Seraphilia thanked him solemnly but declined the suggestion, insisting on returning to her own room.
With a 'click,' she closed the door, isolating herself from everything outside. She instantly dropped all her displays of strength, her body going limp as she slid down the door to the floor, so pained she couldn't even make a sound while gasping. Every inch of muscle screamed in protest, and every breath pulled at the dull, cracking pain coming from her ribs.
She struggled to lift her arm, a simple movement that exhausted her gathered strength, as her trembling fingertips touched the Robin amulet around her neck.
At the same time, she sensed the stable and peaceful presence of the little skylark from the distant West Blue.
Robin should be asleep by now, right? The emotions transmitted by the little skylark were like a serene lake.
"I... can't sleep yet," she told herself.
Intense pain was the best wake-up call, and this silent night was her exclusive time for thinking and growing stronger.
Though Garp's 'hammering' was savage, it was like the fiercest fire forging iron, forcibly driving out the latent power and combat instincts within her body.
She realized with absolute clarity that relying solely on the finesse of her fruit ability was as fragile as a joke in front of a powerhouse of Garp's caliber.
A powerful physique, a resilient will, and combat instincts faster than thought were the solid ground that supported all techniques.
And Tsuru's lesson on 'Presence' had opened the door to another world for her. The strategic value of the Cloud-Cloud Fruit was far beyond the tactical level.
She needed a broader vision and a more profound capacity for planning.
But all of this required time. Right now, a more urgent thought was circling in her mind, nearly ready to explode—mobility!
Whether it was Tsuru's 'Presence' or Garp's 'fist,' both were inseparable from fast, flexible, and efficient movement. Facing Garp, her greatest despair came from that inescapable speed. Her current method of movement relied on Cloud Mist bursts and terrain leverage; it wasn't lasting or stable enough, especially in the vast sky and sea where the limitations were too great.
From the fragments of her past life's memories, a vivid image suddenly surfaced—kintoun.
Covering huge distances in a single leap, traversing heaven and earth, coming and going as one pleases. That was a myth, but the concept it contained of 'using a cloud as a boat, going wherever the heart desires' was like a seed split open by lightning, taking root and sprouting wildly in her mind.
"What if... I could create my own 'kintoun'?" This thought caused her heart to race, momentarily overriding the physical pain.
She struggled to crawl to the bedside, sat up against the headboard, and opened her trembling palm.
A small ball of milky-white Cloud Mist condensed in her palm, hovering quietly. She stared at it, her brain working at high speed under the stimulation of the pain, beginning to deconstruct the core characteristics the kintoun needed to possess:
First, extreme stability. It must have a core structure more complex, sturdier, and with a more efficient energy cycle than the 'little skylark cloud core.' Perhaps it could draw inspiration from the high-stability 'lattice' arrangements found in nature to create a brand-new form of cloud matter.
Second, powerful propulsion. It couldn't rely solely on her continuous output of mental energy to drive it. It had to be able to autonomously draw energy from the environment—solar energy, wind energy, or even the phase-change energy of water molecules in the atmosphere—constructing a miniature 'perpetual energy conversion system' within the core.
Third, effortless control. It needed to reach a synchronization rate with her mind akin to an 'external incarnation.' This required her to take a huge risk by directly 'branding' and 'merging' a wisp of her most primal mental imprint into the cloud core.
Fourth, carrying capacity. It had to at least be able to stably carry her own weight, and in the future, even more.
Her train of thought gradually became clear, but every step was like a pipe dream, involving the deepest excavation and creation of the ability's essence, hundreds or thousands of times more complex than creating the little skylark.
She didn't rush for success but started trying from the most basic'structural stability.' Enduring the intense pain that could cause her to faint at any moment, she concentrated all her spirit, guiding the Cloud Mist particles in her palm into an unprecedented orderly arrangement, attempting to construct the simplest hexagonal stable structural unit, then copying, linking, and combining them...
Time passed in the silence.
Outside the window, the lights of Marineford were extinguished one by one, leaving only the eternal lamp atop the Fortress of Justice to shine in harmony with the star-studded sky.
Fine beads of cold sweat seeped from Seraphilia's forehead, and her face was as pale as paper due to excessive mental exhaustion and physical pain.
The Cloud Mist structure collapsed several times just moments before taking shape, each failure bringing a surge of mental stinging. But each failure also gave her a brand-new understanding of the energy conduction between the Cloud Mist particles.
After an unknown amount of time, just as she felt her mental energy was about to run dry and her vision was darkening, she poured her last shred of willpower into it. *Buzz—* a faint, nearly inaudible hum sounded.
In her palm, a tiny piece of 'cloud crystal' finally appeared, about the size of a fingernail. It emitted a faint milky-white glow, possessed an exceptionally dense and stable structure, and pulsed slightly as if it were alive. It was no longer as drifting and uncertain as ordinary Cloud Mist; it had a substantial sense of weight and presence.
Though it was still a far cry from a true kintoun, this tiny 'cloud crystal' was undoubtedly the most solid first step toward that dream of soaring through the sky.
She carefully placed the 'cloud crystal' into a special small box and kept it close to her body.
The next second, extreme fatigue and pain finally submerged her completely like a bursting dam.
She lay back on the bed and fell into a deep sleep almost the moment her head hit the pillow.
In her dreams, she felt as if she were truly stepping on a pure white cloud, traveling between the stars and the sea at a speed faster than lightning.
And on the distant land beneath the clouds, a figure with black hair and blue eyes looked up at her, revealing a peaceful and warm smile.
The corners of Seraphilia's mouth unconsciously curled up slightly in her dream.
The dream of the kintoun officially set sail on this night.
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