“Old Man, this Sea King meat is too tough to chew,” Shaq said with difficulty, struggling to chew a large piece of meat he was holding.
Evidently, with food in hand, Shaq had completely forgotten about being forcibly used as bait by Newgate earlier.
“Gurararara, it’s good enough to have food, you picky brat.” Newgate tossed aside the bone in his hand, wiped the grease from his mouth, and then carefully took out a handkerchief to clean the food residue from his mustache.
After cleaning his mustache, Newgate seemed to remember something and said to Shaq, who was still intently battling the meat, “The moment you grabbed that Sea King, my Observation Haki sensed a faint energy flowing from its body into yours.
Do you know what it was, Shaq?”
Hearing Newgate’s words, Shaq paused, put down the meat, and began to recall.
Since Old Man said so, with his powerful Observation Haki, it must be true.
“An energy flowing into my body?” Shaq was initially bewildered, then something clicked, and he quickly told Newgate, “At that time, I instinctively used my Devil Fruit ability.
The moment I grabbed that Sea King, it felt like a warm current entered my body.”
“Devil Fruit ability, huh?
And do you feel any changes?” Newgate continued to ask.
“There does seem to be a change.
I didn’t notice it at the time because I was scared, but after you mentioned it, Old Man, it seems my strength increased significantly for a short period.
Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to hold onto such a large Sea King.
But now it has returned to its original level,” Shaq said somewhat excitedly.
“Temporarily increasing physical attributes?” Newgate looked at Shaq, stood up, and pointed to himself.
“Come on, little Shaq, use it on me one more time.”
“Huh?” Shaq was startled at first, then quickly refused.
“No, no, I think that energy must be life force.
It will hurt you, Old Man.”
“Gurararara, little Shaq, who do you think I am?
I am Whitebeard!
A mere brat like you can’t affect me that easily!” Newgate laughed loudly and said impatiently, “Just do it when I tell you to.
There won’t be any problems.”
“Alright,” Shaq couldn’t refuse Newgate, so he compromised, also standing up and placing his palm on Newgate’s calf.
Newgate used his Observation Haki, carefully sensing his own body and Shaq’s.
“I’m starting, Old Man,” Shaq reminded him.
“Mm, go ahead,” Newgate nodded, indicating he was ready.
Seeing this, Shaq activated his ability, and a warm current flowed into his body.
Instantly, his stamina recovered, and he returned to his optimal state.
Feeling the changes in his body, Newgate frowned and carefully observed.
Although only a tiny, almost negligible amount of energy was drawn from his body, he keenly detected it.
That energy was indeed not life force as Shaq thought, but stamina.
“Little Shaq, this energy doesn’t seem to be life force, but stamina,” Newgate said, looking at the invigorated Shaq.
“Yes, Old Man, when I activated my ability, I subconsciously didn’t want to harm you, so my ability changed from drawing life force to drawing stamina,” Shaq replied with a grin.
“Gurararara, you rascal,” Newgate chuckled, patting his son’s head, then continued, “Are there any differences in the effects?”
“I carefully recalled the feeling of absorbing life force from that Sea King.
The effect of life force seems to be a temporary increase in my physical attributes, but once this life force is consumed, it returns to the original level.
Perhaps it can also heal my injuries, because I found that the finger I accidentally cut this morning has completely healed.
As for stamina, it’s very simple; it just restores my own stamina for a short period,” Shaq replied.
“What a troublesome yet powerful ability,” Newgate muttered in admiration.
“Little Shaq, these are only the initial manifestations of your ability.
Further development should yield more effects, so don’t slack off,” Newgate earnestly advised Shaq, then added, “Also, don’t rely too much on Devil Fruit abilities.
Do you remember what I said?”
“Only Haki is the power that transcends everything.
Don’t worry, Old Man, I won’t forget, and I won’t slack off.” Shaq naturally understood what his Old Man was worried about.
“Gurararara, good boy.
Since your stamina has recovered, let’s continue training.” Newgate looked at Shaq with satisfaction, then walked toward the cabin, preparing to drink sake.
For monsters of his level, ordinary training had long lost its meaning.
Only real battles against strong opponents could push his strength further.
Watching Newgate leave, Shaq cleaned up the leftovers and continued his training…
Seven days later.
“Old Man, Observation Haki is so hard to grasp.
It’s been three days, and I still can’t sense anything.” Shaq rubbed his head, covered in bumps from being hit, and removed the black blindfold.
Yes, Newgate adopted a simple but effective method blindfolded evasion training to force Shaq to sharpen his senses.
“Gurararara, you’re too impatient, little Shaq.
It’s still too early to grasp Observation Haki.
First, you need to learn how to sense presence and intent,” Newgate said, tossing aside the wooden stick.
Looking at Shaq’s tearful face and swollen head, he burst into laughter.
“Alright, that’s enough for today.
The rest, you practice on your own.”
Rubbing his head, Shaq felt extremely frustrated.
Others who transmigrated either had cheats or monstrous talent, but he couldn’t even grasp the basics of Observation Haki.
Sighing, he pushed the thoughts aside.
Shaq sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and rested his hands naturally on his knees, entering a meditative state.
During these past few days of training, Shaq had discovered another ability of the Life-Life Fruit: strengthening his physique.
On one accidental occasion, while activating his ability, he sensed faint strands of energy drifting in the surrounding environment.
This energy was subtle, like something naturally present in the air.
Thus, Shaq attempted to draw it into his body.
At first, the energy simply gathered without any immediate effect, and once it reached a limit, he could no longer draw more.
Thinking it useless, he ignored it and went to sleep.
However, upon waking the next day, he felt refreshed, and his physical condition had improved slightly, while that gathered energy had disappeared.
After repeated attempts, Shaq discovered he could only gather this kind of energy once per day.
Any additional attempts would fail, as the energy would dissipate quickly.
What surprised him most was that this energy was more stable than what he drew from living beings.
While weaker in immediate effect, it steadily improved his body over time.
Shaq named it “Natural life force.”
Furthermore, as his physical strength increased, the amount he could gather also gradually rose, forming a stable cycle of growth.
Another change was his reduced need for sleep.
Now, only a few hours were enough for full recovery, allowing him to dedicate more time to training.
Since discovering this, Shaq made it a daily routine to absorb this Natural life force.
As for why he meditated while doing so
It simply looked cool.
Half an hour later, Shaq slowly opened his eyes, exhaling a long breath, looking quite satisfied.
However, instead of continuing physical training, he began experimenting.
He had realized something important
The life force drawn from living beings could only affect himself and could not be transferred to others.
As for Natural life force, once inside his body, it also became exclusive to him, and he currently had no way to manipulate it externally.
After some time, Shaq sighed and temporarily gave up.
“Maybe once I grasp Observation Haki, things will change.”
With that thought, Shaq stood up and once again threw himself into training.