Kaido, that beast of a teacher, poured his heart into training Straw Hat Luffy, spilling secrets like Conqueror's Haki infusion and Devil Fruit awakening as if it were nothing! Every chat was a masterclass, handing those high-level techniques to Luffy.
Brook couldn't help but envy Luffy. He'd kill for a mentor like that. Vesper and Rocks? Those two have zero teacherly spirit—especially Vesper, who wouldn't even share a scrap with their ally Saracha despite all the begging!
Kaido, though? He'd teach even his enemy, Straw Hat Luffy, with crystal-clear lessons. That's the difference!
The Beasts Pirates boast four awakened fighters: Kaido, and his three Calamities—King the Conflagration, Queen of the Plague, and Jack of the Drought.
If even Jack, the Drought, awakened his Devil Fruit, how could Queen, or King, not have done the same?
Queen's gone so far as to mod himself into a cyborg, launching his serpentine neck like a missile! Without an awakened Devil Fruit's insane recovery, there's no way he could've grafted all that high-tech gear into his body.
King's a given. He was Kaido's first crewmate from the research lab. If Kaido awakened his fruit, you bet he taught King first!
Jack, only 28, earned his Calamity spot thanks to awakening his Ancient Zoan Mammoth Fruit. Clearly, in the Beasts Pirates, Zoan awakening techniques are half-open secrets among the top brass!
From what 38-year-old Who's-Who and 34-year-old Sasaki let slip, Jack's a recent Calamity. The Tobiroppo barely give him the time of day, probably because this young upstart suddenly awakened his Mammoth Fruit and leapfrogged them to the top!
...
Brook couldn't rule out the chance that Golden Lion Shiki, facing off against Shirokiri, might awaken his Float-Float Fruit out of sheer pressure and prideful defiance.
Look at 19-year-old Luffy, awakening his Nika Fruit mid-battle, half-dead from Kaido's thrashing. Exhausted, needing Zoro and the crew to guard him while he napped, Luffy still pulled energy from nowhere after awakening and flattened Kaido.
Eustass Kid, 23, is even wilder. Shackled in Seastone, slaving away in Udon for a year or two without training his Magnet-Magnet Fruit, he broke out with Luffy and, in mere days, awakened his fruit enough to brawl with Emperor Big Mom!
Trafalgar Law, 26, got curb-stomped by Doflamingo in Dressrosa, his hand crushed underfoot. A few months later in Wano—who knows if it was even that long—he somehow awakened his Op-Op Fruit and held his own against Big Mom!
Law and Kid spouted some vague nonsense about their fruits "already being awakened" and teamed up to drop Big Mom into a lava pit.
...
Devil Fruit awakening is a mysterious beast. Kaido said it happens when mind, body, and power align. If Shiki faced Shirokiri, awakening his fruit mid-fight, he might just take Shirokiri down!
An awakened Float-Float Fruit could control seawater, levitate entire islands with a flick of the wrist—almost anything could float, except living beings other than Shiki himself!
Brook hoped Shiki would have a cosmic breakthrough in battle, awakening his fruit. It'd rocket the Hell Pirates' strength to new heights.
The Float-Float Fruit's strategic value is insane, a massive threat to rival crews! But... would an awakened Shiki get even cockier? He didn't awaken his Conqueror's Haki under Brook's command, so there's a chance he'd try going solo again.
Still Shiki's gaze held a new respect for Brook.
Instead of fretting over his crew getting too strong and scheming, Brook figured he'd better focus on boosting his own power to keep everyone in line!
...
Realizing this, Brook skipped post-dinner bonding with Stussy and climbed alone to the crow's nest atop the Golden Ark, staring at the massive moon.
"If you're out there, really conscious, let me awaken my Devil Fruit! Lend me your power! If you need something, just send me a sign!"
Brook stood quietly at the nest's peak, summoning his Soul Reaper. He spoke earnestly to the spectral figure, his own soul given form.
The Soul Reaper was born from Brook's soul. Awakening required mind, body, and power to sync—but how?
Under the moonlight, Brook looked half-mad, chatting with his summoned spirit. Good thing no crewmates wandered by, or they'd think their captain had lost it!
The Revive-Revive Fruit—what a name. Its power supposedly lets the user revive once after death.
But post-revival, Brook gained soul-manipulating abilities, his attacks laced with chilling Revive-Revive frost that freezes foes. So, after fulfilling its revival role, was the Revive-Revive Fruit still in him?
Were his powers from the fruit, or did his soul, tainted by the Netherworld's ghostly aura, develop these abilities on its own?
The Revive-Revive Fruit completely overpowers most of Big Mom's Soul-Soul Fruit Homies and can even steal souls—abilities that seem to stretch beyond its supposed limits.
Is the fruit just about one revival? Where do the other powers come from? Was Brook still a Devil Fruit user?
...
He dashed to the ship's storage, grabbing a pair of Seastone cuffs. In all his years since reviving, he'd never tested himself against seawater or Seastone to confirm his status as a fruit user!
The moment he touched the high-purity Seastone cuffs, weakness flooded him.
"Yohohoho! Still a fruit user, huh? The Revive-Revive Fruit's alive and kicking in me!"
Revival was just a passive trigger, a prerequisite for unlocking the fruit's true powers. Only after reviving could he tap into its other abilities.
It clicked: in the manga, during the Sabaody Archipelago arc, Luffy got knocked into the sea. Chopper and Brook dove in to save him, but as Devil Fruit users, they lost strength and sank too.
With his four top fighters—Shiki, Newgate, Linlin, and Redfield—growing stronger daily, Brook couldn't lie to himself. He was on edge.
"Hey, Revive-Revive Devil, if you're sentient, wanna see if my mind and soul can match yours? Can't you feel my ambition roaring?!"
BOOM!
Brook's aura exploded. His ghostly blue eyes flared blood-red, crackling with crimson lightning. The Seastone crate shattered, the Golden Ark trembled, splitting with countless fissures.
Most of the crew collapsed, eyes wide with terror. Across Ohara Island, everyone hit the deck. Even the four Conqueror's Haki wielders gaped, staring toward the storage in shock...
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