Chapter 9: Devil Fruits!
It took about ten days for the wounds to scar over. It had to be said that the physique of people in the One Piece world was generally robust. Although Buggy looked covered in blood, the extent of his injuries was limited to external trauma. After eating well to replenish the lost blood and his pale complexion disappeared, once the wounds scarred, his body was considered mostly recovered. At most, he just needed some time to recuperate.
Having awakened Haki, and Conqueror's Haki at that, logically speaking, Buggy should have been very happy. However, the experiment the next day left Buggy quite puzzled.
It wasn't because the experiment failed; in fact, the experiment was successful. It was just that the Slow-Slow Fruit Buggy obtained didn't appear in the pile of fruit he had prepared, but on a tree somewhere in the forest a few days later.
At first, Buggy also thought the experiment failed because it was different from his conjectures. But a few days later, when Buggy unintentionally saw a Devil Fruit hanging on a certain tree and confirmed it after finding someone to eat it, he realized the direction of his experiment was definitely correct. The reason it wasn't as precise as Caesar's recovery method must be because he had overlooked something.
This point could only be clarified later, but there was something Buggy could confirm.
That was about the essence of Devil Fruits.
What was it? Was it just a fruit containing extraordinary energy? Yes, but that was only its superficial appearance.
In Buggy's view, Devil Fruits should be looked at in two parts. The first was the fruit itself, a fruit whose surface appearance had become strange. The second was the special power dwelling within the fruit.
If Haki was seen as a versatile energy like Mana, then Buggy could define the power dwelling within Devil Fruits as something akin to "law fragments."
Only this could explain why Devil Fruits could possess so many abilities and also have uniqueness within the same era.
Looking at it from the beginning, after obtaining Devil Fruit powers, one could roughly be divided into three stages. The first was "mastery," which, as the name suggests, meant grasping the superficial power initially displayed by the Devil Fruit. The second stage was "development," which meant deriving further fruit abilities. The third stage was "awakening." The people in the One Piece world didn't have a high level of education, so the names they chose didn't seem very clear. If "awakening" were replaced with "law domain," friends vaguely familiar with xuanhuan or fantasy genres would instantly understand what it meant.
If Devil Fruit abilities were substituted with law fragments, the first stage would be equivalent to someone who has touched upon a law, perfectly corresponding to the mastery of Devil Fruit abilities, both only able to use superficial power. The second stage, understanding the law, also perfectly corresponded to the development of Devil Fruit abilities; the depth and direction of understanding equated to the strength of development. The domain effect of the third stage was completely equivalent to the awakening of Devil Fruit abilities, both being area-of-effect materializations of laws, capable of changing the environment and even ignoring basic rules within that range.
There was no concrete proof; otherwise, Buggy would definitely confirm that Devil Fruits themselves were fruits mutated by the lodging of law fragments.
Perhaps someone would ask if Buggy was just bored and had nothing better to do than analyze such trivial information.
Actually, no. Because law fragments also had a fourth stage: "refinement." Refining a law fragment to transform the body into a "law body" would be equivalent to a demigod in a magical world, and their lifespan would be impressively long.
It should be noted here that a "law body" and the flowing bodies of Logia types were completely different. The former referred to completely mastering a law fragment to the point of no longer having weaknesses to seawater or Seastone, while the latter was merely due to the special nature of Logia types.
Of course, the law body wasn't the end point either. If one could go a step further and ignite a divine fire, fusing the law body with one's soul, one could condense a "law godhead" and directly achieve godhood.
Buggy didn't know if Devil Fruit abilities also had such a possibility. It was a distant prospect for the current Buggy, but it was indeed a solid direction and a spur.
What the strong feared most wasn't having too many opponents, but being unable to advance further after reaching a certain peak.
Having already confirmed that he possessed Conqueror's Haki and having seen the future of his abilities clearly, Buggy knew that as long as he didn't slack off or die accidentally, becoming a powerhouse capable of suppressing an entire sea was a certainty.
But what after that? Buggy was genuinely worried that if he didn't set an extremely ambitious goal, he would eventually stagnate.
To become stronger, Buggy needed these conjectures as motivation.
Of course, distant matters were fine to think about occasionally; grasping the immediate goals was most important.
Whether it was proficiently using Haki or proficiently using his abilities, these were Buggy's current stage goals. There was only one thing to do: seize all available time to become stronger.
The year 1502 was a relatively peaceful year. Apart from Whitebeard and Neptune, the king of Fish-Man Island, having a cup of... oh no, a drink of 'friendship,' there was basically no major news that shook the world.
At the foot of the Red Line in Distan, Buggy, with his shoulder-length hair, was making final preparations before leaving.
For more than a year after the battle with the Terror Bandit Gang two years ago, Buggy had focused all his energy on mastering Haki and achieving fine control over his Devil Fruit abilities. It wasn't until a week ago that Buggy had roughly completed these two basic goals.
His Observation Haki could sense auras within a one-kilometer radius around him. His Armament Haki had achieved a certain degree of hardness. Buggy had tested his Conqueror's Haki; its intimidation range against weaker individuals was about fifty meters in diameter. Any further, and it wouldn't have the effect of making them pass out. His control over his Devil Fruit abilities had made significant progress compared to over a year ago, but he still lacked a bit to perform fine destructive work with it. The only thing that hadn't progressed was his Eight Extremities Fist.
It wasn't that Buggy had slacked off in his Eight Extremities Fist training, but that his internal strength didn't improve so easily. Especially after Buggy reached the peak of Clear Strength, he had been stuck there, completely unable to enter the Dark Strength stage through arduous training.
Under these circumstances, Buggy could only shift his focus to Haki and his Devil Fruit abilities.
He spent a few days preparing to leave. After carving a relatively aesthetically pleasing "Heaven-Ascending Ladder" with his abilities and leaving some words on the rock wall as a memento, Buggy, carrying only a backpack sewn from animal hide, left his camp and began to slowly ascend the ladder.
Having stayed in Distan for over four years, when he left, apart from a bag of Celestial Fragrance powder worth a fortune per gram and the magical compass he had clutched in his hand upon reincarnation, Buggy's backpack only contained food, water, and a wad of cash.
Climbing up the Heaven-Ascending Ladder he had created, watching the familiar scenery slowly disappear from sight, Buggy felt a little reluctant to leave. However, he was more excited. The journey was about to begin; what could be more interesting than adventuring freely?
After climbing to the top of the Red Line, Buggy stood at the peak and let out a long cry. He then used [Moon Walk] to cross over a hundred meters forward and then glided directly down towards the North Blue.
(End of this chapter)