A Scheming Man, Ambition Taking Root and Sprouting

"Very Good, your Devil Fruit is the Berry-Berry Fruit. It can turn your body into spherical particles. If used well, it is almost comparable to a Logia's elementalization and has powerful evasive capabilities."

With just one sentence from Ye Chen, everyone's eyes lit up, especially Very Good's.

"When an enemy attacks you, you can turn yourself into countless spherical particles to nullify many attacks. Besides this evasive ability, you can develop the Berry-Berry Fruit to affect external objects. For example, you could break a tree down into individual particles, turn an enemy directly into particles, or even do the same to an island. Its destructive power would be no weaker than a Logia's.

"However, that path is somewhat difficult. Still, you have to believe in yourself."

Originally, neither Very Good nor the others had held much hope for the Berry-Berry Fruit. It seemed far too weak. But after hearing Ye Chen's words, Very Good felt that his ability was the strongest of them all.

"I always thought Very Good's ability was the worst, not even comparable to a Zoan's. But now, I'm changing my mind." Smoker shuddered. The more he looked at Ye Chen, the more eerie he found him.

"Brother Ye Chen, what about mine? What about mine?"

Her eyes sparkling, Hina looked eagerly at Ye Chen, her face full of expectation.

"Mm, Hina, your ability is somewhat complicated." Ye Chen frowned slightly at Hina's ability.

After all, the Cage-Cage Fruit did not seem to have many directions for development. Still, Ye Chen had a few ideas.

"What?" Hina's face fell, and she immediately became dejected.

"Hina, your ability lets you create bars from any part of your body to restrain enemies. If you can strengthen those bars until they are as difficult to destroy as Seastone, then you will become every enemy's nightmare.

"Moreover, the bars do not necessarily have to be hardened. They can also serve a powerful purpose when softened. Most importantly, the Cage-Cage Fruit itself is made of iron. If possible, you do not have to limit yourself to bars. You can expand in another direction—for example, turning things you touch into bars, then separating them and forming weapons. All of that may be possible."

"Hmph."

Hina haughtily raised her head and snorted, but her increasingly alluring face was filled with smiles.

Other than Vergo, who was not a Devil Fruit user, only Smoker remained. So Smoker looked at Ye Chen expectantly as well.

Although he was a Logia user, the offensive power of smoke was still too weak. He needed Ye Chen to give him direction, and he believed Ye Chen would not disappoint him.

"Smoker, your ability has many possible directions. For example, interfering with the five senses. If you combine your ability with Observation Haki and cancel out your enemy's Observation Haki, then within the smoke, it will be like a maze. Your opponent will lose their way and be unable to find a direction. At that point, you will have absolute control."

After all, Haki could cancel each other out. For example, if two Observation Haki users of equal strength faced off, with one searching and the other concealing himself, their Observation Haki would cancel each other out. The searching one would then be unable to detect the concealed person's presence.

Likewise, if an Observation Haki expert fought someone who had only just grasped Observation Haki, it would be a complete crushing victory. The side with the stronger Observation Haki could completely overwhelm the weaker side.

The same applied to Observation Haki, Armament Haki, Conqueror's Haki, and Devil Fruit abilities—they could all cancel each other out. Sakazuki's and Kuzan's abilities were an example.

If Smoker's Observation Haki became strong enough and was combined with his smoke ability, he would become a moving fog bank, making enemies lose their bearings and even their five senses.

As soon as Ye Chen finished speaking, Smoker's eyes gleamed. He stared greedily at Ye Chen as though he were looking at an unparalleled beauty, practically drooling.

"What else?" Smoker was full of excitement, because he had never considered this direction before. He had only wanted to make smoke more destructive, which was why his ability had remained relatively weak until now.

"Since you can control smoke, have you ever considered that smoke can also be hardened? Since it can be combined with Observation Haki, it can also be combined with Armament Haki. If you create a smoke spear and coat it in Armament Haki, I believe its destructive power will not disappoint you."

"Also, you can create mirages and transform into one or two copies of yourself. If you can develop those copies until they possess combat strength, how would that be any different from having clones?"

Smoker's face flushed red. His eyes were wide as he kept swallowing.

"There are many kinds of smoke. The most common is soot, which can poison and dizzy people."

"So overall, your ability can develop in countless directions: weakening, hardening, disrupting the five senses, and more. What I mentioned may only be the most basic possibilities. As for how you develop it in the future, that will depend on you."

Looking at Smoker, those were all Ye Chen could think of for now.

"C-Can they really be that strong?" Shu wiped away cold sweat and asked weakly.

How had those Devil Fruits that seemed so weak become so incredible in Ye Chen's mouth?

That was the difference brought by an explosion of imagination. Compared to the great melting pot of the internet in his previous life, this world lagged far behind.

That was also why people said there were no trash abilities, only trash developers.

However, that statement was not absolute, because there were still differences in the strength of abilities.

Between a Glint-Glint Fruit and a Dog-Dog Fruit, even an idiot would know which one to choose. Theories were therefore contradictory; nothing was absolute.

"Chen, you really are a treasure."

Smoker grabbed Ye Chen by the shoulders and shook him violently. His thoughts had never been clearer. He felt that his ability was absolutely no weaker than the Magma-Magma Fruit.

As for the name Chen, Vergo and the others had started using it because it sounded more intimate.

"Not bad, I guess."

Ye Chen grinned and pushed Smoker away. If Smoker kept shaking him like that, he would not be able to take it.

"Alright, now that everyone has found a direction, train! There is only one month left until the graduation ceremony. I hope all of you can achieve good rankings."

"Once we all graduate, we'll sail out to sea together and make the pirates tremble at the very mention of us."

Smoker stood up, full of high spirits, and shouted.

"Yeah!" Shu, Hina, and Very Good all blushed as they echoed him.

Only Vergo and Ye Chen watched the four of them fantasize with calm expressions.

From that moment on, Smoker and the others changed completely. Because of Ye Chen's appearance, their strength would eventually diverge from the original story in unimaginable ways.

After that, everyone trained on their own. Whenever Ye Chen trained, the others would keep a slight distance from him.

Every time Ye Chen pushed himself to the point of complete exhaustion, he would develop the Bomb-Bomb Fruit, because he felt that its development progressed much faster whenever his stamina was depleted.

Although both his body and mind were exhausted, he had gained a great deal during these four months. The Bomb-Bomb Fruit had already completely covered his heart.

Now, as long as he covered his head as well, he would possess an ability nearly equivalent to a Logia's: elementalization.

He would also be able to explode without restraint, rather than having to hold back as he had before.

Therefore, during the final month, Ye Chen intended to focus his energy on developing the Bomb-Bomb Fruit. Otherwise, he could not possibly be a match for those three monsters at the graduation ceremony.

Now that he had gained a basic ability to protect himself, it was time to begin the second step of his plan: display his potential, earn the attention of those above, and climb to a higher position.

As long as he gained a higher position and greater strength, he could be like Garp—doing whatever he wanted instead of being ordered around as a Marine.

He wanted to be the one giving orders, not the one receiving them. Freedom, power, and fate all had to be under his own control.

But none of that could be rushed. He had to keep a low profile and endure.

Ye Chen's ambition had silently taken root the moment he stepped into Marineford. Now, all that remained was to wait for it to grow into a towering tree.