Luffy tried using the Gum-Gum Fruit's power and found that his stretching was just a little slower than before. Ace ignited flames and discovered that their temperature had dropped by several degrees. Zoro swung his blades and felt the sharpness of his sword intent weaken slightly.
"This is..." Sengoku frowned, and his keen mind quickly connected it to Lord of Nothingness's final roar. "The curse... Lord of Nothingness's curse has begun to take effect..."
Panic began spreading among the Awakened Ones. The powers they had only just obtained, the abilities they had struggled so hard to awaken, were slowly fading away. At this rate, perhaps before long, they would become ordinary people again.
But at that moment, the Starlight Fragments in everyone's hearts began to flicker, conveying Lin Ye's voice:
"Do not be afraid... The form of power may change, but the will to protect will never disappear... Even if you lose your extraordinary abilities, you are still Guardians... Because true strength comes from the light within the heart, not from external abilities..."
Those words nourished every heart like sweet rain, driving away panic and despair. People began to understand that while awakened power was important, more important still was the heart willing to protect others.
The curse left behind by Lord of Nothingness spread across the entire world like a plague, and the extraordinary powers of the Awakened Ones weakened at a visible rate.
The first to be severely affected were the older Awakened Ones. The Watcher Bloodline within them had never been as vigorous as that of the young, and under the curse's erosion, it became even more unstable. Bodies that had once radiated dazzling light gradually dimmed, like candles slowly going out at dusk.
At the edge of an oasis in Alabasta, Abdul, an old farmer in