Vic woke up three hours later. He sat up, still a little dazed, but the pain from his wounds brought him fully back to consciousness.
Looking down at the numerous wounds on his body, Vic couldn't help but smile bitterly. Devil Fruit User the Rumble-Rumble Fruit had actually been struck by lightning; he was probably the first in history to do so. Nevertheless, he stood up and walked back to the lightning-free area to sit cross-legged. He needed to heal his injuries first before thinking about anything else.
Although there were many wounds, some of which were torn and bleeding, they were nothing to Vic, a top-notch doctor. They were much easier to treat than any cancer, bacterial or viral infection.
However, Vic discovered that some of the flesh in the wounds on his body had already died. This was a manifestation of how lightning extinguishes life. The damage from lightning is not very visible on the outside; one can only see some charred blackening of the body and curly hair.
But what truly threatens life is lightning's ability to extinguish life; it can cause the cells of an organism to die directly. If the death of cells reaches a certain proportion, or if a large number of cells in major organs die, it can be fatal.
Vic used his ability to accelerate the cell division at the wound site, allowing the new cells to replace the dead ones. His wounds quickly scabbed over and fell off along with the necrotic flesh.
The new skin, apart from being a bit whiter, was exactly the same as before. That's Vic's ability; it wouldn't even leave a single scar.
After all his wounds were completely healed, he used Life Return to restore his hair and body shape to their original state. Apart from some tattered clothes, there was no trace of his previous injuries.
"Could the strangeness of this island really be a natural phenomenon? Otherwise, why would there be black lightning that can harm me? Does this black lightning possess the properties of Armament Haki?"
Vic stared at the dense black lightning and muttered to himself. This lightning was emerging from the cracks in the ground, and even with Vic's Armament Haki, he couldn't withstand a single strike.
His desire to continue exploring also calmed down. No matter what strange things this island might have, he decided to put them behind him and focus on improving himself first. As long as he became stronger and more Haki, he could continue exploring. Raijin Island was right here, he couldn't escape it.
"I wonder how many layers of lightning there are. If I could develop my Rumble-Rumble Fruit to the point where a single strike could reach the power of this black lightning, then I would have fully developed this ability. I wonder if I could simulate all these different types of lightning here. If I could, then this island would be the benchmark for my future ability development!"
Vic took out food from his Dimensional Space to replenish the energy consumed in healing his injuries, but his mind was still racing. What he had seen and heard on Raijin Island gave him an idea for developing the power of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
In the past, when he sparred with the old man, even the power of pure lightning couldn't break through his defenses. His original lightning was clearly not powerful enough against the defenses of Haki.
It's not that Armament Haki can make one immune to all Devil Fruit abilities; it depends on which is stronger. There are many examples of people who used Armament Haki for defense but were still defeated by other abilities.
The most typical example is Law using his ability to cut down Vergo, whose entire body was covered in Armament Haki. So nothing is absolute, and Haki can't always be above everything!
After eating, Vic replenished his energy. He didn't challenge the black lightning zone again, but returned to the crimson lightning zone to cultivate. However, he didn't last long before returning to the lightning-free zone to recover his Haki.
This time, Vic didn't rely on food to accelerate the recovery of his Haki. He wanted to save the food to sustain his body's energy expenditure and allow him to train here for a longer period of time. In this lightning-free zone, the recovery speed of his Haki was already quite fast.
Two weeks later, Vic left Raijin Island. He could clearly sense that his Haki had increased slightly, a feeling that he found incredibly captivating.
However, he couldn't just focus on becoming stronger. Even though he hadn't finished his food, he resolutely left, took out Rebecca's Vivre Card, Vic vanished into the clouds in the sky like Inazuma.
Vic quickly returned to Punk Hazard, which was exactly the same as when he left. Upon his return, Vic went to find Vegapunk, but Old Bei was too busy to pay him any attention.
Vic estimated that the gravity bracelet probably hadn't been developed yet. He knew that this couldn't be rushed; it was easier said than done. Besides, Vegapunk had other research projects and couldn't possibly work only for Vic.
Afterwards, he went to the training ground arranged for Rebecca and the others. Barnett and the others were also there, either training alone or sparring together; this was their daily routine.
When there are no external enemies, Punk Hazard is the most idle. Vic didn't tell them directly that he was going to take them to train, but first had someone prepare a large amount of food. He would stay for more than half a month before he went.
The next day, Vic took Rebecca and set off in a small boat, which was filled with easily preserved food.
The small boat didn't sail on the sea; Rebecca used the power of the Float-Float Fruit to make it fly in the air, following the Eternal Pose Vic had created on Raijin Island. She would definitely be visiting that place often in the future, so creating Eternal Pose was essential.
" Vic! Where are you taking me with all this food? You wouldn't tell me before, you were so mysterious!"
Rebecca looked at Vic with anticipation, thinking he had called Vic out alone for a romantic getaway. He'd even prepared so much food – they were going to be alone together for a long time! When did Vic, that blockhead, finally see the light? Rebecca was overjoyed.
"Didn't I explore Raijin Island before? I felt it was related to my Rumble-Rumble Fruit ability, and it turned out that the lightning on that island has a special function."
Training on that island can accelerate the growth of Armament Haki. I don't know if it only works for me, a user of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit Devil Fruit User, or for everyone. I brought you here to verify that.
If this food is useful to everyone, I'll bring Barnett back for training once we've used it up. Your strength all needs improvement; I have a feeling a great battle awaits us in the near future!
Vic was unaware of Rebecca's true thoughts; he simply articulated his purpose in a different way.
If Rebecca and the others could become stronger in this muddled way, then Vic would naturally not reveal the real reason. If possible, Vic would choose to keep it to himself, and the lightning of Raijin Island would be a good excuse.
"Oh!"