Chapter 24 24: Spiritual Power Awakens

— — — — — — "Photosynthesis... huh?" After listening to Veyron explain the crazy gains he got just from eating sunflower seeds, Yagokoro Eirin followed him and Kaguya outside. Once there, she reversed the star order inside the Pocket world, summoning a second sun alongside the moon that served as an anchor point—creating a surreal sight of both sun and moon hanging in the sky at once. As Veyron took off his shirt, Eirin casually placed a hand on his back, expertly feeling how his body was drawing energy from the sunlight. After a dozen or so breaths, she pulled her hand back. "Your recovery speed has already surpassed your current peak energy output, hasn't it?" Though it came out as a question, her tone left little room for doubt. She was clearly confident in her diagnosis. "Pretty much," Veyron nodded, sharing his own impression of how things had been going so far. "Even if I go all out non-stop, as long as I stay under the sun, I basically won't run out of energy." —It's worth mentioning here that "all out" refers to fighting with his gene lock fully released. The early stages of the gene lock had their own risks. The explosive boost it granted came at the cost of pushing the body far beyond its limits. While the lock was active, you could just barely keep things together through sheer force, but once it deactivated? The backlash could be lethal. Now, with that purple-grade Photosynthesis trait in play, as long as he didn't keep going overboard for extended periods, the drain from simply maintaining the gene lock wasn't even faster than his recovery rate in sunlight. "About what I expected," Eirin replied, her gaze lingering on Veyron's body like she was inspecting a rare treasure. If he were some plant spirit that had taken human form, this kind of photosynthetic ability wouldn't be all that shocking. At most, it would just mean he was a little more efficient than the norm. But every test, including this one, confirmed it: Veyron was 100% pure human. And that made it really fascinating. The craziest part? This photosynthesis thing was just one of many bizarre talents his body seemed to possess. "Ahem... so, uh, since Dad's body seems to be fine now, and he can keep the gene lock going steadily, how about we try again?" Kaguya raised her hand eagerly. "Try that again?" Eirin glanced over at Veyron too. "Yeah, let's give it a shot," he nodded. The "try" they were talking about referred to an attempt to awaken Veyron's spiritual power. Previously, based on some ideas Veyron brought back from another world—about "power" and "power seeds"—he had discussed the theory with Eirin, and she actually agreed with it. Having already experienced the wonders of Haki, Veyron had naturally started to want something similar for himself. Sure, from a purely practical standpoint, the most efficient path forward would be to keep focusing on Haki and swordsmanship, raising his upper limit before worrying about diversification. But since the "Skill Slots" in his system didn't have a fixed number of slots, wouldn't it be smarter to stack up more long-term growth-type skills whenever he had the chance? Not to mention, as Veyron suspected, just like the Haki system didn't conflict with his sword skills, spiritual power might also be compatible with Haki. After all, Haki came from belief, willpower, and spirit. It wasn't like mana, or magical force—it was more like raw manifestation of one's conviction and confidence. People like Gecko Moria who once challenged Kaido, and Desert King Crocodile who once fought the monstrous Douglas Bullet and even went head-to-head with Whitebeard himself... it's ridiculous to say they didn't know Haki. When Moria fought Kaido, Kaido had already survived the legendary God Valley Incident, where the sea's most powerful monsters gathered. With a body strong enough to earn a trainee spot on the Rocks Pirates, and the mythical Azure Dragon fruit on top of that, Kaido was already among the elite—if not quite at the top yet. If Oden's dual slash only left a cross-shaped scar, that says a lot about how tough Kaido was. Likewise, when Crocodile was exploring the New World, Bullet had already trained under Roger, and Whitebeard—who he later challenged—was also a God Valley veteran. Sure, Moria and Crocodile lost badly to Kaido and Whitebeard, but they lived. Any random pirate couldn't even meet those two without getting stomped to death. And the World Government still acknowledged their strength and talent, offering both of them positions among the Warlords of the Sea to help keep the increasingly chaotic oceans under control. But after their convictions crumbled, their Haki weakened—they no longer had the confidence to challenge the strong. They even lost to Luffy, a rookie who hadn't even mastered Haki yet. His only real edge was the brutal training he'd received from his grandpa, Garp, which gave him a solid foundation. That's why Veyron placed Haki in a different category altogether—it was something born from himself, not a conventional power source. Spiritual power, on the other hand, was much more traditional in nature. It stayed within the body, and its applications—already deeply developed in this world—fit the usual image of "supernatural power" that most people would expect. Unfortunately, Veyron had already tried awakening it multiple times—both through the world's standard methods and by hoping to cheat the system like he did with his Haki traits—and still hadn't triggered any spiritual power traits. So... would it work this time? With a bit of hope and nervous anticipation, he grabbed Kaguya's hand with one hand and Eirin's with the other. Their four hands linked together. As their spiritual power flowed into his body, Veyron, basking in sunlight and no longer worried about energy drain, unlocked his gene lock and focused on the sensation of spiritual energy flowing inside him. [You've acquired a new Trait: "Spiritual Power (Lv.1)"] . . . PS: After reaching 10 reviews, I'll drop bonus chapter + the norm