On the ocean, undulating like a cradle, a crimson motorboat was spewing flames, speeding across the sea.
The roaring fire left a burning trail on the water.
This was a brand-new application of York's fruit ability.
After his Devil Fruit transformed into a Mythical Zoan, besides the two ability modes after awakening, he also gained two new abilities before awakening.
Of course, the new abilities couldn't reach the effectiveness of the awakened state, but overall, they were quite practical.
These two new abilities were Holy Light Purification, which could purify abnormal states, acting as the opposite counterpart to York's initial Happy Depravity ability.
The second ability was the conventional manipulation of flames, except the upper limit of the flame temperature could reach 6,000 degrees Celsius, the surface temperature of the sun.
Holy Light Purification: The specific effect is to clear all negative effects imposed by Devil Fruit abilities on oneself or others, except for physical injuries.
Theoretically, it could also clear the Black Transformation Domination ability imposed by Imu on others.
But as for the specific effect, York estimated it would depend on the power comparison between him and Imu. Whoever was stronger would have higher priority.
Therefore, for now, Imu's Black Transformation Domination could still only be resisted by wrapping the entire body in Conqueror's Haki.
The second flame ability was straightforward; it could be roughly understood as the Flame-Flame Fruit ability without the elemental intangibility.
It was just that... the Flame-Flame Fruit's temperature limit didn't seem as high as York's?
Well, this should actually be blamed on Ace.
Who told him not to master playing with fire?
He only developed shaping the ability and large-scale attacks, not caring at all about the essence of flame temperature and combustion.
As for the source of York's ability, it was the Sun God as perceived by most people.
As a Sun God, not knowing how to play with fire—what kind of Sun God would that be?
Although the essence of the sun is nuclear fusion, basically unrelated to fire, that concept was already deeply rooted in people's minds.
Of course, after awakening the fruit, York could still fully utilize the power of the sun as he understood it.
For example, nuclear fusion, solar magnetic fields, solar gravity, sunlight, and so on.
Back to the topic.
The motorboat York was driving, boosted by his ability, could reach a top speed of 300 kilometers per hour. Thus, it took him less than two hours to reach the coastal waters of the Clawdia Kingdom, where war was raging.
Gazing at the fleet docked at the shore from a distance, York chose to bypass it, finding a secluded corner to hide the motorboat.
"Sigh~ This is the inconvenience of not having a system. Everything has to be carried or hidden somewhere; I can't just store it in a personal space to prevent theft."
"I'll have to find a way to get a fruit with storage functions in the future. Otherwise, it feels inconvenient wherever I go."
Speaking of which, a fat man swinging a large hammer appeared in York's mind.
He was a subordinate of Whitebeard in the original story, a user of the Paramecia Pocket-Pocket Fruit (Poke Poke no Mi). His large hammer, four or five meters in diameter, was stored in "body pockets" via his ability.
York himself didn't want to eat this fruit. After all, he didn't want two extra "pockets" growing on his body.
But he had Vegapunk. Using the technology of "letting objects eat Devil Fruits," wouldn't it be convenient to let clothes eat this fruit?
And he could clone this fruit on a large scale. Not only would it be convenient for him alone, but it would also make transporting supplies much easier.
"It seems the next step in the plan is to collect Devil Fruits!"
Especially Paramecia types. They had many auxiliary functions. Disregarding combat power and focusing solely on utility, they were actually far more practical than Zoan types.
Temporarily storing this idea in his mind, York shouldered his newly forged miaodao and walked slowly towards the battlefield.
He hadn't forgotten that this outing was to test his sword.
...
Clawdia Port City — Yuzu Port.
This was the town currently being invaded by the Galzburg Kingdom army.
The defenders of the Clawdia Kingdom had their coastal defense line completely breached and were engaging in street fighting with the Galzburg army.
But even in street fighting, the Clawdia defenders were retreating steadily and were about to be driven out of the town completely.
"Kill!!"
Bullet, only eight years old but with a robust physique like an adult, held a sword in his right hand and a dynamite pack in his left. Braving the hail of bullets, he sprinted to the corner of a courtyard wall that was resisting.
Crouching in this blind spot of enemy fire, he skillfully lit the fuse of the dynamite pack, counted silently to three, and threw it forcefully into the courtyard.
Boom!!
With a loud bang, the familiar tremor of the ground and walls followed, and the sound of flintlock fire from inside the courtyard instantly ceased.
Bullet then roared loudly, vaulted over the courtyard wall with his sword, and killed all the surviving Clawdia defenders inside who had luckily escaped the blast.
Then he skillfully cut off the left ears of these defenders and stuffed them into the satchel at his waist.
Through the moment he opened the satchel, one could vaguely see it was nearly half full. A rough estimate suggested there were already over 20 left-ear trophies.
Counting the ones just cut, it likely reached 30.
Bright light flashed in Bullet's eyes.
The bet he made with the Galzburg child soldiers at the beginning of the year was still in effect.
"My military merits in this battle should be the most!"
"Those adult soldiers haven't killed as many enemies as I have!"
"Finally! Finally, I can get the War Medal!"
"As long as I get that! I will no longer be the Vodka person, the savage they mock!"
"I can be a rightful Galzburg person! Galzburg will truly become my motherland!!"
The joy of the harvest and the impending victory of the bet made Bullet unconsciously immerse himself in visions of the future.
Therefore, when he walked out of the courtyard, he didn't notice at all that at a street corner not far away, the Galzburg child soldiers who had made the bet with him were staring at him with vicious eyes.
"Absolutely not!!"
"We absolutely cannot let this savage take away the War Medal!!"
A bullet from behind pierced through the advancing Bullet just like that.
As he collapsed in a pool of blood, he watched helplessly as the "comrades" he had fought alongside all this time forcibly took the mostly full bag of trophies from him.
At this moment, Bullet felt despair.
"Wh... why..."
He gasped, asking for the reason.
"Although we have conflicts, aren't we comrades-in-arms?"
The Galzburg child soldier looked down at him with unconcealed contempt in his eyes.
"Who is comrades with a savage like you!!"
With that, he took his companion's flintlock and fired another shot into Bullet's chest.
Bang!
The bullet passed through his chest, and Bullet's heart turned completely cold.
Unknown time passed. The Galzburg child soldiers who ambushed him had long gone.
Just as Bullet thought he would bleed to death like this, a pair of unfamiliar shoes suddenly appeared before his eyes.
Immediately after, a gentle but slightly playful voice rang from above.
"Yo, young man, you seem to be seeking approval and comrades!"
Bullet remained silent, but heard the voice above speak again: "What is your name?"
"Bu... Bullet..."
The voice above suddenly turned serious as he said: "Bullet, do you want revenge?!"
"I... do!!!"