Chapter 33: Microscopic Splitting!
Speaking of pirate history, Sea Circle Calendar 1507 was an extremely special year. Why say so? Because a major event that influenced the world occurred in this year.
The Holy Land Mariejois, situated on the Red Line, was actually invaded, and the invader was a Fishman, looked down upon as non-human by the vast majority of nobles.
Ever since the World Government was established by the 20 Kings 800 years ago, it had never been provoked by anyone, let alone directly attacked at the Holy Land, a slap in its face.
Regarding this upcoming grand event, to be honest, Buggy was very much inclined to go to the Sabaody Archipelago to watch the excitement.
But Buggy was currently on his way back to Distan in the East Blue. It wasn't that Buggy didn't want to go to the Sabaody Archipelago, but that Buggy had discovered something even more important than going there.
Yes, Buggy's Chop-Chop Fruit ability could enter the mid-to-late phase of its first stage of training.
Compared to his Eight Extremities Fist, which was in its ascendant phase, and his Haki, which was steadily accumulating every day, what Buggy valued most was actually his Devil Fruit ability.
This was also very natural. After all, compared to Eight Extremities Fist and Haki, only the Chop-Chop Fruit ability held the hope of leading Buggy into deeper levels of power.
This deeper level was far more profound than Haki, whose future was uncertain, and internal martial arts, which only in legends could achieve the feat of shattering the void.
The highest level of internal martial arts, shattering the void, held no attraction for Buggy. This was the truth because Buggy wasn't that interested in this kind of self-mastered power.
Practicing Eight Extremities Fist before was merely to not let what he had painstakingly obtained in his previous life go to waste. Eight Extremities Fist was more of a way for Buggy to commemorate that world; any level of proficiency was acceptable.
And if Haki were to be categorized according to cultivation levels, it would definitely have great prospects. But this thing was ultimately different from spiritual energy; Buggy didn't know if it could be cultivated in the direction of spiritual cultivation.
Adhering to the premise of at least not dying from qi deviation, Buggy pinned his hopes of reaching the pinnacle on his Devil Fruit ability.
However, ever since leaving Distan several years ago, Buggy's Chop-Chop Fruit ability had remained in the early phase of its first stage for several consecutive years.
This was absolutely unbearable for Buggy. So much so that after settling matters with the ship's doctor, Little Law, Buggy didn't even bother with the mascot and musician. He directly headed back to Distan, planning to go into seclusion and seek a breakthrough from this long-stagnant state.
Buggy had a general idea about understanding the Chop-Chop ability. One must know that the most direct manifestation of the Chop-Chop ability acting on objects was pulverization. In fact, in Buggy's view, the Chop-Chop Fruit could very well be called the Pulverize Fruit.
So, how exactly should the Chop-Chop Fruit's ability be developed? Initially, Buggy only trained his basic control, i.e., using the ability for fine work, such as turning a stone into a sculpture.
This stage had been reached not long ago. Although not very aesthetically pleasing and lacking artistic merit, Buggy could indeed shape objects according to his imagination using his ability.
After achieving this step, the macroscopic splitting of the first stage was considered complete. What followed was the mid-stage: microscopic splitting.
Compared to macroscopic objects that could be observed with the naked eye, the microscopic realm was not so easy. It involved molecules, atoms – well, let's not even mention electrons. Buggy estimated that if he were fortunate enough to enter the fourth stage, perhaps he could try that.
The mid-first stage's molecular splitting didn't mean splitting the molecules that constituted an item; that was the goal for the late first stage. The mid-stage goal was to disperse all the molecules constituting an object at once, i.e., to break the intermolecular forces, thereby achieving a pulverizing effect invisible to the naked eye.
Dividing the stages so meticulously, some might feel Buggy was being a bit too pedantic. After all, when truly using the ability in battle, it definitely wouldn't be that detailed.
Buggy acknowledged half of this point because when just destroying certain things, precision truly wasn't necessary. After all, violence is an art, isn't it?
But it was different when fighting against people. The more detailed his research, the more advantageous it was for Buggy.
Take, for example, if his ability research remained only on the surface, when using the emergency escape technique, his body would split apart like Captain Buggy's, and each part would still be a target for attack.
This was why, when the canon Buggy first appeared and fought Luffy, Nami was able to tie up a part of his body.
To avoid this situation, Buggy wanted to go a step further. Having watched the One Piece anime, especially after seeing Donquixote Doflamingo's research and use of his ability, Buggy was very clear about one thing: for Devil Fruit users, the fear wasn't having too rich an imagination, but not daring to imagine.
As long as it was within the scope of what the Devil Fruit ability could affect, producing any kind of effect wouldn't be strange.
So, could completely dispersing oneself to achieve invisibility within line of sight be achieved? The mid-first stage's goal was roughly this.
If he truly achieved this step, he could actually achieve two effects. The first effect was invisibility. You didn't misread; at a molecular state, it's difficult to see with the naked eye, which, from a macroscopic perspective, equates to invisibility. And the second effect was even more impressive than the first: immunity to physical attacks.
Tearing the chemical bonds between molecules requires a certain amount of energy. The amount of energy needed varies for different properties; for example, electrolysis and burning would definitely be different.
But to tear the chemical bonds between molecules with pure force devoid of any attributes, not only would it require sufficiently powerful force, but the force also needed to be concentrated on the chemical bonds.
If he dispersed on the spot during a battle, the scattered molecules would firstly make it difficult for an opponent to find a point of application for their force, let alone concentrate force on a specific point. Even if they managed, with countless molecules, the opponent would probably die of exhaustion before destroying even a few of Buggy's cells.
Having had such an imagination, Buggy was thus diligently developing his Chop-Chop Fruit ability.
Of course, although the theory sounded easy, the actual operation was not easy at all.
How to directly pulverize his body to a molecular state? Buggy had no clue. The only thing he could do was to continuously make a certain part of his body undergo unrestricted splitting.
Feeling his way forward was truly not easy. At the foot of the Red Line, after spending a full year, Buggy, on the third day after entering the year 1508, finally succeeded for the first time in splitting one of his fingers to a degree completely invisible to the naked eye.
Although there was still time needed to disperse his entire body, he had finally taken the first step. And this step truly laid the foundation for stepping into the ranks of top-tier experts.
(End of this chapter)