Chapter 116: Developing a New Ability
After leaving the frenzied island behind, the two pirate ships came to a stop on a calm stretch of sea. Onboard, the crew members looked uncertain about their next destination — because once again, Luo Han and Toki were at odds.
"So, do you want to return to Wano or not?" Luo Han asked, exasperated.
"I do! I must return within three years! But we can't go to Whitebeard!" Toki insisted, just as stubbornly.
"…"
Luo Han fell silent. Then, with a sigh, he gave up. Fine. Whatever. If you can't get home, it's not my problem anymore.
He'd already promised not to cause trouble for Wano in the future. That alone should count as repaying her favor.
"Set sail. We're heading back to Battleship Island," Luo Han ordered, ignoring the sulking girl and walking toward the bow.
"We're really going back? Shouldn't we go search for the lanternfish instead?" Spoon-jie whispered beside him.
"What? Spoon-jie, you know how huge the New World is. How are we supposed to just 'search'? And don't forget the current situation. If the World Government finds out we're looking for the lanternfish…"
Luo Han stopped and lowered his voice, visibly annoyed.
It's not that simple. Even if they did want to search, they'd have to go discreetly. With so many people onboard, it would just draw attention. Did she really think the World Government wasn't interested in Pure Gold? One leak, and they'd have admirals and CP0 agents on their tail forever.
Besides, Luo Han already had a fairly workable method in mind for finding the lanternfish.
"Spoon-jie, I have a plan. When the time comes, we'll go quietly — just the two of us. No one else can know," he whispered.
Spoon-jie's eyes lit up, her gaze full of excitement. She gave Luo Han a meaningful nod — she understood perfectly.
Watching the two whisper so closely, Toki felt a pang of jealousy. Her heart sank with frustration. She didn't want to be like this… but she couldn't let Whitebeard recognize her. After all, her future self would one day board his ship. If they met now, how would she explain it to Oden later? Worse — what if he found out she had been traveling with Luo Han?
Of course, Luo Han had no idea what was going on in her head. If he had, he might've smacked someone. They'd worked so hard to help her get home, only for her to reject the easiest way back — just to protect some love story? Was he the problem now?
Good thing he didn't know. Getting rejected by a beautiful girl who already had someone else — and then being treated like a burden? That might've really stung.
Meanwhile, as Luo Han and his crew sailed toward Battleship Island, Golden Lion was also headed there. By the looks of their routes, they were bound to cross paths.
"Shiki, I heard that brat Luo Han fought Admiral Kong for ten whole days and nights, and it ended in a draw. Is that true?" Ochoku (Wang Zhi)asked in disbelief. The intel from Hachinosu Island painted Luo Han as practically unstoppable. Not even Kong could take him down? Ochoku (Wang Zhi)still struggled to believe it.
Sitting on the ship's railing, Golden Lion glanced at him, then at the other eavesdropping crewmates, and shrugged.
"His Devil Fruit ability really is annoying," he muttered.
That was the truth. Luo Han's rapid power growth in recent months was becoming a real headache. Shiki himself wasn't confident he could handle him anymore. Not that he ever really could — but at least he used to have the upper hand. Now? Who knew?
"That bastard and Spoon-jie… who knows what they were thinking, suddenly leaving Battleship Island like that. It's put all the pressure on us!" Kyo (Silver Axe) growled. With Luo Han gone, Kong had no one to counter him. The result? Shiki's group had clashed directly with Sengoku and Kong — and now, they were forced to retreat to Battleship Island.
Hearing Kyo (Silver Axe) 's complaint, the others exchanged glances. Luo Han had become the first person in the crew to completely ignore Rocks' orders. And Rocks… hadn't even said a word about it.
That was a dangerous sign.
If even appearances no longer mattered, then the disbanding of the Rocks Pirates might be close. Truthfully, if not for the promise of the great treasure Rocks had mentioned, many would've left already. Like Luo Han, once a person became powerful enough, they naturally stopped caring about orders.
A heavy silence settled. Even the original members of the Rocks Pirates on board were quiet. Their silence, however, carried a trace of sarcasm — though no one picked up on it.
…
Back on Luo Han's ship, he stood on the deck, deep in thought, brainstorming how to transfer aura into someone else's body.
After a while, he hit a wall and decided to start over from the basics.
"First, the core of the Mind-Mind Fruit is turning the imaginary into reality. That's how I created telekinesis in the first place. My spiritual sense is actually a unique version of Observation Haki — like Roger's Voice of All Things. It's not a direct product of the fruit."
"Next came the ability to record auras. That happened once my spiritual sense became strong enough to detect innate physical traits. From there, I used the mind to guide bodily evolution."
"Then came Kyoka suigetsu — the ability to alter incoming sensory signals. It's a material-level manipulation. But if I could alter something immaterial, like emotion, then it'd be perfect."
After going through it all again, Luo Han realized: he could already sense, record, and manipulate aura — now all that remained was figuring out how to transfer it, like he did with his physical powers.
Suddenly, it clicked.
"If my physical strength can be channeled into telekinesis via my spiritual sense… then why not aura too?"
He paused.
That was it. The key wasn't the power itself — it was the spiritual sense acting as the transmission channel.
Why hadn't he realized that before?
Once more, he organized his thoughts:
"Okay — physical strength gets guided by the mind, passed through the spiritual sense, and manifests as telekinesis. So, what if I guide aura the same way?"
He tugged at his already short hair in frustration, slapping his own face at times, trying to think it through.
"What's he doing now?" Aishi asked, baffled.
No one answered. Onboard were five people — Spoon-jie's three "sisters," plus Toki. All of them stared blankly at Luo Han's self-slapping on the deck.
At first, they assumed he was training again — impressed as always by his growth. But after a while, they realized he was just slapping himself and making weird faces. At that point, Spoon-jie and the others stopped believing he was doing anything productive.
Only Cole looked thoughtful. Something about this reminded him of when they were kids… Yes — Luo Han had done the same thing when he first developed telekinesis.
"Is Han-ge… developing another new ability?" Cole wondered to himself.
(END CHAPTER)
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