Awakening: Pseudo-Dragonification

"Freeze Spacetime."

Sengoku murmured Zephyr's words, then fell into deep thought. Indeed, aside from freezing spacetime, he could think of no other explanation for that ability.

Mythical Zoans, fruits even rarer than Logia Devil Fruits, each possessed strange and unusual special abilities.

Phoenix Marco's regenerative trait and the shockwave properties of his own Buddha Form were examples of this.

If that was the case, then it would not be strange for Loa's Ice Dragon Fruit to possess the ability to freeze spacetime—my ass!

This was freezing spacetime! Once developed, what a terrifying ability it would be!

Not much was needed. As long as Loa could freeze an opponent at the Yonko level for one second, Sengoku would dare to head to the New World and reclaim lost territory right now.

Who cared about the Shichibukai or the most wicked Revolutionary Army? They could all get lost. If they refused to submit, he would bring Loa and Kizaru along. With one second of utterly defenseless vulnerability, even if they could not kill them, they could still beat them half to death.

Sengoku excitedly shared his thoughts with his old friend, then suddenly sighed. "But it looks like unless Loa reaches that point, he probably does not even know he has this ability."

"Of course." Zephyr picked up the photographs from the desk. "Otherwise, we would never have gotten these pictures. With that brat's slippery nature, he would definitely hide a trump card like this deep, deep away. Besides, even if he were not afraid of exposing it and could use it freely, he should have frozen the Silverback Great Ape's time directly and killed it with one punch."

At that, Zephyr reminded Sengoku, "However, judging from the photos, objects whose time has been frozen by the Ice Dragon are unaffected by outside forces. I doubt your plan can be realized."

"Ah! True." Sengoku sighed and stroked the goat's head at his feet. "No matter what, it is still too early to discuss these things. Whether Loa can develop it to that extent remains unknown. Before he reaches that point, Ghost knows how much trouble he will cause me! Do you know how many anonymous complaint letters about Loa I received last month? There were even quite a few from those instructors!"

"Hehe."

Faced with his old friend's complaints, Zephyr recalled what Loa had done last month and sank into thought with a smile at the corner of his lips.

At that moment, Loa had no idea how many "legends" he had left behind on the island. He genuinely had not noticed anything about freezing spacetime.

In that fierce battle, without Observation Haki, why would he distract himself with a stone by his feet that posed no threat whatsoever? How stupid would he have to be?

The Silverback Great Ape's fists were no joke.

What troubled him now was what to do if his military uniform tore and he could not sew it. Online waiting, very urgent.

"Ahh, I forgot again. This was my last set of clothes!"

Just moments ago, after the blue energy entered Loa's body, the Dragon Pattern on him immediately began pulsing out of control. Pale-blue Dragon Scales flickered into view across his skin in time with the rhythm.

Loa froze for a moment, then immediately understood what was happening.

Just as he was about to take off his clothes, the Dragon Scales burst through his skin. He was still too late. His pants and T-shirt had already been slashed apart by the sharp Dragon Scales, and there was a large hole in the back of his clothes, through which a pair of bat wings stubbornly poked out into the air.

Because he had been distracted by the pain of spending Beli and his training problems, Loa had begun leveling up directly without taking off his clothes.

When the Dragon Force within him boiled over and Dragon Scales began growing out, Loa's first reaction, caught off guard, was: Holy shit!

Do not blame Loa for having such a limited vocabulary. When happiness, sadness, excitement, and grief could all be described with a single "holy shit," why use so many words?

This was a huge problem.

Military uniforms were part of a military force's image. They embodied the force's military and political character and were among the most solemn pieces of military equipment.

The Marines had always imposed extremely strict requirements on soldiers' attire. No matter how individualistic the three Admirals' suits were, that Justice cloak was indispensable on formal occasions.

That was enough to prove how strict the Marines were about military uniforms.

For ordinary soldiers, the Marines stipulated that if a uniform was damaged outside of combat, then when receiving a new uniform, the soldier had to run one lap around the fortress bare-chested while holding the newly issued uniform, all while shouting, "I was wrong!" as a warning to others.

Because he had blanked out for one second, Loa's movements had been a little too slow. Therefore, his schedule for tomorrow was easy to imagine.

"Ahh, why am I so unlucky?" Loa sighed as he picked up the torn strips of cloth from the ground and set them aside.

Opening the panel again, Loa examined his upgraded attributes.

Name: Christopher Loa

Energy Stage: Second Tier, Sixth Level

Energy: 0/1000

Magic Power: 9000/9000

Magic Power Recovery Speed: 850/

His magic power continued to increase by 1,000 points per level, which was basically fixed. Loa guessed that unless he crossed from the Second Tier to the Third Tier, his magic power would not experience explosive growth.

After examining the attribute panel, Loa found that Dragon Body and Dragon Force had not changed on the skill panel. However, beside Ice-Make Magic, another icon had extended from Dragon Force, faintly giving off the golden glow that represented usability.

"This is a new skill!"

Loa stared at the icon in delighted surprise. He was certain that no icon had been there before. It was not grayed out to indicate that it could not be used—it simply had not existed at all!

This was a truly new skill!

He hurriedly tapped the icon to check its attributes.

Awakening: Pseudo-Dragonification: After use, Dragon Force enters a low-concentration awakened state, temporarily increasing Dragon Body compatibility by one stage and stopping before the second critical point. Magic power recovery speed increases, Dragon Slayer Magic strength increases, consumes 0 magic power per second, and after the state ends, Dragon Force awakening is increased according to its duration.

From that description, Loa keenly grasped two key points.

First, he had always believed that Dragon Body improved from nothing through training, allowing him to bear more and more Dragon Force and increase its percentage. But this skill's description proved that he had been wrong.

It was not that his physical fitness had grown stronger, allowing him to bear more Dragon Force. On the contrary, it was after his body could adapt to more Dragon Force that his physical fitness became stronger.

Dragon Body emphasized compatibility. Since it was compatibility, there had to be a primary side and a secondary side.

So, Loa was adapting himself to the Dragon Force that already existed, not training it and making it stronger.

Thinking about it, that made sense. The system had clearly stated that Dragon Body was the degree to which a Dragon Slayer adapted to Dragon Force. Since it was adaptation rather than endurance, he had obviously been heading in the wrong direction from the start.

Dragon Force and Dragon Body: one was a dragon's power, and the other was a dragon's body.

A dragon's power and body were naturally perfectly compatible. But because Loa was human, even though his body had been modified by Dragon Slayer Magic, he still could not perfectly inherit that power and had to slowly adapt to the Dragon Force.

He was not building a house from nothing. He was climbing stairs.

This discovery pointed out the direction for Loa's future training and could save him a great deal of time.

The second key point Loa discovered was that the techniques he developed could actually affect the system in reverse.

The skill "Awakening: Pseudo-Dragonification" had not existed before and had never been recorded by the system. Yet now it had appeared and even become usable.

Loa thought over what he had done recently, and there was only one answer: he had developed his ultimate move—First Release.

The effects after First Release transformation went without saying. Although it still could not compare to Natsu's true awakened form in the later parts of the original story, it was considerably stronger than the state where Dragon Scales burst from Natsu's body at the Tower of Heaven.

It was precisely because Loa had completed and used this move that, after he leveled up, the system recorded it.

Every time he leveled up, it did not just affect himself; it also affected the system. It was like a software update, where new functions were added after an upgrade.

PS: Can anyone tell me what the hell 500 points are? My old account could always reply and post, so what is going on with new accounts now?

PS: Regarding updates, I am working part-time. Being able to update 5,000 words daily already means I am trying very hard, right?