Chapter 237: Development of the Flame-Flame Fruit
As everyone knows, Whitebeard is a user of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, which is known throughout the world as the strongest Paramecia-type Devil Fruit. It can trigger vibrations at will, even causing natural disasters like tsunamis and earthquakes, possessing truly devastating power.
At his peak, Whitebeard was said to have terrifying strength capable of rivaling three Marine Admirals on his own.
However, sometimes the abilities of a Devil Fruit don't bring only benefits to their owner. Take Luffy's Gum-Gum Fruit, for example. When he enters Second Gear or Third Gear, he uses the rubber-like properties to create a pumping effect, accelerating his blood flow to gain greater speed and power. But the consequence is an immense strain on his heart—the more he uses it, the greater the damage to his body.
The Tremor-Tremor Fruit has a similar issue. Because Whitebeard ate it, he became a "Vibration Human." When he uses his power, his own body vibrates along with it. This affects his bones, muscles, blood, and even his internal organs. While this impact might not have been noticeable when Whitebeard was young, it began to show as he aged.
In short, the deterioration of Whitebeard's health isn't solely due to old age; it's the combined result of multiple factors.
"We had Ain use her ability on the Old Man!" Marco said. "He looked about twelve years younger, but the problem is that his physical condition couldn't be reversed. And the most troublesome part is that the Retro-Retro Fruit's power is only temporary. If Ain falls unconscious or falls into seawater, her ability wears off, and the Old Man reverts back."
Hearing this, Ian nodded thoughtfully. If they really relied on the Retro-Retro Fruit to keep Whitebeard looking young, then the Whitebeard Pirates would have to protect Ain at all costs—making sure she never fell into seawater or lost consciousness. That sounded like a huge hassle...
Ian had seen and known quite a few Devil Fruit users, and he noticed an interesting phenomenon: it seemed that the abilities of certain Paramecia-type fruits became ineffective when exposed to seawater!
The simplest example might be Gecko Moria. The zombie army he created with his shadow ability would have the shadows fly back to their original owners upon contact with salt or seawater. Ain was also a Paramecia user, and Ian wondered if her ability had the same drawback. If so, it wouldn't be all that impressive.
Sure enough, things like eternal youth were all lies... The Retro-Retro Fruit sounded like a buggy ability, but upon closer examination, it wasn't that powerful. It was useful in combat, but relying on it to restore Whitebeard or Zephyr to their peak fighting condition was pointless.
Ian wanted to repay Whitebeard for the favor, but since the path of Ain's Retro-Retro Fruit was a dead end, the only option left was to use Orihime Inoue's card ability. However, the question was how effective it would be on Whitebeard.
Generally, Ian used Orihime Inoue's card to heal injuries, but Whitebeard's wounds were actually minor issues—they were just old, lingering injuries. His main problem was aging. In Ian's mind, even the Rejection of the universe probably couldn't reject a person's age back to what it was, right?
The actual effect would only be clear after a real test...
After playing a few more rounds of mahjong, the four of them stopped. Putting the mahjong away, Ian and Ace clenched their fists and walked to an open area, while Fujitora and Marco watched from a distance.
These past few days, despite being on vacation and having fun, Ian hadn't relaxed his training at all. Every morning after waking up, he completed his workout under Fujitora's gravity suppression. In his spare time, he sat down to play mahjong and gamble with Fujitora.
Besides that, Ian now had an additional task: training Ace!
Don't misunderstand—in terms of physical combat, Ian and Ace were evenly matched, so he couldn't teach Ace much. The only thing Ian could guide Ace on was the development of the Flame-Flame Fruit's abilities.
Ian had always felt that Ace's ability development seemed to be heading in the wrong direction.
Compared to when he first obtained the Flame-Flame Fruit, Ace had now developed quite a few flame-based techniques. His flames had grown larger and more powerful—a single Fire Fist punch could unleash a fireball capable of destroying an entire ship.
However, this was all just superficial application. Ian believed Ace hadn't grasped the essence of the Flame-Flame Fruit.
What was the essence of the Flame-Flame Fruit? Temperature!
Ian himself played with fire. He had used the Evil King Flame Slayer Sword's flames from Flying Shadow, the flames of the Black Dragon Wave, and even Iori's purple flames. He had a direct, intuitive understanding of fire.
In Ian's view, the development of flame abilities wasn't about appearance or size—the key was temperature. Ace had been getting it wrong all along.
So these past few days, Ian had been trying to correct Ace's mindset.
"Come on, let me see how much your temperature has improved now!" Ian said, beckoning Ace with his finger.
Ace nodded without speaking, and his body instantly transformed into blazing flames. He became a human torch, his body seeming to grow larger in volume.
However, Ian frowned as he watched Ace's transformation. He noticed that Ace's flame temperature had indeed increased, but this improvement came from expanding the burning area.
From a conventional physics standpoint, this made sense—it meant Ace was contacting more oxygen, making the combustion more intense.
To truly raise flame temperature, the best method was to change the fuel source. Different fuels produced different temperatures when burned. But the problem was that Ace himself was now the flame—he had no fuel to speak of. When he maintained his elemental form, he only consumed his own stamina. This showed just how unscientific Devil Fruits were.
Fortunately, Ian had never expected to solve the unscientific nature of Devil Fruits through science. He knew that even without external help, there were ways to control temperature.
Because Ian had met someone like that: Aokiji Kuzan!
Aokiji's freezing ability essentially came down to lowering temperature. He was a Devil Fruit user, yet he could freeze seawater instead of being rendered powerless by it. That was the key.
Ace's ability was quite similar to Aokiji's. Ice and fire were opposites—lowering temperature froze objects, while raising temperature caused them to burn.
What Ace needed to learn from Aokiji was to shift from controlling flames to controlling temperature.
Amid Ian's incessant chatter, Ace kept trying to do as he said. But it was indeed difficult—imagination was one thing, actual operation was another. Ace stood there for a long time, maintaining a Super Saiyan-like pose, with roaring flames shooting into the sky, but the tangible results were minimal.
Since Ian wasn't a Devil Fruit user himself, he couldn't truly experience what it felt like for Ace to be in his elemental form. He could only guide Ace through words. After a while, Ace stopped, panting slightly, and said, "It's no good, Ian. Let me see your black flames again!"
Ian nodded and unwrapped the cursed bandages on his right hand. Now, whenever he had free time, he kept a Black Dragon Wave nurtured on his right hand, so he could always show it to Ace.
As the cursed bandages came off, the immense heat of the Black Dragon Wave radiated outward. Ordinary people couldn't get close to observe the high temperature of the Black Dragon Wave, but Ace was an exception—he could even touch Ian's Black Dragon Wave flames with his bare hands.
Not just him, but Marco the Phoenix was also an exception. Although he was a Zoan-type Mythical Beast user, Marco was also a man who carried flames. Of course, the flames he produced when transformed didn't seem to be real fire, but that didn't stop him from touching Ian's Black Dragon Wave either.
"Heh, every time I see this black fire dragon, I'm amazed! Even when I transform, my flames are blue..." Marco said, crossing his arms to Fujitora beside him. "But does this kind of black flame really exist in this world? No matter how hard Ace tries, he probably can't make his flames turn black, right?"
"Maybe," Fujitora replied, leaning on his staff sword and smiling. "But in this world, how can you know without trying..."