Just as the fruit was brought to his mouth, Cyrus suddenly paused and placed it back down.
"Wait. It seems other objects can also eat Devil Fruits."
Cyrus suddenly remembered that weapons and similar items could be fused with Devil Fruits, allowing them to possess Devil Fruit powers.
And this kind of thing had happened quite a few times.
One of Crocodile's subordinates had previously fused a gunpowder-based weapon with a Zoan Devil Fruit.
But could a Logia also be fused?
Thinking of this, Cyrus immediately had someone call Crocodile over.
Crocodile, who was in the middle of work, was naturally curious when he heard Cyrus had summoned him.
Of course, he did not dare delay.
"Where is Caesar Clown right now?"
When Crocodile arrived, Cyrus did not beat around the bush and directly asked what he wanted to know.
Crocodile's gaze fell on the Devil Fruit sitting on the table beside Cyrus.
He wondered inwardly what fruit it was, but his mouth did not slow down.
"He's here on Sabaody Archipelago. The Marines and the World Government both know about his previous research base. After you left last time, Chairman, people were often discovered sneaking in, so Caesar Clown simply abandoned that place."
Hearing Cyrus ask about Caesar Clown, Crocodile immediately gave the answer.
"Call him here."
After saying this, Cyrus waved a hand.
"Understood. I'll send someone to find him right away."
Although Crocodile wondered what Cyrus intended to do, he did not ask further and immediately left to handle the matter.
Cyrus placed his sword on the table as well.
'En/Flame.'
This blade had followed him since Shimotsuki Village and had evolved several times.
The immersion of Haki and repeated tempering by flames had already transformed this sword completely into a black blade.
It was also the weapon that best suited the use of his power.
In a certain sense, it could be considered Cyrus's personal weapon.
That said, this sword, which had originally been comparable to a Great Grade blade, ultimately could not keep up with the speed of his improvement.
After all, its foundation was what it was.
This blade had an upper limit.
Now, it could no longer support Cyrus's full-power attacks.
It was not that a single full-power attack would destroy it, but under full-power use, the blade would inevitably suffer damage.
Once that accumulated over time, the sword might eventually be ruined.
If he could take this opportunity to improve it, that would be a good thing.
Cyrus still cared somewhat about the Dark-Dark Fruit's flaw of being unable to perform elemental transformation.
After all, he had put quite a bit of thought into developing his abilities around elemental transformation. If he truly became unable to transform into fire, that would indeed be a loss.
However, he would not give up the Dark-Dark Fruit's ability to plunder other Devil Fruit powers, nor would he hand it over to someone else.
Crocodile returned very quickly. Behind him, Caesar Clown floated in, looking tense.
"Chairman Cyrus!"
The moment Caesar Clown saw Cyrus, he stood at attention like a young recruit and obediently greeted him.
"Zoan fruits can be fused with other objects and allow them to possess Devil Fruit powers. If it's a Logia fruit, can that also be done?"
Cyrus wasted no words and directly asked Caesar, the expert in this field.
"Huh?"
Caesar had imagined many possibilities, but he had never expected Cyrus to ask about this.
"Well…"
Caesar Clown looked troubled.
"You don't know either?"
Seeing Caesar Clown's expression, Cyrus understood.
"I really don't know much about that. The main issue is that Logia Devil Fruits are too rare, unlike Zoan Devil Fruits, which are relatively common. There are only a handful of recorded Logias, and I never had the opportunity to study them."
Caesar Clown did not dare lie to Cyrus.
After all, he was currently making a living under Cyrus.
"Also, although this method can be called fusion, I personally prefer to call it devouring."
Caesar Clown's gaze fell on the table beside Cyrus.
Connecting it with Cyrus's question, he naturally realized that the Devil Fruit on the table was a Logia.
And that sword was something he could also recognize.
With his memory, he naturally remembered Cyrus's blade.
"In essence, it activates the Zoan Devil Fruit itself, making it swallow the object intended for fusion, thereby giving that object mimicry abilities. That is roughly how it works."
Hearing this, Cyrus frowned slightly.
'So it really would not work?'
"However, if it's a Logia, perhaps Chairman, you can ask someone else. In this field, Vegapunk understands more than I do. If it's you, Chairman, finding him should not be difficult."
Caesar Clown gave his suggestion.
Cyrus shook his head, raised his hand, picked up the Devil Fruit on the table, and directly took a bite.
Crocodile and Caesar Clown froze at the same time.
Then their expressions changed drastically.
"Chairman!"
Crocodile's whole body went numb.
One person could only eat one Devil Fruit.
The chairman could not possibly be unaware of something like that, right?
Caesar Clown was stunned too.
He felt that Cyrus in front of him had something wrong with his head.
Then both of them stared nervously at Cyrus.
As for Cyrus, he once again experienced the feeling he had when he first crossed into this world.
No.
It was even stronger than back then.
His entire body, from top to bottom, was rejecting this sensation. More importantly, his body was capable of doing exactly that.
Cyrus forcibly suppressed this reaction from his body.
A moment later, Cyrus breathed out and raised his hand.
A darkness that made people feel chilled just by looking at it appeared in his palm.
The darkness slowly rotated, producing a rather strong pulling force.
The surrounding objects were slowly drawn in by that force.
"It worked?"
Caesar Clown and Crocodile, who had witnessed Cyrus eat a second fruit, nearly had their eyes pop out and their jaws drop to the floor.
Madness.
This was madness!
Could it be that the claim that an ability user could not eat a second fruit was false?
Cyrus was a Logia user of the Flame-Flame Fruit, yet now he had eaten another Logia?
But that was unscientific!
For that rule to have spread for so long, there must have been people who tried it before, which was why it became an iron law for ability users.
A person could not eat more than one Devil Fruit. If they violated that rule, there was no path other than death.
Because of that, the situation before them challenged their understanding.
Crocodile even began considering whether he should try it himself.
Right now, he really did have spare Devil Fruits to use for such an experiment.
Bang!
Just as he was thinking this, Cyrus's left hand turned into a mass of flames, and the violent heat roasted everything around him.
Caesar Clown's face turned green, and he immediately deactivated his ability.
The reason he could float was because he released gas to support himself, but gas was something that would explode when it encountered flames, and with tremendous force at that.
"They can't be used at the same time?"
Cyrus sensed his two abilities and already understood the current situation.
The Dark-Dark Fruit's drawbacks had also been removed.
However, although both abilities were now under his control, he could not use them simultaneously.
When he used the Dark-Dark Fruit's power, he could not use the Flame-Flame Fruit's ability.
The reverse was also true.
Still, this situation was already one of the better possibilities among the outcomes Cyrus had imagined.
Since he had obtained the Dark-Dark Fruit's power, Cyrus naturally wanted to test it, especially the ability he valued most from the Dark-Dark Fruit: the power to steal other people's Devil Fruits.
Moreover, he had already thought of a target.
And it was someone he had deliberately left alone before.
That was a bug-level ability, a spatial ability.
Unless something unexpected had happened, that person should still be in Water 7 near Sabaody Archipelago.
He just did not know whether those people were still searching for Pluton's blueprints.
The Door-Door Fruit.
The spatial fruit eaten by a CP member.
Thinking of this, Cyrus directly stood and grabbed the sword beside him.
"I'm heading out. As for you two, don't attempt what I just did. After all, people are different from one another. If you insist on trying, then make sure to keep records. That way, I can see exactly how you died."
After saying this, Cyrus walked straight outside.
His words left the two of them stunned.
Only after Cyrus had left did they exchange looks for a moment before hurriedly turning and chasing after him.
But after they went outside, aside from the increased heat in the air, there was no one there.
Cyrus had already left.
"Do you think a person really can eat more than one Devil Fruit?"
Crocodile raised his head and looked at the sky before lowering his gaze toward Caesar Clown.
"I'm not sure, but it is an excellent research topic. How about you send me a few Devil Fruits? I know you currently have at least several dozen different Devil Fruits in your hands."
"No."
Without the slightest hesitation, Crocodile refused.
What a joke.
A single Devil Fruit was now worth at least one billion berries.
They were not things to waste like that!