Chapter 229: Yukari, Devastated
To apply a card to his Devil Fruit ability, he'd first need to push it to its current ceiling with Points, which it hadn't reached yet — the Awakening state remained unachieved, and the Awakening itself was the prerequisite for hitting the cap. By his estimate, getting the fruit through Awakening and to ceiling proficiency would run something like 40,000 Points minimum. The growth curve on this ability was apparently steeper than even his dual Haki had been.
The plan that suggested itself: save the cards, accumulate the 40,000, push the fruit to its limit naturally, then apply a breakthrough card at that point.
Except he only had one card left, and he was trying to decide between Observation Haki and Armament Haki for it.
The genuinely uncertain factor was whether the card itself expired. If it sat unused for some number of days and simply vanished, the loss would be catastrophic — not a normal loss, a lose-everything-and-then-some loss. The detail page hadn't mentioned an expiry window, but the absence of information wasn't the same as confirmation that none existed.
If there was no expiry: he could safely bank it for the Devil Fruit project down the line.
If there was an expiry: he needed to commit to either Observation or Armament right now, before the window closed and the value evaporated for nothing.
"…Let's just flip something. Odd for Observation, even for Armament. There should be a die somewhere in the house."
He found one in a drawer — old, slightly yellowed, probably a decade or more old by the look of it. He didn't mind the wear.
He tossed it at the ceiling. It tumbled, struck with a soft thump, and fell, bouncing twice before settling.
Five.
"Odd. Observation Haki, then."
He committed without further deliberation. Whatever regret might come from this decision belonged to some future version of himself, and that version could deal with it. Today's version wasn't going to second-guess a coin flip he'd chosen to trust.
And Observation Haki's future-sight was genuinely powerful in its own right. Currently capped at three to five seconds. Post-breakthrough, with sufficient Points invested — thirty seconds, fifty seconds, eventually thirty minutes or more — none of it was theoretically off the table.
[You have applied an "Any-Skill Ceiling Breakthrough Card" x1 to the "One Piece"-world skill "Observation Haki"! Application successful!]
The last card dissolved. The ceiling came off.
His perception widened immediately — the sensation of a frog that had spent its whole life at the bottom of a well suddenly given the chance to see the sky above the rim. Vast. Unfamiliar. The scale of it was almost intoxicating to sit inside.
He caught himself before the feeling went too far.
Don't get carried away. Every villain in every film and every anime who'd gotten cocky at the wrong moment had paid for it eventually. Overconfidence killed characters with much better plot armour than he currently had.
Why am I comparing myself to a villain.
He didn't look anything like a villain. He was, by any reasonable measure, comfortably on the side of protagonist-coded.
Nobody was allowed to argue with this. Not even pedantic internet commenters in his imagination.
"Current balance: 4,500. Minus the untouchable 1,000 reserve, minus the 3,000 from the gift package — which means only 500 of that came from sign-ins, apparently."
He muttered this, then opened the Chat Group.
He ignored the ongoing chat for the moment and went straight to the shared files section. Seven or eight uploads sat there — Six Powers breakdowns, dual-Haki guides, a dragon-magic primer — and the one he wanted most.
Life Return: Full Breakdown and Training Method, uploaded by Admiral Kizaru.
[Would Admin "RawrSoFierce" like to spend 1,500 Points to learn Life Return and reach "Beginner" proficiency?]
"Yes."
No hesitation this time. The 1,500 Points left his balance, and the full body of knowledge on Life Return — every technical detail, every application — settled into his memory the same way the Six Powers and both Haki disciplines had, with no perceptible difference in the integration process.
When it finished, he looked at his own hand. Specifically, one finger.
He tried it.
The fingernail extended — fast, uncontrolled-looking, the kind of growth that should have taken weeks compressed into less than a second. Ten centimetres, give or take, before it stopped.
Then it began retracting. Slowly. Back to its original length.
"Complete control over any part of the body. Genuinely impressive." He examined the now-unchanged nail with satisfaction. "If I ever lose a limb, I could theoretically reattach it and use this to force the seam closed. A backup survival option I didn't have before."
The catch: getting Life Return to Mastery level required 5,000 Points. Perfection level required 12,000. His current balance, after the Six Powers and Observation Haki spending, sat at 3,000 — of which 1,000 was reserve, leaving only 2,000 freely usable.
Not nearly enough to push past Beginner.
"1,000 Points into Observation Haki reinforcement, the rest into the Arena. Decided."
He committed the Points. His balance dropped to 2,000.
Broke again, more or less, by his own standards.
He came back out to the chat log and found himself tagged.
Yukari.
Eternally Seventeen: By rights the Admin should also have gotten an activity gift package. Did the Admin open something good?
Eternally Seventeen: @RawrSoFierce — Admin, screenshot please, let me see~
RawrSoFierce: …Are you secretly hoping I got nothing good, so you can feel a sense of cosmic balance once it's confirmed?
Kaguya-sama: The Admin has identified the truth. Yukari-nee is exactly the type to do this.
My True Form Is Cola: Given Yukari-senpai's personality, that does track.
Crazy Diamond: As expected, the Admin understands Yukari-senpai best.
RawrSoFierce: Why do I feel like there's a second meaning hiding in that sentence.
Crazy Diamond: Hm? Is there? No! There absolutely is not!
RawrSoFierce: [Image] — Here's what I got. 3,000 Points, two Any-Skill Ceiling Breakthrough Cards, and a Mid-Autumn commemorative badge.
RawrSoFierce: That's it. Nothing else.
I'm Rolling In It: 3,000 Points! Uncle Tony only got 2,100. Of course the Admin pulls ahead — genuine top-tier luck in this group.
Edward Newgate: Gurararara — only 300 more than this old man.
Terrible Tornado: Which means Whitebeard-ojii-sama got 2,700!
Crazy Diamond: And I got 500. Kneeling. The unluckiest of the unlucky. This hurts.
Ying Zheng The Sovereign: We also received 2,700, it seems. And Josuke, you also got a 6A Stand — full six-stat hexagonal perfection, that's genuinely incredible.
Admiral Kizaru: This old man got 1,000 Points, a badge, and a floating fortress.
Kaguya-sama: A floating fortress! Pfft — that's a bit much. Wait — why has Yukari-nee gone quiet? She was right here a moment ago.
Eternally Seventeen: Don't disturb me. I need a moment. Let me be still.
Eternally Seventeen: Autumn has arrived. This sage requires hibernation.
"…"
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