Hero Skill: Icebound Domain

Even Linley, confident as he was, had to admit that Garp's training was truly difficult.

In the forests of this uninhabited island lived countless fierce beasts, several of which were even capable of threatening Linley's life!

Garp having the Marines and Linley train in such an environment was undoubtedly extremely dangerous.

But alongside the danger came opportunity.

Under the high-intensity practical combat training, both the Marines and Linley's strength were rapidly improving. A few of the more talented Marines had even grasped the basics of Rokushiki!

However, Linley's Haki cultivation had hit a bottleneck at this time.

No matter how hard he tried to punch, he couldn't condense Armament Haki like Zephyr.

As for the ability to predict an opponent's attack route to some extent, that was entirely due to extensive combat experience and had nothing to do with Observation Haki.

As for Conqueror's Haki? That was even further out of reach.

Finally, after being defeated by Garp for the seventh time, Linley didn't rush to continue fighting in the forest. Instead, he found a quiet spot on the grassland, sat down, and began to meditate.

Garp nodded in satisfaction as he watched this scene.

"Brat, you were too impatient before!"

Haki cultivation was by no means an overnight endeavor. Even the most talented geniuses required long-term, arduous practice.

Before he started training, Linley knew nothing about Haki. Therefore, it was almost impossible for him to master Haki in a short period.

Garp had already planned to train Linley for the long haul.

"How many years can he use? One year? Two years? Three years at most!"

Garp thought to himself.

Three years later, this sea would likely have another top expert who could use Haki!

But Garp could never have imagined that after three days of meditation, Linley would provide a completely different answer—

Haki cultivation was too difficult; it would be better to delve deeper into developing his Devil Fruit ability!

After all, Linley's purpose for cultivating Haki was only twofold.

First, to enhance his overall strength. Second, he needed a means to counter Logia Devil Fruit users.

If his Devil Fruit ability could satisfy these two points, then whether he had Haki or not would be irrelevant!

Thus, under Garp's surprised gaze, Linley once again stepped into the forest.

This time, Linley set his sights on the "kings" within the forest.

Only by fighting truly powerful monsters could he develop his Devil Fruit ability at the fastest pace!

Finally, on the morning of the fifteenth day, Linley stood before the giant crocodile once more.

That giant crocodile had defeated Linley dozens of times with its astonishing monstrous strength and its indestructible hide, even inflicting a fatal wound on Linley once.

Seeing the little guy challenging him again, the crocodile became enraged.

It was determined to eat the little guy today!

A full day of fierce battle.

This time, it was Linley Barik's victory.

Amidst the frost covering the ground, Linley ended the battle with a heavy punch!

He hoisted the giant crocodile's corpse and walked step by step out of the forest.

Along the way, no fierce beast dared to block Linley's path, for they had all witnessed what had just happened—

A king of the forest had fallen.

Frost spread from Linley's feet.

Just like now!

Under Garp's slightly shocked gaze, the Energy Value within Linley began to be consumed continuously and rapidly.

The surroundings of Linley began to turn cold.

Frost spread from his feet, forming a large circle with a diameter of about twenty meters, centered on Linley.

Linley, standing within it, exhaled white mist from between his teeth with every breath.

In the distance, the Marines were confused by this strange scene.

Linley Barik, what had he done?

Perhaps Garp could answer this question.

As a veteran who had fought for many years, Garp possessed his own unique insight.

He felt the coldness around him and couldn't help but think of that kid named Kuzan. He was an Ice Human who had eaten the Ice-Ice Fruit, possessing the terrifying ability to freeze everything.

However, the cold air around Linley was fundamentally different from Kuzan's.

"This level of cold won't hurt anyone," Garp said.

He had already heard from Zephyr about the type of Devil Fruit Linley had eaten:

Zoan, Mythical Zoan, Human-Human Fruit, Hero Form.

That Devil Fruit was an extremely rare type, perhaps only Celestial Dragons could afford the luxury of using Devil Fruits for entertainment, feeding it to Linley, who was a slave at the time.

Linley's ability was worlds apart from Logia types; it was actually very similar to his old friend, Marine Admiral Sengoku.

Both were from the Human-Human Fruit series, both were Mythical Zoans, and both were Zoans!

Even for the rarest Mythical Zoans, the characteristics of a Zoan Devil Fruit User wouldn't change.

Zoan users couldn't elementalize, nor did they possess strange and varied abilities.

The only thing they could do was change themselves!

Garp grinned and said, "The cold is just a bonus. The real key to this move should be you yourself, you brat!"

White cold air puffed from Linley's lips; he didn't reply.

"What an unexpected kid!"

Garp exclaimed, "To develop a Devil Fruit to this extent, what do you call this move?"

"Icebound Domain."

Linley slowly uttered those four words.

It wasn't that he didn't want to answer Garp; it was that in this state, any extra movement would accelerate the consumption of his internal Energy Value!

And the full name of this move should be—

Hero Form: [Troll King] Trundle.

Hero Skill: Icebound Domain!

Linley continuously consumed his internal Energy Value, using the low temperature generated by the energy consumption to create an Icebound Domain within a certain range.

Based on this, when Linley fought within the range of this Icebound Domain, his movement speed, attack speed, and self-healing ability could be greatly enhanced!

Linley created this move today during his battle with that giant crocodile, and he hadn't tested it in actual combat yet.

However, now, his best opponent was right in front of him!

Suddenly, Linley pushed off the ground with his back foot and charged at Garp in the way Garp was most familiar with!

Seeing Linley using the same move, Garp's expression showed slight disappointment.

"You brat, is this just a bluff?"

But then, Garp's expression changed.

Something's not right!

The brat's speed has become so fast!

And indeed, even the Marines in the distance could clearly sense that Linley's charge this time was different from his previous ones.

Both his speed and power seemed to have multiplied several times, reaching a point where they were difficult for the naked eye to track!

However, under Observation Haki, Garp could still easily see through Linley's movements.

"Found you, brat!"

Garp threw out a punch, preparing to send Linley flying again.

But this time, Garp miscalculated.

Linley, with his extremely strong combat intuition, predicted the direction of Garp's punch, twisted his body away at extreme speed to dodge the attack, and then threw out a punch!

The speed of this punch was unimaginably fast. Garp was caught off guard and couldn't dodge in time, so he could only bring his arms together, preparing to take the punch head-on.

Bang!

With a punch, Garp was actually pushed back about three steps on the ground!

This was the furthest Garp had been pushed back since the training began!

"The effect is great!"

Excitement flashed in Linley's eyes.

The Icebound Domain was a continuous skill, consuming about 10 Energy Value per second.

And after this period of training, Linley's maximum stored Energy Value had reached 1800 points.

In other words, while maintaining the "Icebound Domain" state.

Linley's full-power combat time—

180 seconds.

Three minutes!