The journey of the Wangcai continues.
Although Galdino agreed to join, Noah did not immediately enroll him in the training camp, mainly because he was a bit too old, already 21 years old this year.
Therefore, Noah temporarily arranged for Galdino to accompany the ship.
This time, their destination was the famous Longarm Tribe Kingdom in the South Blue – the White Mountain Kingdom.
The culture of the White Mountain Kingdom is quite unique, similar to the Flower Country of the West Blue. Scratchmen Apoo, the later captain of the On Air Pirates, was Longarm Tribe born in the White Mountain Kingdom of the South Blue.
Noah and his group's goal was to find the Tone-Tone Fruit that Apoo hadn't yet eaten; actually, the correct name for this fruit should be the Musical Instrument Fruit.
In the storyline of One Piece, three Devil Fruits related to music have appeared: the Sound Wave-Sound Wave Fruit, the Sing-Sing Fruit, and the Tone-Tone Fruit.
Judging from Apoo's later development of his abilities, the concept of the Tone-Tone Fruit is that of a musical instrument superhuman.
Uta's Sing-Sing Fruit, on the other hand, leans towards the superpower of creating melodies.
The Sound Wave-Sound Wave Fruit that Anthony ate leans towards superpowers based on the physical nature of sound vibration.
There are certain differences among the three, but also some overlap.
Noah discovered, through tarot card divination, that the Tone-Tone Fruit was located within the territory of the White Mountain Kingdom.
On their journey to the White Mountain Kingdom at full speed.
Galdino had no choice but to accept Noah's comprehensive teaching, which included not only academic subjects but also classes on Haki, physical skills, and ability development.
Noah watched Galdino create wax soldiers and various candle weapons, and calmly reminded him, "Your development in candle sculpting is already quite good, but you haven't fully grasped the conceptual essence of the Wax-Wax Fruit."
"The essence of the concept?" The semi-literate Galdino looked completely bewildered, clearly unaware of the essence of wax.
"Wax is essentially a solid form of oil, understand? The wax you're making with your abilities is actually paraffin wax."
Galdino held the wax ball in his hand, and soon it melted into a puddle of oil.
Noah continued, "Paraffin is wax, butter is wax, soap is wax, and all kinds of oils are essentially a type of wax."
He casually took out a row of reagent bottles from the card inventory; these bottles contained various kinds of wax.
These include paraffin wax, lignite wax, beeswax, insect wax, whale wax, lanolin wax, wood wax, rice bran wax, coconut wax, butter, soap, cheese, etc.
Galdino picked up a piece of butter and felt its texture.
In no time, he transformed the wax on his other hand into butter.
"Lord Noah, butter doesn't seem to be anything special. I can make it with paraffin wax just as well."
Noah shook his head. "Every substance has its own characteristics. It's rare for two substances to have the same properties. Can paraffin be eaten? Butter can provide nutrition, which paraffin cannot."
Galdino seemed to be deep in thought. He ate the butter in his hand and discovered properties that the wax products he hadn't had before.
"You can combine butter and cheese, adjusting their proportions and ingredients, to create a butter wax that can serve as an emergency food," Noah suggested.
In Noah's view, the Wax-Wax Fruit was a superior version of the Cheese-Cheese Fruit, Butter-Butter Fruit, and Wash-Wash Fruit.
Although the Wax-Wax Fruit cannot create permanent wax products out of thin air, it can utilize the existing oils to carry out large-scale modification and manufacturing.
For example, industrially produced paraffin oil can be used to manufacture butter, cheese, soap, and beeswax, or vice versa. This kind of modified manufacturing is the key development direction for the Wax-Wax Fruit, a creation-type Devil Fruit.
In addition to the development of these special wax products, Noah also pointed out some other development directions:
"Your application of the Wax-Wax Fruit is still too superficial. As Devil Fruit User, you should know that Devil Fruit users are vulnerable to seawater."
Galdino: "I know that."
"But what you don't know is that the Wax-Wax Fruit is one of the few Devil Fruit that allows its user to enter seawater."
"What? We can still go swimming?"
"The wax coating is waterproof; you'll see once you try it."
Galdino quickly smeared wax on his body and then put his hands into the bucket of seawater.
Sure enough, his hands were completely submerged in seawater, yet he didn't feel any weakness in his body, which made him involuntarily excited. "Great, I can swim in the sea again!"
"Don't get too excited. While the wax coating is indeed waterproof, it's also fragile. This means that if you're in the sea and attacked by a sea monster or enemy, you could be killed instantly!"
Gurgle! Galdino was startled, and the thought of the wax coating cracking in the sea sent chills down his spine.
"And you haven't noticed another problem. The wax coating is just like putting on a diving suit, but you're not Fish-Man; you can't breathe normally in the sea. This problem must be solved."
"Lord Noah, you must have a way, right?" Galdino became even more respectful to Noah.
"There are two methods: one is to carry a respirator and oxygen cylinder with you, and the other is to use artificial gills."
Galdino didn't find the first method difficult to understand, but the second method made him, who was already lacking in knowledge, realize the difference in intelligence between people:
"Lord Noah, where can I buy artificial fish gills?"
Noah gave me a look that said, "Are you out of your mind? Did you eat your Wax-Wax Fruit nothing? Can't you make something this simple yourself?"
"Uh..." Galdino pointed to his face. "Make it myself? That sounds difficult, doesn't it?"
"Foolish! Why don't you catch a few fish and imitate their gill structure?" Noah scolded him, sounding exasperated.
"Huh? This seems to work! As expected of Lord Noah." Galdino slapped his fist against his palm, looking as if Satori.
This is a scenario that Noah frequently encounters when guiding others in developing their Devil Fruit abilities.
To accelerate Galdino's ability development, Noah would throw him into the sea for two hours every day, then tie him with ropes to keep him in the water with a wax coating and wax gills.
At other times, Kuro would use Armament Haki to train Galdino's body, letting him experience Armament Haki and also trying to activate his Observation Haki.
On his journey to the White Mountain Kingdom, Galdino fully experienced what it meant to experience "pain and pleasure at the same time."
Of course, Noah also placed great emphasis on ideological education, using his words and deeds to help Galdino understand the true nature of the world.
One month later.
The Wangcai arrived at Yuzu Island in the White Mountain Kingdom.
After disguising themselves, Noah and his party stopped at Yuzu Port on Yuzu Island, where they prepared to gather intelligence on the kingdom.
Inside a bar at the port.
Noah and Galdino were drinking black tea and gleaning some information from the bartender and a dozen other customers.