Victory! A New Way to Level Up

Kuzan naturally saw Loa's movements. Recalling the move Loa had used last night, he could not help feeling sorry for Arudo. Though he did not know the difference between Ice-Make Magic and Ice Dragon Slayer Magic, he was certain of one thing.

In terms of freezing power alone, Loa was no weaker than him.

"Where are you hitting, brat?!"

Arudo mocked Loa, preparing to send him flying with a kick. But when he strained to pull free, he discovered that this ice was completely different from before. With that exertion, he nearly stumbled and fell.

"What?!"

Arudo's eyes widened as he stared at his frozen feet. The ice he had been able to break free from so easily earlier now possessed the hardness of steel.

Loa coughed softly, clearing the stagnant blood from his lungs. Standing on ice skates formed from the ice, he circled Arudo with his hands behind his back, teasing him.

"Yo, big guy, come hit me! My skin's been itching lately—I'm just begging for a beating!"

"Damn it!"

Arudo's legs turned black as he used Armament Haki. But Loa was not a true Devil Fruit user to begin with. Even if he had been, once the ice appeared, it had become a fixed, tangible object and would not be countered by Armament Haki. Armament Haki could nullify an ability, but could it make an object disappear? Of course not.

Although his strength increased after using Haki, Arudo could not move at all aside from painfully straining his feet. He promptly gave up on that idea, raised his fist, and smashed it down with all his might.

"So what if it's steel? My fist will smash it to pieces!"

"Yeah, but I'm not giving you that chance!"

Loa smiled and slapped his palm. An ice pillar, seemingly alive, spiraled beneath Arudo's armpit and bound his upper body. To prevent him from breaking free, Loa struck it with a hook kick and reinforced it a second time with Dragon Slayer Magic.

After finishing that, he slid in front of Arudo and spread his hands. "You're stronger than me, your moves are so flexible, and you can use Armament Haki too. In a head-on fight, my street-brawler fists definitely wouldn't be your match. But fighting takes brains. You're so stupid that I'd feel bad if I didn't mess with you a little."

In the end, Arudo reluctantly admitted defeat. Kuzan's face was as dark as coal, but he could not say much and could only listlessly announce Loa's victory.

After the match, the pair and Arudo left the training ground. The former went to inform their companions that a powerful newcomer would be joining the Elite Camp, while the latter was simply depressed after taking a blow.

Only the swordsman remained at the training ground, sitting cross-legged in meditation.

Although he was unhappy about it, Kuzan still fulfilled his duty as promised and explained things to Loa.

"Freezing abilities may look powerful, but their single-target offensive power is far inferior to that of other Logia abilities. Take Admiral Akainu's magma, for instance. Get even a little too close and you'll be burned, but ice doesn't work that way. To give an enemy frostbite, you either need direct contact or wide-area coverage. So it is more of a support and battlefield-control ability. I know your power too. Its focus is freezing, which is entirely different from a Logia's wide-area attacks. So your next training goal is to strengthen that aspect and develop moves of your own. You can't blindly imitate me and rely on brute force to overcome technique."

As Kuzan spoke, he turned his hand into an ice sculpture and flexed his fingers. "And most importantly, your freezing ability applies a form; it doesn't turn you into an ice person. You can't become immune to ordinary attacks. I suggest strengthening the defensive power of that Ice Armor move you used earlier, focusing on vital areas. Don't directly form armor covering your whole body. That must consume a lot of stamina, right?"

Loa nodded, muttering to himself, It really does consume a lot of stamina. Five hundred magic power per minute—that's enough for me to throw three punches.

"Alright, those are the two main points. Now let's discuss your understanding of how freezing abilities can be used in actual combat."

The night had grown late. Soldiers who had been busy all day gradually returned to their dormitories to rest, and the vast Marine Headquarters slowly fell quiet.

Developing a Devil Fruit ability was not about achieving miracles through sheer force. On the contrary, it required more quiet thought and exploration. Kuzan had brought him here not because the place was spacious enough, but because it was quiet enough.

As for his little scheme from earlier, Kuzan would never admit to it.

After several hours of discussion and demonstrations, Loa felt as though he had suddenly seen the light. Many of his doubts and ideas were resolved or corrected. Many mistakes he had made while using Ice-Make Magic were pointed out one by one, and he began considering ways to improve them. Dragon Slayer Magic could only be handled through the system; that was beyond Kuzan's expertise.

Seeing Loa deep in thought, Kuzan brushed off his pants and stood up. He looked up at the moonlight. "Ara ara, it's gotten so late. Well then, I'll head back first. Unless something unexpected happens, we'll meet here again tomorrow."

Loa hurriedly stood and bowed deeply. "Yes, please take care, Teacher Kuzan."

"I told you not to call me teacher!"

Kuzan waved impatiently, shoved his hands into his pockets, and slowly walked away.

Only after watching Kuzan leave did Loa turn around and depart.

"Well, Admiral Kuzan really is quite suited to becoming Fleet Admiral."

At that moment, Loa recalled the discussions netizens had had about Kuzan when he watched anime in his previous life. Because of later developments in the story, everyone had been utterly confused by Kuzan as a person. But so what? Loa believed Kuzan was absolutely a good person.

Even though he feared trouble, he did not slack off in the slightest when it came to things he had agreed to do, earnestly teaching Loa. Judging a person by their habits, Loa did not believe Kuzan had truly gone over to the dark side.

After washing up, Loa lay down on his bed and soon drifted into sleep amid the scent of meat.

Ms. S treated him quite well. Knowing that he got hungry quickly, she had prepared a basin full of large meaty bones and left it outside his door, covered with an insulating lid and a note.

The next day, Loa got up, washed, and hurried to the training camp.

Come on, this was punishment personally handed down by Admiral Zephyr—cleaning toilets for a whole month!

Carrying a mop and dragging a bucket, Loa cleaned the toilets while humming a song.

The major general instructor of the Seventh Squad walked in. Hearing Loa singing, he could not help laughing as he asked, "Loa, what's so enjoyable about cleaning toilets? Don't tell me you've fallen in love with this job! Huh? Hahaha!"

"Tch, how would a fish know the joy of another fish?"

Loa snorted disdainfully and held the mop out toward his feet. "Move aside, please. Watch out—you might slip!"

Though he did not understand what Loa meant, the instructor did not dwell on it. Remembering yesterday, when someone had peed on his pants and he had awkwardly gone back to change, he hurriedly opened a stall door and hid inside.

There was naturally a reason why Loa was so happy.

Because yesterday, he had discovered a great way to rapidly increase his energy value. Calling up the panel in his mind, Loa looked at it with delight.

Name: Christopher Loa

Energy Stage: Second Stage, Level Zero

Energy Value: 10/400

Magic Power: 500/500

Magic Power Recovery Speed: 00/s

In that time, his energy value had actually increased by a full one hundred points!

The food in the Marine mess hall did not increase energy value by much. Even with Ms. S's careful cooking and the match that night, his energy value had only increased by zero points.

More than half of those one hundred energy points had come from his match with Arudo, while the rest had come from his discussion with Kuzan.

Loa had a guess about this. Now that his energy stage had reached the second level, increasing it no longer relied so heavily on consuming energy. Or perhaps Dragon Body had reached a critical point, and he needed more understanding of himself—in other words, cultivation—to improve.

This cultivation could be a run, a match, or even a heart-to-heart talk. In any case, as long as it helped increase his strength, he would receive a large amount of energy value depending on the circumstances.

"When Dragon Body reaches 0%, eating probably won't increase energy value anymore."

Loa sighed. Although he had found a new way to advance, he still missed the days when he could level up just by eating, sleeping, and beating up Little Bean.