GA: Chapter 56 – How Much of a Poser Akainu Is in the Manga; A Beast Tide Breaks Out in the Northern Sea
Knowing what you know, Akainu ate the Logia-type Magma-Magma Fruit—but if you didn't know, you'd swear he had a Mythical Zoan.
I genuinely thought the one fighting Whitebeard wasn't Akainu but Kaido.
And the manga apparently had it the other way around too—it wasn't Akainu sucker-punching Whitebeard, it was Whitebeard going after Akainu first.
He didn't even know what to say about that.
Ordinary Group Owner: "The anime was the more forgiving version—Old Dad lands a clean combo on Akainu and the guy just bleeds a little, no big deal. In the manga, Akainu is the one posing, jumping up to punch Old Dad in the head, only to eat a fist to the waist in return."
Ordinary Group Owner: "And some people actually say Old Dad is the strongest of the previous era, while Akainu is the strongest of this era."
Ordinary Group Owner: "I literally—"
Ordinary Group Owner: "Kaido, Big Mom, Garp, Sengoku—those are all previous-era people, sure. But what about Shanks? He's not previous era."
Ordinary Group Owner: "Is Akainu supposed to be Shanks's match? Could he actually beat Shanks to death?"
Whitebeard was Su Yunqing's idol right now—and setting everything else aside, that Angel-form Devil Fruit alone was enough to make her want to call him godfather.
She absolutely refused to let that dog Akainu taint her Old Dad's reputation.
Child of Nature: "That question is already moot."
Child of Nature: "From this point forward, the strongest man of this era is called Monkey D. Luffy."
Ordinary Group Owner: "Your world still has One Piece? Oh right—your world does have One Piece."
Ordinary Group Owner: "So?! So?! Has Luffy become King of the Pirates yet?!"
Su Yunqing nearly leapt out of her seat the moment she heard Bai Xuan mention it, immediately firing off the question.
Naruto and Luffy were both her childhood.
Naruto had already become Hokage—even had a kid.
Now she was just waiting on Luffy to claim his throne.
As for Bai Xuan calling Monkey D. Luffy the strongest of this era—she thought that was perfectly reasonable. He was the protagonist, after all. If not Luffy, who else?
Akainu?
Child of Nature: "Not yet."
Child of Nature: "I didn't read it myself—I heard it from someone else."
Child of Nature: "Apparently Luffy awakened after Kaido beat him. And it wasn't the Rubber-Rubber Fruit awakening—it was the Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan Model: Nika."
Child of Nature: "Has four abilities: rubber, lightning, fire, and smoke. There might be more, but that's all I know."
Uchiha Dance King: "???"
Ordinary Group Owner: "???"
Worst Elf: "???"
Turn Daigu into Soup: "???"
Dongfang Bubai: "???"
Lighthouse Tycoon: "What on earth? Nika? What is that?"
Ordinary Group Owner: "So all this time he's been shouting Gum-Gum this and Gum-Gum that—and it should've been Nika-Nika all along?"
Ordinary Group Owner: "Wasn't the rubber ability just the author's fun little gimmick? How did it turn into Nika— face-palm.jpg"
Ordinary Group Owner: "So the Human-Human Fruit—Chopper got the plain original flavor."
Ordinary Group Owner: "I used to naively think Zoro could beat Luffy. I can see now that I was absolutely delusional."
Su Yunqing pressed both hands over her face. She hadn't expected Luffy's fruit to change types entirely.
Wasn't the saying always that there were no useless Devil Fruits, only ability users who didn't know how to develop them?
She'd always assumed Luffy would overcome his enemies by pushing the rubber ability further and further.
She wondered if Enel, sitting alone on the moon, would be upset about this.
The chat group erupted again after that, everyone piling onto Whitebeard with questions about the Nika fruit.
Bai Xuan watched them argue while eating his python dish, occasionally finishing off a rabbit head on the side, and browsing the internet in between.
If it hadn't been for the Nika fruit topic this morning, he probably wouldn't have gone online at all.
In the old days, that would have been unthinkable—almost everyone in the modern world was glued to their phone. But ever since awakening his ability and joining the chat group, he'd lost every last shred of interest in novels, games, and anime.
Outside of making calls, he barely picked up his phone anymore.
Life after that remained fairly full.
Beyond the essential physical training and Armament Haki conditioning, he'd head into the mountains whenever his food supply ran dry, collect what he needed, and come back. Then he'd spend time experimenting with [Natural Authority], developing new and more interesting applications.
As for the tasks expected of him as a Spiritual Qi Bureau member?
He was a special case.
Unless it was something critically important or something that specifically required his involvement, no one came looking for him.
"Hah."
A long exhale, and Bai Xuan stepped out of the hot spring. No shirt, just a pair of shorts. Water traced slow paths down the contours of his muscles, drawing the eye naturally to the powerful frame beneath.
Perfect muscle definition—the explosive force stored within his body was plain to see.
The one downside, if it could be called that, was how pale he was.
Given the choice, Bai Xuan would have preferred a bronzed tan.
But with his current constitution, he could sunbathe until he dropped dead and never darken a shade.
A flick of his right hand—the water clinging to his skin swept away in one clean motion, leaving him completely dry.
He settled onto the sofa, clicked on the TV, and began flipping through channels—then paused, a faint frown crossing his face. He set the remote down.
"A rat tide has occurred in a village in the Northern Sea. Several ability users attempted to hold the line but couldn't sustain it for long."
"Multiple casualties were reported in the course of the defense."
"Authorities have confirmed the area has been quarantined, and specialists have been dispatched to handle the situation."
On its own, this wouldn't have caught his attention. What gave him pause was spotting Huoyou in the footage.
A rat tide was frightening, sure—but in a world where technology still worked, it wasn't unmanageable. With Huoyou involved, something this routine should be resolved quickly without needing many more people.
So why were there so many soldiers in uniform filling the frame?
"Training the military districts' ability users? Using the rat tide as a live exercise—preparation for a potential beast tide of mutant creatures down the line?"
Not impossible.
China's strongest ability users were a finite resource. Talents like Huoyou and Qin Tianyihad were rare—they'd be the nation's top-tier combat force going forward, reserved for the most dangerous mutant threats.
So who handled everything else? That had to fall to others.
And while there was Bai Xuan—an outlier by any measure—they couldn't afford to depend on him entirely.
Setting aside whether Bai Xuan would even agree to be dispatched for every beast tide that came along, they themselves would never make that call.
What if it made him resent them?
Who would answer for that?
Bai Xuan's position was like a nuclear weapon—not to be deployed except as an absolute last resort.
Having a nuclear weapon didn't mean you stopped developing conventional arms, or stopped refining them.
You still needed both.
Because they understood: the nuclear option was a trump card—one you couldn't casually play until there was truly no other choice.