When Jack finally regained his consciousness, the first thing he noticed was the strange red marks covering his body from head to toe. They stretched across his chest, arms, and even down his legs, almost like scars burned into his skin. At first, he thought he had never seen anything like them, but then he remembered.
The markings reminded him of the tattoos Kratos carried across his body, bold and permanent, something tied to battle. Yet Jack was certain this was not the same. The figure he saw earlier in his vision wasn't Kratos—he was sure of it. Kratos was bald, but the figure had a full head of wild hair, and even more distinct, it had six arms, something Kratos definitely did not have.
"If anything," Jack muttered to himself, "that figure looked way more like Asura from Asura's Wrath." The thought almost made him laugh; the idea of him holding a Devil Fruit that embodied a figure like that seemed too strange.
But as he sat with the thought longer, piecing together what he had seen and what he had just experienced, Jack slowly grew convinced that what he had eaten might very well be the Asura Devil Fruit.
"Raging storm of anger? Check. Six golden arms with white hair? Check. And on top of that, the whole thing is linked with lightning… yeah, this is starting to sound right," Jack thought as he looked down at the ground around him.
The once soft sand had been turned into shards of glass, hardened and warped from the sheer heat of the lightning that had exploded from his body. The evidence was undeniable.
Determined to understand his situation better, Jack sat back down in his meditative stance, focusing his breathing and aligning himself once more with the Hercules Method. "If I really am a Mythical Zoan user, then logically, I should be able to fully transform into the beast form," Jack thought, narrowing his focus deeper and deeper.
He searched within, not just his body but his very soul, combing through himself as if peeling away layers. The Hercules Method allowed him to align his Spirit, Mind, and Body, and with that alignment, he looked inward.
Inside, he saw it again: the storm. This time, it was even larger, more violent, swirling like a hurricane directly around his heart. Instead of avoiding it, Jack approached the storm head-on, reaching into the raging chaos. Then, without hesitation, he absorbed it. The moment he did, Jack's eyes snapped open.
When he looked at himself, he was different. Both of his arms were now covered in brilliant gold, shining under the sun, while the red markings that had decorated his body shifted and turned, glowing gold instead of crimson. Testing the form, he clenched his fists, and with a single swing towards the open distance, he felt power gather.
His hunch was right. A massive shockwave burst outward, blue and dense, ripping through the air like a cannon blast. The wave resembled Sengoku's impact attacks, though Jack could feel the difference in energy—it was raw, unrefined, but undeniably destructive.
Realizing his heart was beating too fast, Jack forcibly calmed himself down, slowing the rhythm of his pulse. As his heartbeat steadied, his golden form dissolved, his body shifting back to its human state. The tattoos faded back to their natural red, etched across his skin.
Wanting to test things further, Jack tried to see if there was any ability he could use without fully transforming. After some effort, he discovered that he could channel the same shockwave through his fists in smaller bursts, enough to coat his strikes with destructive force. However, the lightning effect seemed exclusive to his full transformation—his human form showed no signs of sparks.
Satisfied for now, Jack decided not to push it further. "Food comes first," he muttered. Both B and Aramaki were still knocked out from their training, and someone had to bring back meat. Jack sprinted off into the woods, his body still buzzing with the remnants of his new power.
Along the way, he tested his shockwave punches on trees and rocks, trying to measure and control the intensity of the release. Eventually, he brought down several massive boars, dragging them back to camp.
By the time the food was cooked, B and Aramaki had finally woken up. Their first reaction wasn't hunger, though—it was shock. They both stared at Jack, their eyes locked on the strange red markings still visible across his body, especially the ones running down his arms.
"Where did you get those?" Aramaki asked bluntly, pointing straight at Jack's chest. His tone was sharp, but his face carried more confusion than anger. B remained seated nearby, waiting for Jack's explanation with quiet curiosity.
"I'm not completely sure," Jack admitted honestly. "But I think it's from the Devil Fruit I found in that cave. After I ate it, these marks appeared, and along with them… this ability." He kept his explanation simple, showing no reason to hide anything from his crewmates.
The three of them ate together as Jack filled in more details, while Aramaki and B listened with mixed expressions of awe and unease. Eventually, they shifted the conversation to practical matters, deciding their next steps.
They agreed to remain on the island for another month to train further, refining their skills before continuing their voyage. Jack, of course, had no complaints—more time meant more mastery over his new powers.
The next morning, their training resumed. Jack focused on unlocking more control over his Devil Fruit abilities, while B and Aramaki threw themselves fully into developing their Haki. The days ahead promised grueling effort, but all three knew that this was the path forward.
------------
The training routine did not stop, not even for a single day. For the entire month, the three of them pushed themselves harder and harder, with each session becoming more demanding than the last. What started as simple sparring exercises quickly escalated into battles that tested their bodies and their wills to the absolute limit.
By the second week alone, the difference was already night and day—sessions that once ended with them breathing heavily now ended with both Aramaki and B collapsing flat on the ground, too exhausted to even speak.
Jack showed them no mercy, but he wasn't cruel. Every strike, every push, every bit of pressure he applied was done with a purpose. He forced them to step beyond their natural limits, beyond the comfort zone where most would stop.
The result was exhaustion that felt dangerously close to death itself, yet neither Aramaki nor B ever quit. They endured the suffering because they trusted Jack. If he was pushing them this far, it wasn't meaningless. He believed in their potential, and they were determined to prove him right.
For Jack himself, the month wasn't just about training his crewmates. He was constantly fighting a different kind of battle—one inside his own body. The raging storm that lived within him, born from the Devil Fruit, never fully went away.
No matter how many times he tried to align himself, no matter how many hours he spent in meditation, there was always a surge of anger waiting to flood out, threatening to overwhelm him completely. At times, he felt like the Mythical Zoan itself had a will of its own, constantly pressing down on him, testing him, trying to break his control.
"No wonder that fruit was hidden so deep inside that cave," Jack thought more than once, convinced that it was sealed away not because it was weak, but because it was too dangerous to be left lying around.
Even so, his efforts were not wasted. Over the course of the month, Jack made significant progress with his new abilities. He learned not only how to release his shockwave in his normal human form, but also how to compress it, condensing the raw energy into a small sphere that could be launched at a target.
The first time he tested this version of the technique on Aramaki and B, the results were brutal—both of them were blown back and knocked unconscious from the sheer force of the impact.
Thankfully, their strong bodies, combined with the resilience provided by their Devil Fruits, allowed them to recover quickly. Without those natural advantages, the attack could have been far more devastating.
Jack also discovered that he could generate lightning throughout his body at will, and even coat himself entirely in it. The energy wrapped around him like armor, protecting him while amplifying his physical strength and speed.
It reminded him of the techniques used by the Third Raikage and the Fourth in the stories he once knew, though his version was rougher, more primal in nature. And perhaps the most valuable breakthrough he made was learning how to shift into his beast form almost instantly, a transformation that would give him a vital edge in real combat.
By the end of the month, the training camp on the uninhabited island had fulfilled its purpose. The three of them were battered, scarred, and sore, but they were also stronger than ever before. Supplies were gathered, weapons were inspected, and every piece of gear was checked twice. When it was finally time to leave, they stood together at the shore, the Wicked Wench waiting patiently in the water.
The island had given them rest, growth, and understanding, but adventure was what they sought most. And so, with spirits high and determination burning, the trio prepared to sail once more, setting their eyes firmly on the vast unknown that lay ahead.