Ouroboros--Devour Fruit!

No living being wants to die.

Under the threat of pain and death, anyone would struggle desperately to survive.

Even ants cling to life, let alone this creature that was a force to be reckoned with in the sea and possessed a modicum of intelligence.

But no matter how violently the Fierce Beast thrashed, Dawn's hand remained steady.

Astride the lurching beast, Dawn showed no panic, only gripping the longsword in his hand tightly as he continuously used Power Snatch.

Though the extraction and feedback were nearly negligible, for this dying giant, Dawn's drain on its stamina was the final fatal straw!

"Boom!"

With the sound of the struggling Fierce Beast collapsing, the enormous creature was completely dead.

Within the halo, the not-too-large serpentine form instantly returned to Dawn's body.

And as that illusory, modestly sized serpent returned, strands of red thread gradually merged into his body.

In that instant, a warm energy coursed through his body, beginning to remodel his muscle fibers. The slight ache and itch made Dawn grunt a couple of times.

It wasn't that he feared pain, but that ticklish sensation of wounds healing made him involuntarily want to make a sound.

After a moment, the energy vanished. Dawn clenched his fist and could feel a slight increase in his strength.

"It worked," Dawn couldn't help pumping his fist, a joyful smile spreading across his face.

After all, a full month of continuous experimentation and development of his abilities was for the sake of developing that desired power—the very reason he had gambled everything to eat that unknown fruit!

And today, that bold idea of his had finally succeeded!

Up until today, this high-stakes gamble that had staked Dawn's entire future had finally paid off in full!

After developing this skill, the outermost part of the halo now displayed an Ouroboros—a snake biting its own tail.

Though it was a bit odd, and this ability didn't quite match the symbolism of the Ouroboros, since this feature had appeared, it saved Dawn the trouble of thinking up a new name.

"Let's call it Gluttonous Snake... ah, no!! Ouroboros!" Dawn's lips curled into a smile.

If you stripped away the meanings of "infinity" and "cycle" that the Ouroboros represented, On the surface, it looked like a greedy snake devouring itself for the sake of desire—a Self-devourer.

And this was the ability developed from the fusion of the two fruits Dawn had envisioned!

From this moment on, that special fruit was no longer just a bizarre mutant fruit that had accidentally combined the Aura Fruit and the Snatch-Snatch Fruit.

Now that Dawn had developed the "Ouroboros" ability from this fruit, the two fruits were no longer separate entities but had fused into one.

This ability combined the powers of both fruits, merging them completely.

And its ability was Devour!

First, using the Aura Fruit as the foundation, the concept of "attributes" was materialized, manifesting as Dawn's enhancement halo.

Then, using the Snatch-Snatch Fruit's ability as the fruit's ceiling, those materialized "attributes" could be seized.

Finally, the characteristics of both merged, becoming energy that Dawn could absorb!

"I'll call you the Devour Fruit!" Dawn looked at the illusory, even crude serpent before him and couldn't help but smile.

Gazing at the Ouroboros form, Dawn knew his gamble had paid off. The Snatch-Snatch Fruit and the halo had fused together, and he had developed the ability to devour and plunder.

But this secret would be buried forever in Dawn's heart. The Gluttonous Snake... ah, no, the Ouroboros technique would only truly reveal its edge on the day Dawn could roam the seas freely!

As for now, what Dawn had to do was keep getting stronger, stronger!

Because this technique only established the most basic concept. Dawn would have to continuously refine it as he grew stronger, until he could fully develop it and wield it flexibly.

After the excitement passed, Dawn calmed down and wiped the sweat from his forehead, the result of all that exertion.

"Next up is hunting time. This island is a good place to hunt sea beasts.

Also, I can't neglect developing the Aura Fruit—it's the best cover."

With his mind made up, Dawn began his subsequent actions!

As for any ability of the Devour Fruit, Dawn was determined to keep it hidden forever!

After all, this ability was far too terrifying.

Though in gaming terms, it was just killing monsters to level up, The concept of gaining "attribute points" to strengthen oneself by defeating enemies was, in reality, like the "demonic path" in martial arts—killing people and taking their blood to cultivate.

If this news leaked out, who knew how much trouble it would cause!

And this was only the most basic ability. There were still more abilities waiting for Dawn to develop.

Shaking his head to cast aside those thoughts, Dawn couldn't wait to go "grind for levels."

The top priority now was to get stronger!

Everything else was just clouds!

With that thought, Dawn began to roam the island, constantly searching for prey.

In the days that followed, aside from continuously developing the Aura Fruit, Dawn spent the rest of his time constantly provoking newly landed Fierce Beasts that hadn't yet grown fat, or smaller Sea Kings.

In the midst of the relentless pursuit, Dawn still hadn't mastered "Shave," but he had already completed all the prerequisites for it, leaving only the final step to truly grasp the technique.

There was no helping it—when you're being chased for your life by Fierce Beasts day in and day out, you learn to run fast too.

This was the same concept as Sanji being chased around on the Kamabakka Kingdom until he instinctively figured out Geppo...

Dawn felt utterly hopeless about this too.

It wasn't that he didn't want to kill those plump, round sea beasts that were well-fed, weak-limbed, and even looked kind of cute.

When he first developed the "Snake" skill, he genuinely thought that just creating a devouring aura would be good enough.

But now, he realized that developing this ability hadn't turned out exactly as he'd imagined.

It differed from his original conception in certain ways.

First, the outermost edge of the aura manifested a phantom Ouroboros—this was something Dawn hadn't anticipated.

What he had envisioned was using the powers of both abilities, applying the Snatch-Snatch Fruit's stealing effect when the aura retracted, channeling it into himself.

But he never expected a serpentine form to appear. Dawn even suspected this was the image of the demon residing within his Devil Fruit.

Still, this wasn't without its benefits. At least when it came to stealing "attribute points," he no longer needed to exert extra control—it seemed the Ouroboros handled that step for him.

However, the most glaring difference from his original plan was this: this snake was freaking picky about what it ate!!