Transformation (Part 1)

Nangong Yan transformed into a Golden Crow and flew above the clouds. Whenever his stamina was nearly depleted, he entered the Kamui Dimension to rest, eat something, and recover his strength.

In this way, after roughly a day of following the sea chart and flying in a straight line across three thousand li, Nangong Yan arrived at Divine Punishment Island, located within Whitebeard's territory—one of the most dangerous islands in the New World.

Viewed from above, Divine Punishment Island was oval-shaped, stretching over a hundred kilometers from north to south and several hundred kilometers from east to west. Ancient trees within the island towered like skyscrapers, while ancient vines twisted like pythons and dragons. Massive, strange roars echoed from the island. Before he had even landed, a primordial aura rushed toward him.

Just as Nangong Yan entered the range of Divine Punishment Island, danger arrived. Eight monsters resembling pterosaurs flew toward him. Each was over three meters long, with fleshy wings spanning nearly six meters, scaled backs, and sharp mouths packed with dense fangs. They let out shrill, frenzied screeches.

Hmph, courting death! Nangong Yan snorted inwardly and charged straight at the eight monsters.

Nangong Yan was slightly larger than the eight monsters. Solar True Flame shrouded his entire body, and when he opened his mouth, pale golden fireballs the size of an adult's fist shot out like a barrage, instantly enveloping all eight monsters within their range.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Explosive flames engulfed the sky, wave after wave of fire scorching the air until it warped. Three monsters were blown apart and fell like damaged warplanes. The flames lingering on their bodies continued to burn, spreading a strange aroma of cooked flesh.

Nangong Yan froze upon seeing the result. He had fired ten highly compressed Solar True Flame bullets at once. In his expectations, they should have wiped them all out... How had they only killed three? The remaining five were somewhat battered, but their combat strength remained intact.

At that moment, the five monsters began screeching madly. Their cries were shrill, rapid, and furious. Soon, a huge shadow appeared in the distance and rapidly flew toward Nangong Yan.

Nangong Yan looked closely and nearly lost his soul in fright. Thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands, of monsters were charging over from afar. He immediately transformed into a golden streak and darted toward the forest at the island's edge without looking back. There was no way he could fight that many monsters right now.

Seeing Nangong Yan flee, the remaining five monsters refused to let him go and quickly flapped after him. From over a thousand meters in the air, Nangong Yan reached land in an instant. Feeling the fierce wind behind him, he rolled across the ground five times in a row in a miserable tumble.

The five monsters' fleshy wings swept over Nangong Yan's head like blades, their violent gusts shredding nearby shrubs to pieces.

After the fifth one passed, the aggrieved Nangong Yan sprang to his feet and angrily drew the Supreme Grade Blade Eastern Emperor from his waist. A silver-white sword aura over six meters long struck first despite being launched later, slashing through the fifth monster's body. Dark red blood sprayed everywhere, and colorful internal organs spilled from the sky.

After venting his frustration, Nangong Yan felt much better. Ignoring the furious screeches overhead, he stepped into the lush jungle and began exploring this famous island of the New World.

Knowing nothing about the island, Nangong Yan acted cautiously and activated his Mangekyo Sharingan. Its incomparably precise insight began to show its worth.

A chilling sword flash flickered to his right. Eastern Emperor's blade struck as if it had been measured beforehand. A flash of blood appeared, and a triangular venomous snake that had blended into a tree trunk dropped to the ground.

After that, Nangong Yan struck every seven or eight meters. Blade light, flames, and kicks relentlessly attacked the poisonous creatures that tried to ambush him. There were washbasin-sized spiders as black as ink with bright red patterns on their abdomens, half-meter-long centipedes that left scorched trails wherever they passed, slender emerald venomous snakes that blended into leaves, and azure scorpions with tails like steel needles.

Even with the Mangekyo Sharingan, Nangong Yan was drenched in sweat. His mind remained highly tense as he searched for and guarded against danger. In just a few hundred meters, he encountered over a hundred ambushes and frontal attacks. It was enough to make one sigh at the island's level of danger.

As for the prey Nangong Yan killed, he naturally discarded it. He was not Bear Grylls, nor had he come here for wilderness survival. He had stored enough food and water before coming, so there was no need to eat these poisonous bugs.

Thus, Nangong Yan began living along the edge of Divine Punishment Island. With the Kamui Dimension, he did not need to sleep in the wilderness, giving him plenty of time to rest between training and battles.

Nangong Yan's purpose in coming to Divine Punishment Island was clear: to improve his strength. He usually developed his fruit ability, practiced swordsmanship and physical techniques, trained his Sharingan, and cultivated Haki. Every day was packed full.

Usually, once every week, Nangong Yan would seek out powerful strange beasts on the island to fight, testing his ideas and training results. Once every month, he would risk his life. How did he do that? By provoking several powerful strange beasts at once, then fighting madly under immense pressure to squeeze out his potential. Either his potential would be forced out and his strength would advance by leaps and bounds, or he would be beaten severely and enter the Kamui Dimension to recover.

The tremendous pressure caused Nangong Yan's strength to advance rapidly. Three months greatly strengthened his physique. He had also cultivated Observation Haki and Armament Haki.

The emergence of Observation Haki meant Nangong Yan no longer needed to use the Mangekyo Sharingan so often, and his Sharingan's ocular power had also improved considerably.

Perhaps because his physique had strengthened, or perhaps because of the Haki cultivation method, Nangong Yan's Armament Haki was already of high quality as soon as it emerged.

That day, the entire Divine Punishment Island was shrouded in heavy snow. The temperature had dropped to around negative thirty degrees Celsius, and hailstones as tall as an adult occasionally fell from the sky.

It was time to test himself again. Nangong Yan provoked three powerful strange beasts at once, each possessing strength no weaker than a Marine vice admiral.

One was a ten-meter-long saber-toothed tiger with a spear-like tail; one was a nine-meter-long super crocodile tyrant clad in black scales, with thick short limbs and fangs like steel blades; the last was a twelve-meter-tall gorilla with muscles like coiling dragons and black fur covering its entire body.

Rather than fighting one another to the death, the three strange beasts unusually united to attack Nangong Yan, as though he had done something utterly unforgivable.

In truth, Nangong Yan had not done much. He had only provoked them, repeatedly using the power of Kamui in his left eye to seize their food right before their eyes. As a result, they often went hungry, or had to hunt again while hungry.

At that moment, Nangong Yan stood bare-chested, his upper body slightly red as though it radiated heat to resist the cold outside. He held the ink-black Supreme Grade Blade in his hand and, as if he could foresee the future, always avoided attacks with the smallest movements before launching counterattacks.

Training Observation Haki had extended the amount of time he could use the Mangekyo Sharingan. In terms of insight, Observation Haki was not inferior to the Mangekyo Sharingan at all, though it consumed considerable stamina as well.

The battle between one man and three beasts lasted an entire half-day. The ground, hard as raw iron, was left with countless pits by the three strange beasts' powerful physiques. Sharp sword aura left crisscrossing slash marks under Nangong Yan's attacks, while Solar True Flame bombardments scattered scorch marks like stars. Ancient trees were ignited, and the blazing fire melted the snow around them.

The half-day battle left all three beasts and Nangong Yan panting, their stamina severely depleted. However, thanks to Observation Haki, Armament Haki, and his previous experience fighting them, Nangong Yan had only suffered minor injuries, and his combat strength had not declined much.

The three strange beasts were different. Though they possessed some intelligence, it was very limited. They always used the same old methods against Nangong Yan, with little effect.

Each of the three strange beasts had suffered serious injuries. The saber-toothed tiger's tail had been badly burned by Solar True Flame, and a bone-deep wound ran across its back; many scales had fallen from the crocodile tyrant's back, where a charred footprint was deeply imprinted, and one of its eyes had been blinded; more than half the gorilla's fur had been burned away, blood poured from both its left and right legs, and fine sword wounds densely covered them.