I looked at Luffy, who was still dripping with stomach acid and somehow managing to look excited after nearly drowning moments ago.
"I found something interesting," I said, keeping my voice neutral despite the absurdity of treasure hunting a Devil Fruit inside a whale's digestive system.
'Absurd or not, seeing it myself will solve the case.'
Luffy's eyes lit up immediately. "Really?! What is it? Is it cool? Is it treasure?"
'Three questions in rapid succession. His enthusiasm for literally everything is both exhausting and oddly reassuring.'
"We need to move the ship," I replied, consulting Sparrow's compass one more time to confirm the location. The disk held steady, pointing toward a spot that was blessedly close.
"It's not far."
Using the Barbossa sword's power, I guided the Going Merry through the strange acidic sea, feeling the ship respond to my will with her usual cooperative nature.
The artificial sky above us continued its convincing illusion of normalcy, even as we sailed through what was essentially a giant biological processing facility.
'Only in this world would "sailing through a whale's stomach to find treasure" be considered a reasonable Tuesday activity.'
When we reached the location, I drew out a Bubbly Coral and activated it, watching the resin bubble form with ease.
But this time, I didn't stop at the basic air pocket. Drawing on my Hamon, I let the golden energy crackle through my fingers.
BZZT! CRACKLE!
The Hamon reinforced the bubble's structure, making it more durable while maintaining its flexibility. The resin glowed faintly with the Ripple energy, creating something that could withstand the pressure and the acidic environment better than the standard version.
"Oi! I want to go too!" Luffy immediately bounced forward, his rubber body already moving toward the side of the ship.
'And there's the inevitable request to turn this into a group activity.'
"There's no need," I said, positioning myself at the railing. "It's just down there. Not that deep."
I gestured toward the water below us, where what should be the wreckage of what had once been a proper vessel. The depth wasn't significant—maybe thirty meters at most. Child's play compared to some of the diving I'd done as a treasure hunter.
'Though usually I wasn't diving through stomach acid while trapped inside a living creature. But I suppose that's just the Grand Line welcoming us properly.'
"Aww, but I want to see!" Luffy protested.
"You'll see it when I bring it up," I replied, not wanting to go through the trouble of bringing our Devil Fruit-cursed captain on an acidic underwater expedition. "Just wait here."
Before he could mount further protests, I dove over the side.
SPLASH!
The impression of entering the acidic water was strange, even through the protection of my reinforced bubble. The liquid was thicker than normal seawater, with a consistency that reminded me of... well, exactly what it was. Digestive fluid.
'I'm swimming through stomach acid inside an island-sized whale to find a cursed magical fruit. My life has become a series of increasingly bizarre situations that would have sent my younger self into a philosophical crisis.'
Using the bubble's buoyancy and my own swimming ability, I descended toward the wreckage. The visibility was poor—the green-tinted acid didn't allow light to penetrate far—but my Mantra didn't warn me of any danger below.
The broken ship had been large once, probably a merchant vessel or perhaps a transportation warship. Now it was little more than a skeletal framework, its wood eaten away by years—maybe decades —of exposure to the whale's digestive system.
What remained was a haunting outline of what had been, a ghost ship in the truest sense.
'How many vessels has this whale accidentally consumed over the years? How many crews met their end in this strange twilight world?'
I pushed the morbid thoughts aside and focused on the task at hand. Pulling out my Hamon Pendulum, I let more Ripple energy flow through it, creating pulses that spread out like sonar waves.
PING! PING! PING!
The feedback painted an increasingly detailed picture in my mind. The ship's structure, the scattered debris, the pockets of trapped air within corroding wood... and there, near what had once been the captain's cabin, a dense object that matched the supernatural signature of a Devil Fruit.
'Found it. Now to actually reach it without bringing the whole wreck down on my head.'
I drew both the Barbossa and Gryffindor swords, feeling their familiar weight even underwater, but only extended the Gryffindor sword out of the bubble because of its indestructibility.
The bubble around me shifted as I moved, adjusting to accommodate my combat stance.
The outer hull of the ship was in terrible condition, ready to collapse at the slightest provocation. I needed to be surgical about this, cutting away only what was necessary to reach the prize.
'Like operating on a corpse made of rotten wood and corroded metal. Delightful.'
SLASH! SLICE!
My cuts were precise, each one calculated to remove material without destabilizing the entire structure. The Gryffindor sword, enhanced with Hamon, sliced through the eroded wood like it was paper.
The Barbossa sword kept the structure from falling on itself.
CRACK! CRUMBLE!
Pieces of the ship fell away from the main structure. I worked quickly, aware that every second I spent down here was another second our crew was stuck inside a whale that apparently enjoyed headbutting mountains.
'Not exactly the most stable work environment.'
The ship's interior opened up before me like a puzzle box, each layer revealing more damage, more decay.
What had once been someone's pride and joy was now barely holding together, a testament to time's inevitable victory over all things.
Finally, I reached what had been the captain's quarters. The room was barely recognizable, but there—tucked into a corner that had somehow maintained structural integrity—sat a chest.
The box itself was a mess. Wood and iron had merged together in a grotesque marriage, holes pockmarked its surface where the acid had eaten through, and yet somehow, impossibly, there was something inside it that had survived.
I approached carefully, using the Gryffindor sword to pry open what remained of the lock. The mechanism was so corroded it barely qualified as a functioning piece of hardware.
CRACK!
The chest opened, and there it was.
A Devil Fruit.
At first glance, it appeared totally intact—the characteristic swirling patterns visible on its surface, the unnatural shape that marked it as something beyond ordinary fruit.
But as I looked closer, bringing my bubble nearer for a better view, I noticed something strange.
'What the hell?'
The swirling patterns were fainter than they should be. Incomplete. Like someone had started drawing them and then stopped halfway through, or like an image that had been left in the sun too long and began to fade.
I'd seen several Devil Fruits during my time in this world. Two are still with me, most I'd traded away through my Stand's power. Every single one had featured bold, distinct patterns—the supernatural signature that marked them as something beyond natural.
This one looked... diminished. Weakened. As if whatever power animated a Devil Fruit had been partially drained away.
'Is this what happens when a Devil Fruit spends too long in seawater? The water negates Devil Fruit powers, but does it also affect the fruits themselves?'
The implications were staggering if true. It would mean Devil Fruits weren't completely immune to their weakness—that enough exposure could actually damage them at a fundamental level.
'Or maybe I'm completely wrong and this is something else entirely. Wouldn't be the first time my assumptions about this world proved hilariously incorrect.'
I reached out carefully and took the fruit, half-expecting it to disintegrate at my touch, but it felt solid enough.
Securing it in my grip, I turned and began ascending back toward the surface, my mind churning with questions I had no way of answering.
'A Devil Fruit that's been weakened by seawater. A whale that swallowed said fruit but didn't become a power user. The fact that this thing still exists at all despite being submerged in what amounts to liquid Devil Fruit kryptonite.'
The pieces didn't fit together properly, which meant I was missing crucial information about how Devil Fruits actually worked.
'Just add it to the growing list of things I don't understand about this world. Right below "How do people survive being hit by buildings" and above "Why does anyone think sailing up a mountain is a good idea."'
SPLASH!
I broke the surface near the Going Merry, and immediately I could see Luffy, Nami, and Usopp gathered at the railing, all three wearing expressions of eager curiosity.
Sanji was still hovering around our female passenger like a love-struck satellite, hearts practically visible in his eyes despite the dire situation we found ourselves in. The man's priorities were simultaneously admirable and deeply concerning.
Zoro stood slightly apart, his hand resting casually on his sword hilts as he watched our two unexpected passengers with the alert wariness of a professional warrior. His expression suggested he was thinking about something, probably evaluating whether they represented a threat.
'At least someone on this crew maintains situational awareness even when distracted by potential treasure.'
The two passengers themselves—Mr. 9 and the disguised Princess Vivi—remained seated near the bow, looking uncertain about what to do. Interrupting a pirate crew during treasure reveal was a good way to make enemies.
The moment my feet touched the deck of the Going Merry, I popped the bubble with a controlled burst of Hamon.
POP!
"Hachiman! What did you find?!" Luffy bounded over with his characteristic enthusiasm.
Nami was right behind him, her eyes literally sparkling with that dangerous gleam that usually preceded her transforming into a money-obsessed demon.
"Please tell me it's something valuable! Gold? Jewels? Rare artifacts worth millions of berries?!" Her voice climbed with each word, and I could practically see Berri symbols reflecting in her pupils.
"We need money, Hachiman! Our funds took a hit from those ship upgrades, and I calculated that we're running dangerously low on—"
'And there she goes. And what low? We literally have enough money to buy another ship like this one, you greedy woman.'
"I bet it's something cool!" Usopp added, his natural curiosity warring with his habitual nervousness. "Like a legendary weapon or ancient artifact!"
I glanced toward our passengers, who were definitely watching our little gathering with interest. The last thing I needed was word getting out about what we'd found.
'Time for some tactical positioning.'
I moved slightly, positioning myself so that Luffy's body would block the passengers' line of sight. Then, carefully, I withdrew the Devil Fruit from my cloak, making sure to keep it concealed from everyone except my immediate crewmates.
The fruit was still damp with stomach acid, its surface glistening with the strange liquid. In the artificial light of the whale's stomach, the faded swirling patterns were even more visible—or rather, more noticeably absent.
When Luffy, Nami, and Usopp saw what I was holding, their initial reaction was puzzlement. It was just a fruit, after all. Weird-looking, sure, but we'd encountered strange things before.
Then recognition dawned.
"DEVI—MMMPH!" Luffy and Usopp started to shout simultaneously.
I moved on pure instinct, my hand clamping over Usopp's mouth before he could complete the word. At the same moment, Nami—bless her quick thinking—reached up and covered Luffy's mouth with both hands.
"MMMPH! MMMMPH?!" Both of them made muffled sounds of confusion, their eyes wide with the excitement of discovery and bewilderment at being silenced.
'Yes, yes, it's very exciting. Now, please develop some operational security before you broadcast our findings to everyone in this stomach.'
Nami and I exchanged a meaningful glance, then both turned to look at our two passengers. Mr. 9 and Vivi were leaning forward slightly, clearly curious about what had caused such a reaction.
I saw the understanding click in Luffy and Usopp's eyes as they followed our gazes. They stopped trying to shout, though Luffy continued making questioning noises through Nami's hands.
"Is this what we think it is?" Nami asked in a low voice, barely above a whisper.
"That's a Devil Fruit, right? A real Devil Fruit?!" Usopp, finally freed from my hand, nodded frantically while keeping his voice down.
I looked at Luffy, raising an eyebrow. "I understand why Nami and Usopp might not immediately recognize it—they haven't seen one in person before. But why are you confused, too? You've already eaten one."
'Our captain, the Devil Fruit user, apparently can't identify a Devil Fruit when he sees one. This is fine, yeah, everything is fine.'
Luffy, finally released from Nami's hand-gag, grinned with absolutely no shame and puffed his chest with pride.
"It was so long ago that I forgot what they look like! Shishishi!"
He actually looked proud of this fact. Proud of having forgotten what the supernatural fruit that gave him his powers looked like.
'...I'm following a man who takes pride in his own idiocy. This is my life now. This is what I've chosen.'
"Sigh…" The sigh was the only thing I could utter from my mouth at this.
"You're an idiot," Nami said flatly.
"A complete idiot," Usopp agreed.
"Bufuhahaha!" Luffy laughed cheerfully, completely missing the insult.
Nami turned her attention back to the fruit, her navigator's mind already working through the implications.
"Wait, if we found this in the whale's stomach, that means this whale swallowed it, right? So why is it still here? Why isn't the whale a Devil Fruit user?"
'Good question. One I've been asking myself since the compass led me here.'
I was about to admit I had no idea how this worked when Usopp suddenly grabbed my arm.
"Hey, hey! Look at the fruit!"
All four of us turned our attention to the Devil Fruit in my hand, and what I saw made my blood run cold.
The swirling patterns on its surface were moving.
Not like a natural pattern or a trick of the light—they were actually changing, becoming more prominent before our eyes. The incomplete designs were filling in, growing bolder and more defined with each passing second.
The color was shifting too. The pale green that had marked it as something wrong was deepening, darkening, transforming into a dangerous dark green that practically screamed 'Danger'.
'What the absolute hell…?!'
"Whoa..." Luffy breathed, his eyes locked on the transforming fruit.
"It's... It's changing," Nami whispered, her voice filled with curious fascination mixed with appropriate terror.
"Is this... is this how Devil Fruits are born?!" Usopp asked, his voice climbing toward panic. "Are we watching a Devil Fruit come into existence?!"
'That's... actually not a terrible question. Though I don't think it's quite that simple.'
I turned the fruit slowly in my hand, watching the patterns emerge like invisible ink responding to heat. The transformation was gradual but steady, each second bringing more definition, more color, more of that supernatural quality that marked Devil Fruits as something beyond natural.
"I don't think this is exactly how they're born," I said slowly, my mind racing through possibilities. "This fruit was already in a protected chest, which means it should have been a Devil Fruit before it was stored away. But..."
'But the seawater got to it anyway. Through those holes in the chest, over the years or maybe decades. The water that negates Devil Fruit powers somehow affected the fruit itself, weakening it, causing it to... what? Hibernate? Regress to some dormant state?'
"My best guess," I continued, "is that this is some kind of reaction Devil Fruits have when they come in contact with seawater. The same reason the whale isn't a power user even after swallowing this thing—the fruit was too weakened, or more like deactivated by the water to grant its power."
'But now that it's out of the water and in open air, it's recovering. Returning to its full state. Just like a Devil Fruit user who is out of the water.'
Nami's eyes widened as she processed this. "So Devil Fruits themselves can be... deactivated? Weakened, like what happens to Devil Fruit users?"
"It's possible," I admitted. "Though I can't be certain. I'm still lacking too much information about how these things actually work."
'Which is becoming a recurring problem. For someone who's supposed to be logical, I'm operating with a disturbing lack of fundamental knowledge about this world's supernatural elements.'
Usopp was practically vibrating with nervous energy. "This is incredible! We're witnessing something that probably nobody has ever seen before! The implications alone—"
"Are well beyond our ability to understand right now," I cut him off, though not unkindly. "We need more information. Books, research, maybe interviews with people who've studied Devil Fruits extensively."
'Assuming such people exist and are willing to share information with pirates. Which is a generous assumption.'
I carefully tucked the still-transforming Devil Fruit into my Dimensional Bag, watching it disappear into the pocket space where it would be safe from both theft and accidental consumption.
"We'll look into this later," I announced, turning toward the helm. "Right now, we need to focus on getting out of this whale."
'Priorities. We can unravel the mysteries of Devil Fruit biology after we're not trapped inside a living creature's digestive system.'
I guided the Going Merry toward the massive metal door that marked our supposed exit.
Zoro moved closer, his expression thoughtful. "What do we do about them?" He jerked his head toward our two passengers, who were still maintaining their distance near the bow.
'The secret agents from Baroque Works. Or more accurately, a low-level operative and a princess pretending to be one.'
Before I could formulate a response, Mr. 9 half stood hesitantly. His theatrical demeanor had been replaced by something more genuine—desperation, maybe, or the realization that his situation had become far more complicated than whatever plan he'd started with.
"I... I could help you get out of the whale," he offered, his voice carrying that particular note of someone who knows they're in over their head. "I know the way, and—"
"HOW DARE YOU COME BACK AGAIN!"
The shout echoed across the strange sea, loud enough to make several of us flinch.
I turned toward the source and saw Crocus emerging from the small wicket door within the massive metal gate, his flower-shaped hair somehow still managing to look ridiculous even while he radiated genuine anger.
"I WILL NEVER ALLOW YOU TO HURT LABOON AS LONG AS I AM ALIVE!!" he continued, his voice carrying the kind of protective fury that spoke of deep emotional investment.
'And there's the other complication. An old man who apparently cares deeply about a mountain-sized whale, facing off against people who... what? Want to hurt said whale? Use it for something? The plot thickens in ways I didn't ask for.'
Mr. 9 and Vivi both tensed, their body language shifting from uncertain to defensive. Whatever history they had with Crocus, it clearly wasn't friendly.
But not long after, Mr. 9's expression shifted suddenly, his earlier desperation melting away like a mask being discarded. Beside him, Vivi's uncertain demeanor vanished just as quickly, replaced by something far more theatrical.
Then they both started laughing.
"BWAHAHAHAHAHA!" Mr. 9 threw his head back in the kind of theatrical evil laugh that belonged in a third-rate stage production.
"OHOHOHOHO!" Vivi joined him, her own laugh equally overdramatic and somehow even more grating.
'Oh no. Oh no, they're doing the villain reveal thing. This is actually happening.'
Both of them straightened to their full height, their previous uncertainty evaporating like morning mist. From somewhere within their clothing—and I really didn't want to know where they'd been hiding weapons this whole time—they produced bazookas.
Actual legitimate and even nicely ornate bazookas.
'Because of course they have bazookas. Why wouldn't they have bazookas? Clearly, I'm the weird one for thinking this situation couldn't get more absurd.'
"Old man!" Mr. 9 declared, his voice dripping with theatrical menace. "Now that we're inside the whale, we can make a hole in its stomach easily!"
"You cannot stop us now!" Vivi added, her disguised voice matching his energy. "All your protection means nothing when we're already past your defenses!"
'They're monologuing. They're actually monologuing about their evil plan before executing it. Have these people never heard of operational security?'
Are we sure these guys are professionals?
Before anyone could react—before Crocus could shout, before Zoro could draw his swords, before I could even process the sheer stupidity of announcing your attack plan—they fired.
BOOM! BOOM!
The bazookas discharged with explosive force, sending their projectiles hurtling toward the stomach wall.
The artificial sky seemed to tremble, and for a moment, I thought we were all about to experience what it felt like when a whale's digestive system was breached from the inside.
Then Crocus moved.
'What the—'
The old man launched himself through the air with shocking speed, his body intercepting the bazooka rounds before they could reach the stomach wall.
KABOOM! KABOOM!
The explosions caught him directly, smoke and fire engulfing his form as he took the full force of both attacks.
"You crazy old bastard!" I heard myself shout, genuinely shocked by the display.
'He just—he actually threw himself in front of explosives to protect the whale's internal organs. That's not normal protective instincts, that's suicidal devotion.'
Around me, my crewmates wore similar expressions of disbelief. Even Zoro looked impressed, and that man had seen some serious dedication to causes.
"BWAHAHAHA!" Mr. 9 struck a pose that would have been embarrassing in any context.
"Did you see that, Miss Wednesday?! The old fool sacrificed himself!"
"OHOHOHO!" Vivi matched his pose, creating a mirror image of cringe-worthy theatrical villainy. "All resistance is futile now! This whale's meat will be enough for our town, and will fetch a fortune on the black market!"
'They're... they're actually doing villain poses. Multiple villains pose. This is worse than any school drama production I was ever forced to watch. At least those had the excuse of being performed by amateurs who didn't know better.'
The smoke cleared enough to show Crocus's form slumped against his metal platform before falling into the stomach water, clearly hurt but somehow still conscious as he floated to the surface.
But the thing was, he was still alive. Somehow, impossibly, he'd survived taking two bazooka rounds at point-blank range.
'Is everyone in this world just naturally resistant to explosions? Is there some kind of durability threshold you cross when you reach a certain age? Because that should have killed him.'
"You fools have no idea what you're dealing with!" Crocus rasped, trying to keep himself floating. "Laboon is—"
"Going to make us rich!" Mr. 9 interrupted, preparing his bazooka for another shot. "The meat of a whale this size—"
THWACK! THWACK!
Luffy's fists came down on both their heads simultaneously with devastating force, cutting off their dramatic declaration mid-sentence.
The two villains dropped like puppets with cut strings, crumpling to the deck in unconscious heaps.
The sudden silence that followed was deafening.
We all stared at our captain, who stood over the fallen forms of Mr. 9 and Vivi with his arms crossed, his expression completely serious.
"I just felt like hitting them," he said simply, as if this explanation made perfect sense.
'You know what? That's actually the most reasonable response to that entire performance. Well, at least that theatrical nightmare is over. Now for the cleanup.'
"Sanji, grab some rope," I ordered, already moving toward the unconscious pair. "Let's tie these idiots up before they wake up and try something else equally stupid."
"On it," Sanji replied, his heart-eyes finally fading as he realized the beautiful woman he'd been swooning over had just tried to murder a whale from the inside. Even his romantic delusions had limits, apparently.
'Progress. Yes, he is not excited about tying up a beautiful woman himself. Your Honor, I assure you it wasn't the case at all.'
Between the five of us—Luffy helped by stretching his arms to hold them in place—we had both Mr. 9 and Vivi trussed up like holiday turkeys within minutes.
Zoro's knot work was particularly efficient, the kind of binding that suggested extensive experience with restraining unwilling captives.
"That should hold them," Zoro said with satisfaction, testing his handiwork.
"Even if they wake up, they're not going anywhere," Usopp added, though he kept a nervous distance from the unconscious pair.
I looked toward where Crocus was trying to keep afloat, smoke still rising from his drenched form. The old man was moving—alive, somehow, though clearly injured. His flower-shaped hair was singed, and his clothes were torn and blackened from the blast.
'He took bazooka rounds head-on, and he's still conscious. Either this world's durability standards are even more absurd than I thought, or this old man is tougher than he looks.'
"We should help him," Nami said, her voice carrying genuine concern despite everything. "He did just throw himself in front of those explosions."
"Yeah," Luffy agreed, already moving toward the rail. "Let's bring him to his island!"
'From attempting to leave immediately to playing rescue party. The whiplash of this crew's decision-making process never gets less disorienting.'
We guided the Going Merry alongside Crocus's bizarre artificial island—complete with its ridiculous palm tree and cottage that had no business existing inside a whale's stomach. I used the Barbossa sword's power to keep the ship steady while Luffy stretched his arms to grab the injured doctor.
"Careful!" Nami called out as Luffy literally pulled Crocus from the acidic water like a fisherman reeling in a catch.
"Got him!" Luffy announced cheerfully, depositing the old man onto our deck with surprising gentleness.
Crocus groaned, blood seeped from various wounds, and his breathing was labored, but he was definitely alive.
'Tough old bastard. I have to respect that level of durability, even if his choice of hairstyle remains baffling.'
"Can you walk?" I asked, crouching down to assess his injuries with what limited medical knowledge I possessed.
"I've... had worse," Crocus wheezed, though his grimace suggested that was debatable.
Between Zoro and Sanji, we managed to get the old man onto his island, half-carrying him to the cottage that served as his improbable home.
The structure was surprisingly well-maintained, considering it existed inside a biological organism. The interior was neat and organized, with medical supplies visible on shelves alongside books and various personal effects.
'A doctor's home. That explains the medical supplies, at least. Though it doesn't explain why anyone would choose to live inside a whale's stomach.'
We settled Crocus into a chair—the same one he'd been sitting in earlier while reading his newspaper and being deliberately obtuse. He winced as he sat, but waved off Nami's attempt to examine his wounds more closely.
"I'm a doctor," he said with a weak smile. "I can handle my own injuries."
"Then handle them," Zoro said bluntly. "Before you bleed out."
Crocus began tending to himself with practiced efficiency, pulling out bandages and antiseptics while we stood around his cottage like the world's most awkward rescue party.
The silence stretched out, broken only by the old man's occasional hiss of pain.
Finally, he looked up at us, his expression curious despite his injuries.
"Why did you save me?" he asked, his voice carrying genuine puzzlement. "You don't know me. You have no reason to care what happens to an old man living in a whale's stomach."
'Good question. Why did we save him? Logic would dictate leaving him to his fate and focusing on our escape.'
Luffy answered before I could formulate a more diplomatic response.
"We just felt like it," he said with that signature grin while trying to climb the palm tree, as if this explained everything.
'Of course. "We just felt like it." The philosophical foundation of our captain's entire worldview is summed up in four words.'
And I hate to say it, but this became even more convincing when he was climbing a tree like a monkey.
"Besides," Sanji added, lighting a fresh cigarette, "those two probably wanted to take our ship and our treasures."
"Not probably, it was very obvious," Nami agreed, her expression darkening at the thought of anyone stealing from us. "Nobody touches the Going Merry or our treasure."
Usopp nodded vigorously. "That's right! The Great Captain Usopp doesn't tolerate theft!"
"You're not the captain," Zoro said flatly.
"I could be the captain!"
"But you're not."
I let their bickering fade into background noise, focusing instead on Crocus. The old man was watching us with an expression I couldn't quite read—something between amusement and sadness, with a hint of what might have been nostalgia.
'He's…evaluating us. Trying to figure out what kind of pirates we are, whether we're a threat or just another group passing through his unusual home.'
"Who were those two anyway?" I asked, cutting through my crewmates' argument with the directness that situations like this demanded. "And why do they want to hurt this whale?"
Crocus's expression darkened, and for a moment I thought he might refuse to answer. Then he sighed, the sound carrying decades of weariness.
"They are bounty hunters from a nearby town," he began, "Their goal is to hunt Laboon. Because the meat from Laboon can feed their town for years, not to mention that they can sell a lot of it for money that would fish them millions in the black market."
"Millions in the black market? Why? Is this whale that special?" Nami asked, mirroring my inner thought, although I am sure our reasons for the question are completely different.
"Laboon isn't just any whale," Crocus continued, his voice taking on that particular quality of someone about to tell a story they'd told many times before, yet still carried emotional weight.
"He's an Island Whale from the West Blue, the biggest whales in the world, and considered very hard to hunt because they always travel in packs."
"A long time ago, Laboon came to these waters following a pirate crew he'd befriended."
We all leaned in slightly, even Luffy—who usually had the attention span of a caffeinated squirrel—seemed genuinely interested.
'A whale who followed pirates. In any other world, that would be the strangest thing I'd heard. In this world, it barely registers on the absurdity scale.'
"The crew promised they'd return after sailing the Grand Line," Crocus said, his voice heavy with sorrow. "They told Laboon to wait here, at the entrance. That they'd come back for him."
"And…did they?" Nami asked, though her tone suggested she already knew the answer.
Crocus shook his head slowly. "No. They never returned. Years passed. Decades. But Laboon kept waiting, kept hoping."
"For Fifty years…"
'What…?'
Those words, somehow, hit me like lightning.
…
A/N: For anyone who didn't completely get it, it is like this.
When a Devil Fruit falls into the sea, its power becomes suppressed or deactivated, just like what happens to the Devil Fruit users. The power is still there, but its abilities are rendered inactive, including the ability to transfer the power.
So, for example, when a fish eats a Devil Fruit submerged under seawater, the fish doesn't gain any power due to the Devil Fruit's ability to transfer power being suppressed.
And with the fruit being damaged, the power leaves the fruit and returns to the surface in a new fruit.
Moreover, if, by some unusual circumstances, a fish has gained the power of a Devil Fruit and is eaten by another fish, it won't be able to transfer the power due to its abilities being suppressed by seawater, and the Devil Fruit returns to the surface like usual.
Now for the Devil Fruit that appeared in this chapter.
It is called the San San no Mi (酸酸の実) or the Acid Acid Fruit. A Logia Devil Fruit that gives its user the ability to produce, control, and transform into Acid.
Well, That's it for now.
Thank you all for reading!! Hope you enjoyed this one!
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