It was already late at night when he returned to the orphanage.
The other children were fast asleep. Only the window of Nonō's room at the end of the hallway still had a light on.
Lin Ze softened his footsteps and slipped quietly back into his room. Closing the door behind him, he leaned against it and let out a long breath.
The room was tiny, with only a wooden plank bed and a battered wooden chest, but in Lin Ze's eyes, it had become the safest of havens.
Lin Ze sat on the edge of the bed and examined his body again in the faint light coming through the gap beneath the door.
He took off his shirt. The scars left by training had completely vanished, and his skin was smooth and firm. He could faintly make out the contours of muscles beneath it, making him considerably sturdier than other children his age.
Lin Ze tried circulating the newly born power within him. The scale patterns on his skin grew a little clearer, giving off a faint azure glow.
"Zoan Devil Fruits have three transformations: human form, hybrid form, and full beast form..."
"And there's also Devil Fruit Awakening!"
"In my current state, I should still be in the most basic human form, only able to use part of its power."
Recalling the rules from One Piece, Lin Ze tried directing the power into his arm, wanting to test a rudimentary hybrid form.
The scale patterns on his arm quickly deepened. His skin bulged, azure scales gradually emerged, and his nails grew sharp and curved, gleaming coldly.
But the process did not go smoothly, as though something was blocking it. Before the transformation was even halfway complete, the scales suddenly receded with a swish. His arm returned to normal, with a faint tingling numbness.
"Looks like it won't be that easy to control."
Lin Ze was not discouraged. If anything, he thought it was only natural. It would have been strange if he could freely wield such tremendous power the moment he obtained it.
"But how am I supposed to explain this power?"
Lin Ze frowned. This was the trickiest problem at present.
Although Konoha had families like the Inuzuka Clan, who formed contracts with animals, their abilities were inherited secret techniques, and their transformations were limited. They were completely different from the almost fantastical power of the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon.
"Maybe I could disguise it as some kind of special taijutsu?"
"I could say I found an ancient taijutsu manual by the river, one that uses a special breathing method to stimulate mutations in the body... It's a bit far-fetched, but that's still better than exposing the Devil Fruit."
"No, no, I don't actually have a manual. If I can't hand it over when the time comes, I'll probably end up taking a trip to the Interrogation Department..."
Lin Ze rubbed his chin in thought. Or should he simply hide his strength and only use it at critical moments?
But once he entered the Ninja Academy, physical clashes during training would be inevitable. If anyone noticed his strength increasing abnormally, it would inevitably arouse suspicion.
Lin Ze tossed and turned in bed, thinking all night before he gradually worked out an approach.
His most pressing task was to build a solid foundation before entering the Ninja Academy.
He could not stop his taijutsu training. In fact, he had to work even harder than before, using taijutsu as a cover for the fruit's power so that others would believe his strength came from training rather than an innate supernatural ability.
And he would certainly have to avoid using his beast forms in the village whenever possible.
It seemed he could only practice developing his Devil Fruit Powers at home at night.
"Six more years..."
"Six years should be enough for me to gain a certain degree of control over the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon."
Lin Ze gazed at the ceiling, his eyes becoming utterly resolute. He clenched his fists, feeling the power stirring within him, and his lips curved into a confident smile.
"Just wait, world. I, Lin Ze, am coming."
When Lin Ze first transmigrated into this world, he had been quite happy. After all, he had another chance at life, and in the familiar Hokage World, no less.
But when he discovered that his talent for ninjutsu was abysmal and that he had neither a bloodline limit nor any inherited secret techniques, he was devastated.
Living as a civilian was out of the question. Not in this lifetime.
Even if a civilian might avoid being sent to the battlefield during the Shinobi World Wars, the Night of the Nine-Tails and Pain's "a bag of rice can carry how many floors" had destroyed most of Konoha.
A civilian who knew no ninjutsu could only leave everything to fate, and Lin Ze, who had just died once, did not want to gamble on that luck.
As for leaving Konoha to live somewhere else, setting aside whether he could even leave, Lin Ze maintained that without strength, everywhere was the same. The village his body's original owner came from had been wiped out by a band of wandering ninja...
But then Lin Ze suddenly thought of a crucial issue-the most fatal weakness of Devil Fruit users: seawater and seastone!
"Although this world has no seastone or seastone factor, it'll be a real screwjob if even ordinary water affects me."
Scratching his head, Lin Ze decided to perform a simple test.
He got straight to work, finding the wooden tub used for bathing and drilling a small hole in its bottom.
After filling it with water, he quickly stripped naked, pulled out the wooden plug, and jumped in, immersing his entire body.
"According to the original story, even bathwater makes Devil Fruit users go weak all over..."
He muttered as he soaked.
One second, two seconds... The water level in the tub slowly dropped.
A minute passed, and Lin Ze discovered to his astonishment that he was completely fine!
"Huh? Ordinary water has no effect at all?"
The discovery left him both surprised and delighted, but then he felt that something was off.
"Is it because this isn't seawater?"
"Or could it be..."
Lin Ze rubbed his chin in thought.
He recalled that those who ate Devil Fruits were cursed by the sea and became unable to swim.
But that curse belonged to the world of One Piece.
And this was the Hokage World! Could a previous dynasty's sword execute the current dynasty's officials?
"Brilliant!"
At that thought, Lin Ze grinned. In high spirits, he simply enjoyed a nice, comfortable bath.
On a winter night in Konoha Year 37, the wind was bitterly cold.
Two months had passed since Lin Ze ate the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon.
By the stream behind the orphanage, Lin Ze wiped the sweat from his forehead, finishing three hours of taijutsu training.
By now, Lin Ze's daily training had reached a twenty-kilometer run, two hundred push-ups, two hundred sit-ups, and two hundred squats. He was practically Saitama 2.0.
There were also five hundred straight punches and five hundred side kicks. Including breaks, it took roughly three or four hours each day.
The recovery ability granted by the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon allowed him to endure more intense exercise than ordinary children, but the exhaustion was still very real. Besides, he also had to attend some basic lessons at the orphanage.
He looked up at the sky. The distant streetlights were already on, their dim yellow light casting long shadows across the snow.
"That's enough for today."
Lin Ze stretched his aching shoulders and neck. Ever since obtaining the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon, he had sneaked out to the stream every afternoon to train, then returned to his room at night to practice his Devil Fruit Powers. He could now reliably maintain his partially transformed arm for around ten minutes, and his strength had increased considerably since the beginning.
"I'll test the dragon scales' defense some more tomorrow. If they can take a kunai head-on, my chances of survival will be much higher..."
Lin Ze thought as he walked, when suddenly a faint sobbing interrupted his thoughts.
"Hm?"
Lin Ze stopped and looked toward the sound.
Beneath a large tree at the edge of the training ground, a small figure crouched.
Long black hair, burgundy eyes, and a white padded coat. The figure's shoulders trembled, clearly crying.
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