Six months later.
Bellamy stood on the shore, staring blankly at the surging waves.
"Have I reached my limit this quickly?"
He hadn't made any significant progress for ten days straight. The upper limit of the human body in this world was surprisingly low. Compared to races like giants and fish-men, humans seemed to have no advantages other than their agile minds and endless desires.
But Bellamy knew that couldn't be the whole truth. Otherwise, how could humanity stand at the pinnacle of all races? That was precisely what puzzled him the most. What advantage did humans truly have over other races? Looking at the raw data, fish-men and giants should have been the world's favored peoples.
"Is it their heritage? No, that's not it."
The fish-men had their own complete heritage; Fish-Man Karate had been passed down for over a thousand years without being lost.
"Are humans more united than other races?"
What a joke. Humans were the most ruthless when it came to killing their own kind.
"Are they better at reproducing?"
Impossible. If they were only good at breeding, they would just end up as livestock.
Bellamy couldn't figure it out. On what grounds did the humans of this world stand at the top of all races? Without a Devil Fruit, the maximum power a pure-blooded human could possess was probably less than that of a thousand-meter-long Sea King. Of course, in a real fight, Bellamy could crush that Sea King like an ant. Combat wasn't a simple comparison of strength; if brute force was all that mattered, the Sea Kings would have ruled the world long ago.
"So... is it because we're just stronger?" Bellamy's expression suddenly turned strange.
Because humans were stronger than fish-men, the fish-men could only hide at the bottom of the sea, afraid to show their faces. Because humans were stronger than giants, the giants had to lower their proud heads and bow before them. As for why they were stronger than other races, after much thought, Bellamy could only attribute it to Devil Fruits.
It seemed that only Devil Fruits could explain everything. Humans had more agile minds, giving them an advantage in developing Devil Fruit abilities. That seemed to be the only logical explanation, though Bellamy had a nagging feeling that the reason was far more complex.
"So, does my future path lie solely in my Devil Fruit?"
His physical training had hit a bottleneck, with no hope of a breakthrough in the short term. Haki growth was always the slowest, requiring a great deal of time for gradual refinement. He had already mastered all the various martial arts he had collected from around the world over the past six months. Further improvement would require a significant investment of time for in-depth study.
Thus, for the remaining time, Bellamy decided to focus all his energy on his Devil Fruit abilities. He wanted to refine his First and Second Gears, making both forms more complete and practical for combat.
First was the heart transformation of First Gear. With his current physical strength, the power provided by simply turning his heart into a spring was no longer giving him a significant boost. But that didn't mean First Gear was useless. He could build upon this foundation by adding the transformation of other organs. For example, he could turn all his internal organs into springs, and all the blood vessels, large and small, into springs. Taking it a step further, he might even be able to transform his bones into springs.
If he could truly achieve a full-body transformation, Bellamy could compress his entire body into a ball the size of a basketball. Combined with the energy compression of his Third Gear, the rigidity and hardness of his body would reach an unbelievable level. Even the most common substance, when compressed to its limit, can achieve an unimaginable hardness. A neutron star was the most classic example. Bellamy's body could never be compressed to the density of a neutron star, but if he could really shrink a three-meter-tall man down to the size of a basketball, his physical durability would be despairingly strong.
The development path for First Gear was the simplest and most straightforward.
Second Gear was much more complex. Bellamy's Second Gear, the Spring Flyer form, already involved the realm of energy conversion. The principle was to convert the elasticity within his body into propulsive force through his hair. This form was obviously very intricate. And indeed, just controlling the movement of his body hair required mastering Life Return as a prerequisite. It was a testament to Bellamy's unique approach; anyone else who ate the Spring-Spring Fruit would never have developed such a bizarre ability.
Actually, this conversion of elasticity could be done differently, by using Moon Walk and then ejecting the elastic force from the soles of his feet. It was similar to the principle of a jet engine, but the propulsion would have to be intermittent, requiring a few steps followed by a rest. Continuously outputting a large amount of elasticity would exhaust Bellamy in minutes. He had considered this option, but it was clear that this method of flight was far less convenient and energy-efficient than manipulating all his body hair.
The improvement Bellamy wanted to make now was to bypass the troublesome hair and convert energy directly through his skin. Not just the skin on the soles of his feet—that would defeat the purpose of improving it—but any part of his skin, all over his body. By controlling the release of elasticity, he could emit small bursts of propulsion from any point on his skin. With enough control, his body could remain floating in the air indefinitely. Not just flying around, but hovering.
One of the biggest challenges of this improvement was energy control. Keeping a body constantly afloat in the air was no easy task. Just thinking about it revealed how difficult it would be. Another issue was energy endurance, but for now, that wasn't a major concern. As long as he didn't release too much elasticity at once, the energy currently stored in his body was enough to sustain a week of continuous combat without any rest. The high-energy food scattered all over the Boin Archipelago provided him with immense convenience.
This improved version of Second Gear was actually very similar to a guided missile, constantly adjusting its position by firing its thrusters while tracking a target. This new form had many advantages, the most obvious being more agile mid-air direction changes, faster flight speed, and stronger instantaneous explosive power. However, compared to the original hair-based flight form, it was not without its drawbacks.
First, the energy consumption would definitely be higher. Second, controlling specific areas of skin to release energy would be more mentally taxing than simply rotating a large patch of hair. Bellamy was still a bit hesitant about whether to switch his Second Gear to this new form. However, in the process of developing it, he would inevitably have to exercise more precise control over his elasticity. This, in itself, was an excellent opportunity to train his abilities.