Chapter 25: Getting Started
Although Ayaan expressed his disapproval, he did not stop Ace from distributing food to the people of Amigasa Village.
Cold and rational as he was, Ayaan wasn't heartless. If he could help, he would. Besides, the Beasts Pirates weren't in Wano at the moment, so the risk of running into Kaido and getting captured or tortured was low. Otherwise, he would've insisted that Ace leave at least half the food behind and evacuate immediately.
Kaido might admire strength, but unlike Whitebeard, he lacked patience and was violently temperamental. With Ace's headstrong nature, it wouldn't be surprising if Kaido killed him on the spot.
The truth was, Ace simply wasn't strong enough yet to be sailing freely through the New World.
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For the next few days, the Spade Pirates stayed in Amigasa Village, resting and recovering. During that time, Ace grew close to a little girl named Otama, even learning how to weave straw hats from her.
Otama was cheerful and energetic, and her dream was to become a charming female ninja. That alone piqued Ayaan's interest, given his own identity as a ninja. After demonstrating the Three Body Technique, Otama immediately begged him to take her on as a disciple.
Of course, people in the One Piece world lacked chakra, but that didn't mean they couldn't acquire it.
In fact, the origins of chakra in the Naruto world began the same way—bestowed by the Sage of Six Paths. Similarly, most summon beasts with chakra were not born that way. Instead, they were creatures nurtured by generations of humans infusing them with chakra until it became innate.
Chakra was fundamentally just the fusion of spiritual and physical energy. In theory, any human possessing both could produce chakra—what they needed was merely a spark.
To illustrate: if chakra is a flame, then spiritual energy is oxygen, physical energy is fuel, and external chakra is the spark that ignites the two.
However, Ayaan was no Sage of Six Paths. Though his chakra reserves were solid, it would take months of nurturing to prepare someone else's body to even begin generating chakra.
And there was another problem—genetics.
Without the "chakra gene" that developed in Naruto's world, people in the One Piece world were incredibly inefficient chakra users. Even with spiritual and physical strength, their bodies produced chakra so thin it was barely useful.
To put it simply:
Ōtsutsuki Clan = Nuclear Reactor
Naruto-world civilians = Internal Combustion Engines
One Piece civilians = Leaky steam engines
This theory was confirmed by Ayaan's experiments with the Spade Pirates.
At first, everyone was excited to awaken chakra. But eventually, they realized that it didn't help much. The chakra they produced was barely enough for the Three Body Technique, and their chakra control was terrible—on par with Naruto during his academy days.
Even worse, Ace, who had eaten the Mera Mera no Mi, couldn't generate chakra at all. Ayaan suspected it might be due to the nature of Logia-type Devil Fruits, or perhaps a limitation of all Devil Fruit users—aside from himself, of course, whose chakra predated his arrival in this world.
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Despite all that, Ayaan eventually gave in to Otama's constant requests and decided to help her awaken chakra.
To his astonishment, it took just three days.
He had taken half a year to awaken his own chakra. With his experience and the ability to externally channel chakra into her, he'd expected a couple of weeks at least—but three days?
Even by Naruto-world standards, this girl's talent was exceptional. Easily comparable to those from elite ninja clans.
Unfortunately, as their food supplies ran out, Ayaan had no time to teach her any jutsu beyond the basics. In the end, he left her with a Three Body Technique scroll and a few words of encouragement before departing with Ace.
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With the Spade Pirates now committed to robbing food from Orochi and the Beasts Pirates' depots, Ayaan was impressed by the planning done by the crew. Over the past few days, they had mapped out:
All major supply warehouses
Guard rotations and defense structures
Escape routes
Mineral and weapon caches
Locations of Seastone and iron ore mines
Compared to the Straw Hats—whose chaotic personalities often undermined their own missions—the Spade Pirates were incredibly competent when it came to execution.
As Ayaan studied the hand-drawn maps, one place kept catching his attention: Udon Prison in the Rabbit Bowl.
He pondered silently:
> "Forget it... Whitebeard's Armament Haki methods are just as good as Wano's. Not worth the risk."
> "Besides, Udon is Kaido's lifeline—it's where most of his rebels are imprisoned and his resources are mined. Attacking it would trigger a war."
> "If we hit it, Kaido will come after us. No question."
Still, the seed of an idea had been planted. Though he turned away for now, Ayaan couldn't help but feel that someday... Udon Prison would become important.