Chapter 276: [276] : Incomplete Awakening! The True Power of Nika!

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“THE GROUND HERE IS MADE OF ISLAND CLOUDS!”

Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper bounced wildly on the cloud layer.

Vegapunk’s laboratory was built on a layer of clouds high above Egghead, recreating the Island Clouds of Skypiea through scientific means. Bouncing on them provided an elastic rebound, just like a trampoline.

“It really is! How nostalgic.”

Nami, Vivi, and Robin, caught up in the fun, also began to bounce around.

Vivi laughed with pure joy.

As she laughed, her mind drifted back to their journey to Skypiea.

Back then, she had only just joined the ship, and she had kept her feelings for Rowen hidden deep in her heart.

Her title wasn’t “Desert Princess,” but the infamous “Princess of Malice.” The World Government had even pinned the blame for the Alabasta Incident on her.

For Vivi, who loved her country so deeply, this had been a devastating blow. She had even cried herself to sleep at night.

After all, she wasn’t the super great pirate with a 1 billion Beri bounty she was today. She wasn’t one of the Four main combatants closest to Rowen.

She didn’t even have Conqueror’s Haki, and her inner strength was nowhere near what it was now. While she had bravely infiltrated Crocodile’s Baroque Works, it was more the recklessness of youth.

At heart, she was just an eighteen-year-old girl. But Vivi also knew, back then, they were too weak before the World Government.

Even if Rowen had killed Crocodile, even if he had preliminarily mastered Haōshoku Coating and stepped into the ranks of the top-tier powerhouses, he was still no match for an Admiral, let alone the monolithic World Government.

So Vivi had never shown any negative emotions before Rowen or the others.

Only later did she realize that with Rowen’s Observation Haki, her attempts to hide her feelings were completely transparent.

But Vivi never expected that before they even went to Skypiea, in Mock Town, Rowen would directly use his ability to place a call to the Holy Land, Mariejois!

To the World’s Highest Authority, the Five Elders!

For her sake, he had unleashed his Conqueror’s Haki in Mariejois, knocking countless Celestial Dragons unconscious and creating the world-shaking “Mariejois Incident.”

Changing her title from “Princess of Malice” to “Desert Princess,” revealing the truth of the Alabasta Incident.

It was only later, when she could finally face her true feelings, that Vivi understood. From that moment on, she had completely and utterly fallen in love with Rowen, until this very day.

Vivi smiled brilliantly.

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“YOU’RE NOT BOUNCING HIGH ENOUGH! WATCH THIS!”

Suddenly, Rowen laughed, leaped into the air, and slammed heavily onto the Island Cloud.

GURGLE!

The moment Rowen landed, the Island Cloud rippled and transformed, becoming a rubber with astonishing elasticity.

Nika—Rubberization!

BOING!

“KYAA!”

The incredible elasticity made Nami cry out in surprise.

But Nami and the others weren’t angry—instead, they laughed and playfully pounced on Rowen.

The smile in Vivi’s beautiful eyes grew even more radiant.

Even now that Rowen had become a super great pirate with a bounty of 6,058,000,000 Beri… He hadn’t changed. He would still play around with them just like this.

“I’ve never experienced this before… how magical,” Hancock blinked her beautiful eyes and also jumped onto the Island Cloud.

Rowen hadn’t rubberized all the Island Clouds.

After all, Hancock, Kaya, Franky, Brook, and the others hadn’t been to Skypiea before. For most people on this sea, Skypiea was just a legend.

So Rowen only rubberized the clouds Nami, Vivi, and the others were playing on.

Hancock and Kaya could first experience what a Sky Island’s Clouds were like, then choose to play on the rubberized clouds.

“Amazing! So this is a Sky Island Cloud?” Kaya laughed happily.

Skypiea, for her, who had been bedridden in her room before, was a distant legend. She never imagined she could personally experience an island built on clouds.

“Incredible! I’ve never experienced this,” Franky laughed.

“YOHOHOHO! How light! Though I’m already light enough to be just a bag of bones.”

Brook, who in the original story had guarded the ship with Zoro, was also having a great time now, cracking one of his signature skull jokes.

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“SUGEEEEEEEEE! THIS ELASTICITY!”

Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper, however, were having the time of their lives on the rubberized Island Cloud.

“Amazing, Rowen! You can rubberize the Island Cloud without using your Awakened state?” Usopp asked, amazed, while still having fun.

Rubberizing the surrounding environment was the power of the Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Model: Nika’s Awakening, which could only be released in the Awakened Nika form.

But right now, Rowen wasn’t displaying Nika’s signature, pure-white warrior form at all.

“Shishishi! That’s because Rowen’s Devil Fruit power has gotten stronger! He doesn’t need to show his Awakened form to assimilate things with rubber anymore,” Luffy explained with a wide grin.

“Eh? Don’t Devil Fruits stop getting stronger after Awakening?” Chopper was stunned.

With Rowen’s help, Chopper’s own Human-Human Fruit had already Awakened, turning him into the Ultimate Reindeer.

The Awakening of the Human-Human Fruit brought Chopper not just strength, but also enhanced research ability. Thus, not only his strength, but his medical skills had also surpassed the original story, reaching a new height.

As an Awakened user of the Human-Human Fruit, Chopper knew from the moment of his Awakening that his fruit’s power had reached its limit.

No matter how much he trained, the power of the fruit itself would not change.

Even for the World’s Strongest Devil Fruit User, Rowen, who could combine multiple Devil Fruit abilities and unleash power far beyond their individual limits—it was the same.

Even after Rowen became a Legendary-class powerhouse, his Rumble-Rumble Fruit, Human-Human Fruit, and other abilities wouldn’t get stronger.

He would just be able to use them more easily, with less stamina consumption.

It was like a weightlifter getting stronger—the weights don’t change, but lifting them becomes easier.

Though Rowen couldn’t make a single Devil Fruit ability stronger, he could reduce the stamina consumption, which was a form of strengthening in itself.

(For example, the Ice-Ice Fruit. The power of Rowen’s individual ice attacks wasn’t any stronger than Kuzan’s. But the range of his ice and the efficiency of his stamina consumption were far superior—

—Even if Rowen and Kuzan had the exact same stamina, and only used the Ice-Ice Fruit’s ability, Rowen would still win.)

But regardless, the essence of the Devil Fruit’s power hadn’t changed. Its limit hadn’t been broken.

But Rowen’s Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Model: Nika had gotten stronger??

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“It’s only recently had a significant improvement,” Rowen smiled.

Rowen could feel that as Nika’s power grew stronger, the special heartbeat known as the ’Drums of Liberation’ was also beginning to awaken its true power.

This power was probably the true power of the Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Model: Nika—the power of liberation.

Rather than calling this process a ’Second Awakening’, Rowen preferred to call the previous Awakened state an ’Incomplete Awakening’.

After all, after Nika’s Awakening, the enhancement to combat strength still revolved around Nika’s rubbery body.

Whether it was assimilating all objects into rubber, even being able to rubberize a human body for a terrifying ’True Damage’ attack, or integrating Armament Haki and Haōshoku Coating into Nika’s rubbery body, unleashing power a tier higher than other powerhouses of the same level.

It was still, like Gear Second, Third, and Fourth, based on Nika’s rubbery body that could accommodate everything.

Gear Second increased the user’s speed by a tier, which in turn upgraded their attack power, the same principle as the Glint-Glint Fruit.

Gear Third directly increased the user’s strength by a tier, granting them the power of a giant.

Gear Fourth truly unleashed the elasticity of Nika’s rubber, and also integrated Armament Haki into it, which was also enhanced by a tier under the elasticity of Nika’s rubber. So Gear Fourth was an upgrade of both the user’s Devil Fruit and Armament Haki by a tier.

The final Gear Fifth could rubberize all things, even the enemy’s body, for true damage. And on this basis, the power of Haōshoku Coating could also be integrated into Nika’s rubber body.

An Awakened Nika user could simultaneously use the power of their Devil Fruit, Armament Haki, and Haōshoku Coating, their attack power still a tier higher than other powerhouses of the same level.

But in the end, the current combat enhancement of the Nika form still revolved around its rubbery body.

As for Nika’s Imagination—it just made the user’s combat style more diverse and able to handle various situations—it didn’t do much to increase the actual combat power ceiling.

Like Luffy’s strongest move, the Bajrang Gun, which didn’t involve Nika’s Imagination—and Rowen’s strongest move, the Human God Gun, which also didn’t.

Both relied on the Nika rubbery body in Gear Fifth state, stacked with the super-giantization of Gear Third, to increase their attack power by another tier, reaching their maximum value.

The most iconic and important special ability of an Awakened Mythical Zoan user was barely contributing to their actual combat power.

The real work was still being done by the Paramecia-like rubber body.

In contrast, Kaido’s Fish-Fish Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Model: Azure Dragon ability, which Rowen now possessed—

—Kaido’s most powerful moves all stemmed from the special abilities granted by the fruit—the power to control natural elements.

Whether it was the pure elemental control of Blast Breath or Gust

—or the combination of elemental power and the Azure Dragon body’s strength—Thunder Bagua—or the strongest Flame Dragon Torch, all originated from the special ability this Mythical Zoan granted its user.

The Human-Human Fruit, Model: Nika was a top-tier Mythical Zoan, arguably a tier higher than the Azure Dragon form. Yet the combat performance of its special ability was completely overshadowed by the Azure Dragon’s.

This confirmed Rowen’s theory. As he continued to assimilate the Desire for Liberation, the special heartbeat of the Awakened Nika—the power of the Drums of Liberation—was truly reawakening.

The Drums of Liberation… should be the true special ability the Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Model: Nika granted its user after Awakening.

As for Nika’s Imagination, it was probably just a bonus—and looking at the legend of Nika, the power displayed by the current Nika form also didn’t fit.

’The Warrior of Liberation who makes everyone smile wherever he goes.’

Right now, the effect on Luffy was just to make him laugh continuously—others were not truly infected. As for Rowen, he could use other powers and didn’t need to laugh continuously in his Nika form.

But undoubtedly, the power displayed by both Luffy’s and Rowen’s Nika forms now didn’t fit the legendary Sun God Nika.

So Rowen called the current Gear Fifth an ’Incomplete Awakening’ state.

When the power of Nika’s Drums of Liberation was fully activated, that would be the true Awakened state.

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“SUGEEE!”

Hearing Rowen’s explanation, everyone cried out in amazement.

Forget Rowen, whose physique and Haki had broken through the Emperor/Admiral limit and reached the Legendary-class—for Rowen, the greatest enhancement to his combat strength was still Haōshoku Coating.

But Luffy was different.

Luffy’s Haki was not considered top-tier on the sea, but with Gear Fifth, he could even fight two Emperor/Admiral level powerhouses for a short time.

One could imagine how huge the combat enhancement of Gear Fifth was.

And this was not even the limit of this Devil Fruit.

No wonder Rowen said the Nika Fruit was the Strongest Devil Fruit.

This power was truly unbelievable.

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“DON’T BREAK THE ISLAND CLOUDS! THEY’RE EXPENSIVE TO MAKE! THIS IS THE ENTRANCE TO THE RESEARCH LAB!”

Lilith, who was struggling with insufficient funding, couldn’t bear it any longer and shouted.

Then, she pointed to a building.

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep