Chapter 172: [172] : [BONUS] – Flare-Flare Fruit Awakened! Kuma, Have You Ever Seen Nika?

~ Thank You for 1,200 Powerstones, Here’s Your Bonus Chapter!

~ 18 Advanced Chapters Available on my Patreon

<><><><><><><><>

Moria’s body, now completely charred black, was utterly lifeless.

The devastating energy had not only annihilated Moria but had also shattered the entire area where he stood; even the sea below crackled with residual lightning.

On these seas, only one ability could achieve such a feat.

The Rumble-Rumble Fruit ability. Hailed as one of the most invincible among Logias. Rowen’s signature move of pointing a single finger to the sky was the clearest proof…

BUT—

There had been no visible shadow or sound of descending lightning… Neither the brilliant flash of lightning nor the Rumble-Rumble Fruit’s iconic thunderclap had occurred.

In just the blink of an eye, Moria had been silenced by a storm of invisible, rampaging thunder.

Rowen had combined the power of the Clear-Clear Fruit with the Rumble-Rumble Fruit…

Kuma’s forehead was slick with cold sweat. His Observation Haki hadn’t detected any attack approaching at all.

Though intel from the World Government indicated that Sky Sovereign Rowen’s Rumble-Rumble Fruit could achieve Observation Haki Nullification, completely shutting down Observation Haki that hadn’t reached the level of future sight…

But his own Observation Haki was active—yet, he hadn’t detected any sign of an attack. Silently, invisibly—the destructive energy of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit descended, and Moria was just—GONE!

WHAT A HORRIFYING METHOD OF ATTACK!

Facing this silent, invisible, lethal assault—even Kuma, whose emotions and consciousness were being systematically erased by the World Government, felt a primal fear well up from the depths of his heart.

Humans are inherently afraid of the unknown. And this silent, instant, destructive attack was undoubtedly one of humanity’s greatest primal fears.

Before such an attack, his Paw-Paw Fruit ability would be completely useless.

At this moment, Kuma fully understood just how SCARY the ’World’s Strongest Devil Fruit User’ truly was—In terms of Devil Fruits, no one on these seas was stronger than Rowen.

And Kuma understood why his Observation Haki had warned him that his Paw-Paw Fruit escape ability would be useless.

Kuma looked at Perona, who had suddenly appeared beside Rowen from an Air Door, his expression grim.

He understood now why his Haki had warned him of a life-or-death crisis if he tried to use the Paw-Paw Fruit to escape…

IT WAS THIS ABILITY!

The Door-Door Fruit’s power—

And not just the Door-Door Fruit. That Air Door also possessed a devouring force, capable of forcibly sucking people into its spatial dimension.

That was the Paramecia Munch-Munch Fruit ability!

The Door-Door Fruit combined with the Munch-Munch Fruit—HAD WARPED SPACE ITSELF!

To synergize to this extent with an Awakened Door-Door Fruit, Rowen’s Munch-Munch Fruit ability must have also Awakened!

HOW FRIGHTENING!

WHAT A MAN TO BE FEARED FROM THE DEPTHS OF ONE’S HEART!

Before THIS ability, the moment he activated his Paw-Paw Fruit, he would be sucked into that Air Door. Before warped space, even the Paw-Paw Fruit’s power offered no resistance!

And the next moment—what he saw next nearly made Kuma’s sunglasses fall off in shock…

——

—[Plundering Pirate Faction iconic figure, Warlord of the Sea Gecko Moria’s ’Fortune’.]—

—[Faction Fortune (Apex Gold) activated!]—

——

A notification appeared.

The ’Fortune’ representing Moria’s Warlord and Pirate Faction status was plundered by Rowen.

This was the third time Rowen had activated his Faction Fortune (Apex Gold)

Trait—

The first time, plundering a fraction of Mihawk’s ’Fortune’, he awakened Armament Haki and Observation Haki.

However, that was an insignificant amount of ’Fortune’ for Mihawk, which he recovered from almost instantly…

The second time was when Faction Fortune truly demonstrated its power—plundering the complete Warlord ’Fortune’ from Crocodile.

This allowed Rowen’s Conqueror’s Haki to advance to Deep Gold tier, letting him preliminarily master Haōshoku Coating and ascend to the ranks of the truly strong. It was the springboard he used to crush Enel and obtain the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, beginning his true meteoric rise.

But honestly, Rowen didn’t have high hopes for Moria’s ’Fortune’.

After all, though both were Warlords, Crocodile and Moria’s reputations were at the bottom of the pile.

Crocodile had lost decisively to Whitebeard.

Moria had lost decisively to Kaido.

They only qualified as Warlords because of the horrifying reputations of the Emperors they had challenged—

After all, the terror of the Four Emperors was well-known to any non-fodder pirate on the seas.

Rookie pirates entering the New World either had to submit to an Emperor’s crew—if the Emperor would even have them—or challenge an Emperor to take their place.

For years, the New World had only accumulated more skeletons of those who challenged an Emperor’s might.

Even in defeat, Crocodile and Moria had at least survived encounters with Whitebeard and Kaido, a resume sufficient to intimidate other pirates.

But defeat was defeat…

Crocodile’s and Moria’s prestige among the Warlords was not high.

Among the Warlords, only Mihawk could somewhat compare to the Four Emperors. However, Mihawk was a target Rowen needed to leave for Zoro’s growth.

Compared to gaining a powerful and infinitely potential-filled combatant like Zoro, Mihawk’s ’Fortune’ seemed less important—

Hence, Rowen considered Moria’s ’Fortune’ a minor gain, something to collect along the way.

Even if it was all used to strengthen his Conqueror’s Haki, the increase would be similar to what he got from Crocodile—for the current Rowen, it was better than nothing.

But what Rowen hadn’t expected—was that this plundered ’Fortune’ wasn’t for Haki.

IT WAS FOR—A DEVIL FRUIT!

——

—[Obtained ’Desire to Become Fire’!]—

—[Flare-Flare Fruit Awakening conditions met!]—

—[Flare-Flare Fruit—AWAKENED!]—

——

The plundered ’Fortune’—was the ’Desire’ needed to Awaken the Logia Flare-Flare Fruit!

Rowen’s eyes blazed with Intense Flames. His Flare-Flare Fruit ability was on a completely different level from his Rumble-Rumble Fruit.

Though fire and lightning naturally had disparities in attack power, the fundamental reason was that the Flare-Flare Fruit wasn’t Awakened. Only after Awakening could a Devil Fruit unleash its full power, reaching its peak potential.

Though its properties made its offensive power slightly less than the Rumble-Rumble Fruit’s—with an Awakened Flare-Flare Fruit—one could still reach the Admiral-level threshold!

When equipping Ace’s Flare-Flare Fruit, Rowen had also equipped Ace’s ’Desire to be Fire’. But Ace was too young, burdened by childhood trauma—his spiritual power had a massive flaw, making it incredibly difficult to meet the Awakening conditions for a fruit of this level—

—After obtaining the fruit, Rowen had tried to train it, strengthening his own ’Desire to be Fire’. Only through personal training could one understand how difficult it was for a Logia to Awaken.

For a carbon-based human to desire to become a natural element—was profoundly ’Unnatural’. This ’Unnaturalness’ made training a Logia VERY difficult.

Though Rowen, with his metamorphosed spirit after the battle with Akainu, was confident he could eventually Awaken the Flare-Flare Fruit, he couldn’t guarantee how long it would take…

But now, after plundering Moria’s ’Fortune’—the ’Desire to be Fire’ he obtained, combined with what he already possessed—WAS SUFFICIENT!

<><><><><><><><>

The Flare-Flare Fruit—a fruit obtained even before the Rumble-Rumble Fruit—at this moment, completed its Awakening!

VMM!

A strange ripple emanated from Rowen’s body!

FWOOSH! FWOOSH! FWOOSH!

Without warning, terrifying flames began to burn wildly!

The shattered fragments of Thriller Bark, the ruined vegetation, the very earth—all ignited in seemingly unquenchable, horrifying flames!

Even the gloomy black clouds high above now glowed an ominous red!

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Countless fireballs rained down from the clouds!

This entire region of Thriller Bark had become a world of Fire!

<><><><><><><><>

“Rowen’s Flare-Flare Fruit… Awakened?” Zoro, Sanji, and the others watched the scene, not entirely unfamiliar with it.

Only after Awakening could a Logia truly unleash its full power, becoming a walking natural disaster!

Fire, since ancient times, alongside lightning, was one of the natural elements most feared and revered by humanity!

“Flare-Flare Fruit… Awakened??” Kuma felt his mind go numb, his sunglasses nearly falling off in shock.

Rumble-Rumble, Human-Human, Door-Door, Munch-Munch, Flare-Flare… Just how many Devil Fruits had Rowen Awakened??

But it wasn’t over yet—

WHOOSH!

An Air Door, glowing with an otherworldly light, opened.

The Gate to the Underworld—

FWOOSH! FWOOSH!

Countless streams of soul energy were sucked out from the underworld, coiling around Rowen’s right fist.

“Flame Commandment——!” Rowen’s lips curled.

FWOOOOSH!

The soul energy ignited!

Previously, Rowen considered himself a carbon copy of the Cancer Gold Saint, but with some differences.

After all, Manigoldo’s method of using soul power was to burn it, transforming it into ’Onibi’ (Demon Fire).

But the Revive-Revive Fruit’s ability manifested soul energy as underworld cold, lacking direct attack power. But now, with the Awakened Flare-Flare Fruit, he could perfectly burn this soul energy!

——

Seki Shiki Kisōen (Praesepe Demonic Blue Fire) (Apex Gold)!

——

’Demonic Blue Fire’—was now developed by Rowen! Another Apex Gold tier Ultimate Technique Trait!

His Seki Shiki Konso Ha (Praesepe Soul Burial Waves) had also evolved, now capable of simultaneously using the powers of the Revive-Revive, Flare-Flare, and Bomb-Bomb Fruits!

He had really replicated the power of the Cancer Gold Saint!

<><><><><><><><>

“SOUL POWER… TH-THIS IS—!” Kuma, a user of the Paw-Paw Fruit, had traveled to many places, his knowledge vast.

This power… wasn’t it the soul power wielded by Big Mom??

But it was also very different!

The Soul-Soul Fruit controlled souls; this man’s power was directly infusing attacks with soul energy!

To do such a thing…

“THE REVIVE-REVIVE FRUIT!” Kuma stared at Rowen in horror.

The legendary Devil Fruit that granted its user a second life—was also in Sky Sovereign Rowen’s hands??

And from the looks of it… IT HAD ALSO AWAKENED!!!

But Kuma knew, the Revive-Revive Fruit only activated after the user died!

This man… hadn’t died at all!

But then, thinking of Rowen—the World’s Strongest Devil Fruit User—Kuma felt a sense of resignation…

Regarding Devil Fruits, no one was stronger than this man.

Nothing he did with Devil Fruits should be surprising anymore.

<><><><><><><><>

“Rowen, why did you finish off Moria? Weren’t you going to let me do it?” Vivi asked poutily.

Vivi wasn’t dissatisfied with Rowen’s decision—it was just that Vivi, now deeply in love, would take any opportunity to act spoiled with Rowen.

“Sorry, sorry. I got a new power, my hands got itchy,” Rowen chuckled.

“Shishishi! Good thing there’s still one Warlord left!” Luffy and the others looked towards Kuma.

Being stared at by Luffy and the others, even Kuma felt immense pressure. He immediately wanted to reveal his true identity…

After all, before this group, he stood no chance of winning.

But the next moment, Kuma was completely stunned.

“Kuma… have you ever seen Nika?” Rowen asked, smiling.

<><><><><><><><>

~ 18 Advanced Chapters Available on my Patreon!

https://p-atreon.com/dragonnx

(Just remove the hyphen to access Patreon normally.)

<><><><><><><><>

~# Keep the Chapters coming — Support with Power Stones!

~# Every 300 Power Stones = Bonus Chapter

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep