Reid watched the rose petal freeze in midair and then vanish, a slow smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
It was done.
Though it was only a prototype, she had found her own unique "direction."
A rose… thorny, yet beautiful. Ice… bitterly cold, yet pure.
It suited her perfectly.
"Very good." Reid nodded, unusually approving. "It's a little ugly and fragile, but… the direction is right."
He stepped in front of her, bent down, and looked into her eyes. "Alright, little one, remember this feeling. Do whatever you want. The power is in your hands; whatever you wish, it can become reality."
"As for whether it can grow stronger, whether it can obey you…" Reid straightened up. In his palm, a swirl of blood mist condensed into an intricate crimson rose, each petal lifelike, a masterpiece of craftsmanship.
"Starting tomorrow, I'll help you. Once you have the ability to defend yourself, I can teach you other things. I'm a swordsmanship master, you know? Well, maybe you don't know what that is, but it doesn't matter. Just know that my swordsmanship is exquisite."
The little girl glanced at him, then down at her own palm, and nodded softly.
Reid looked at the young girl quietly following him and thought: Rose, huh? That certainly sounds more fitting than the cold 'Goddess' or the empty 'Pryce.'
The future first mate was finally starting to look the part, wasn't she?
Reid suddenly recalled something: had he saved the past Vitt, or had the future Vitt found him first? Ah, who cares.
Three months passed quietly, ebbing and flowing like the tides.
At the edge of Blubru Island, in a clearing of the forest, a slender figure could often be seen facing off against large forest beasts.
At first, these encounters were fraught with danger. The girl's icy roses barely left faint frost lines on the boar's thick fur, or froze its movements for only a moment. Then came the boar's furious charge, forcing her to dodge awkwardly with her increasing agility.
Bang! The girl was thrown into the air.
Pfft!
Yet her ability to learn and her resilience were extraordinary. Failure, get up, try again… over and over.
Gradually, she understood that the basic "use" of her Devil Fruit power had been imprinted in her body the moment she ate it, as natural as breathing.
She had only been refusing to accept it. The Devil Fruit didn't force itself on anyone. If you didn't want it, it wouldn't give you power. But once she began to accept it…
She learned how to release the cold air, how to condense ice crystals. But Reid wanted her to train beyond that.
He wanted her to "control" and "shape" it, to make this power an extension of her will, truly bearing her personal mark.
No longer scattered cold winds, but consciously guided, condensed, and shaped; no longer fragile, superficial shards, but ice roses imbued with freezing power, able to bloom at her command.
That day, a massive boar charged toward the girl, driven by Reid's blood mist.
Her eyes sharpened, no longer the initial fear, no longer entirely blank, but focused with the intensity forged by training. She deftly dodged the charge, toes barely touching the ground as she prepared to step back, hands reaching forward.
The cold air no longer spread aimlessly. It surged from her palms, forming not vague mist, but intertwining clusters of ice vines composed of countless crystalline roses and sharp ice thorns erupted from the ground, wrapping around the boar's limbs and body!
The boar let out a furious roar, thrashing to tear free, snapping a few vines, but more ice rose vines quickly coiled around it. The extreme cold swiftly seized it; its movements slowed and stiffened.
Beads of sweat formed on the girl's forehead. Maintaining such focus and efficiency was still a heavy burden for her, yet she gritted her teeth, her ice-blue eyes shining with determination.
She clapped her hands together!
"Bloom!"
In an instant, every ice rose vine enveloping the boar erupted with piercing cold light! The extreme chill swept over the beast, freezing it solid into a massive ice sculpture. Even its roaring expression was captured in that frozen moment.
Then, a faint crack echoed from inside the ice. Cracks spread rapidly across the sculpture, until bam!
The ice shattered into countless crystalline shards, the fully frozen boar turning into sparkling fragments, glittering briefly in the sunlight before dissolving into the air, leaving no trace.
Only a small patch of ground remained, frosted from the intense cold.
The girl let out a soft sigh, looking at her hands and then at the empty ground. Without Reid's assistance this time, she had completed the hunt alone. This boar was one of the stronger ones in the forest. As the saying goes, a strong hunter begins with wild boars.
Reid stepped out from the shade, clapping his hands. "Not bad, not bad. Your movements are still a bit clumsy, and your power control is rough, but you're finally starting to look competent."
"Freezing the prey into crystals directly saves the trouble of handling it. Clean and efficient. What do you call this technique?"
The girl looked up at Reid. She thought for a moment, organizing her words, then spoke softly, her tone hesitant:
"Flow…er Funeral?"
Reid heard this and smiled.
"Flower Funeral? Not bad. Alright, this hunt shall be called 'Flower Funeral.'"
He patted her shoulder. "Remember this feeling. You're just beginning to truly tap into your power. The road ahead is still long."
The girl looked at Reid's smile, then down at her palm. A small ice rose quietly bloomed. Though still tiny, it was fuller and more refined than it had been three months ago.
She gently clenched her fist, holding the small rose in her palm, feeling its icy texture. Deep within her, something seemed to stir, like a seed beneath the frost. The girl's heart was beginning to awaken, and at that moment, Reid's fingers reached toward her.
He jabbed, jabbed, jabbed her head!
"This move is excellent, but can the boar be brought back as food? Wasting food is shameful, you know!"
Jab, jab, jab.
He jabbed, muttering: "Such a big boar, enough to feed the whole tribe for days, and you just vaporized it? What a wasteful first mate!"
The girl's head bobbed with each poke, but she no longer curled away like before. She simply puffed her cheeks slightly, raised her hands to guard her head, adopting a defensive stance.
Yet in that moment, there was no fear only a subtle, almost imperceptible sense of intimacy.