Space Abilities

On the island's eastern shore, waves crashed against the rocky cliffs, and the roar of the surf remained unchanged.

"R!"

A circular space rapidly expanded outward, with a radius of roughly three hundred meters, enveloping the boulders along the shore.

A figure flickered within it, constantly shifting positions among the rocks.

Before long, the figure stopped, revealing Ye Qiong's handsome face and muscular body.

"Fifteen consecutive spatial teleports."

Ye Qiong panted heavily, sweat pouring down his body. Using spatial abilities consumed far too much of his stamina.

He called the expanded ability space "R," because that just happened to mean "space" in English.

Law had not even eaten the Op-Op Fruit yet, so this could not count as copying him, right?

Both Ye Qiong's "R" and the Op-Op Fruit's "R" created a circular space within which abilities could be used.

But there was an essential difference between them!

Within the "R" he released, Ye Qiong could likewise use abilities such as manipulation, cutting, and swapping, but he could not separate bodies harmlessly like Law, freely reattach them, or exchange souls.

His abilities leaned more toward spatial movement, object manipulation, and spatial control.

Ye Qiong suspected that this was because the Op-Op Fruit only involved space as one of its branches, while his Space-Space Fruit focused more directly on space itself.

Moreover, after a week of testing, he discovered that his abilities could be used even without releasing "R."

Without releasing "R," he possessed other abilities as well!

Ye Qiong held a longsword as his ability circulated. A milky-white glow slowly flowed over the blade, gathering at its edge.

With a powerful swing, a crescent-shaped blade of light shot forth, slicing through the air at extreme speed before striking a boulder ahead.

Without a sound, half the boulder collapsed, revealing a cut as smooth as a mirror.

This was a blade of light infused with spatial cutting power, an absolutely destructive attack that could ignore hardness and defenses to a certain extent!

"If someone gets hit by that blade of light, it won't be as gentle as Law's ability."

Ye Qiong smiled. Law's cutting ability usually only separated things; even if a human body was cut apart, it could be restored through reattachment.

But if someone was struck by his spatial cutting ability, they would be split directly in two, with blood and flesh flying everywhere!

"A blade of light with cutting power has taken my attack power to a whole new level."

A defense-ignoring slash—Dimensional Sky Slash.

Even without releasing "R," he possessed spatial cutting power. That made his offensive strength terrifying.

Of course, that was only one of them. There was another ability...

"Ye Qiong, I'm hungry!"

Robin's voice faintly drifted over from the distance. Ye Qiong helplessly shook his head, then his figure flickered as he vanished from atop the rocks.

At this moment, he clearly had not released "R"!

In the next instant, Ye Qiong appeared behind Robin. On her back was a silver mark visible only to him.

This was one of the abilities he could use even outside "R"—by leaving silver marks of his power on objects or people, he could perform long-distance spatial movement!

That silver mark was like a spatial coordinate, allowing him to sense it at will and teleport directly to it.

He called this ability "Silver Flash"!

Ye Qiong made no sound when he teleported behind Robin. Naturally, Robin did not notice him and continued shouting, "Ye Qiong, come back and cook already! I'm hungry!"

"If you don't come back soon, I'm never talking to you again!"

"Ye Qiong, you jerk!"

Ye Qiong finally could not hold back. He wrapped an arm around her soft waist, lifted her up, and began spinning in place.

Robin cried out in surprise. Completely caught off guard, she was lifted into the air and spun around nonstop.

"Ah, Ye Qiong, stop!"

"Who was talking bad about me just now?"

"I... I won't do it again!"

"You little brat, I need to teach you a lesson."

Ye Qiong kept spinning her delicate body.

"If you don't stop, I'll make you regret it!"

"Sure. Let's see what kind of lesson you can give me."

Hearing Robin's fierce threat, like a toothless tiger trying to scare someone by baring its mouth, Ye Qiong could not help finding it amusing.

Robin crossed her hands, and petals spiraled into existence.

"Dos Fleur!"

Two arms appeared from Ye Qiong's back and pulled at his arms, trying to make him stop.

Ye Qiong smiled faintly. With a flex of his arms, he forcibly broke free from the two arms, which turned back into petals.

"Tres Fleur!"

This time, three arms formed and tugged at him. Ye Qiong exerted a little strength, and they scattered once again.

Having trained in martial arts, Ye Qiong possessed strength far beyond that of merely three people.

Seeing that her ability could do nothing to Ye Qiong, Robin actually opened her mouth and bit his arm.

"Damn, are you a dog or something, you brat?"

Ye Qiong pretended to be in pain and hurriedly set her down.

After getting free, Robin did not look pleased. Instead, she raised her head and looked at him aggrievedly, mist gathering in her large, watery eyes.

"Do you think I don't know? Your skin is tougher than stone. How could I possibly bite hard enough to hurt you?"

Robin's delicate body was still trembling, looking as though she could burst into tears at any second.

"All right, all right, I was wrong, okay?" Ye Qiong grew a little flustered. He feared neither heaven nor earth, but he truly feared girls' tears.

"You jerk!"

Robin tugged on his clothes and buried herself in his arms, crying.

"All right, calm down. Whatever you want, I'll agree to it."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

The moment Ye Qiong agreed, Robin immediately broke into a smile. It made him feel utterly vexed. How had that little brat tricked him again?

"Fine. What do you want me to do?" Ye Qiong spread his hands helplessly.

Robin hugged him tightly and leaned close to his ear. "This afternoon, come have dinner at my uncle's house."

Damn!

Ye Qiong was startled. This was meeting the family!

"Can I not go?"

"No. You promised me."

Robin rejected him outright, leaving no room for negotiation.

Fine, Ye Qiong resigned himself to it. Though it did seem a little early. Well, ten years early. Would her family beat him to death...

Robin smiled happily and clung to him without letting go.

Ye Qiong felt that ever since he had rescued her from those pirates last time, she had grown increasingly attached to him.

Lunch was Ye Qiong's responsibility. He used "R" in the forest to scan for prey, killed it, and roasted it for their meal.

Ye Qiong was very skilled at grilling. Ever since Robin had tasted it once, she no longer brought snacks with her. Whenever she got hungry, she simply made him grill wild game.

Ever since Ye Qiong began training in martial arts, his appetite had grown unprecedentedly large. He wolfed down food, tearing off a roasted boar leg and stuffing it into his mouth.

"Brat, aren't you preparing to earn a doctorate and become an archaeologist? How do you still have time to come here?" Ye Qiong asked with his mouth full of meat, his words unclear.

Robin said somewhat dejectedly, "They're still considering whether I qualify for the assessment. I overheard them talking. The doctors were discussing Poneglyphs."

Ye Qiong's body trembled slightly at her words, but he continued eating without showing the slightest concern.

Yet stormy waves churned within his heart.

Had the scholars on this island already begun researching Poneglyphs in depth?

(In the pirate world, there were nine hundred years of history, but only eight hundred years had been recorded. The World Government had hidden a blank century in between. This was called the "World Text.")

That made sense. Four years ago, Robin's mother had already set out to sea with thirty-three archaeologists in search of information about the Poneglyphs.

How could Ye Qiong not know that Poneglyphs were the source of undeserved disaster?

But he could not stop the scholars of Ohara. They knew perfectly well that what they were doing was illegal, yet to restore the hundred years of history hidden by the World Government, they were willing to be crushed to pieces.

Everyone had a path they chose, did they not? To die before dawn arrived—perhaps that was the fate of Ohara's scholars.

Besides, it was already too late to stop them now.

"I won't interfere with that, but you can't neglect your training," Ye Qiong reminded her.

"Mm." Robin nodded. Perhaps after what happened last time, she had also understood the importance of strength.

After lunch, Ye Qiong guided Robin in mastering her ability.

"Your ability lets any part of your body bloom on any tangible object within your line of sight and attack."

"As an attacking method, you can create arms and legs. Since your strength is insufficient, find a way to create many arms and legs to increase your attack power."

"You can also grow eyes or ears in certain places to scout out enemies."

Ye Qiong looked at Robin before him. Hands bloomed from the ground around her like flowers.

Some might think Robin's ability was weak, but as long as she trained and tapped into its potential, the Flower-Flower Fruit could become incomparably powerful as well!

After guiding Robin, Ye Qiong returned to the boulder field and began thinking about how to improve his own abilities.

In just one short week, he had uncovered so many abilities of the Space-Space Fruit, entirely because his thoughts and ideas as an Earthling were so unconstrained.

The abilities Ye Qiong currently possessed were "R," "Dimensional Sky Slash," and "Silver Flash."

"R" created a domain of his own, within which he could scan, teleport, manipulate, cut, swap, and use other abilities.

However, maintaining the "R" domain continuously drained his stamina, and using abilities inside it accelerated that consumption. After roughly fifteen teleports, even his terrifying stamina would be nearly exhausted.

Ye Qiong liked "Dimensional Sky Slash" very much. By swinging a blade or sword, he could expend only a tiny amount of stamina to unleash a crescent attack with cutting power. Its drawback, however, was that the cutting power did not gather as quickly as he had imagined, so he could not use it freely with every swing.

"Silver Flash" was the ability that truly thrilled Ye Qiong. As long as he recorded Space Marks on any object or person, he could use teleportation even without activating R, and it remained effective across distances of several kilometers!

What did that mean? It meant that as long as Ye Qiong prepared multiple backup spatial marks in advance, he could escape at will as long as he did not fall into seawater or get suppressed by Seastone! And it would be an extremely unexpected escape, leaving others utterly helpless.

Ye Qiong had left a Space Mark on Robin's back. If anything happened to Robin, he could instantly teleport to her side.

The abilities displayed by the Space-Space Fruit allowed him to see the dawn breaking more than a year ahead.