The journey aboard the Fortune's Favor continued.
Although Galdino had agreed to join Noah's group, Noah didn't immediately send him to the training camp. Galdino was already 21, a bit older than the usual recruits. So, for now, Noah assigned him to stay aboard the ship.
Their current destination was the White Mountain Kingdom, a famous country in the South Blue known for its Longarm Tribe inhabitants. One notable native of the kingdom was Scratchmen Apoo, future captain of the On Air Pirates.
Noah's goal was to locate the Tone-Tone Fruit, a Devil Fruit yet to be consumed by Apoo. However, its proper name should be the Instrument-Instrument Fruit.
In the One Piece world, three music-related fruits had appeared: the Sound-Sound Fruit, the Song-Song Fruit, and the Tone-Tone Fruit.
From how Apoo later developed his abilities, the Tone-Tone Fruit seemed to turn its user into an instrument-based superhuman.
On the other hand, Uta's Song-Song Fruit focused more on song and melody-related abilities, while Antoni's Sound-Sound Fruit harnessed the physical properties of sound vibrations.
The three fruits had distinct powers but with some overlap.
Through a tarot card reading, Noah had confirmed that the Tone-Tone Fruit was within the White Mountain Kingdom.
As they sailed full speed toward the kingdom, Galdino had no choice but to endure Noah's relentless teachings. Aside from cultural lessons, Noah made him study Haki, combat training, and ability development.
Watching Galdino create wax soldiers and various wax weapons, Noah calmly reminded him, "Your shaping ability is impressive, but you still haven't grasped the true essence of the Wax-Wax Fruit."
"True essence?" Galdino, semi-literate at best, looked puzzled. Clearly, he didn't understand what wax truly was.
"The essence of wax is solidified fat. Understand? The wax you create with your ability is actually paraffin."
Galdino squeezed a wax ball in his hand, and soon, it melted into a pool of oily liquid.
Noah continued, "Paraffin is wax, but so is butter, soap, and various other oils and fats. They all share the same fundamental properties."
Noah pulled out a row of test tubes from his card storage, each containing different types of wax: paraffin, lignite wax, beeswax, insect wax, whale wax, lanolin, wood wax, rice bran wax, coconut wax, butter, soap, cheese, and more.
Galdino picked up a piece of butter, feeling its composition.
After a moment, he transformed the wax liquid in his other hand into butter.
"Lord Noah, it seems butter isn't that special. I can do the same with paraffin," Galdino remarked.
Noah shook his head. "Every material has its unique qualities. It's rare for two substances to share the exact same properties. Can you eat paraffin? Butter, on the other hand, provides nutritionโsomething paraffin cannot do."
Galdino pondered this, eating the butter and discovering characteristics he hadn't noticed in his previous wax creations.
"You can combine butter and cheese, adjust their proportions and composition, and create cream wax, an emergency food source," Noah suggested.
In Noah's view, the Wax-Wax Fruit was essentially a superior version of the Cheese Fruit, the Butter Fruit, and the Soap Fruit.
Although the Wax-Wax Fruit couldn't create permanent wax items from nothing, it could modify existing oils and fats on a large scale. For example, paraffin oil could be transformed into butter, cheese, soap, or beeswax, or vice versa. This kind of modification was the real direction for developing the Wax-Wax Fruit's full potential.
Besides these special wax products, Noah pointed out other development paths:
"Your current use of the Wax-Wax Fruit is too superficial. As a Devil Fruit user, you should know that water neutralizes your powers."
Galdino nodded. "Yes, I know that."
"But what you don't know is that the Wax-Wax Fruit is one of the few Devil Fruits that can allow its user to enter seawater."
"What? I can go into the water?"
"Wax is waterproof. Try it for yourself."
Excited, Galdino quickly coated himself in a layer of wax and dipped his hand into a bucket of seawater.
To his delight, his hand was fully submerged without the usual weakness Devil Fruit users feel in water. He couldn't contain his excitement. "This is amazing! I can swim in the sea again!"
"Don't get ahead of yourself," Noah warned. "While the wax coating is waterproof, it's also fragile. If you're attacked by sea creatures or enemies, it could break easilyโand you'd be dead in an instant."
Gulp! Galdino shuddered at the thought of the wax breaking while he was underwater, the mere idea filling him with dread.
"Also, you haven't considered another issue: the wax coating works like a wetsuit, but you're not a Fish-Man. You can't breathe underwater. You need to solve that problem too."
"Lord Noah, surely you have a solution?" Galdino now regarded Noah with even more respect.
"There are two options. One, carry a breathing apparatus with an oxygen tank. Two, create artificial gills."
The first solution made sense to Galdino, but the second left him feeling completely out of his depth. The difference in intellect between him and Noah became painfully clear. "Artificial gills? Where can I buy those?"
Noah gave him a disappointed look. "Are you really this dense? Didn't you eat the Wax-Wax Fruit? Why can't you make them yourself?"
"Uh..." Galdino pointed at his face awkwardly. "Make them myself? That sounds... difficult."
"Idiot! Just catch some fish and mimic the structure of their gills!" Noah scolded, exasperated by Galdino's lack of creativity.
"Oh! That could work! You really are amazing, Lord Noah!" Galdino slapped his palm in realization, grateful for the insight.
This was a common scene during Noah's training sessions with Devil Fruit users.
To speed up Galdino's development, Noah had a strict regimen: every day, he would throw Galdino into the sea for two hours, binding him with a rope to maintain his wax coating and wax gills underwater.
The rest of the time, Kuro pummeled Galdino with Armament Haki, forcing him to endure physical pain while also attempting to awaken Observation Haki.
On their journey to the White Mountain Kingdom, Galdino truly experienced the meaning of "pain and pleasure."
Of course, Noah also emphasized ideological education, teaching Galdino the harsh truths about the world through word and action.
One month later, the Fortune's Favor arrived at Yuzu Island in the White Mountain Kingdom.
Disguised, Noah's group docked at Yuzu Port, preparing to gather information about the kingdom.
Inside a bar near the port, Noah and Galdino sat drinking tea, listening carefully as they gathered bits of intelligence from the bartender and a few patrons.ย
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๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ข๐ค๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐ญ๐ฅ๐ง๐๐จ๐จ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐๐ง๐๐ฉ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ฉ๐๐ค๐จ๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ค ๐จ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ค๐ง๐ฉ ๐ข๐ ๐ค๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐๐๐จ ๐๐ค๐ช๐ง๐ฃ๐๐ฎ. ๐๐ค๐ช๐ง ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐ฉ๐ง๐๐๐ช๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐จ ๐ข๐๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ง๐๐๐ก ๐๐๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ฃ๐๐!
๐ฆ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น shoutouts ๐๐ผ:
โขLeroy
โข Jonathan Bailey
๐๐ ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ป, ๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐ป๐น๐ผ๐ฐ๐ธ:
โข ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐น๐๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐: ๐๐๐ฉ 50+ chapters ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ค๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฎ๐ค๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ก๐จ๐.
โข ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐น๐๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ต๐ผ๐๐-๐ข๐๐: ๐๐๐๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐ ๐จ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ก ๐จ๐๐ค๐ช๐ฉ ๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฎ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ฉ๐๐ง ๐๐จ ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฎ๐ค๐ช ๐๐ค๐ง ๐ฎ๐ค๐ช๐ง ๐จ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ค๐ง๐ฉ!
๐ฌ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐๐๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ผ๐ป๐น๐ ๐ณ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ ๐บ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐๐ ๐ฏ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐น๐๐ผ ๐ต๐ฒ๐น๐ฝ๐ ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ด๐ฟ๐ผ๐ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐๐ป๐ถ๐๐. ๐๐ณ ๐๐ผ๐'๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ฒ๐, ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ท๐ผ๐ถ๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐!
๐ ๐ ๐ค๐๐ฃ ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฌ: patreon.com/sorkarnayeem