Chapter 253: Volume 2 – Chapter 155: Dragon is in Trouble

"You know, sometimes I really feel like you need a good beating…"

Momonga pouted, grumbling under his breath.

"Oh."

Daren shrugged and replied casually, acting like he didn't hear a word of it.

After a month of "special training," Momonga's strength had undergone a massive transformation.

Over the past month, he had more or less mastered the abilities of the Goro Goro no Mi and could now wield them flexibly across different combat scenarios.

He could transform his body into lightning and travel at high speed through air or other conductive mediums.

He could fire high-voltage lightning bolts at mid-range with deadly accuracy.

He could harness the heat and piercing nature of electricity to unleash devastating attacks...

All in all, aside from not yet grasping Haki, Momonga's overall strength was now easily on par with a Vice Admiral from headquarters—possibly even approaching the level of an elite Vice Admiral.

After all, the sheer advantages granted by the Goro Goro no Mi were simply overwhelming.

As for how to further develop the fruit's potential, Daren didn't offer any outlandish ideas. Instead, he straightforwardly pointed Momonga to a reference model—Enel.

Enel, the self-proclaimed god of Skypiea, was the original user of the Goro Goro no Mi in the main storyline.

Although the guy was unlucky enough to run into Luffy—and got taken down by the whole "rubber doesn't conduct electricity" gimmick—there's no denying that his mastery over the Goro Goro no Mi was impressive.

Most importantly, Enel's approach to developing the fruit was simple and practical—easy to replicate.

This might just be a fundamental rule of Devil Fruits.

Every Devil Fruit seems to have a logical and consistent path for its development.

This is also backed up by canon examples.

When Blackbeard took the Gura Gura no Mi from Whitebeard, he immediately used shockwave-based techniques that Whitebeard had been known for.

Or take Sabo, who had been trained by Dragon since childhood and was highly skilled in close-quarters combat. After acquiring the Mera Mera no Mi, the first move he mastered was "Hiken"

The reasoning behind this isn't hard to figure out—

It's all about ease of mastery.

As for Momonga's role, Daren didn't plan on turning him into one of those "complete warriors" like Sakazuki, Kuzan, or Borsalino—powerhouses with no weaknesses.

Momonga simply didn't have the raw talent or potential to match those three monsters.

So Daren's vision was for Momonga to become an Enel 2.0—one who also mastered Haki, martial arts, and swordsmanship.

After all, Enel's raw combat power was no joke, and the destructive force of the Goro Goro no Mi made him a walking natural disaster.

With that kind of power added to his own sword and combat skills, plus dual-color Haki...

Sure, he might still fall short against the true top-tier fighters, but he wouldn't be as easily overwhelmed in close combat as Enel had been.

And that would be enough.

At the very least, it would give the North Blue fleet a human natural disaster—and an energy core—on the move.

He'd reach the threshold of admiral-level combat strength, which was more than solid.

Becoming a top-tier admiral, though, required a blend of talent, opportunity, luck, and timing—there were just too many variables at play.

As for Daren himself, the past month of Lightning Training had paid off as well.

His physique had increased by three points, with strength and speed each going up by one. His Armament Haki had also improved by two points—courtesy of all those times he "beat the crap out of" Momonga.

Now, his physical stats looked like this:

Physique: 82.812

Strength: 71.513

Speed: 71.899

Armament Haki: 39.035

Conqueror's Haki: 52.301

That said, over time, the effectiveness of the "Lightning Tempering" had started to decline.

Daren had even developed a resistance to electricity. Lightning below 10 million volts barely affected him anymore.

In fact, it had reached the point where it almost resembled "non-conductivity." Electric currents and plasma would just slide over his skin and scatter away.

'Looks like Lightning Tempering won't show any real results in the short term…'

Daren "looked" at his stats using his perception talent, that thought crossing his mind.

Maybe once Momonga could ramp the voltage up to 50 million volts, or even 100 million, the effectiveness of Lightning Tempering would pick up again.

But for now, there was no point in staying in the North Blue and wasting time.

"How's the cooperation with Vinsmoke Judge coming along?"

Daren took a drag from his cigarette and asked suddenly.

Momonga blinked, caught off guard. "You heading back to headquarters?"

Daren nodded with a helpless smile. "Zephyr-sensei's been trying to reach me for days. He completely chewed me out over the Den Den Mushi. If I don't go back soon, he might just show up in the North Blue and drag me back himself."

Just thinking of Zephyr's furious, red-faced yelling over the line gave him a headache.

And it wasn't like he didn't have a reason for staying. He had told Zephyr he'd found an extremely efficient training method out here in the North Blue.

But that only made things worse. The moment he said it, Zephyr exploded.

"What's that supposed to mean, you little brat? Are you saying my teaching methods are inefficient?!"

Daren couldn't exactly say, "Yeah, totally. When I was in the Beasts Pirates' prison, just coughing up medicine for a day was the same as two weeks of boot camp. It's been just like that here too…"

If he really said that, he could forget about staying at headquarters.

Once he got back to Marineford, there'd be hell to pay.

"Zephyr-san just wants what's best for you..."

It was rare to see Daren looking so miserable, and Momonga couldn't help but laugh a little at his expense. Then he added,

"There's not much progress yet on the warship engine upgrades, but we've made headway with the laser weapons."

"According to Vinsmoke Judge, Germa 66 has already cracked the energy core structure of the laser weaponry. Give it a bit more time, and they should be able to modify them successfully."

"Got it."

Daren nodded.

He looked up, his gaze drifting toward the horizon where the evening glow flickered across a sea of clouds.

The air was sharp and freezing. Snowflakes had started falling from the sky.

The weather in this sea was always strange—despite the snow, the sunset was dazzlingly beautiful.

Snowflakes glowed under the twilight sky, painting a scene of brilliant contrast.

Daren's eyes glazed slightly as he smiled faintly.

"The year's almost over. Yeah, it's time I headed back."

Momonga gave him a knowing look and blinked with a grin.

"True. End of the year's when families reunite."

Daren chuckled and was about to reply, when the military Den Den Mushi suddenly rang with a sharp, urgent tone.

"Brrrru brrrru... brrrru brrrru..."

Momonga eyed him teasingly as Daren reached for it.

"Maybe it's Toki-san calling you home..."

Over the past month, he'd learned that Daren had brought a woman back to live in the officer's housing.

"Shut it."

Daren rolled his eyes and cursed with a smile.

Momonga raised both hands, grinning as he stepped back a few paces.

Daren finally answered the call.

But from where he stood, Momonga could see the shift in Daren's expression. The smile vanished almost instantly, replaced by a heavy seriousness.

The moment he ended the call, Momonga walked up quickly.

"What happened?"

The sunset had already been swallowed by clouds, darkness creeping in to cover the land.

Snow fell harder, the cold slicing straight to the bone.

Daren licked his chapped lips and slowly exhaled.

"Something's happened to Dragon."

He didn't wait for Momonga to ask more before speaking again—his voice hoarse, and the words ice-cold.

"He killed a Celestial Dragon... at the border between the North Blue and the Grand Line."

The Commodore's low voice cut through the whirling snow.

"...in front of everyone."