One Piece – Halfway Broken

Chapter 126: The Torino Kingdom

Luffy let out a low whistle as he finally laid eyes on the Torino Kingdom Library. Robin hadn’t been kidding that there were more works here than even the Frozen Library on Drakestone had held. An entire ‘tier’ of the giant tree was filled by the library, and since that ‘tier’ was easily a hundred meters high, there had to be tens of thousands of works within the Torino Kingdom’s library. Intellectually, Luffy knew that there had been larger collections in his original world, in places like the Library of Congress. Yet, he’d never personally seen collections like that, which left this as easily the greatest single collection of knowledge he’d ever personally witnessed.

The fact that something like forty-five percent of it was apparently dedicated to just medicine, and another twenty-five to technology advances, was just as mind boggling. It was also, as it happened, part of why Vivi had been able to negotiate access for their crew. Apparently, this Library was not common knowledge, not in the way that the Tree of Knowledge or even the Frozen Library had been or still was. Certainly, the fact that it existed was known to the World Government, but the scale of it most certainly was not. Not yet, at least.

Which was a bit of a problem for the locals, considering recent events.

The Marines hadn’t exactly been in a mood to take ‘no’ for an answer about building a base here, a fact the natives had thankfully cottoned onto immediately. They’d bought time by giving ground, not fighting the Marines on the basing issue in exchange for largely being left alone in return. Building facilities and businesses to service Marines on shore leave had farther helped keep anyone from poking too deeply, particularly as it looked to the WG like the locals were being helpful by doing so. Something which meant that, for now, the World Government was legitimately ignorant of just how big the library here was. Yet the natives were far from stupid. They knew that ignorance wouldn’t last forever and were afraid of what might happen to the knowledge here when the realization eventually happened.

Most of it wasn’t really at risk, to be honest. The WG was likely to desire to raid rarer knowledge on medicine from the library, and possibly some technical information for things like the native rocket spears. But that much could likely be managed by offering to copy whatever the WG wanted out of the library. There was some risk that the WG would just take, rather than wait for a copy, but the natives had started quietly copying the rarest texts the moment the deal with the Marines for basing rights happened. It was unlikely that they’d lose too much, so long as they were ‘friendly’ with the powers that be.

The problem was that there were more than just medical texts here.

While the natives didn’t have anything on the Void Century, most of their archive having been gathered after that point in history, they did possess a great deal of…less than flattering works, regarding various topics. Journals that described the Celestial Dragons habits, such as slavery. Texts that could teach how to navigate places like the Grand Line, even the New World. Explorer’s accounts of finding Poneglyps, ancient treasures, and dirty little secrets. Details on technologies that the World Government believed only they knew how to perform…except that wasn’t the case, as many of the things people like Vegapunk had ‘discovered’ were really ‘rediscoveries’ rather than truly new information. Heck, even just within their own specialization of medicine, there were details on everything from cybernetics to combat drugs with the Torino Kingdom library.

The natives were, rightfully, afraid of what the WG would do if they found some of that material.

Enter Vivi, who had somehow gotten that truth out of Shanba. Luffy wasn’t even going to ask how. He was just going to assume some sort of secret diplomatic judo that only those trained in the black arts of politics could have pulled off. However she’d gotten it out of Shanba, it had also provided an unexpected opening. While it was, indeed, mostly those with some medical interest who were being allowed to see the Grand Library at first…Robin, Vivi, and Nojiko were also included. Specifically, because Vivi had somehow brokered a deal where copies of the texts the locals were worried about losing would be duplicated to both the Alabastian Royal Library and Neethrax’s personal hoard. The latter ensuring that it would be virtually impossible for the WG to wiped out the knowledge in said books.

That Vivi had also wrung concessions out of Neethrax for that honor was, again, some sort of political dark art that Luffy was too afraid to ask about.

Regardless, it meant that Himself, Chopper, Kaya, and Sanji were going to be allowed to study the medical sections of the library first. While Robin and Vivi went about arranging copies of the ‘dangerous’ works. Which, since it just so happened to include the sections of the library Robin was most interested in reading, had gotten Vivi a passionate kiss from the older woman that had left her bright red and mentally stun-locked for a good twenty minutes…

Shaking his head and grinning at the memory, Luffy turned to their guide. A native medicine man who’d been quite happy for the chance to talk shop with other healers.

“So, this ‘King’s Foil’ plant that grows here on Torino kingdom has healing properties on its own, but your books say something about a spiritual infusion which none of you have been able to make heads or tails of? That sounds like an excellent place to start to me, as Kaya and I both specialize in the more spiritual methods of healing. Perhaps we can draw the proper reaction out of the plant, if you can guide us to any books that have anything to say on the matter?”

Following the now even more enthusiastic guide, Luffy mentally noted that this stop might prove an even greater find than expected. He still wanted to find whatever it was that Chopper originally had regarding Zoan Fruit Mastery, but if some of the plants here were spiritually reactive, they might well prove just as interesting to research, and have more practical benefits for the entire crew besides…

… … …

Brook wasn’t particularly displeased that he had yet to be allowed on one of the trips to the Torino Library. While there were a few things that could be useful for him to look up, the truth was that he had less to gain from a library, any library really, than most of his crewmates. Besides which, he had a particularly fascinating project to work on. One which stemmed from the combination of discovering he could create facsimilias of himself that could play their own ‘spiritual instruments,’ and learning about Tonal Technology. It was, in fact, frustratingly easier to create the facsimilias than it was to recreate his own muscle and sinew, something he was still struggling to completely master. Though he was making progress on that trick, too.

Regardless, prior to their adventure on Highwater, the ability to play more than one instrument at a time had been little more than an interesting parlor trick. An ability that let him be a ‘one man band,’ as his Captain had labeled the concept. Admittedly, that was pretty amazing for a musician such as himself, and he’d taken to practicing with the ability as much for fun and to entertain the crew as for any practical reason. Until, that was, they’d come across the existence of Tonal Technology, which could response to sound in a complex manner.

He wouldn’t have gotten very far in his ideas of how to use that fact without Luffy and Pagaya’s help to better understand the technology side of things. With their help he’d created a series of new instruments. The primary was a viola rather than a Violin, the extra size helping to anchor a couple of pieces of Tonal Technology. The secondary instruments were a set of flutes and fiefs that could be easily passed out to his ‘orchestra.’ In total, they provided a way to set up a resonance frequency between them, that could do two things.

The first, which he was experimenting with now, was to create and guide that mysterious green energy the giant golem had used on Highwater. Once Brook got the music going, as it was now, he could use it to shift the energy into, so far, both a wave of force and a sort of cutting beam. Both gave him something he’d lacked before. Specifically, a ranged option. The fact that the longer and faster he played, the more powerful the building energy got, seeming not to lose too much momentum even when he destroyed something with it...well, it had potential to say the least!

Of course, there was one other thing he’d discovered the Tonal Technology added to the Viola in particular could do. It allowed him to interact with the strings he’d seen on living things far more easily. Terrifyingly, he’d discovered that those strings allowed him to treat the people they belonged to like puppets. Frankly, the ability was a little bit too much like a ghost story for him! It positively gave him the shivers! Yet, it was also an ability that could save his crew, if the worst came to worse. Determined to use it primarily as a last resort, Brook nevertheless set about practicing with it…

… … …

“Captain! I think I found something. Yes! Look here! There’s an entry that sounds a lot like it’s talking about Devil Fruit Awakening and its effects on the body!”

Luffy had convinced Chopper and Kaya to help him look through a subsection of work about Devil Fruits, hoping to stumble across whatever it was that had led to Chopper’s greater Zoan mastery. Until now, there had been some interesting things, but nothing truly enlightening. Which meant he was quick to respond to Chopper’s excited claim, placing a bookmark in the text he had been reading through and moving to look over Chopper’s shoulder. Chopper was quick to point to the passage in question with one hove. The work appeared to be a hand-written journal, though thankfully one whose writer had possessed a steady hand.

“See here. It doesn’t call it ‘Awakening,’ but it refers to a ‘higher state, which allows a more free-form control over the abilities granted by a Devil Fruit.’ If I didn’t know anything about Awakened states, I’d assume it was talking about something like my own multiple-forms, gained from a Zoan Fruit that shouldn’t be that malleable. But since I do know…”

Huh. Luffy had the sudden realization that this might actually be what Chopper had found originally, but he hadn’t known what the journal was talking about and made different assumptions. In which case, Luffy might need to nudge him onto the path of those assumptions himself. A problem, but hardly a major one, particularly given that Chopper seemed to be correct. The journal had a brief, but potentially useful, set of observations regarding changes that seemed very much like an Awakened Devil Fruit in use…

“Good job, Doctor Chopper! This might be just what I need. Though, the fact that it indicates physical changes makes me wonder if it might also hold the key you’ve been looking for regarding shifting forms without a drug. If you could encourage your Devil Fruit to make the physical changes it indicates, you might get some of the malleability even without a proper Awakening.”

From the intense look of thought that spread over Chopper’s face, Luffy thought he’d managed to put the idea in the little doctor’s head, at least. Hopefully that would be enough, assuming that there wasn’t some other book entirely that had details more specifically relevant to his situation. Mentally patting himself on the back for hopefully getting Chopper on track, he shook the egotistical self-congratulation off quickly and began to read what the journal had to say in full. Hopefully, it would be helpful in attempting to make his Awakened State more stable…

… … …

Perona had no interest in visiting the ugly, fat, shortie natives of Torino. She had even less interest in their supposed ‘Grand Library.’ Thankfully, her Mistress hadn’t been invited yet either, and she’d gotten to spend some time with her as a result, away from Boytoy Sanji! Sadly, that wasn’t what she was doing today. Training for the sake of training wasn’t really Perona’s thing. Yet, Mistress Hina expected her to put in a certain amount of training time, and Perona would obey! Doubly so since the more things she figured out how to do with her Hollows, the better she would be able to serve Mistress!

Also, choosing to work on things on her own prevented her from getting sucked into more Hell Training in Haki.

Seriously, that had suuuucckkkeed. Sure, she could now use Observation pretty decently, her experience with her Devil Fruit having proven surprisingly valuable in learning that part. Yes, it was even nice that she could use basic Armament at least, so she could punch some smug Logia in the dick. It was even true that she’d discovered infusing them with Haki made her Hollows a bit more solid and able to actually physically interact with the world to a limited degree.

But none of that would ever be worth what she’d been put through on Rusukaina. Her clothes had been ruined! She’d had to cut her hair when it got all messed up! She’d had to wake up before sunrise almost every day! Hell! It had been hell! Only the fact that Mistress Hina seemed to like the abs the training had given Perona, and had rewarded her for being a Good Girl and sticking with it, that made it at all tolerable!

Never again!

No. Playing with her Hollows was much better. Which is why she was using her training time on Sixis today to do just that! She was even close to getting close to another breakthrough, she was fairly sure. The trick she’d figured out on Weatheria of absorbing elemental energy with her Hollows, then being able to attack with that energy, was neat and potentially very useful. It was, however, almost entirely a defensive trick. One primarily useful against Logia with elemental abilities. Useful, but somewhat niche, in other words.

Since discovering how Haki interacted with her Hollows on Rusukaina, though, Perona had been working on a modification of the concept. She’d gotten Dials from Pagaya that would allow her to store up and use elemental energy, and either the Captain or Dis could easily fill them with lightning for her. The problem with that, though, was that Perona was not a close-range fighter. Her preferred fighting distance with the enemy was ‘on the other side of the island like a sensible person,’ thank you very much! That meant that she needed to figure out how to keep her Hollows filled with energy, something that she hadn’t worked out how to do previously. The original trick she’d worked out could only hold the energy for short periods before it just…dissipated, if she didn’t use it.

Which led back to her current experimentation with Haki, Hollows, and Dials filled with lightning. She drained the entire dial into the Hollow, infusing it with her Haki as best she could. In theory, since the Haki could interact with Logia elements, it should be able to hold the energy in, right? If she could just get it to-

She yelped as, abruptly, the Hollow she was experimenting with turned into lightning. Her eyes widened as it started to glow increasingly brightly. She quickly commanded the Hollow to fly away from her, even as she dove for cover. There was a denotation, with lightning arcing over her head, and she laid perfectly still for a minute, trying to get her heart to stop pounding. Slowly, she gathered the courage to look over the rock she’d taken cover behind.

There was a massive, blackened section of stone in the clearing she’d been using, causing her to gulp.

Still, as she examined the amount of damage that the explosion of lightning had done, part of her was pleased. She really needed to figure out how to contain that properly so that it only went off when she wanted it to. But if she could manage to do that, it would be a fantastic way for her to do damage from her preferred range of ‘not even near the fight!’ Success! Or, at least, the potential for future success! She just needed to run more experiments!

She should probably start with a lot less lightning than that at first, next time, though…

… … …

Robin was quite pleased with the chance to read some of the rare or dangerous works that the natives of Torino wanted copied. She was, of course, uniquely suited to copying books in the first place. Indeed, this was far from the first time she’d used her Devil Fruit powers to do so. She wouldn’t actually be manually copying all of them, as her Captain could use that marvelous ability of his to get copies. At least so long as it was a print run and he knew what he was getting copies of. Sadly for her quest for knowledge, there were limitations to that ability of his. As near as Luffy himself could figure, what he was gaining had to exist somewhere in the first place. Likewise, there was little in the way of description for items he could acquire. Which meant they would need the name of a work that contained information about the Void Century in order to retrieve a copy at all.

There was also, as it happened, a clear limitation on truly unique items. Just as Luffy couldn’t acquire a copy of a Devil Fruit currently in use, as there was only ever one, he couldn’t acquire copies of something like Nefertari D. Lili’s journal either. Which, as it happened, was why Robin was copying a number of hand-written works from this Library personally, using her powers to do so more efficiently than any normal scribe could have. Since the originals were literally the only copies, Luffy could not acquire duplicates the way he could have of a work that had a proper printing run.

Not that Robin minded.

While some of the works were boring, banal, or simply too much about horrid politics instead of knowledge, many of the others contained historical information. Nothing on the Void Century, at least not so far, but quite a few accounts of countries and governments that no longer existed for one reason or another. All of which she devoured quite greedily. Less directly for her personally, but still of interest to her as knowledge was knowledge and thus interesting, were bits and pieces of medical and technical knowledge that Robin found intriguing. She might not know enough to make use of it all, but the details behind the construction of their rocket spears and similar higher-technology weapons was at least moderately interesting. A few of them she even made extra copies of for the more technically minded members of the crew to pour over.

Admittedly, there were some horrifying bits of knowledge among the works too. Like the instructions for something that called ‘Greecian Fire,’ which seemed to be a sticky gel that would burn even underwater. The locals were apparently unwilling to use it, out of risk of setting the tree they lived in on fire. Quite sensible, really. Yet Robin could certainly see why they were afraid the Marines would learn of it and want the recipe. It would, after all, be horrifyingly effective against wooden ships, due to how hard it would be to put out.

Humming as she finished copying that particularly nasty work, she chose a historical account of an island in the western reaches of the South Blue next. One that had only ruins left of its original civilization now. This work had been written when that civilization was still around, and discovering bits about their culture and ways would be an excellent palate cleanser after working through the hand-written journal on Greecian Fire and its effects. Though the fact that the account was in this group of works likely meant unfortunate things for how it had ended. With her copied arms and hands retrieving a blank book to copy this new journal, a personal account from an explorer named Dora, Robin cracked it open and started to read…

… … …

Luffy smiled as Vivi snuggled into his side, a book that had been recommended to both of them in his hand while hers turned pages. Vivi was hardly a slow reader, but Luffy’s advantages made him significantly faster than her, making it best to leave the turning of the pages to her. It was something that had taken a bit of working out, with them first having tried one or the other of them reading the book aloud. Something that had ended up producing more giggles than it did anything useful, as it turned out neither of them were particularly talented as narrators.

Their current arrangement had been a third attempt, but one which was turning out to work quite nicely. Honestly, Luffy had been surprised, but a bit pleased, when his offer to take Vivi on a date had been met by her with a desire to just…be…together. Apparently, all the diplomatic running around she’d been doing, combined with the physical exertion of training hard, had left her just wanting to recharge. Which, while Luffy hadn’t really realized it himself, was a balm to his own soul that he hadn’t known he needed.

Everything had been going for so long, at such high intensity, that the chance to just snuggle and read with one of the girls was soothing. The fact that he’d been an avid reader in his first life and still enjoyed it in this one didn’t hurt. Nor did the fact that the Torino Kingdom’s Grand Library had a modest but extremely robust section of actual sci-fi works. Ones that were popular enough to explain, a bit, how even someone like the idiot savant that had been original Luffy could have been familiar with Robots, mecha, and cyborgs. Where exactly such advanced ideas had come from was still a minor mystery that made Luffy assume ancient tech levels had been much higher than now, but it was at least a partial explanation.

Besides, MechBattle:The Forbidden Stomp was quite well-written. Excellent combat scenes, and even a decent romantic subplot that Vivi seemed quite into. Which, given that it was some sort of unholy love dodecahedrane that seemed to be learning towards a harem ending with at least a few girls and the main protagonist, had some interesting parallels. Maybe he really should have paid attention to this world’s fiction works sooner? He’d gotten a bit too wrapped up in the awesome things he could do and never bothered, but it might have provided him a bit more warning about how different the relationships here could be…

… … …

Yamato had never quite realized before just how much useful information was in books.

That wasn’t to say she’d never read books before, of course. Oden had been quite clear that understanding of a wide variety of topics was a goal that all should seek. That, while it was foolish to try and know everything, it was equally critical to be well educated in many things. He could not have rebuilt Kuri the way he had without a broad knowledge base, after all, and his personal journal extolled the virtues of knowledge fairly often as a predicable result.

In seeking to be like him, Yamato had at least attempted to consume books on many topics, though she was just as often unable to make sense of them as she was able to learn properly. Master Luffy had, when she’d explained her problems understanding such to him as one of the reasons she thought he was more worthy of being like Oden than she was, listened intently. Then he’d proven she was right, if not quite in the way she’d thought, by explaining that Yamato was simply what he called a ‘kinetic learner.’ She, according to him, learned more by doing things than by reading. Which admittedly did seem correct to her, when she thought about it.

Her Master had, however, also explained to her that this meant she could still get a lot out of certain types of books. Books, for example, that talked about (sometimes even showed pictures of!) ways to perform various combat techniques. He’d walked her through a number of such books, on topics as diverse as combat to cooking, and Yamato had been startled by how much of a difference the alternate perspective had made. By focusing on a book that taught cooking techniques, rather than recipes with fancy language, she’d gained quite a bit in the skill of making basic things. Nothing like Sanji, of course, though the chef himself had been happy to show her things that the book failed to properly get across.

Even Sanji admitted that the tea she made was quite good, and she’d gotten ‘rave reviews’ of the snacks she made to go with it.

The same sort of thing held true for a weird mishmash of skills. Not all things could be adapted to be learned ‘kinetically,’ but enough could be that Yamato had finally been somewhat pleased how well she was able to broaden her base of knowledge like Oden had advised. Pagaya and Luffy had even helped her learn some basic skills in building things. Which, even if it wasn’t quite the same as being a Master Stonemason like Oden had been, was close enough for Yamato to be happy with.

Now, with this Grand Library to access, she had found not information on combat or cooking, but books that detailed techniques for drawing and painting. There weren’t all that many such in the library, and fewer of them were the type that had practical exercises in them than she would have preferred, but even just a half dozen new books on the topic was a major thing! She was learning new ways to create different effects on canvas just from the current thick text, which had a quite detailed description of how to practice different brush strokes!

It was just the thing she needed to get better at her hobby, and she wondered who she should test her skills on by painting. Hmmm, she hadn’t done a proper nude of Vivi yet, which was a shame. All of the Master’s lovers should be properly immortalized so, shouldn’t they? Well, she would just have to convince Vivi to sit for such a painting while Yamato tried out these new tricks! Even if she wasn’t properly one of Master’s lovers yet, she would be soon enough!

Hmmm, though that one interesting book that had been wedged behind the shelf was also something to consider. Yamato wasn’t entirely sure why you would want to use paint as clothes, but she supposed she could see some benefits? It would be lighter to move around in and not risk tearing, after all. Not to mention that Nami certainly seemed to think showing off her body was a nice thing to do for their Master. Oh! Maybe Kaya could do something spiritually with the paints to give them benefits?!

Perhaps instead of a portrait, she’d paint one of those bunny uniforms on Vivi, and see how Master liked it? That way she could save a full, proper painting of her for after she was Master’s lover properly…

… … …

“No, you need a sharper motion than you used for those Peacock slashers of yours. Here, move your wrist like this.”

Vivi did her best not to blush as Hancock clinically moved her wrist and hand, correcting the way Vivi had been moving them as she practiced with her new weapon. The fact that they were both in Alabasta and Hancock had happily donned the ‘dancer’ outfits, which were somewhat popular for the heat of the desert, wasn’t helping her composure. She did have to admit that the wardrobe choice worked, though. Not just in the sense of making Hancock even hotter, but in the sense that the clothes were easy to move in for training. Something that was proving even more important with the urumi she was learning to use than it had been for her Peacock Slashers.

Hancock stepped back, and Vivi took a deep breath to center herself, before running through the drill the older woman had assigned her again. This time complete with the sharper wrist motion that Hancock had demonstrated. There was a noticeable speed and control difference as she flicked the flexible, whip-like blade sideways halfway through the kata, sheering right through a melon that had been set up for just such purpose. It wasn’t exactly a tough target to slice through, having been picked more for the value of testing Vivi’s accuracy with the shift in motion…which until now had failed to connect.

The new weapon was a final concession to the fact that her Peacock Slashers had run as far as they could and come up short.

Despite all attempts to modify them to be more deadly, the simple truth was that no amount of special materials or fancy tricks had been able to give them the sort of punch Vivi needed for high-end combat on the Grand Line. They had paired somewhat well with her Air Doors, and she fully intended to keep a few of them around for some of the tricks they’d figured out, but the truth remained that they’d fallen short. Luffy discovering that Hancock of all people was, in fact, an expert with the urumi had been something of a relief. They suited Vivi’s high-mobility style, could still be used with her Air Doors, and could hit far harder.

“Good! Now you just need to practice doing the same thing while in motion. Come, you will try to hit me as best you can. I will strike back only with my hands, no Haki. But you shall remove a piece of clothing for every time I am able to touch you. The defense of weaving the urumi around you should be near absolute. You will learn, or you will walk back to the palace naked.”

Vivi flushed, and she couldn’t have told anyone, in that exact moment, if it was with embarrassment or arousal, even on pain of death. Which probably meant it was both? The only downside of this little arrangement was that Hancock had ideas about how best to motivate someone she was teaching. The fact that she was a surprisingly good instructor didn’t change the fact that Vivi had ended up needing to employ her stealth skills to sneak back into the palace nude three times this week already. A fact that had made her very aware she apparently had an exhibitionist streak she was not previously aware of.

Personally, Vivi blamed Nami for developing it. She was nearly sure it hadn’t been a thing before meeting the older girl and hearing her go into great detail about some of her adventures with their dashing Captain…

… … …

Luffy’s form fought him, but only lightly. Which, frankly, was one hell of an improvement over even a week ago, before Chopper had first found that book in the Torino Kingdom library. While not all of what had been contained within that book had helped him, the shifting nature of his Devil Fruit making purely biological markers somewhat irrelevant, many of the observations had been valuable. It had been doubly valuable as the observations had been made regarding a Zoan user who had ‘Awakened.’

Those observations had led Luffy to the realization that a significant part of his struggle had been his own attempt to direct the final form. He was used to the shapeshifting ability of his Devil Fruit, and had never considered that the ‘Awakened Form’ might have a ‘default setting.’ Observations in the journal that the Zoan who had ‘unlocked new abilities’ took on an ‘entirely new form’ had given him a hint, however, and he’d spent much of the week meditating on it.

It hadn’t actually taken more than an hour to find the ‘default form.’

No, what had taken time was the fact that even starting to assume that form came with an overflowing instinct that had nearly overwhelmed him on the first attempt. Careful, cautious attempts to adjust since then had slowly allowed him to wrangle control of the instincts, piece by piece, until he finally managed to fully retain his focus through a complete shift. Something which had just finally occurred bare minutes ago. An achievement that had also been marked by his system ticking over from 100 points of Mastery…to 101. Something he’d learned years ago marked a skill that had been taken beyond Mastery. A feat that was apparently required for properly controlling an Awakened Devil Fruit Form, rather than the hashed brute forcing he’d been doing before.

As to his form itself…he was a lighting wolf, or fox, or perhaps dog.

In truth, the form was inherently unstable, hence why it was still shifting about even now, including through a couple of odd choices like tanuki, bear, and panther. Though it did appear to prefer canine forms over others, and he could keep it to a vague canine form more easily than any other. Most importantly of all, however, was that it wasn’t a creature of flesh and blood. When he said ‘lightning wolf,’ he meant the body was fully formed out of lightning, in a way that was more reminiscent of a Logia form than a Zoan.

Though, come to think of it, he recalled that Marco the Pheonix took a form of pure fire at times. Perhaps the powerful second in command to Whitebeard had also achieved the Awakened state? It would certainly explain why no one had ever questioned his power or position, even if he apparently lacked a desire to lead. It might legitimately be worth trying to connect with the Whitebeard Remnants to ask the man about it. Their pissing match with Big Mom had mostly resolved by now, as far as he knew. What had once been Whitebeard’s territory had shrunk considerably, but it had ended up being Shanks that had picked up the majority of the islands lost, rather than Big Mom. The Whitebeard’s Sons had willingly ceded territory to him so they could focus on kicking Big Mom out of the territory she threatened.

Regardless, that was a thought for later. For now, Luffy needed to focus on what he was learning from this experience.

The biggest two takeaways were obvious. First, that a great deal of his trouble had been caused by unknowingly attempting to skip steps. He’d been trying to force out Awakened level abilities and attacks, through his Non-Awakened combat forms. Something that he now instinctively new was possible, but much harder than doing the same in his ‘true’ Awakened form. Second, and related to that instinctive knowledge, was that ‘Awakening’ was a bit literal. There wasn’t quite a ‘mind’ to the Devil Fruit, but there was now a deep well of instinctive knowledge and understanding. One that was telling him all sorts of interesting things about what he could do in this state.

Such as the fact that he could now control far more than just lightning and sound.

Grinning a very canine grin, Luffy summoned up a ball of plasma. In theory, he’d known all along that lightning was a form of plasma. Yet never before had been able to summon up what was, for all intents and purposes, a giant fireball, that he could warp and meld in much the same way he’d seen Ace cause his fire to flow. Not quite having figured out how to speak yet in this form, he still mentally whispered to himself as he launched his first ever fireball out over the ocean.

‘I didn’t ask how big the room is, Dungeon Master. I said I cast FIREBALL!’