Chapter 5: The Abilities of the Chop-Chop Fruit!
He had practiced the "Mountain Bump" technique for two years, but the feeling he just had, of a sudden force joining in, was something he had never experienced before.
Through two years of Training, Buggy had understood one thing: his previous guesses about Haki were fundamentally wrong. From the very beginning, there were no such things as two aspects. It wasn't until he started cultivating that Buggy understood that Haki was simply a special kind of energy in the pirate world.
It could be absorbed by the human body. After absorbing a certain amount, it would manifest through some trigger. When acting on the body, it was Armament Haki; when acting on the spirit, it was Observation Haki or Conqueror's Haki. Observation Haki was equivalent to spiritual sensing, while Conqueror's Haki was equivalent to spiritual intimidation. The difference between the two was actually the disparity in spiritual power and the deviation in application techniques, nothing more.
Having seen through its essence, Buggy dared to assert that even if he didn't have the talent for Conqueror's Haki, he could achieve the same effect through acquired training.
Of course, there was a prerequisite: one must understand the control and use of spiritual power.
Coming from an era of information explosion, Buggy was quite confident in mastering spiritual power.
Two years of cultivation, from knowing nothing to understanding, Buggy had a clear grasp of this energy called Haki. And because of this, Buggy was quite sure that the sensation he felt for that brief moment just now was definitely not Haki.
Could it be a sign of finally entering Dark Strength? No, even Dark Strength couldn't produce such an exaggerated effect. Besides, he didn't feel like he was hitting a bottleneck; his qi and blood were still growing stronger every day. It wasn't that kind of feeling.
He had a profound impression of the hardness of the Red Line's mountain wall. Even Dark Strength couldn't easily create an effect of cracks spreading out for a 5 meters in all directions.
Since it wasn't Haki and it wasn't Dark Strength, then there was only one possibility left in his body – the Chop-Chop Fruit ability.
Recalling One Piece, Buggy realized he had overlooked a shocking fact: every time Captain Buggy split himself, his clothes and shoes split along with him. This meant that the Chop-Chop Fruit didn't just allow the body to split at will; it should also be able to split non-living things the body touched. As for living beings, Buggy hadn't experimented yet, so he wouldn't draw conclusions for now.
Thinking of this, Buggy's heart immediately throbbed with excitement. He couldn't help but be excited because Buggy saw so many possibilities in the Chop-Chop Fruit's abilities. And these possibilities would become Buggy's reliance for roaming the world in the future.
All along, Buggy had been vexed about how to become stronger. He hadn't expected to overlook such an important ability; he had truly been foolish. Fortunately, his realization wasn't too late. He had only wasted two years; it was still timely to start paying attention to it now.
After taking a deep breath, Buggy began to practice with a specific focus.
However, the process that followed was not quite what Buggy had imagined. When he tried to use that power externally, it was erratic, appearing and disappearing, making it impossible to grasp completely. Whether it appeared or not seemed to be entirely up to its own whim.
He was a bit discouraged, but Buggy's greatest strength was his patience. How could he give up just like that?
He knew that mastering the power of the Chop-Chop Fruit meant a surge in his strength.
Under Buggy's persistence, the mountain wall at the base of the Red Line was continuously subjected to Buggy's "massages" every day.
Three thousand times in ten days. From initially feeling it once or twice in ten attempts, to now feeling it about five times in ten attempts, Buggy knew he was making progress. Although he knew that thinking about it might lead to a more labor-saving method, Buggy didn't stop and continued his clumsy Training.
Twenty days later, after completing more than six thousand Mountain Bumps, Buggy could execute it eight out of ten times. Thirty days later, after completing ten thousand repetitions, Buggy finally fully grasped the feeling of mobilizing that mysterious power.
Only at this moment did Buggy dare to say that he had preliminarily mastered the abilities of the Chop-Chop Fruit.
Although the second stage of deep development and the third stage of ability awakening were still far off, the visible future filled Buggy with all sorts of ambitions.
Returning to the tent, he replenished his food and water and had a good sleep. When Buggy woke up, the bright moon was still high in the sky.
Carefully tucking a bottle of purple medicinal liquid into his clothes, Buggy walked out of the tent.
"The moonlight tonight is quite nice, a bit of a waste to use it for finding trouble. Should I do it another day? Better not. The experts of my era are already unbelievably strong. I absolutely cannot afford the slightest bit of slack. I need to seize the time; after all, I don't have much time left here."
Muttering to himself for a few moments, Buggy's figure disappeared into the moonlit, hazy forest.
Half an hour later, Buggy arrived in front of a long, narrow ditch in the forest.
Watching the purple-gold petals in the ditch, directly illuminated by the moonlight, seeming to dance with the wind, a trace of desire flickered in Buggy's eyes. But then, Buggy quickly retracted his gaze and cast it downwards, onto the small things buzzing softly beneath the petals.
Taking a deep breath, after adjusting himself to his optimal state, Buggy took a step forward, his entire person instantly entering the range of the ditch.
In the next second, the soft buzzing instantly turned into a harsh screech. Then, shuttle-like things soared into the air. Thanks to the bright moonlight, Buggy could see these shuttle-like things clearly: they were palm-sized killer bees.
Pew! As the harsh screeching disappeared, the first crisp sound rang out, and a shuttle shot towards Buggy.
Without even looking at the incoming killer bee, Buggy calmly dodged its attack and took another step forward.
However, with this step, the swarm of killer bees seemed to have been greatly provoked. Pew, pew, pew, pew... In the next second, dozens of killer bees shot out, forming a cloud of bees that enveloped Buggy.
If it were anyone else facing such an attack, they would either have to endure it head-on or dodge with extreme speed.
But Buggy still didn't move. Instead, he closed his eyes.
At this moment, Buggy was using his spiritual power to sense, trying to perceive the flight paths of the killer bees that were difficult to capture with the naked eye, so that he could use his splitting ability at the last moment to avoid them.
But spiritual power was not so easy to control. Buggy only had a vague feeling and was completely unable to read the killer bees' trajectories. In the next second, the cloud of killer bees had already crashed into Buggy.
(End of this chapter)