Luffy tried using the power of the Gum-Gum Fruit and found that he stretched and contracted a little more slowly than before. Ace kindled a flame and discovered that its temperature had dropped a few degrees. Zoro swung his blade and felt that his sword intent had lost a trace of its edge.
"This is..." Sengoku frowned. His keen mind quickly connected it to the Lord of Nothingness's final roar. "The curse... the Lord of Nothingness's curse has begun to take effect..."
Panic began spreading among the Awakened Ones. The power they had just gained, the abilities they had worked so hard to awaken, were slowly disappearing. At this rate, they might soon become ordinary people again.
But just then, the starlight fragments in everyone's hearts began to flicker, carrying Lin Ye's voice:
"Do not be afraid... the form of your 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 your hearts, not from external abilities..."
Those words nourished everyone's hearts like sweet rain, dispelling their panic and despair. People began to understand that awakening their powers mattered, but having a heart willing to protect others mattered even more.
The curse left behind by the Lord of Nothingness spread across the world like a plague, and the extraordinary powers of the Awakened Ones dwindled at a visibly rapid pace.
The first to suffer serious effects were the older Awakened Ones. The Watcher bloodline within them was already less vigorous than that of the young, and the curse's erosion made it even more unstable. Bodies that had once shone brilliantly gradually dimmed, like candle flames slowly dying at dusk.
At the edge of an oasis in Alabasta, Abdul, an old