Boat! [Please Bookmark]

Yes, you read that right.

Although this snake had no physical form and was not even a living thing, it was somewhat "picky."

Or rather, this ability had requirements for siphoning "attribute points." To put it plainly, it was still a matter of conversion rate.

For those Sea Kings that had eaten themselves into helpless balls of meat and completely lost their combat ability, the snake absorbed plenty of energy, but not many "attribute points." The energy all went into its own stomach without feeding anything back to Dawn.

This left Dawn in despair. According to his previous plans, even if experience gains were "weakened," slowly gathering fewer "attribute points" would still have been far better than the current situation.

Fortunately, killing them could still feed something back into the ability itself. Dawn could feel the snake becoming more substantial, and when he used this ability, he would occasionally gain a little "attribute" as well.

This made Dawn realize that it was not that he could not seize anything—the problem was that his ability was too weak. The snake first replenished itself, then fed back the clearly superior-quality energy from its slain target to him.

And that superior energy was what the slain target excelled at, or perhaps where it possessed talent.

As for those fat, ball-shaped fellows...

Emmmmmm...

They all had the "three highs." They provided plenty of energy, but it was all useless. The quality was too low, so if he wanted to obtain "attribute points," he still had to seek out sea beasts that could move.

And so Dawn's escape journey began.

But being hunted was not without its benefits. Constantly provoking those chubby, vicious sea beasts also steadily improved Dawn's combat ability.

Mm, his evasion talent points were completely maxed out.

On the other hand, while evading, he also became increasingly proficient in using the various abilities he had developed.

Bang.

Dawn stood atop a three- or four-meter amphibious sea beast. Blood seeped from its head, where there was a savage, sunken wound.

Obviously, the wound on its head was what had killed the sea beast.

This was Dawn's achievement, as well as the strongest enemy he could face after becoming familiar with his abilities and increasing his combat power.

At that moment, Ouroboros automatically circled around Dawn's body, strands of azure light melting into him.

"Hmm, speed this time? Not being able to choose the direction of improvement is really troublesome. Is it determined by the target's specialty?" Dawn scratched his head in frustration.

After many experiments, Dawn had figured out the details of this skill. Based on the prey's strength, Ouroboros would randomly extract a trace of an "attribute point" and feed it back to him.

They were divided into: red—strength. Azure—speed. Brown—constitution.

And there was also an unknown white attribute. Dawn had only noticed that he seemed more alert at the time, so he guessed it increased mental strength.

The change had been minor, and it had only appeared once.

If Dawn had not possessed an adult's mentality due to transmigrating, and if his will had not steadily grown stronger through constant tempering, he might not even have noticed it.

Therefore, without more "white attribute points" to test, Dawn could not determine what attribute it represented.

And this made Dawn even more convinced that he might have developed an incredible skill.

He even suspected that he might have developed the ability most suited to this Devil Fruit's nature: Snatch-Snatch Fruit + Aura Fruit = Devour Fruit.

Rather than calling it an aura, Dawn preferred to call it the embryonic form of a domain. The outermost Ouroboros within this aura seemed as though the demon inside the fruit had manifested itself. As Dawn continued hunting sea beasts, it was slowly changing, even beginning to feel as if it had come alive.

Dawn shook his head. Although he knew this Devil Fruit was practically like cheating, everything still originated from physical training. Even with "attribute points," he could not give up training. Only then could he perfectly control himself.

Boom! Boom! Boom!...

Stomach Baron began feeding again.

Feeling the ground tremble, Dawn did not panic at all. Instead, he calmly tied himself to a tree.

Then he lay on the tree, yawning as he watched the panicked "bursting meatballs" roar and struggle desperately in boredom.

But Dawn, who had grown used to it, felt no ripples in his heart. He was even somewhat happy.

After all, once Stomach Baron finished feeding, it could attract new sea beasts or Sea Kings onto the island for a meal.

Dawn only needed to wait for a while. Once the food corrupted their bodies and weakened them, he could choose suitable prey, strike them down, and "farm experience."

Of course, that was something for several days later.

For now, Dawn needed to take advantage of the island having finished feeding, when there was no danger, and continue toward the outermost edge of the island to see whether anything had drifted ashore or whether any ships were passing nearby.

Even scraps drifting in from the sea would do. Perhaps they might prove useful someday, or bring Dawn some unexpected gains.

For example, once before, Dawn had found a small bag on a drifting corpse, filled to the brim with gold coins.

Although gold coins were useless on this island, Dawn still kept them as starting capital for the future. After all, he could not stay on this island for the rest of his life.

Of course, Dawn swore that making a raft or stuffing himself into a barrel and drifting away was something he would never do in his life. Not everyone had Luffy's protagonist aura.

As the gravity on his body gradually weakened, Stomach Baron had already begun to bloom its petals. Yet the dead silence around it spoke of the terror brought by the Stomach Baron.

As usual, he arrived at the edge of the island. Sunlight struck the sea and reflected back from the surface, almost dazzling to look at.

Out of habit, he first checked the nearby land. Sure enough, there was nothing to be found.

Afterward, Dawn climbed a tree in a few quick movements and began surveying the surrounding waters.

But Dawn, who had not held out any hope, suddenly spotted a black dot on the horizon.

Ignoring the glaring sunlight, Dawn stared intently at the black dot in the direction of the sun.

Though he could not see it clearly because of the glare, as the black dot slowly approached, its true form gradually appeared before Dawn's eyes—it was a ship.

"It's actually a ship! But what kind of ship? If it's the Marines, that's fine. But what if it's a pirate ship? Should I reveal my ability and pretend to join them, then seize a chance to escape once we approach an island with a city?

"But if it's a pirate ship, there are too many uncertainties. It'd be easy to run into danger... But this is the only chance to leave the island..."

While Dawn was still letting his imagination run wild and considering what he should do if the other side was pirates, the ship rapidly approached.

And now, Dawn could see clearly that a white flag flew from the approaching vessel.

On the flag was a seagull holding scales in its beak. The Marine flag, symbolizing the maintenance of peace and order in the world, slowly entered Dawn's sight.

"Whew, good thing it isn't a pirate ship. Otherwise, I really wouldn't know what to do."

Seeing that the approaching ship was actually a Marine vessel, Dawn could not help but breathe a sigh of relief.

At least now, Dawn did not have to worry that they would see him and choose to kill him without reason.

That was by no means impossible. After all, the upper and lower limits of pirates' consciences in this world were far too far apart.

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