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Chapter 53: The Will To Survive I

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"It's finally working?" Kalifa asked.

"Kind of. It wasn't hard." Yovan remarked, "Though it's not very satisfactory."

In his hand was a simple black feather though it wasn't like the feathers he usually creates, it was a tad bit bigger.

"But I don't get it, won't making the feathers bigger make them frailer?" Kalifa wondered.

"No, I will only make them more consuming of my energy," Yovan shook his head as he focused on creating bigger feathers, "It's all about control. I'm merely trying to get absolute control over my Devil Fruit." 

Yovan stumbled upon a mistake of his. Since acquiring his Devil Fruit, he mostly focused on just forcing through its mastery with Limitless.

Normally, other Devil Fruit users gain mastery by expanding their control over it, becoming one with their powers.

Yovan, however, mostly focused on over-draining himself to increase his master forcefully. Limitless allowed him to do what others couldn't, simply breaching limits with brute force.

The end result was not many ways he could use his powers, so he started trying to fix the issue not long ago.

That's how he came up with the idea of basically creating a thin hidden shroud of feathers around his body to control himself perfectly in a way similar to telekinesis.

That not only allowed him unhuman flexibility, but it also increased his speed significantly.

But that wasn't enough as now Yovan was trying to create bigger feathers, and he knew he could. Perhaps this is something he could do since long ago, but he just never tried.

And it was good that he did now because gaining more control over his Devil Fruit increased his progress significantly until it could no longer move... He reached some kind of bottleneck.

[Devil Fruit: Kakin Kakin no Mi, Model: Crow: 969/∞]

He was pretty sure it was some kind of curse related to all the misfortune that comes with crows. Like, why that number exactly?

Whatever it was, Yovan was pretty sure he was on the verge of awakening his Devil Fruit. 

Devil Fruit powers can, in rare instances, achieve Awakening, significantly increasing the user's abilities. 

The increase in abilities can be either of significantly greater power, more refined control, and new abilities that would otherwise not be possible. The effects of the awakening depend on the type of Devil Fruit.

So Yovan focused on not only creating bigger feathers but also making them different, more deadly. 

His goal was to create feathers the size of arrows, as strong as arrows, and as sharp as them. To do that, the feathers' calamus has to be much sharper than they already are.

"They're doing well," Yovan noted as he glanced at his crew, moving about in the air. It's been more than a month since they left the Animal kingdom.

Time moved very quickly in Yovan's eyes as they toured as much as they could in Paradise, pretty much just going wild.

[Coundown: 3689]

The day is misfortune isn't too far off, but at least they could go wild for now to the point they became very famous across Paradise, known as the Strangers that set foot on a place and one way or another leave it in ruins.

In Yovan's defense, it was mostly unintentional. It is just that sometimes, the places they visit are a bit too ugly, so he finds himself forced to paint a more beautiful picture.

Yet strangely, he didn't paint any new paintings, preferring to leave them to more special places and moments. 

The Strangers' actions attracted way too much attention, especially as of recently as the Marines started to put more focus on them.

They already had to stay on the move because Don Chinjao is certainly still following after them, but it only got worse to the point they had to flee into the Calm Belt.

There are two Calm Belts, two areas of the ocean that border the north and south of the Grand Line. 

They're very effective barriers for those trying to enter the Grand Line as these areas are always completely calm, never having any ocean currents or winds blowing, making it impossible for non-self propelled ships to travel through. 

That's the main reason why Yovan and his crew had to enter Paradise through Reverse Mountain. That and the Calm belts are also nesting grounds for the world's largest Sea Kings.

Seizon No Hono was very advanced because Yovan pretty much thought of everything before instructing Iceburg on how he wanted it built.

Aside from its Fire Burst engine which only functions when the ship is flying, it has several turbine engines in its hull acting as its main method of movement.

The fact that galleon ships are usually very heavy and slow was negated by the engines, making it one of the fastest ships in Paradise, and perhaps even the New World.

Thus why it can move in the calm water of the Calm Belt. The Sea Kings, on the other hand, were treated as training targets by the crew.

Well, everyone had to stop them from bringing down the ship aside from Yovan, and that was especially hellish considering this is a nesting ground of Sea Kings, so the crew usually have little to no sleep.

This was the training regime forced upon them by Yovan while he just most often than not 'relaxed' on the crow's head along with the lazy Antarisa.

"The News Coo is here," Kalifa noted with anticipation before paying for the newspaper as well as several Bounty posters.

And this is usually where the crew gets some leeway as they all returned to the ship, looking all sweaty and dirty. All the while, Yovan released his feathers to protect the ship.

Pretty much everyone assembled around Yovan and Kalifa, even Bege's men. 

Kalifa stood next to Yovan with a mischievous grin as she looked through the newspaper and the bounties. She took the responsibility of commentator of sorts.

"Capone Bege, The Don! Dead or Alive, 250 Million Beli!" She stated, drawing a burst of cheering from Bege's subordinates, and a wide grin from him.

"Kaku, Titleless. Dead or Alive, 10 Million Beli." She said it as quietly as possible, drawing a few words of consolation from the bunch.

"You'll get there someday kid!"

"It's fine. We all start somewhere!"

"Wait! Is his title actually Titleless or is he Titleless?"

"It's okay to be a nobody!"

"You can be somebody someday... Maybe."

"Just don't be a shitbody!"

"At least the Marines don't hate you as much as animals!"

Bege's subordinates were absolutely ruthless, unintentionally ruthless of course. Their genuine support made Bege proud as he lightly tapped Kaku's shoulders, "Don't worry... At least you're not the lowest bounty in the crew."

And just when Kaku wanted to lift his head which was long buried in the ground, "Ahem," Kalifa let out a cough, "Kalifa, Dead or Alive, 30 Million Beli."

"Ahem, at least..." Bege didn't know how to console Kaku at all, remaining speechless until Yovan came to the rescue.

Yovan stood up before Kaku, looking at him with disappointment, "What did I tell you before? A bounty isn't a representation of strength... I'm surprised though that you've been rejected by more animals than the number of your bounty."

"Alright, I'm out." Kaku jumped out of the ship.

"Lahahahaahahahahaha!" Laffitte let it all out without shame while everyone else could only try their best to hold their laugh back.

"It's okay if you want to laugh. He's already dead." Yovan gave them the go, causing Kaku who was climbing the ship to fall down again.

"Laffitte, Demon Sherrif!  Dead or Alive, 111 Million Beli!" Kalifa expected some joy in Laffitte's face, but...

"How? I didn't even do anything? Why is it still getting higher!?? Hey Kaku!! Please help, how can I be a nobody like you!??" In contrast to the others, Laffitte wants his bounty to stay low.

"Stop!"

"Hey! Stop!"

"Too Far!!"

"He's already dead Laffitte!!"

"Yovan Night, The Stranger! Only Alive... 500 Million Beli."

Those words left the ship in silence for a long time... Until Yovan took the poster from Kalifa and remarked, "At least they finally updated my appearance. Good Job!"

He was very happy about that. His appearance was changed to his current one, mostly black clothes along with a silver mask, and a white cape with golden flowery lines.

"They want you alive... I wonder why?" Bege wondered with curiosity though the 500 Million bounty made him very happy because that spells trouble.

"Could it be that they want to dissect you or something?" Laffitte wondered, "If so, then I understand, you're very dissectable."

"That's not a good thing," Kalifa frowned, obviously not expecting this, "We might be in danger."

"But we'll survive, like always." Yovan shrugged as he side-stepped to the side, evading an arrow that would've certainly nailed his shoulder.