Chapter 42: Logia Abilities
Kado stepped forward, approaching the ropes anchored to the cliff, and began to examine them. Surprisingly, these things that looked like ropes were actually bundles of hair. The strands of jet-black, shiny hair were twisted together to form tough, resilient ropes.
Taking advantage of the Sea King's head not yet plunging into the sea, the fat man grabbed hold of the hair ropes with both hands and slid along the already-secured ends toward the cliff.
Landing lightly on the cliff, the fat man quickly turned around and grabbed the rope, trying to drag the distant Sea King closer. The Sea King, whose neck had been snapped, spewed a large amount of fresh blood from its mouth, the scent of which permeated the entire sea. The surrounding Sea Kings, driven into a frenzy by the smell, madly surged toward the corpse of the bull-headed, serpent-bodied Sea King, each wanting a share of the feast.
"Hurry! Come help!" The rope was stretched taut under immense tension. Although the fat man was strong, it was clear he couldn't drag the Sea King's corpse over by himself.
Kado and the others quickly stepped in to assist. As the Sea King's body slowly drew closer to the rocks, the other Sea Kings were already devouring it at a rapid pace. In no time, they had picked the bull-headed, serpent-bodied monster clean. By the time Kado and his team managed to haul the remaining part ashore, all that was left was a massive head and a long neck.
"Damn it! Every time we catch one, we have to let those bastards eat more than half of it for free!" the fat man grumbled indignantly, shouting curses at the well-fed creatures in the distance.
"Heh, this much is already enough," Captain Gula said with a cheerful smile, trying to comfort him. "Along with the tamed Sea Kings, this will be plenty to host a week-long feast for everyone on the island." It was actually quite fortunate to have this much left. Usually, when the members of their guard team came here to hunt wild Sea Kings, they often returned empty-handed or only managed to collect scraps left behind by the other Sea Kings.
"Are these Sea Kings supposed to be wild? But how could they be tied up with ropes?" Kado asked, puzzled. In Naga, Sea Kings were classified into two types: wild and tamed. However, the Sea Kings before them were clearly bound by ropes in this part of the sea and unable to leave. How could they possibly be wild?
"Of course they're wild. If they were tamed, we wouldn't need to go to such great lengths to catch them," Captain Gula said with a smile. With the fat man's permission, he began to explain, "Look at these Sea Kings—each one is incredibly ferocious and stands over a thousand meters tall. It's absolutely impossible to raise them artificially. What we've done is use crystal vines to set up a net in this part of the sea, allowing the Sea Kings to enter but preventing them from leaving."
Kado nodded. It was somewhat similar to fish traps on Earth, which also allowed fish to enter but not escape. The only difference was that this "fish trap" was astonishingly massive.
"This is the greatest secret of Naga," the fat man chimed in. "Our ancestors have lived on this island for generations. There's no denying that this island is truly remarkable. It has abundant food and water, rarely faces pirate attacks, and remains free from the control of the World Government, offering true peace to its inhabitants.
But there's one major drawback—the drifting direction of this island cannot be controlled. My ancestors were always worried: what if, one day, the island drifts into an uninhabited sea, a place we could never return from? Or worse, what if the island sinks directly into the ocean? What then? Should we just wait to die?
To secure their future, my ancestors began searching for a way to control the movement of Skull Rock Island. Eventually, they came up with a nearly impossible idea: to control the Sea Kings and have them tow the island. Only the Sea Kings possess the strength to move the hollow shell of a giant turtle. It's the only solution."
"Are these Sea Kings the ones you're talking about?" Kado asked in astonishment. He was utterly amazed that someone could come up with the idea of using Sea Kings to tow an island. Based on Kado's calculations, Skull Rock Island spanned several dozen kilometers in diameter, amounting to hundreds of square kilometers. To move such a massive island, even if the Sea Kings were over a thousand meters tall, it would likely still require hundreds of them.
"Yes, but not entirely," the fat man nodded. "The original plan was to tame the Sea Kings and have them follow human commands to move the island. However, after generations of effort, it proved impossible to domesticate wild Sea Kings, let alone get them to carry an island.
Later, someone proposed raising Sea Kings from birth to train them. This method eventually succeeded, and the Sea Kings raised this way became what we call tamed Sea Kings.
But disappointingly, for some unknown reason, these Sea Kings, raised by humans from birth, only grew to a maximum of about a hundred meters in size—most were only a few dozen meters tall. They were nothing like their wild parents, who could grow to several thousand meters in height."
The fat man sighed helplessly and continued, "These tamed Sea Kings are completely useless except as food. We can't rely on them to move the island. Even if we could, it would take tens of thousands of them. At our peak, Naga's population was only a few thousand people. How could we possibly have the resources and energy to raise tens of thousands of Sea Kings?"
"Then what's the deal with these wild Sea Kings?" Kado asked, pointing at the wild ones in front of him. "If they can't be tamed, what's the point of keeping them around?"
"These Sea Kings represent a kind of hope," the fat man explained. "Hope that someday, someone capable of taming them will emerge. If that happens, the Naga Kingdom won't have to live in constant fear.
Another reason is that these wild Sea Kings can reproduce, providing us with offspring to cultivate. While our tamed Sea Kings can also reproduce, their offspring become progressively weaker with each generation. After a few generations, they devolve into ordinary fish, making it not worth the immense effort to raise them.
Instead, we rely on the net left behind by our ancestors to trap wild Sea Kings. Once they give birth, we take their offspring and raise them. This way, at least we can rear Sea Kings that grow to a few dozen meters in size," he explained.
"I see now," Kado smiled. "So these Sea Kings really are Naga's secret. With them, you can have an endless supply of meat, and Naga could become the only country capable of taming Sea Kings."
At that moment, he finally understood why these Sea Kings were called Naga's greatest secret. With these Sea Kings, it was like possessing an inexhaustible treasure. If food was scarce, there was plenty of meat from the Sea Kings. If clothing was lacking, there was an abundance of their hides. And if money was tight, within twenty years, Naga could become a famous tourist destination, thanks to its ability to raise Sea Kings—transforming the island into a place that made money faster than it could be spent.
The fat man scratched his head, looking slightly embarrassed. "Speaking of taming the Sea Kings, I was originally the one with the most hope in the Naga Kingdom, but unfortunately, I ended up with the Fur-Fur Fruit instead. I failed to live up to the expectations of the people."
"So your Devil Fruit ability is the Fur-Fur Fruit? That name is pretty funny," Kado chuckled. "But the ability seems pretty powerful. How could you fail to meet the expectations of the people? Were they really hoping you'd get a fruit that could destroy the world or something?"
"I can generate hair in any area I touch, and I can control the hair as well," the fat man explained. "This ability is definitely useful in battle, but unfortunately, my people and my father all hoped I would get one of the legendary Devil Fruits, like the Whisper-Whisper Fruit, which lets you communicate with all things, or the Sound-Sound Fruit. With either of those, I could probably communicate with the wild Sea Kings and tame them."
The fat man smiled awkwardly, as if not getting one of those two abilities was a huge mistake on his part.
"Heh, whatever abilities a Devil Fruit grants, that's what the person who eats it gets. It has nothing to do with you," Kado patted the fat man's shoulder, offering some comfort before changing the subject. "I know about the Whisper-Whisper Fruit—it lets you communicate with all things. But what's this Sound-Sound Fruit?"
"Legend has it, the Whisper-Whisper Fruit allows communication with all things, but there's also another fruit," the fat man explained. "While it doesn't allow communication with all things, it has the ability to understand all languages. In other words, it can decipher any language, even mimic it. This is the Logia-type Sound-Sound Fruit, a fruit that not only possesses incredible abilities but also has unmatched combat power."