351. Fireman

Leo eats the Flame Flame Fruit and the devil fruit is just as disgusting as ever. Buggy tells him to eat the whole thing if he wants to get all its power even though he doesn't need to. But Buggy wants Leo to learn that to receive power, he needs to go through pain even if it's just eating a very disgusting fruit.

Bellemere who knows that Leo doesn't need to eat the whole thing also stays silent. She knows it's Buggy's way of teaching their son that not every power is sweet. This is also a good lesson for their daughters who immediately feel relieved that they refused to eat devil fruit.

After Leo finishes eating the Flame Flame Fruit with great difficulty, Buggy pats his head and praises him. Leo smiles happily when his father praises him even though he always tried to kick his dad's ass. Kids are really complicated, so their parents need to understand them.

Buggy then asks Leo to use the power that he has just got. Leo nods and tries it but he can't do it even after trying for a few minutes because he doesn't understand how it works. Buggy tells him to just imagine it because Leo should've felt what his power is.

"I can't, the fire in my mind can't come OOUUT! AAHH, MY HAND IS BURNING!" shouts Leo so suddenly as fire suddenly appears on his right hand.

He runs around with a panicked expression because he can't put out the fire. Nami & Nojiko are panicking too and try to help Leo put the fire off by blowing the fire. But it just gets bigger and now both Leo's arms are on fire.

Buggy & Bellemere just watch amusedly from the side. Nojiko gets angry at them for not helping Leo who gets burnt. The kids start crying, so they decide to step in and stop them. Bellemere picks up the girls while Buggy approaches Leo.

Leo cries and asks Buggy to put the fire off while saying that he won't be a bad boy and won't try to catch Buggy again. But instead of putting the fire off, Buggy knocks Leo's head lightly. It still hurts though, but now Leo's attention is on the pain in his head.

"ARGH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING DAD?" asks Leo while holding the place that Buggy hits using his burning hands.

"It hurts, isn't it? So which one is more painful? My hit or that fire?" asks Buggy.

"Huh? Of course the hit. Eh? Uh, oh," says Leo dumbfoundedly as he realizes what he has just said.

Now when he thinks more calmly, the fire in his hands isn't hot at all. He can feel the place that his dad hits twitching, but he can't feel the heat of the fire at all. Nami & Nojiko also stop crying when they see that Leo is fine.

"That fire is your power, so you won't get hurt by it or any normal fire. Your body has also become fire itself, so you won't get hurt by normal attacks like this," says Buggy while flicking a finger at Leo's forehead.

Leo closes his eyes and flinches, but the pain that he anticipated never come. Buggy's finger just passes through his forehead, leaving a trail of fire that disappears soon and his forehead is not damaged at all. He & his sisters are very amazed by it and the girls want to try it.

"You can't do that, little girls. Your hands will get burnt if you try to do what your father did," says Bellemere.

Buggy shows them what will happen if they try to do it by stabbing his index finger at Leo's palm. It passes through the palm easily, but there's a small fire burning on Buggy's finger. He can put it off easily, but it's enough to stop the girls from trying.

"Eh? But if your attack can pass through his body, then how did you hit Leo's head before?" asks Nojiko after she remembers Buggy hitting Leo's head just now.

"Well, that's the 2nd lesson. I've told you that normal attacks won't hurt Leo, right? That means there are still attacks that can hurt Leo," says Buggy before flicking Leo's forehead again.

Leo thinks it will pass through his forehead again, but it doesn't because Buggy uses a little Haki on his finger. His flick hurts Leo's forehead and makes the little guy screams in pain while being confused about how Buggy can hit him even though it didn't before.

"I won't tell you how I do it yet. The only thing you should know is that you still can get hurt. Other than a mysterious attack like that, you still can get hurt by other things. Water is the most obvious because you are fire, and devil fruit users are weak to seawater as it takes away their power which is also the reason why we can't swim."

"There are still many things that can hurt you, so rather than relying on the fact that your body is intangible, you should think that your body is normal and keep fighting as if you have a normal body. Think of your intangible fire body as your last defense. I've seen many Logia Devil Fruit users who overestimate their power and get defeated miserably, after all," says Buggy.

The kids get confused by the long explanation, so Buggy sighs and explains it again. "Just think that you'll always get hit by every attack, so you'll be more careful."

"Oh, alright," says Leo.

After that, Leo starts his training to understand his new power more. Buggy just tells him to play using his power however he likes in the training ground. The best way to understand a devil fruit's ability is by exploring it however he likes.

Meanwhile, his sisters are playing ball catching with Fries. Bellemere watches over them because they shouldn't get too close to Leo who plays with fire. Buggy watches over Leo's training to prevent him from making mistakes that can endanger the others because he can't control his power that well yet.

Luckily, no accident happens because even before it can happen, Leo gets tired first. Using devil fruit abilities is more tiring than people thought because it uses the user's energy too. So devil fruit users need a lot of stamina to keep activating their power.

Leo pants heavily on the floor and Buggy hands a bottle of water to him. He gulps the water down in an instant and feels refreshed immediately. But then his stomach sends protests because it needs things other than water.

So the family decides to have lunch in the training ground. Bellemere has cooked a lot of food which they brought here. Her cooking skill has improved tremendously since she needed to feed some mouths, so her food has become very delicious, unlike when she was still dating Buggy.

They eat immediately and to his sisters' surprise, Leo is eating really fast, although their father is still faster. He also eats twice more than his usual portions, but Buggy knows it will increase over time. That's what happened to him when his usage of his devil fruit ability became better, after all.

Luckily, Bellemere likes seeing the food she cooked gets eaten well. She doesn't care if she needs to cook a lot more because seeing her family enjoys her food gives her the best sense of satisfaction. Besides, she is already used to cooking a lot of food whenever Buggy returned.

After eating, Leo is playing with his fire again, and they let him be. He is still very curious about it and it's the best chance for him to know more about his power. But he will get tired again, so Bellemere goes home to cook more food with Nojiko & Nami helping her.

Fries joins them too, so it's just Buggy & Leo in the training ground now. Buggy tells Leo that he can use more power now that they are alone. So Leo does as he says and makes more fire which tires him faster, but it also makes him more satisfied and gets a better understanding of his power.

The training ground is in a little mess with many burnt marks. But it's not a big problem at all because a training ground was built with the expectation of getting destroyed in the future. So Buggy just smiles widely seeing his son showing promising talent in fighting too.

Buggy even starts thinking too far ahead, "Maybe he can be the next Pirate King."

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