Chapter 40: Body Tempering, Black Body Flow!
That's right. This was Loy's greatest gain: what was displayed on the screen at this moment.
Counting the two guardian deities of the Alabasta royal family, as well as all the top five numbered agents of Baroque Works, including Crocodile and Robin.
In this operation in Alabasta, he gained a total of twelve Devil Fruits!
This directly allowed him to unlock another Devil Fruit Slot.
And the appearance of the fourth Devil Fruit Slot was undoubtedly another huge boost for him.
Moreover, that wasn't all.
"Special Devil Fruit Slot."
Loy looked at the content displayed within the encyclopedia, a thoughtful expression on his face.
Clearly, the changes to the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia had exceeded his expectations.
But at the same time, Loy wasn't overly surprised.
Because, in fact, during his six years of researching the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia, he had already made a discovery.
The Devil Fruit Encyclopedia appeared in the form of pages, but Loy could only see the sections dedicated to recording Devil Fruits.
However, Loy had never been able to open the latter half of the pages—so he had always wondered if his 'golden finger' still held any secrets.
And now, it seemed reality was indeed as he suspected.
"After collecting 60 Devil Fruits, the fifth Special Devil Fruit Slot can be unlocked. It's three times harder to unlock than normal slots, which means its power should also be more than three times greater, right?"
Loy analyzed in his mind: "Devil Fruit Fusion..."
Just this name alone was enough to make him imagine countless possibilities.
What's more, Loy could also form more associations from this.
For example:
"As I analyze and collect more Devil Fruits, will the encyclopedia open new pages and unlock new abilities?"
Loy felt a surge of excitement, like finally leaving the novice village and seeing the vastness of the world.
However, he quickly suppressed this excitement—never mind unlocking more functions of the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia; even the 60 Devil Fruits needed for this "Special Devil Fruit Slot" alone were still more than halfway from being collected.
Dreaming of the future was good, but being overly ambitious would be detrimental.
Therefore, Loy quickly began to ponder another question.
"It would be best if I could bring Drunken Chicken and Dragon back to refresh their status—this way, I can grant them an additional Devil Fruit ability."
Loy was very clear on this point.
"But meeting them would be troublesome."
Both Drunken Chicken and Dragon were currently criminals noticed by the World Government.
Under such circumstances, having them infiltrate Marine Headquarters to refresh their status was almost impossible.
As for him going privately to meet his clones, that was also inappropriate—if such a thing were ever discovered, his identity would immediately be impossible to hide.
In other words...
"I urgently need an ability that can ensure I can meet my clones without anyone knowing in the future."
Loy furrowed his brows.
Coincidentally, he actually knew of a very powerful Devil Fruit that could achieve this requirement.
It was just that the location of that Devil Fruit was not at Marine Headquarters.
"After this training with Teacher Zephyr ends, I'll have to find a way to leave Headquarters for a trip."
And just as Loy was pondering this...
"Loy."
A knock on the door came, interrupting Loy's thoughts.
"Hina?"
And when Loy opened the door, he saw Hina standing at the doorway.
"Why are you here?"
Loy asked familiarly—after this period of time, he and Hina had naturally become quite familiar.
"Teacher Zephyr told me to take you for training."
Hina said with a smile.
"Training?"
Hearing this, Loy was slightly startled, then chuckled, "No need, I'm already very familiar with the location of Training Room No. 3."
He naturally didn't think he needed to be led.
But what surprised him was...
"No, Loy—the place you'll be training today is not Training Room No. 3."
At this moment, Hina mysteriously grinned.
"Teacher Zephyr told me to take you to the core of this 'Zephyr's Training Camp,' which is also the 'Training Room No. 0' that only he can use."
"Huh?"
And after hearing that, Loy's expression stirred slightly.
Then...
"You mean..."
He looked at Hina, his tone becoming serious.
And Hina nodded, "It's exactly what you're thinking—the teacher said that starting today, you will begin your *true* training!"
After speaking, she turned and left: "Follow me."
So, Loy took a deep breath, and then followed.
Soon, after following Hina through various winding training rooms...
Loy arrived at "Training Room No. 0."
This training room was unprecedentedly huge, and Loy recognized at a glance that its surrounding walls were made of a special 'Z Alloy'.
And most notably, in the center of the room,
there was a platform, and at the top of the platform was a giant object resembling a pipe.
At this moment, 'Black Arm' Zephyr was standing on the platform.
And after seeing Loy, Zephyr grinned.
"How is it? Were you anxious? Did you think this old man was tricking you earlier?"
Zephyr said, laughing loudly.
"To be honest, a little bit. If it weren't for you, Teacher, I would have already reported fraud to Headquarters."
Afterward, the master and disciple, now familiar with each other, exchanged glances and smiled.
"Come up—this is where you'll train."
Zephyr beckoned, and Loy naturally didn't say more.
He walked onto the giant platform with a solemn expression.
Then...
...
Nothing happened.
"Huh?"
Loy, who had originally tensed all his muscles, looked at Zephyr with some confusion—"Old man, what are you doing?"
"Don't rush."
But Zephyr, seeing Loy's confused expression, chuckled loudly again.
"This old man said you have enough talent, so the training you'll receive will also be quite special."
"But before that, this old man needs to ask you—what do you think of this old man's strength?"
My strength?
Hearing this, Loy looked at Zephyr doubtfully.
"Teacher Zephyr, you are, of course, very strong. To be precise, you are the strongest person I've fought so far."
Then, he said sincerely.
This was a natural answer.
To this day, he still remembered the punch he exchanged with Zephyr last time.
In that punch, Loy had genuinely used one of his strongest Devil Fruit combinations for physical strength.
Although, due to not being able to expose his identity as an Ability User, he couldn't use his strongest Beast Form or Hybrid Form to engage Zephyr.
But even so, the combination of the Pteranodon Devil Fruit, the Giant Rhinoceros Devil Fruit, and the Strong-Strong Fruit was already powerful enough—in that state, he was confident that he wouldn't lose even against a Sea King.
But when facing Zephyr's serious punch at that time, he was still sent flying.
Even though he was old and retired, his body incomplete and no longer at its peak, an Admiral was still an Admiral—they symbolized the true pinnacle of individual strength in the entire sea.
And Zephyr was clearly very pleased with Loy's sincere answer.
The old man chuckled, then continued to ask, "Then where do you think my strength lies?"
"Of course, it's Haki."
Loy answered without hesitation.
Zephyr's epithet was 'Black Arm'.
From this, it could be seen that his strongest aspect was obviously his Armament Haki.
This was also what Loy wanted to learn the most—with Armament Haki, it would be much easier for him to deal with Logia Type Ability Users.
After all, not every Logia Type Ability User was like Crocodile, whom he coincidentally countered.
But...
"Yes, but also wrong."
Hearing his answer, Zephyr said softly.
"Haki is just the result, Loy."
He looked at Loy: "The real answer is 'physique' and 'skill'."
He spoke, stating the conclusions he had reached over many years.
"Logia Type, Zoan Type, Paramecia Type—Devil Fruit Ability Users are uniquely gifted with talents and abilities, naturally superior to ordinary people."
"And for non-Ability Users like us to catch up to them, we can only rely on physique and skill."
He didn't notice that when he said the words 'non-Ability User', Loy's expression changed slightly.
Zephyr looked at Loy, speaking slowly and emphatically.
"It's precisely because he understood this point that Garp created his own 'Iron Fist'."
When he said this, Loy naturally understood Zephyr's meaning.
Almost everyone in Marine Headquarters knew—'Marine Hero' Garp had a unique training method.
Without using Haki or abilities, he purely used his own fists, punch by punch, to smash the Seastone at the bottom of battleships.
Year after year, he constantly tempered his own 'fist bones'.
Until finally, he could smash a mountain or small island to smithereens with a single punch, even without using Haki.
It was because of this that he earned the epithet 'Iron Fist Garp'.
And Zephyr's meaning was also very clear now.
"Like Garp, this old man also has his own unique training method and martial art."
There was clear pride in Zephyr's words.
"Unlike that fellow Garp who's so reckless, concentrating all his strength into his fists—what this old man pursues is the tempering of the entire body."
He looked at Loy, his anticipation clear.
"This is also what this old man will pass on to you."
Saying this, he raised his left fist.
"This old man is accustomed to fighting with his hands, which is why people call him 'Black Arm'."
"But in reality, regardless of skin, bones, muscles, organs, or even blood—the perfect physical technique that tempers and activates the potential of every part of the body is the essence of this old man's martial art, and its name is... 'Black Body Flow'."
(end of chapter)