Freeze Spacetime?

Back at Marineford, it was already late at night.

In his private dorm room, Loa muttered under his breath as he treated his wounds. "Tch... none of them are any good. They knew I got seasick, yet they still hit me that hard."

After applying the medicine, Loa began tearing into the roast suckling pig Ms. S had brought him while reflecting on and reviewing what had happened this time.

Through his battle with the Silverback Great Ape, Loa had discovered many problems.

Aside from the unavoidable issue of his clumsy close-combat fighting style, he was also not very adept at using magic.

He found that whenever he used Magic, whether gathering it at the beginning or manifesting it at the end, he could not do so as naturally as he wished.

Even though he had developed powerful killing moves like Ice Coffin, Ice Bomb, and Great Serpent, they were either simple applications or the result of giving commands to the system.

For example, with the Ice Coffin he had developed by imitating Gray's "Absolute Freeze," as long as he held that thought, the Ice he created would be colder and harder than usual. Yet his subjective consciousness did not interfere with the formation of Magic; everything simply happened naturally.

The only thing that counted as his own active control was accelerating the infusion of magic power, increasing the speed and strength with which the spell manifested.

Everything had been accomplished with the system's help. He did not even know how it was done.

And once it was unleashed, he could not cancel it, just like in a video game.

Loa thought to himself, The system is clearly looking down on me for growing up in the technological age! I'm a complete Magic idiot!

But through that battle, after consuming a huge amount of magic power, Loa had grasped a faint feeling. This realization could allow him to break free of his current limitations and truly reach the point of using and withdrawing his power at will.

There was also the move called First Release. Its principle was simple: after receiving a massive boost, he needed to vent the excess.

As long as the Dragon Force activated by frost calmed down again, that state would be forcibly dispelled beyond his control.

These problems might not matter while he was still lingering between the Marine Recruit Camp and Elite Camp, before officially stepping onto the stage of the sea. But to true experts, they would be obvious at a glance.

Kuzan had said that learning to control power was always easier than obtaining power.

This would be a long process, requiring Loa to ponder and study it over and over himself.

Silently calling upon his King Finger, Loa opened the system that had granted him this power.

Name: Christopher Loa

Energy Stage: Second Stage, Fifth Layer

Energy Value: 900/900

Magic Power: 6000/6000

Magic Power Recovery Speed: 550/s

Dragon Force: 6/100%. Dragon Force can increase the strength of a Dragon Slayer's Dragon Slayer Magic, but once it exceeds 0%, the body begins to transform. After exceeding 90%, the Dragon Slayer's body begins to undergo Dragon Transformation.

Dragon Body: /100%. The degree to which the body gradually adapts to Dragon Force. It improves all aspects of a Dragon Slayer's abilities. The adaptation level can be temporarily increased by consuming energy, but the side effects are considerable.

Techniques: Ice Dragon's Roar, Ice Dragon's Iron Fist, Ice Dragon's Wing Attack, Ice Dragon's Hook Claw, Ice Dragon's Shattered Fang, Ice Dragon's Grip, Ice-Make Magic.

After three days of training and that great battle, his Energy Value could finally be upgraded again. Dragon Body had broken through the 0% threshold, officially carrying him past twenty and toward thirty.

But when he saw the large "6%" after Dragon Force, Loa's mouth twitched.

"Heavens, grant me a Zeref. At least then I'd have something to hope for."

However, now that Dragon Force had reached 6%, Loa could test his previous conjecture.

Setting down the bone he had gnawed clean, Loa stood with his eyes closed and slowly brought his hands together. Intense cold air spread out uncontrollably, coating every object in the room with a layer of Ice crystals.

Suddenly, he snapped his eyes open and shouted in a low voice, "Ice Coffin!"

Following his movement, a huge amount of magic power rapidly surged from his palms. When the cold current touched the moisture in the air, it immediately turned into fine Ice particles, making the previously invisible flow of magic power clearly visible.

Crack!

The sound of freezing rang out, and a block of solid Ice appeared before him in an instant. Loa stared intently at the Ice, then tapped it with a finger.

Ding, ding.

The sound was crisp. It would probably taste pretty good with some cumin sprinkled on it.

Loa helplessly withdrew his hand. Six percent Dragon Force had not caused any qualitative change in the Ice created by Ice-Make Magic. Its strength had indeed increased somewhat, but it was still within the ordinary range.

Though magic power had the same essence, the output of Ice-Make Magic and Dragon Slayer Magic was on completely different levels.

It was like comparing an ancient hydraulic press with a modern ten-thousand-ton hydraulic press. Given the same force of flowing water, the former could only press oil, while the latter could forge high-strength alloy components.

This was a fundamental limitation. Unless Loa could develop stronger Ice-Make Magic on his own, its ultimate strength could already be foreseen.

That was why Loa cared so much about whether Dragon Force could increase the strength of Ice-Make Magic.

After finishing the experiment, Loa looked at the upward arrow behind his Energy Value and chose to upgrade. No matter what, this system was the foundation of his survival. Every bit of additional strength gave him a better chance of staying alive.

Without the system's support, who knew when he might become cannon fodder whose only job was narration.

Buzz!

The familiar blue magic circle appeared beneath his feet. The rising airflow blew his hair straight upward, making him look remarkably like the strongest warrior in the universe.

Should I cut my hair? Loa wondered. The sensation of his hair roots trying to tear free from his scalp and fly upward made his scalp tingle.

The blue diamond on his wrist began to dissolve. Like a wandering snake, it coiled around and crawled across his entire body. Dense blue energy appeared in the air and swiftly entered Loa's body like young swallows returning to their nest.

He could feel the magic power boiling within his body every time he leveled up. That gradual sensation of growing stronger was addictive.

After entering the second stage, the commotion from upgrading was nowhere near comparable to that of the first stage. Just as Loa was leveling up, an inexplicable aura emerged from nowhere. Even from far away, it made people feel intensely oppressed.

Marine Headquarters, main fortress.

Inside the Fleet Admiral's office, Zephyr and Sengoku were still handling the materials left over from the assessment. This assessment would largely determine where these recruits went after graduation. The top hundred in particular required the two leaders' careful consideration.

"Then this Hughes Piedman will remain at headquarters," Sengoku said, tapping the list as he spoke to Zephyr beside him.

Zephyr pulled out Hughes Piedman's file from the documents on the desk. After looking it over, he nodded. "Yes, that works. Although he ranked outside the top twenty in this assessment, his swordsmanship is quite good."

Seeing that Zephyr had no objections, Sengoku took out a red pen and marked the name. "He'll start as a Seaman Second Class. We'll decide on promotion later based on his military achievements."

Just then, that familiar pressure suddenly enveloped them. The air itself seemed to freeze, and both men paused at the same time.

The sensation was mysterious and indescribable, giving them the tense feeling of prey facing a predator.

At first, Sengoku thought someone had awakened Conqueror's Haki, but after investigating, he discovered that no one had fainted.

Feeling as if his heart had been seized by an invisible hand, Sengoku took a deep breath and calmed the agitation within him. Then he smiled bitterly at Zephyr. "I heard that kid Loa killed the only Silverback Great Ape on the island?"

Without looking up, Zephyr continued flipping through the documents in his hands. "That's right. He first used a large-scale attack to heavily injure it, but you know how tenacious a Silverback Great Ape's vitality is. Even with its heart shattered, it can still go berserk for five minutes. Facing the berserk Silverback Great Ape, Loa used the move he had been developing all along and beat it to death with his fists and feet."

"Oh?" Sengoku let out a surprised sound. "Didn't you say he was weak in close combat? He actually managed to kill a Silverback Great Ape?"

At that, Zephyr raised his head. It was as if he could see that figure from a few days ago again. Shaking his head, he pulled out a stack of photographs from his pocket and handed them to Sengoku.

"I issued a gag order to everyone present. I originally planned to give these materials to you tomorrow after organizing them properly, but since you brought it up, take a look now."

Seeing Zephyr's solemn expression, Sengoku was somewhat baffled. He muttered as he accepted the photographs. "What kind of power could make even you this nervous? No matter what, he's still just—what is this?"

Sengoku's pupils shrank. He slammed his hand onto the desk and stood up, staring fixedly at the photograph in his hand.

"That might be the power of a dragon!"

Resting his chin on one hand, Zephyr spoke with a sigh. "Fortunately, something this terrifying doesn't exist in reality. Sometimes, I truly wonder whether Loa is even a Devil Fruit user. This power is simply too frightening."

Sengoku did not answer. He carefully examined the photographs one by one.

In the photographs was Loa fighting the Silverback Great Ape after erupting with dragon scales. Those savage claws and Bone Spikes all radiated intense killing intent. His cold golden vertical pupils were utterly indifferent, and even when he suffered heavy blows, they showed not the slightest emotion. He looked like one of the Gods, quietly watching over the mortal world.

But that was not what shocked Sengoku. There was something else.

At the edge of the photograph, a floating pebble had been circled in red ink. Following the markings, he saw that many objects at the edge of the battlefield between man and beast had been marked.

Then, comparing it with the next photograph, Sengoku discovered that those objects had not moved in the slightest. In the previous photo, Loa had been sent flying and crashed right beside that pebble. In such an intense battle, even without a direct collision, the wind pressure alone could probably blow away a living person, let alone a pebble.

What followed was even more shocking. No matter how fierce the battle between the two became, the marked objects seemed rooted to the photographs themselves. They did not change in the slightest until the battle ended.

Sengoku heavily slapped the photographs onto the desk, his expression more serious than ever.

"Zephyr, what is your guess?"

"Ah, perhaps some sort of time-based or space-based ability."

Zephyr looked through the window toward the distant recruit dormitories. There, Loa was wantonly radiating his pressure. "Kuzan told me that Loa's freezing ability differs from his. Loa focuses more on the characteristic of freezing itself, which is why Kuzan's attributes are restrained by Loa's. So I suspect that perhaps the pinnacle of the Ice Dragon Fruit can freeze spacetime."