Edmund froze for a moment, then sank back into the steaming pool. "What do you mean? With our skills—and William's Logia powers—who in the East Blue could possibly stand against us?"
William didn't answer immediately. Instead, he asked calmly, "What was it we were worried about from the very beginning?"
Seeing Edmund's puzzled look, Sherlock explained for him. "William was never afraid of Roy or Arcadio themselves. He feared the Navy and the World Government standing behind them. That hasn't changed. If all he wanted was to kill those two, he wouldn't need a Devil Fruit to do it. We could've acted long ago."
"Tch." Tony cut in with disdain. "And what's so great about the East Blue Navy anyway?"
"What about the Grand Line?" Ajin replied coolly, leaning back against the pool wall in William's manner. "Nezumi may be a shortsighted fool, but Roy is not a simple man."
Ajin turned his gaze to William and Aramis. "Remember back when we were in the Danton Pirates? That Marine ship that hunted us like rabbits?"
Aramis frowned. "Don't tell me… it was him?"
In the East Blue, where most branch bases had grown lax and corrupted, Roy's method of using fleeing pirates as cover to plunder villages, then pocketing the spoils under the guise of confiscated 'pirate loot,' was considered shrewd.
To Aramis and the others, it was clever. To William, it was nothing more than proof that Roy wasn't an idiot. He narrowed his eyes at Ajin and asked the question that mattered most. "What about Roy's actual strength?"
Ajin's expression grew serious. "Before you ate your Devil Fruit, you wouldn't have been his match. Now? Hard to say." He pressed his lips together, then asked, "I need to know exactly what your ability can do before I can judge."
William gestured for him to step back. Once Ajin had moved, the water around William began to boil. Strangely, the rising steam did not drift upward but instead gathered thickly into a controlled mass at his command.
By nature, steam was invisible, only appearing as white mist when condensing into droplets in cool air.
"So far," William explained, "I can transform into and control steam. I can also generate heat and cause liquids to vaporize violently."
Devil Fruit powers weren't gifts that came fully formed. Aside from the instinctive basics, every ability had to be trained like a muscle. Just as a child learned to crawl, then walk, then run, so too did a fruit user have to develop their strength step by step.
By the naming conventions of this world, his fruit would probably be called the "Steam Fruit." Beyond the standard Logia element body, it carried auxiliary effects—raising temperature, forcing matter into rapid vaporization.
But there was a problem. His current method of heating didn't draw from outside; it burned from within. At standard pressure, water boiled at one hundred degrees Celsius, and beyond that, raising the temperature further became difficult.
William knew his limits couldn't end there. Even if he had been a poor student in his previous life, he still remembered that one hundred degrees was only water's boiling point under normal pressure. Change the pressure and the limit rose. More importantly, he wasn't bound to boiling water alone. He controlled steam itself—and its upper limit was far higher.
The real issue was pressure. Like a kettle lid rattling as steam pushed to escape, whenever he tried to raise the temperature inside himself, steam and heat leaked uncontrollably from his body.
The mist filling the bathhouse wasn't from the pool alone. Much of it was his own power, seeping out as he practiced.
The truth was simple: he hadn't had the fruit for long. He still needed time to study and refine it.
But William was no fool. He'd learned from Redbeard's mistake. Barbarossa had flaunted his fruit carelessly, let others uncover its weakness, and paid the price. First Zeff, then William himself, had exploited that flaw. And in the end, Barbarossa had died for it.
William would not repeat his error. Even with a Logia, caution was essential.
Already, he could feel the truth of another rumor—that Devil Fruit users didn't just weaken in seawater but rejected any kind of standing water. That was why the bath's pool reached only to his waist. Any deeper, and the discomfort grew too great.
By now, everyone had stepped out of the boiling water. Ajin thought in silence for a moment, then finally said, "If that's all your power is for now, then the outcome against Roy is still uncertain."
The others—Aramis, Edmund, even Tony—stiffened at that. They knew William's strength better than anyone, yet if Ajin, after hearing his ability, still couldn't guarantee victory, then Roy's strength before must have been leagues above the old William.
Ajin continued, his eyes on William. "Your suspicions were right. The Navy has its own martial techniques—six advanced forms called Rokushiki. Weak branch bases like those in the East Blue hardly ever use them, but at Marine Headquarters, plenty can."
William caught the implication. "Roy knows them?"
Ajin nodded grimly. "He's an officer from Headquarters. He's mastered two—Tekkai and Soru."
He exhaled heavily. "At the base, he commands enormous respect. Part of it comes from his seniority. But more than that, every new recruit who arrives gets a demonstration of those techniques. It cements his authority in their minds."
"I've seen it myself. His Tekkai—Iron Body—turns his flesh hard as steel. He ordered me to strike him head-on. With a blade, I held back. I couldn't cut him. Then he had me try with a gun." Ajin's mouth twisted. "Even that couldn't break his defense."
______________________________________________
If you want 20 chapters ahead, check out my Patreon:
patreon.com/PureParadox