There was no foul stench as he had imagined, nor any strange, nauseating taste.
The flesh had a cool, tingling sensation, as though tiny currents were bursting on his tongue. It was hardly delicious, but it certainly did not taste bad.
"Even the taste changed?"
Fang Xu looked at the fruit in his hand. The more he thought about it, the more absurd it seemed.
Did removing its original weaknesses include the awful taste of Devil Fruits?
This talent was pretty thoughtful.
He finished the entire Rumble-Rumble Fruit in a few bites.
The instant he swallowed the last mouthful, it felt as though a bolt of lightning had ignited deep inside his body.
Crackle!
Fine arcs leaped from his fingertips. Fang Xu lowered his head and looked at his hand.
His skin was still the same, but it felt as though a surging river of lightning now flowed beneath it.
His chakra was still there.
The Rumble-Rumble Fruit's power had also truly merged with his body.
The two systems did not repel each other. Instead, each remained distinct.
Immediately afterward, a vast amount of experience in using the Rumble-Rumble Fruit flooded his mind.
These were not ordinary written instructions, but insights from having personally used it countless times.
How to turn his body into lightning.
How to compress electric currents into the shapes of birds and beasts.
How to use lightning for high-speed movement.
How to smelt metal with electrical heat.
How to judge the intensity of electrical discharge his body could withstand.
Fang Xu closed his eyes, his forehead covered in sweat.
There was far too much experience.
Enel's control over the fruit, his understanding of lightning, the pitfalls he had encountered while developing techniques-all of it poured into Fang Xu's mind like a tide.
Only after a long while did he open his eyes.
"Elementalization."
Fang Xu raised his right hand and called on the power, following the feeling in his mind.
The next second, his fingers began to glow.
Their flesh-and-blood outlines dispersed, turning into a stretch of dancing blue-white electricity.
It worked!
Fang Xu's heart jolted, and he kept pushing.
His palm, his wrist, his forearm... the electric light rapidly spread upward.
Half his body turned into lightning. Ordinary physical attacks against him in this state could not strike anything solid.
This was the most unfair thing about Logias.
Without Armament Haki, Seastone, or an elemental counter, Elementalization was practically impossible to deal with.
In the Shinobi World, the vast majority of Genin and Chunin, and even quite a few Jonin, would suffer badly upon encountering this ability for the first time.
But his excitement lasted only ten seconds.
The moment the tenth second passed, Fang Xu's face suddenly went pale.
His elementalized state collapsed outright.
His body returned to flesh and blood, his legs went weak, and he nearly fell headfirst to the ground.
"Huff... huff..."
Fang Xu braced himself against the table, gasping for breath.
Maintaining Elementalization for just ten seconds had drained a huge chunk of his stamina.
His chest felt tight, his limbs were weak, and even standing steady took effort.
"This body is too weak."
Fang Xu gave a bitter laugh.
The Rumble-Rumble Fruit was indeed powerful, and Enel's experience in developing it was indeed complete.
But experience was one thing, and his body was another.
Enel could unleash wide-ranging lightning attacks at will because he had eaten the fruit years ago, and his body had long since adapted to power of that intensity.
Right now, Fang Xu was merely a civilian boy from Konoha.
His chakra reserves were on the low side, his taijutsu fundamentals were average, and his physical fitness could not possibly compare to Enel's.
The Perfected Rumble-Rumble Fruit had given him top-tier potential, but it had not directly strengthened his physique.
Forcing out high-powered electrical discharges would only drain him dry first.
"I can't use the fruit's abilities recklessly."
After catching his breath, Fang Xu's gaze grew serious.
"I have to train my body."
He rested for a long time, waiting until some color returned to his face before leaving the little house.
There was too little space inside. Testing Elementalization was fine, but if he actually tested techniques, a moment's carelessness might demolish his own house.
Fang Xu did not go to the training grounds.
There were too many people and prying eyes there. It was no place to reveal the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
He forced himself to make his way to a riverbank on the outskirts of the village.
The river was narrow, and nearby trees screened the area. People rarely came here.
Fang Xu stood by the river and raised his right hand.
"I'll try the simplest electrical discharge first."
Crackle!
Several thin arcs flew from his palm and struck the river's surface.
Rings of ripples burst across the water, and several small fish floated up belly-first.
Fang Xu's eyelid twitched.
Its power was worlds apart from Enel's.
But for him right now, it was already extraordinary.
Ordinary kunai and shuriken had to hit their targets to cause damage, while lightning was both fast and hard to dodge.
He took a deep breath and changed his stance.
"Lightning Assault."
Power surged inside him, and Fang Xu's body instantly turned into a streak of blue-white electricity that shot forward.
His speed surged abruptly.
Almost before he could register anything but a blur, he had swept several meters forward, the earth beneath his feet scorched black by electricity.
But the next instant, his chest tightened, and his momentum cut off at once.
Fang Xu staggered two steps and nearly fell into the river.
"No good. The distance is too short, and my control is poor."
He panted, forcing himself to calm down.
When Enel moved with lightning, he was like an actual lightning bolt. What Fang Xu could manage now was, at best, a short burst over a small distance.
It was already powerful enough for surprise attacks and dodging.
But he was still far from being able to travel long distances.
Fang Xu rested briefly, then raised his hand again and aimed at a waist-high rock beside the riverbank.
"Thunder Bird."
The sensation of Enel using this technique surfaced in his mind.
Gather the current, compress its form, turn lightning into a bird, and blast the enemy dead in an instant.
But when he actually tried it himself, his body immediately protested.
His chakra remained untouched, while the Rumble-Rumble Fruit drained his stamina first.
Lightning gathered in his palm for a long time before barely forming a fist-sized blue-white Thunder Bird.
It was in an entirely different league from Enel's enormous Thunder Birds.
Fang Xu gritted his teeth and flung his hand.
The Thunder Bird flew out and struck the rock.
Boom!
A scorched mark burst across the rock's surface, and fragments scattered everywhere.
The rock had not shattered, but the strike had blasted a fist-deep black crater into it.
Fang Xu stared at the black crater, his heart burning.
Even weakened this much, it still has this kind of destructive power.
If my stamina improves and the Thunder Bird takes its true form, how powerful will it be?
He tried Thunder Beast and Thunder Dragon next.
The results were even clearer.
The Thunder Beast dispersed as soon as a vague outline formed.
The Thunder Dragon had not even formed its head before his stamina was drained to the bottom.
As for the even more outrageous wide-area techniques, Fang Xu gave up after merely thinking about them.
It was not that he did not know how.
This body simply could not sustain that kind of expenditure.
He stood by the river, sweat dripping from his forehead, tiny arcs still lingering in his palm.
He could not perform most of the techniques.
Even those he could use were greatly weakened by his lack of stamina.
But even so, Lightning Assault, Elementalization, and the weakened Thunder Bird had already completely changed the way he fought.
Panting, Fang Xu looked at the scorched rock on the riverbank, with only one thought remaining in his mind: Even if I still can't use most of the techniques, and even if the power of those I can use is held back by my stamina, my overall strength has still increased dramatically.