Chapter 217: Kamaitachi

"This is..."

Xiang Gaowen raised his hand to accept the old book from Cobra's grasp.

The book's cover was already tattered beyond recognition, its pages yellowed, shedding crumbs at the slightest touch.

Clearly, it had seen some age.

"Originally, I believed the Crimson Dragon was merely a fabrication born of awe for nature, concocted by predecessors after witnessing the great transformation of Alabasta."

"It was not until a few years ago, when the Alabasta royal family organized their library, that we glimpsed from past historical records the reason why Alabasta has become what it is today."

As he spoke, Cobra looked up at Xiang Gaowen; in his eyes lay unmasked gratitude, and likewise, an indescribable something that could be called fear.

The former stemmed from Xiang Gaowen's actions in crushing Crocodile and the Baroque Works; whether intentional or not, the one who truly pulled this nation out of the quagmire was not the Marines, but Xiang Gaowen.

This point Cobra kept etched in his heart and would never forget.

As for that sliver of fear, it came from Alabasta's history, and from the old book now resting in Xiang Gaowen's hand.

"Even among the nearly infinite Devil Fruits, the Crimson Dragon stands at the very apex."

"Unrestricted extraction of ley line energy will ultimately result in Alabasta looking exactly as it does now."

Xiang Gaowen lifted his gaze toward the window.

All that met his eyes was endless wind and sand, and a desert stretching to the very limit of vision.

Back on Drum Island, with a physique strengthened by several of Xiang Gaowen's traits to near perfection, he had barely managed to control less than one-fifth of the ley line energy; so then...

To bear the ley line energy of Alabasta, whose land area is far greater than that of Drum Island, what kind of formidable physique and power would be required?

While shocked by the strength of the previous Crimson Dragon user, Xiang Gaowen felt even more awe.

Ninety percent of this world's surface is occupied by oceans; the remaining soil suitable for human survival is exceedingly precious in every scrap.

And if the Crimson Dragon absorbs ley line energy without limit, it could truly achieve a future where no land suitable for human survival remains in this world.

"Therefore..."

Cobra's tone gained several degrees of solemnity:

"I know you are different from other pirates, but please exercise caution in wielding this power."

"Moreover, by all rights, this fruit should not appear anywhere outside of Britannias; it is one of that nation's national treasures."

"Why it appeared in Alabasta several hundred years ago, and now appears in your hands, is something we can no longer verify."

"What do you mean?"

A familiar name reached Xiang Gaowen's ears, causing his brows to furrow at this very moment.

"You will understand once you take a look."

At Cobra's words, Xiang Gaowen opened the historical book in his hands.

What met his eyes was an illustration.

One red, one white; one below, one above; two giant dragons entwined and slaughtering each other occupied the core position of the entire illustration.

Surrounding them were azure flames and thunder, together composing an apocalyptic scene.

Although time had passed, the pigments on the illustration had long since deteriorated and faded, with even the lines becoming somewhat blurred.

Yet Xiang Gaowen recognized at a glance that the red figure was indeed the Crimson Dragon; but the white dragon contending with it, bearing six wings on its back, covered entirely in feathers, and radiating divinity, was...

"Another Mythical Zoan-type Dragon-Dragon Fruit?!"

"But the rebirth of Devil Fruits follows no pattern; how could two dragons manage to be reborn within a single nation?"

"If that nation truly controlled such power, how could the World Government and the Marines stand by and do nothing, allowing it to remain independent for hundreds of years?"

Looking at the information recorded in the old book, countless questions flashed through Xiang Gaowen's mind.

He hastily bid farewell to Cobra, returned to his own room, and flipped through the old book page by page.

Yet he discovered that what was recorded therein were merely absurd legendary tales bordering on mythology.

Something about a fated battle between red and white twin dragons, something about a struggle between Heaven and Earth, gods and men...

But the more Xiang Gaowen read the book's contents, the more he felt his scalp go numb.

Nika could leap across eight hundred years of history, actively evade the World Government's search, and precisely appear in the hands of the destined one, Luffy.

This point nearly confirmed that Devil Fruits, especially Zoan-type Devil Fruits, harbor some kind of will.

During the battle between Kaido and Luffy, the sudden question of "Who exactly are you?" made Xiang Gaowen's scalp go numb even now.

Was it that I actively sought a place suitable for exercising my abilities, thus choosing Britannias, this neutral nation?

Or did the Crimson Dragon Fruit foresee future possibilities, thereby choosing me?

Could even my making such a decision be the influence of the Crimson Dragon?

Snap!

Xiang Gaowen closed the old book in his hand; after taking a deep breath, he forcibly calmed the restlessness within his heart.

He raised his hand to summon the system interface.

Gazing at the Crimson Dragon Fruit lying quietly within the Captain System, Xiang Gaowen couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, murmuring:

"No matter how strong the will harbored by the Crimson Dragon Fruit is, it cannot surpass the Captain System."

"I am still too weak now; as long as I become strong enough, any scheme can be slashed apart with a single blade."

Xiang Gaowen quietly gripped the long sword at his waist.

He knew clearly that the only gap between his current combat power and legendary-level strength lay in the accumulation of Haki.

Regarding Conqueror's Haki, relying temporarily on Kizaru offered little hope of reaching Level 5, but during the wait for that old fellow Zephyr, pushing it to Level 4 posed no problem whatsoever.

Armament Haki was already near its critical point, and he had arranged internal ranking battles within the team.

Given the workaholic nature of Ah Jin, Xiang Keluo, and the others, they should provide him with decent gains during this period; reaching LV-5 to awaken a new trait should not be an issue.

Relying solely on Zoro for swordsmanship might be somewhat slow, but within a few months at most, he could grind it to Level 15 and awaken a new trait as well.

By that time, even when facing an Admiral-level opponent, my combat power should still allow me a fighting chance.

The Red Dragon's ability, akin to a perpetual motion machine, is something impossible to abandon!

"But we must make thorough preparations before entering the New World."

"I'd like to see what this so-called battle between the Red and White Dragons, this fate-war, really is."

"Cultivation!"

Saying this, Xiang Gaowen set down the old book in his hands and stepped out through the door.

A few minutes later.

Two figures, one golden and one red, raced toward the distant desert.

Around Alabasta, the ground soon trembled again like a natural disaster; silver-white blade light and golden laser beams scattered outward, triggering violent sandstorms as if marking the end of the world.

Yet the civilians within the city had grown accustomed to such scenes.

……

Several days later.

Deep night.

The sky was cloaked in dark clouds, stars glittering brightly.

After harvesting over six hundred points of Conqueror's Haki experience from Huang Yuan's head, Xiang Gaowen finally satisfied himself and walked toward the palace.

These past few days, aside from training with Huang Yuan, Xiang Gaowen had not been idle—he gathered information across Alabasta about Britannias and the Red Dragon.

Unfortunately,

Even in Alabasta, records concerning the two were extremely limited.

Aside from the previous generation's ability holders and that old book on Britannias, most accounts were mere hearsay, impossible to verify.

Xiang Gaowen simply stopped dwelling on the matter and shifted his focus to cultivating Conqueror's Haki.

After all, he was more accustomed to directing his energy toward things he could change, rather than obsessing over possibilities.

It had no meaning, and changed nothing.

Only Conqueror's Haki, drawing ever closer to LV4, could give Xiang Gaowen a sense of security.

Soon,

Xiang Gaowen returned near the Alabasta Royal Palace, only to find a slender figure already waiting there.

"Where is it?"

Keluo was drenched in sweat, gasping for breath.

Since learning the fruit he had long awaited was within reach, he had pushed himself relentlessly with Shao Si, traveling from Whiskey Peak to Alabasta in just a few days.

Due to extreme physical exhaustion, his face was pale, yet his eyes burned with intensity.

Xiang Gaowen couldn't help but smile sardonically:

"Didn't you say you weren't interested in Devil Fruits?"

"Stop wasting my time!"

Keluo's eyelid twitched; he gritted his teeth and said:

"The rules of the Martial Arts Tournament stated: whoever wins may make one demand. I demand that fruit!"

"I've never seen you this eager before."

Xiang Gaowen shook his head, abandoning his teasing tone:

"Follow me."

Saying this,

Xiang Gaowen hurried back into the room, retrieved the chest given to him by Vivi from beneath the desk, but before he could set it down, Keluo snatched it away.

Crash!

With a sharp crack, a Devil Fruit—resembling a whirlwind woven from countless blades—appeared before Keluo.

He carefully cradled the fruit, his eyes ablaze as if ignited by fire.

"The legendary monster of Wano—whirlwind so swift it cannot be seen… Zoan-type—Weasel-Weasel Fruit—Mythical Beast subtype—Sickle Weasel form!"

"Just as I thought!"

"You've been waiting for me too!"

At this moment,

Keluo grew calm. He lowered his gaze to the Sickle Weasel Fruit in his hands; his fingers seemed to sense a surge of excitement.

"It has consciousness?"

"Yeah."

Xiang Gaowen nodded:

"Probably."

"I've only recently realized something: our choice of Britannias as our future stronghold may not have been accidental."

Keluo's pupils shrank; for a moment, he forgot the Sickle Weasel Fruit in his hands and turned to Xiang Gaowen:

"Is it connected to the Red Dragon Fruit?"

"It's only a theory for now. But no matter the truth, as long as we grow strong enough, nothing will be a problem."

"Hmph."

Keluo's lips curled into a faint smile; he turned back to the Sickle Weasel Fruit and said coolly:

"You're right."

Crack—!

Keluo bit off a chunk of fruit flesh; before he could chew, an unprecedented foul taste surged into his nostrils.

He gagged involuntarily, but nothing came out—instead, his body immediately changed.

In the span of a few breaths.

Keluo transformed into a strange creature several meters long, pure white all over, shaped like an ermine.

On the tip of this creature's tail, its forelegs, and along its spine grew blades, glinting with a chilling cold light.

"This is… a Kamaitachi?!"

Xiang Gaowen couldn't help but let out a gasp of astonishment, yet in the very next instant turned his head aside.

Hiss!

An invisible air blade flew past Xiang Gaowen's face, slicing open the wall behind him and leaving a smooth cut.

Immediately, countless air blades shot out in all directions from Keluo's body, leaving dense slash marks on the walls, and in many places even cutting straight through.

"Flying Slash?!"

Xiang Gaowen turned his head to look at Keluo, and saw the fur around the latter constantly rolling and drifting in the air, paired with the razor-sharp blades along its spine, making it look all the more ferocious.

"No, it's controlling air currents!"

Xiang Gaowen recalled the records he had seen in the Devil Fruit encyclopedia.

Understanding dawned on him.

The Kamaitachi is a legendary monster from the Land of Wano, usually described as an invisible wind.

It can cleave an object in two or slice through human flesh in an instant, yet because its speed is so extreme, it leaves no sensation of pain at all.

In a sense, it is the very synonym of speed.

"Let's go outside and test the ability!"

Keluo turned and vanished from the palace, like a violent gust of wind, leaving slash marks upon slash marks on the ground.

"So fast!"

Even though Xiang Gaowen had long anticipated it in his heart, he was still shocked by the speed the Kamaitachi Fruit displayed.

Only because the speed the Kamaitachi Fruit had shown at this moment had already far surpassed the full speed Keluo had unleashed with his Shao Death Burst!

One had to remember that Keluo had only just obtained this fruit; his skills and fighting style still needed to be honed, yet merely by relying on the raw speed the fruit itself erupted with, he had already exceeded his original limit!

Once he grew familiar with the ability, he could be even faster!

And at this very moment.

A mechanical system chime rang out in Xiang Gaowen's mind:

"Crew member Keluo has obtained the Kamaitachi Fruit."

"Potential increased."

"Silver —> Gold!"

……

"Keluo's potential has reached Gold level too?"

An involuntary, satisfied smile tugged at the corner of Xiang Gaowen's mouth.

Previously, after Ajinn obtained the Bone-Bone Fruit and awakened Armament Haki, his potential had risen to Gold level.

Now, after Keluo ate the Mythical Zoan Kamaitachi Fruit, he had finally reached Gold-level potential as well.

Counting Zoro, Sanji, and Luqi, who were already Gold-level potential to begin with, Xiang Gaowen now had five crew members whose potential had reached Gold level.

In other words.

Even if they never broke through further in the future, Xiang Gaowen's pirate crew would still have five combatants on the level of a Tobiroppo, a Sweet General, or a Warlord, plus Xiang Gaowen's own Emperor-level combat power.

A lineup like this, even placed among the current Four Emperors' crews, would not be considered weak; only the territorial reach fell a little short, but that itself was already within Xiang Gaowen's expectations.

Previously setting his sights on Britannia had been precisely to solve this problem.

Moreover, as battles grew ever fiercer in the days to come, the upper limits of these few would absolutely not stop at Gold level.

"The future is promising."

Xiang Gaowen murmured, then flashed his body and pursued in the direction Keluo's aura had vanished.

……

A few minutes later.

On the outskirts of Alabasta, in a stretch of desert.

Keluo had already slowly reverted to human form; only a single snow-white tail swayed restlessly behind him, the blade at its tip refracting the moonlight, looking all the more chillingly cold.

Paired with Keluo's almost ferocious smile at this moment, it added several degrees of sinister air.

"Blinding speed, control of air currents within a radius of several meters, and also…"

He looked toward Xiang Gaowen in the distance, instantly transformed into a Kamaitachi, and lunged to bite at Xiang Gaowen!

Swish!

Guanshi Zhengzong left its sheath; the edge swept across Keluo's body, yet there was not the slightest sensation of striking solid matter.

Xiang Gaowen looked at Guanshi Zhengzong, then turned his head to look at Keluo, who had stopped in the distance, and said in surprise:

"Elementalization?"

"No!"

Keluo shook his head:

"It's a quasi-elementalization ability."

"When moving at high speed, the Kamaitachi transforms into an invisible whirlwind."

(End of this chapter)