golden maple forest, smiling sweetly, their hands clasped together, both wearing happy smiles.

In an instant, Bai Ina's mind recalled every inch of Kuina's form, etched into his soul. Even the length of her toes, he could easily remember.

Perhaps, without realizing it, Kuina had become his sole reason to keep living in this world—a kind of morbid love.

He moved his hand away from his eyes. His moist pupils and the water stains on his palm glistened under the setting sun.

"Keep training!!!"

A happy smile curled at the corners of Bai Ina's mouth.

That dream was really nice...

After getting up, Bai Ina didn't immediately start training again. Instead, he walked with heavy steps into the cabin, took some dry rations from a compartment, and sat by the pure water, eating a mouthful of food and drinking a mouthful of water.

He didn't eat much—just enough to keep his body from feeling hungry.

After all, he didn't have a Log Pose. His voyage followed the wind. He had no idea where he would end up, or even when he might encounter an island. So he had to conserve food.

After eating, Bai Ina began recalling the various training methods from Kuina's memories.

Starting from the basics, he practiced swinging his sword. From top to bottom, his arms steady, like a repeatedly played recording.

This kind of training wasn't difficult for him, who had inherited Kuina's swordsmanship instincts and talent. The reason he trained this way was to cultivate harmony with the blade in his hand—something incredibly important for a swordsman.

Though Bai Ina didn't know the name of his Devil Fruit, he understood its ability.

Basically, through the primal union of person with person, he could acquire the latent talent, partial memories, instincts, and even... the Devil Fruit abilities of the person he united with.

Though this 'person' didn't distinguish between... male and female... Bai Ina had already defaulted to women—

As for the partial memories, most were tied to the talent he gained. So the memories Bai Ina acquired were mostly about Kuina's swordsmanship training, but they also included fragments of other memories. Though few, they were abundant in number.

To Bai Ina, these fragmented memories were far more precious than the swordsmanship training memories that could make him stronger. Because through them, he could gradually understand Kuina...

Share in her joy, Share in her sorrow, Share in her... dream—

To return to the main topic—talent, this could be said to be the most important aspect, as it perfectly replicated Kuina's latent talent in swordsmanship onto Bai Ina.

Although talent has no tangible form, and is even more ethereal than memory, its effects were the first to manifest.

Enhanced eyesight and dynamic vision, along with an inexplicable affinity for blades.

Even... the latent qualities within his body—if the intense training from before had been placed on the original Bai Junyi, he might not have been able to complete even ten squats.

This had nothing to do with personal willpower; no matter how frantically one trained, an invisible valve would obstruct their breakthrough—that was talent, the innate gift everyone is born with...

And so the training continued. Sword swings, squats, sit-ups, push-ups—anything that could strengthen himself, Bai Ina trained without hesitation.

In the pitch-black night, on this boundless sea, a mere nine-year-old child began the tumultuous prologue of his life...