Marineford Island, Marine Headquarters
"Sensei! Sensei!"
"Father! Father!"
"Ah, don't push me!"
"I'll beat you to death!"
"..."
In the spacious office, vases, teacups, chairs, books, and other objects had all come alive under a mysterious power. They grew eyes and mouths, gathering around Cross, who sat on the sofa, playing and bickering.
Cross bit down on his cigar, his face grim, occasionally exhaling smoke. His eyes, deep in thought, gazed at the animated creatures, ignoring their clamor. He was pondering how to develop the Live-Live Fruit's abilities more deeply.
Compared to powers like swordsmanship, hand-to-hand combat, and Haki, which require time and extensive battle experience to refine, Devil Fruit abilities only need enough creativity for development. Even if one's stamina and physical strength are slightly lacking, powerful abilities can still be easily unleashed.
For example, at this very moment, Enel, who was still on Skypiea, in the future, after obtaining the Logia-type Rumble-Rumble Fruit, would not take long to destroy the entire Birka of Skypiea. His destructive power is already quite formidable.
Therefore, if Cross could develop the Live-Live Fruit's abilities more profoundly, it would significantly boost his strength.
However, so far, Cross hadn't come up with any good ideas. His only lead was to draw inspiration from Big Mom Charlotte Linlin's Soul-Soul Fruit ability.
This was because the Live-Live Fruit and the Soul-Soul Fruit were very similar in some aspects.
For instance, the Live-Live Fruit gives life to inanimate objects, transforming them into living beings. The Soul-Soul Fruit imbues inanimate objects with souls, thus creating similar anthropomorphic creatures.
However, in comparison, the Soul-Soul Fruit's true ability is to steal others' souls and lifespans, freely manipulating souls. Granting souls to inanimate objects is just one of the Soul-Soul Fruit's many abilities, while the Live-Live Fruit only has the single ability to bestow life upon inanimate objects.
Thus, Cross thought of the three high-level Homies that Charlotte Linlin created using her Soul-Soul Fruit ability:
Bicorn Napoleon, possessing the ability to transform into a giant sword.
Thundercloud Zeus, possessing the ability to manipulate weather and lightning.
Sun Prometheus, possessing the ability to manipulate fire.
Although Charlotte Linlin possessed a monstrous body known as a "natural destroyer," these three high-level Homies clearly provided her with a significant boost in power.
Cross couldn't help but feel envious when he thought of Charlotte Linlin's three high-level Homies, wanting to create his own high-level animated creatures.
But at this thought, Cross was stumped again.
How were those high-level Homies with special abilities created?
"It can't be as simple as just getting a random cloud, then giving it life, and it becomes a high-level cloud that can control weather and lightning, right? There must be a special trick or method involved!" Cross furrowed his brows, his mind constantly racing, almost scratching his head like a monkey.
After all, while the Live-Live Fruit and the Soul-Soul Fruit shared similarities in their abilities, there was still a fundamental difference.
Moreover, Cross had tried it before.
Before he joined the Marines, he gathered a large pile of wood and straw in the forest near his home, then set it on fire, creating a towering blaze. He then extended his hand and activated the Live-Live Fruit's ability… only to burn his hand!
Subsequently, the fire burned for over an hour, consuming all the piled wood and straw, but he still couldn't find a way to animate the flames.
This made Cross temporarily doubt if he lacked Charlotte Linlin's strong defensive capabilities to withstand the scorching flames.
However, after this incident, Cross temporarily abandoned the idea of creating high-level animated creatures, suspecting that he had simply obtained the Live-Live Fruit too recently and hadn't yet discovered the techniques and methods for creating them.
"No, if I stay in the office, I probably won't find a way even if I die. I need to take some leave and travel around. At the very least, I should go to Skypiea and grab a piece of Skypiea cloud to make a 'Nimbus Cloud' that can carry people!" Cross muttered to himself, secretly calculating in his mind.
Riding a flying animated creature was cool, but it was uncomfortable; his butt would get sore!
Even if it couldn't control weather and lightning like 'Thundercloud Zeus,' it should at least be comfortable enough for him to lie on and carry him around!
At this thought, a smile involuntarily appeared on Cross's face, feeling that his idea was excellent, absolutely brilliant!
Huff—
Immediately, Cross took a deep drag from his cigar, then exhaled a large puff of smoke, stood up, and hurried out.
...
Fleet Admiral's Office.
Bang—
Kong's eyes widened. He slammed his hands heavily on the desk in front of him, simultaneously standing abruptly from his chair. "You want to take a month off?!" he exclaimed in surprise.
At this moment, Tsuru, the Great Staff Officer, who was sitting on the sofa drinking tea, also looked up, her expression surprised as she gazed at Cross.
"I feel like my ability has hit a bottleneck recently, but I have some ideas that require me to go out and research!" Cross nodded.
"No! Absolutely not!"
Kong repeatedly shook his head. "The situation is tense right now. I even dragged that Garp guy back. If you leave, and there's another emergency nearby, Marine Headquarters doesn't have another high-mobility combatant right now!"
After hearing Kong, Cross raised a hand to scratch his head, helplessly asking, "It's only for a month, Kong-san. Can't Vice Admiral Borsalino fill in for this month?"
"Borsalino has an important classified mission recently and can't be spared for now," Tsuru said flatly, placing her teacup on the coffee table.
'Classified mission… Could it be…'
Upon hearing this, Cross slightly frowned, as if he had thought of something. The words he was about to ask were swallowed back down.
"Cross-kun, you're still young, only 17. There's no need to rush."
At this moment, Kong earnestly advised, "You just need to develop step by step. In the future, a position as an Admiral will very likely be yours. There's no way it'll go wrong!"
Cross was a bit exasperated and could only continue to explain, "Kong-san, I'm only asking for leave this time to conduct some new experiments with my ability. I'll be back very soon. If not, half a month is fine! How about 10 days? I'll be back in 10 days!"
"Hey, hey, you brat, are you trying to bargain with an order?" Kong glared at Cross, displeased. "If you want to develop new abilities, you can go to the Marine Academy's training grounds, but you absolutely cannot leave Marineford!"
"There's no room for discussion on this matter!"
With that, Kong sat down, fuming.
Cross looked at Kong, stunned, seeing that the Fleet Admiral was ignoring him. He then looked pleadingly at Tsuru behind him.
Tsuru shook her head and said slowly, "You know, the 'Mariejois Attack Incident' caused a huge commotion. Marine Headquarters recalled all soldiers and officers on leave. We can't make an exception for just you."
"Working all day, living in the office, having to get up in the middle of the night for work—this is much more terrifying than any 996 schedule!" Cross cried out, clutching his head in agony right there in the Fleet Admiral's office, almost rolling on the floor.
Seeing this, Tsuru couldn't help but show a helpless expression and comforted him, "Alright, alright, once this commotion calms down a bit, I'll let you take a month's leave."
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