Volume 1 Chapter 8

6 months later.

Ezra was currently moving a barrel of seawater towards his designated training area on the training ground in preparation for today's session. His devil fruit training had started bearing fruits, his control had improved to the point where he could create different types of weapons by manipulating the shape and form of seawater.

During his last power session, he touched on the idea of achieving a partial body transformation, today was the day to achieve that milestone.

The first-year training ground was always busy, with cadets yelling, screaming, swearing, crying, and grunting … various sounds echoed all around.

Placing his barrel down, Ezra dipped his right arm from this palm to his elbow into the barrel full of water.

Closing his eyes, he focused on his right arm. In his mind, there was no barrel or water, but everything around his hand was part of his hand. This type of image training was how he succeeded in improving his control.

Pulling out his hand from the barrel, he could not help but shout "Success".

His right arm still had the form of an arm, but it was made entirely of crystal blue seawater. The size of the arm was also 3 times bigger than his left arm. With a thought, he transformed his hand into a blade, then a spiked club, then a shield before returning it to a hand form.

He then willed the water to move to his right leg, hence ending the transformation on his right arm and transforming his right leg.

The feeling was almost addictive. For the next one hour, Ezra practised his partial transformation until he noticed a significant problem.

There was no more water!

During the control training sessions, he had never encountered this issue before. There was always very little wastage, but this time the water had run out. This could only mean that the water was being absorbed as he performed his transformation. Confirming the speculation the marines had made about the Umi Umi no Mi (Sea Sea Fruit) being weak on land.

His brain kicked into gear, thinking of methods in resolving this problem.

There were only two options which he could think of; one was to create his own seawater by using his body, he had heard from Hothead that it was possible as he could create flames on the body from nothing, but he wasn't at that level yet. The second option would be to carry a barrel of seawater around.

'Do I really have to carry a barrel around? Why can't I use control to create a water flask? I constantly have to will the water to remain in shape, this is also a form of control training' he thought to himself.

Ezra picked up the empty barrel and ran off to the sea to get more water.

First: shape the flask. Second: retain the shape. Cancel and repeat!

After a few attempts, he managed to create his very own water container. Ezra proceeded to the next stage.

The task now was to will the water into the flask, whilst retaining its shape. This involved doing two things at the same time, hence increasing the difficulty.

Finding a balance was the most difficult part of this training. The end result was a barrel-like transparent flask. The seawater inside the flask could be seen flowing in a circular motion creating a miniature whirlpool and causing a pressure system that strengthened the flask.

Ezra's performance in his daily physical training noticeably dropped during the last 3 months of the year since he had to focus on keeping the flask active. Some cadets gave positive comments about his new look. Other cadets, out of jealousy, created a new nickname "Captain Waterbottle"