Ha Shiro opened his Status Panel.
Host: Ha ShiroOccupation: BarberDevil Fruit: Hair-Hair Fruit (Superhuman Type)Fruit Abilities: Wild Growth, Hair Absorption, Free Extension, High Imitation, Hardening, Hair Needles, Manipulation, Hair Puppetry, Hair Armor, Second Form, Susanoo Giant Form, Hairless Form (other skills yet to be developed)
Stamina: 48,996 / 50,029
Six Styles Techniques:
Iron Body (Proficient – 2,565 / 10,000)
Paper Art (Advanced – 4,999 / 5,000)
Shave (Proficient – 9,999 / 10,000)
Tempest Kick (Proficient – 9,999 / 10,000)
Finger Gun (Proficient – 9,506 / 10,000)
Moon Step (Proficient – 8,106 / 10,000)
Haki:
Observation Haki (Advanced – 9 / 1,000)
Armament Haki (Awakened)
Conqueror's Haki (Awakened)
Giant Power:Unique ability — allows him to control and unleash the strength of his giant transformation.
Special Attribute: Charm ???
Hidden Attributes:Fire resistance high, natural resistance low, high toughness, high hardness.
Fruit Awakening Progress: Primary ??? / ???
Ha Shiro stared at his attribute panel. Several of his Six Styles techniques had hit bottlenecks, each stuck at the last stretch. But that wasn't the real issue.
What mattered most—what absorbed his attention entirely—was the progress bar for his Devil Fruit awakening.
"So the fruit awakening has stages?"
Ha Shiro frowned and began digging into his memory of the original lore. It didn't take long for everything to click into place.
Since Devil Fruits varied, the methods and stages of awakening naturally varied as well.Most truly awakened powers allowed the user to assimilate the environment, usually within a radius of a few hundred meters—though the actual limit differed with each fruit.
And fruit development was never that simple.Just look at Doflamingo's Birdcage: a deadly technique born from deep awakening.
By comparison, Ha Shiro had only barely reached the threshold of awakening.There was still a long path ahead.
From the author's perspective, awakenings should be divided into three stages:
Primary Awakening
Intermediate Awakening
Advanced Awakening
And then, somewhere beyond that existed Special Awakening, likely tied to Conqueror's Haki.
Sure enough—awakening alone didn't make someone invincible.Only a perfect fusion of Devil Fruit mastery and Haki could create a true powerhouse.
Ha Shiro wasn't capable of that yet, but he could feel it:
His body… his abilities… something had changed.
He had awakened his fruit only after surpassing 50,000 stamina—And even then, it was just a primary awakening.
That was absurd.
Luffy's Gear Second and Gear Third were already signs of primary awakening, and Luffy's stamina wasn't even remotely close to Ha Shiro's current level. Yet Ha Shiro had awakened first.
"What will I become after full awakening…?"The thought thrilled him. His heart pounded with anticipation.
Just then, the Going Merry abruptly stopped.
The Altar
"What is this place?" Nami asked, looking around curiously.
"This appears to be an altar," Robin replied, pointing toward the ruin-like structure ahead.
The Merry had run aground right next to it.
"Ah! S-sharks!"Chopper rolled near the altar, barely escaping a giant shark's jaws.
Zoro didn't react at all—he and Chopper had gotten used to this sort of thing.
"This altar isn't far from shore. I'll take you two first," Ha Shiro said.
Using Moon Step, he swept Nami and Robin into his arms and carried them onto the land. Chopper remained behind to repair the ship.
"Zoro, clear the path," Ha Shiro ordered. "My ladies, let's search this forest for clues."
Ha Shiro summoned his hair puppets to scout ahead while he walked in the middle, holding Nami and Robin by the waist.
"This is your idea of being a gentleman king?" Zoro grumbled.
Meanwhile, Luffy's group had already reached the entrance to the Trials of God…and of course, they chose the Trial of Spheres.
They quickly encountered the first Priest.With Mantra (Observation Haki), the priests were formidable opponents, pushing Luffy's group into a fierce battle.
Ha Shiro's exploration, however, yielded nothing of immediate use.Nami stumbled into danger several times, but Ha Shiro casually dispatched each threat without breaking a sweat.
Tooot—!
A whistle echoed.
"Huh? Chopper?" Ha Shiro looked back, tempted… but stopped.He glanced at the two girls beside him.
In the end, he didn't go.
He decided to trust Chopper.And besides—wasn't the Sky Knight nearby?
So Ha Shiro continued accompanying Nami and Robin.Soon, Nami discovered the island's secret: this was the legendary Golden Land.
Robin's expression shifted—she clearly had deduced something important.
"So… we should head back too, right?" Ha Shiro suggested.He could practically sense Luffy's direction now.
Unbeknownst to them, the Shandia warriors were attracting most of the enemy's firepower.
Reunion
"Chopper, are you okay!?"Nami and Robin rushed to comfort the crying reindeer.
"Luffy? You're here too?" Ha Shiro asked when Luffy emerged from the forest.
"Yeah—hehehe!" Luffy laughed, running back toward the ship with Sanji and Usopp.
Ha Shiro carried Nami and Robin and followed them, regrouping aboard the Merry.
That night, everyone gathered around a fire, sharing all the information they'd found.
When they learned that this island was once the Golden City, everyone was stunned.
"Ha Shiro, why don't you sit?" Nami asked, noticing how unusually tense he seemed.
Normally, he would take the chance to flirt or "accidentally" lean on her shoulder.But tonight, he stood behind them, eating silently, brows furrowed.
"That's odd," she muttered.
"Yeah… Ha Shiro usually isn't like this," Robin added.
Ha Shiro stayed alert, eyes half-closed as he extended his Observation Haki.
Dozens—no, hundreds—of flickering lights surrounded them.Those must be the so-called Mantra, Enel's omnipresent radar.
Just as he focused deeper, Nami and Robin grabbed him, dragging him behind a huge tree.
"You're acting weird. Spill it," Nami demanded.
Robin wrapped an arm around him with her ability, refusing to let him escape.
"Don't mess around. I'm fine—I'll keep watch tonight," he said, gently taking Robin's hand and shaking his head.
"You don't need to carry everything yourself," Nami insisted.
"You two have your own roles to play. Go rest. Maybe I'm just overthinking."Ha Shiro smiled and embraced them both.
But the tension in his body betrayed him.
Since the Merry was too damaged to use—and Luffy had made it worse—they had no choice but to camp outside.
Ha Shiro set up a tent for Nami and Robin, helping them inside.
But he didn't join them.
"Ha Shiro, aren't you coming in?" Nami asked, confused.
"I'll rest in the tree. Don't worry—while I'm here, you can sleep peacefully."
He smiled at the group.
Even Zoro raised an eyebrow—rare for him.
Everyone was surprised… but no one argued.They each found a place to lie down for the night.