Ability Development

Battle of Edd Sea.

This clash between two legendary pirates who had met on a narrow path had even affected the balance of the entire world.

At the end of the battle, Roger should have been more likely to lose after being surrounded on all sides. Yet, at the very last moment, he was saved by a sudden storm and raging waves.

The sea swallowed half of Golden Lion's fleet. In the end, both sides were badly wounded, and Roger used the unexpected storm to break through and escape the lion's jaws.

Golden Lion was also severely injured in that naval battle. During the storm, a ship's rudder had been driven into his head. It had gone in too deeply; removing it would endanger his life, so he had no choice but to leave it there.

Without that tsunami, would Roger have been forced to hand over the world-destroying weapon in his possession for the sake of his companions' lives, allowing it to fall into Golden Lion's hands?

And would Golden Lion truly have swallowed the world whole, just as he had boldly declared?

If that had really happened, if Roger had lost to Golden Lion, then perhaps there would have been no Great Pirate Era, no Revolutionary Army, and no Four Emperors. There would only have been Golden Lion as the sole overlord, standing in bipolar opposition to the World Government, each controlling half the world.

Yet even though the final result with Roger had been mutual ruin, Golden Lion still held sincere respect for him.

After the Battle of Edd Sea ended, the boundless sea gradually smoothed over every storm-like consequence left by the battle.

Garp's pursuit could only end in failure as well.

It was now Sea Year 1498, and nearly another two years had passed without notice.

Dawn's progress with the Six Powers had also been gratifying. Shave was the one he had mastered best, while Tekkai could barely be used in battle. Paper Art, on the other hand, was something Dawn had unexpectedly shown great talent for, perhaps because his evasion talent was maxed out.

As for the remaining three forms—Finger Gun, Rankyaku, and Geppo—he only occasionally had flashes of insight. Who knew how long it would take before he could use them in battle?

Even with the help of his Devil Fruits, reaching this level at his age was enough to make him proud. But that was no reason for Dawn to slack off.

Because Dawn knew what kind of bloody chaos the crazed Golden Lion would stir up across the seas after Roger turned himself in.

And the center of that turmoil was where Dawn currently was—Marine Headquarters, Marineford.

That was to say, there would be nowhere safe on the coming seas.

Golden Lion's rampage at Marine Headquarters was merely a small price one had to bear for choosing to join the Marines amid the tides of the era.

But Dawn would not underestimate that price. On the contrary, he took it extremely seriously, because one careless mistake and even those minor aftershocks could grind him into nothing.

So over these years, aside from physical training, Dawn had devoted all his remaining time to developing his Devil Fruit abilities.

And in order to gain the ability to protect himself and ensure he would not get wiped out by the aftershocks when Golden Lion rampaged through Marine Headquarters, Dawn developed a new ability.

Void Resistance Aura.

This was a defensive technique that used the Snatch-Snatch Fruit to seize the surrounding air and compress it around his body into a shield.

Although the technique had been developed primarily around the Snatch-Snatch Fruit, the Aura Fruit's support was indispensable. Otherwise, relying solely on the Snatch-Snatch Fruit to control air would consume far too much energy.

With the Aura Fruit assisting him, however, the technique consumed much less and was easy to control without any strain.

This technique resembled Kuma's Bear Shock in that both made use of air, but they differed in the abilities they used.

Kuma's ability relied on the Paw-Paw Fruit's impact properties to apply pressure to the atmosphere, forming compressed air and using the immense shockwave produced by the atmosphere's reactive force.

Once released, the compressed air unleashed tremendous destructive power precisely because of that pressure.

Dawn, meanwhile, seized air to form massive compressed air masses. While the Snatch-Snatch Fruit occupied the primary role, the foundation was the Aura Fruit's ability.

Dawn's current power still could not compress it to a level capable of matching the might of Bear Shock.

But Dawn also had an advantage: as the Snatch-Snatch Fruit's power of "seizing" increased, one day it would achieve the effect of Bear Shock.

Moreover, not only could he compress it into a shield, but once his abilities became stronger, he could also imitate the principle behind Bear Shock and use it to attack. Its advantage lay in its flexibility.

In other words, this ability's developmental potential had a far higher ceiling than Bear Shock.

Once Dawn could freely control the air he seized, activating the Resistance Aura to form an "air shield" would not only let him defend himself. After the defense was broken, he could directly form a massive impact to counterattack.

Dawn believed that as his Devil Fruit abilities continued to develop and his strength continued to grow, Resistance Aura would one day become a complete technique capable of both offense and defense.

It could be said that the knowledge and imagination from his previous life had been an enormous help in developing these abilities.

With this successful imitation, Dawn had originally also wanted to combine the Snatch-Snatch Fruit and Aura Fruit to develop Yin Heal Bullet.

The Paw-Paw Fruit used its power to "repel everything" to push injuries out of the body, transforming that damage into the shape of a paw pad.

The technique Dawn envisioned, however, would use the Snatch-Snatch Fruit to seize the damage suffered by the body, then place that damage within an "empty" aura.

This "empty" aura was not an ability. It was simply an attribute-less aura with no power at all.

Dawn had only developed it by accident while continuously working on Void Resistance Aura.

Using the "empty" aura to contain air could help the Snatch-Snatch Fruit control air more effectively.

And Dawn was delighted to discover that this "empty" aura was even more useful than he had imagined.

It might even be needed as support for the development of many auras in the future.

Although it possessed no ability whatsoever and was merely a simple aura, its malleability and capacity for containment were extremely powerful.

For example, it could contain air, making the air within the aura easier to control.

And if Dawn wanted to develop Yin Heal Bullet, whether the "empty" aura could contain damage would determine whether the technique could be successfully developed!

But unfortunately, at Dawn's current level, developing such a difficult technique was nothing but wishful thinking.

Even though Dawn had been a doctor in his previous life and possessed medical knowledge, it was still impossible, because his level of Devil Fruit application and development was not yet sufficient.

Of course, Dawn had developed many other abilities as well. In particular, when it came to controlling air, besides the primary Void Resistance Aura, he had also developed another ability.

Void Rain Drop!

This was a long-range attack technique that used seized air, shaping it into blades.

When using this move, what the enemy faced was its terrifying frequency and sheer number, because it was a long-range attack as dense as a barrage of bullets!

If you think this book is good, please add it to your bookshelf so you can find it next time.