Boros's Meteoric Burst was indeed terrifyingly powerful.
If memory served, a single strike could tear apart a hundred-kilometer-class spaceship, and that power had even been enough to kick Saitama all the way to the moon.
But the fundamental reason it was so strong was simple: Boros himself was an enormous energy source.
His Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon was described in the anime as an attack capable of piercing through the entire planet and destroying it outright.
Which meant that—
Without possessing a massive reserve of energy,Meteoric Burst would only amount to this much, nothing more.
However,
The moment the clause "including external energy" was added, everything changed.
Take an example.
Even someone with sufficient physical durability but no internal energy at allcould stand beside a volcano and activate this trait on both themselves and the volcano.
As long as they survived the initial phase, it would essentially be an instant transformation into a mini–superman.
Of course,
The prerequisite of being able to withstand it could not be ignored in reality.
After some thought, Ron felt that Indestructible Body combined with the Blood Demon Art might be a viable direction.
And in earlier draws, he had also obtained various elemental resistances.
As for energy sources—
Fire was debatable, but lightning was practically limitless!
Nami could already conjure disaster-level thunderstorm weather.
"In other words, I can stack lightning resistance to indirectly increase both the scale and intensity of the lightning energy I can absorb.
Then, when I activate Meteoric Burst, the boost will be terrifying—and I still have Nami, plus that thing."
Ron flipped his palm, retrieving a Devil Fruit from storage.
Vegapunk's failed product—which was in truth a success—
the same as Kaido's Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon:
the Fish-Fish Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Model: Pink Dragon!
After eating it, one would gain lightning powers—and not just lightning.
In terms of energy supply, there would be absolutely no shortage.
The only question was whether he could withstand such colossal energy.
Strictly speaking, the best solution was for Ron himself to eat the fruit.Zoans possessed the strongest physical constitutions among the three Devil Fruit types.
However,
Ron had no intention of eating it. He already had a rough idea of his development path.
Seraphim… Time–Space · Creator Domain… Maybe that's worth a try.
This fruit should be left to Nojiko instead.Disaster stacked upon disaster would only become more terrifying.
Ron's eyes flickered, then he turned to check the remaining three rewards.
He immediately froze—
Because the other three rewards had already been absorbed by datafication.
Or rather,They had been merged into corresponding data entries.
[Natural Healing → Regeneration]
[Type: Passive]
[Effect: After datafication, this ability has been converted into constant regeneration during its passive state, drawing vitality from natural environments.
Sky, ocean, land, volcanoes, and glaciers are all considered part of "nature."]
[Cost: None]
.
Hm… looks extremely versatile. I just don't know what the upper limit is.
With no clear benchmark, Ron couldn't determine the ceiling of this ability.But since it came from the one-billion prize pool, its quality was undoubtedly high.
He shifted his attention to the next merged entry.
Sword Bone + Sword Heart + Sword Soul = Sword Heart Communion
[Sword Heart Communion]
[Type: Talent]
[Effect: A sword-weapon talent.For all sword-related factors—comprehension, epiphany, and inspiration—the trigger efficiency is fixed within a range of 1%–10%.]
[Cost: None]
[Remark: Born of the sword itself]
"Huh? That's it?A 1%–10% chance feels way too low—and way too uncertain, doesn't it?"
At first glance, Ron was genuinely baffled. The description didn't look impressive at all.
He reread it carefully a second time—and then spotted the blind spot.
'Sword-related comprehension, epiphany, and inspiration'combined with'trigger efficiency fixed at 1%–10%'.
The former covered an absurdly broad scope: training, combat, tempering, researching techniques—basically, swinging a sword at all counted.
And the boosted units were comprehension, epiphany, and inspiration.
To put it simply, epiphany alone had a concrete example.
When Zoro had grasped the realm of a true swordsman before Ron,that had been an epiphany—breaking through and mastering the Breath of All Things.
As for comprehension, for ordinary swordsmen it referred to sword-path insights born from years of training and battle—the very foundation of a swordsman's life, only emerging after reaching a certain depth.
Yet here, comprehension was merely one of the boosted components.
And inspiration hardly needed explanation.How many miraculous techniques had been born from a single flash of inspiration?
The most terrifying part was what came after those units:
"Efficiency" and "fixed."
The former meant these events occurred at high frequency.The latter meant absolute stability.
Even though the range of 1%–10% fluctuated,
A single epiphany could grant gains that ordinary people might never achieve in ten years of sword practice.
And the lower bound was still 1%—
Meaning that, if luck held, swinging a sword a hundred times would guarantee at least one payoff.
"…Datafication might be even more terrifying than I imagined."
Ron's pupils contracted as he once again felt the returns brought by switching grand prizes.
If he had chosen the Seventh Brother template earlier, he might have obtained an even stronger Treasure Gourd—perhaps one far beyond his expectations.
But at the same time, he would have lost what he had gained now.
And Ron firmly believed that an even stronger Treasure Gourd did not necessarily align with his direction—whereas what he had obtained now fit him far better.
"Hoo—no matter what, this round is finally over."
Ron glanced at his remaining balance.
[Chip Balance: 20.3 billion]
At this stage, he could continue drawing—the Diamond Prize Pool was extremely strong.
But—
Eating too much at once only made digestion harder.
As things stood, Ron wasn't lacking ways to grow stronger.What he lacked was time.
Of course,
That didn't mean he intended to let the chips sit unused—that would be idiotic.
The Time–Space · Creator Domain was about to be activated.He planned to invest 15 billion into his Haki aptitude.
Previously, he had invested 2.2 billion into dual-color Haki aptitude.The result clearly showed that this was not something that could turn him into a Haki master overnight.
When facing Vice Admiral Onigumo, his Haki had been clearly overwhelmed.
In Ron's view—
If progress wasn't fast enough, then the only explanation was not spending enough.
A true pay-to-win genius would never accept this.
Luffy learned Ryuo with one hit and Advanced Conqueror's with two.
Ace mastered Armament Haki in a single day after going to sea.
If Ron couldn't do that, it was because he hadn't spent enough!
Even 15 billion only looked like a lot. Split between Observation and Armament, that was just over 7 billion each.
In terms of talent multipliers, even including prior investment, it barely reached the ninety-fold range.
And Ron's original Haki foundation and talent were clearly unremarkable—the gap between him and true geniuses was enormous.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have spent 2.2 billion only to slowly grasp the most basic uses of Observation and Armament.
As for the remaining 5.3 billion, that would go into qi-based martial arts aptitude.
That side would receive fewer resources.
Ron needed to keep some chips in reserve—as an extra safety net.
After making his decision, Ron rose and left the Divine Residence. To ensure smoother draws in the future, he planned to prepare some Devil Fruit contingencies.
If luck was bad—
Then he'd just sacrifice fruits to brute-force it!
But before that, he still needed to make a trip to Punk Hazard.
The island's sudden arrival had exceeded Ron's expectations,but some planned objectives remained unchanged.
Inside the research facility,
After several leisurely days, Caesar was deep in thought.
Although he didn't know the exact details, from all indications he seemed to have been placed under an institution governed by a CP0 unit.
All funding and mechanical labor for the entire facility were provided by that unit.
This was completely different from before.
Caesar had tried asking questions, but the cold-faced men only replied that it involved classified matters—no further disclosure.
At ten thousand meters in the sky, all Den Den Mushi had been destroyed in that Kuma-induced impact.New ones had been reported for requisition, but none had arrived yet.
Caesar had nowhere to seek information.
And honestly—
Who could possibly understand CP0 in detail?
He had felt uneasy over the past few days, but ultimately abandoned speculation.
After all,
How could outsiders possibly know about his dealings with BIG MOM?
The gigantification research had been a fake project he used to deceive a Yonko,and every step had been carried out with extreme secrecy.
There was also Doflamingo… Kuma… and so on.
Eventually, Caesar arrived at a conclusion.
"It must have been Doflamingo who leaked it… no—he definitely sold me out.
The artificial Devil Fruit project must have caught Saint Saturn's attention.
After all, that bastard Vegapunk directly labeled my results as failures. His reputation is high, and he's also researching artificial Devil Fruits.
In that case, it's easy to understand what the higher-ups were thinking.
Hmph, a bunch of idiots. Vegapunk isn't that much better than me. So-called perfection is nothing but a joke.
In the end, didn't they still have to pick up my project again?"
Caesar sneered—but then another thought struck him.
"If that's the case, doesn't that mean Vegapunk failed on his end?
Saint Saturn lost confidence in him? Hahahaha—excellent!
That arrogant bastard is always looking down on this and that!"
Beep—beep!
Just as Caesar was gloating internally, the partially repaired facility sounded a visitor alert.
After roughly understanding the situation, Caesar took a deep breath, forced a smile, and left the main control room.
Because leadership had come to inspect.
Both his economic lifeline and his personal survival were firmly in the hands of the man known as the Puppeteer.
Especially with that CP0 identity—
Caesar had no doubt that if anything went even slightly wrong, the other party would erase him on the World Government's orders.
After all, he already had a criminal record.Even if a big shot appreciated him, they would never tolerate behavior harmful to the World Government.
What a pain.
With that thought, Caesar went to receive Ron's inspection.
The two of them toured Punk Hazard together.
Though the island was still largely in ruins,with the labor force provided by the Iron Knights, usable areas were quickly cleared and organized.
Many regions were still temporarily scrapped, requiring continuous equipment purchases and restoration.
Scientific research burned money at an alarming rate.
Of course,
That wasn't why Ron had come.
Instead—
"Seraphim?"
(End of Chapter)