"Hahahaha... cough cough!"
King Cobra laughed with great relief, followed by a series of coughs.
Taro's brows furrowed. "King Cobra, your health..."
Though King Cobra's face showed pain, he waved his hand dismissively.
"It's nothing, an old ailment. People always get sick when they get old!"
Taro knew that King Cobra's health was definitely not as optimistic as he made it sound.
In the original plot, his hair turned gray and he was bedridden for two years, even attending the World Conference in a wheelchair!
"I know a highly skilled doctor, how about...?"
King Cobra waved his hand again, interrupting Taro. After catching his breath, he seemed a bit better, and his voice grew louder.
"It's alright, Taro!"
Then, with a smile in his eyes, he looked content.
"You came from Elmar, didn't you? You came at an unlucky time today; Vivi and Pell have gone to Hot Spring Island and are not in the capital!"
Taro quickly shook his head. "No, I'm not here for Vivi, I'm..."
"Hmm?"
King Cobra let out a heavy snort, sounding displeased.
Taro's lips twitched, and he immediately stopped speaking, feeling a bit helpless.
"Alright, I'm here to see Vivi, Your Majesty. What kind of place is Hot Spring Island?"
King Cobra nodded in satisfaction and smiled.
"There's a small island northeast of Alabasta. Koza's uncle, Goro, has been trying to dig for hot springs on that island for years..."
King Cobra, whose health was not good, needed to rest after speaking for a while.
However, after he brought it up, Taro vaguely remembered such a story.
Apparently, Uncle Goro dug many holes on the island but couldn't find any hot springs.
Until Luffy landed on Sky Island and defeated Eneru and his Four Priests.
One of the Four Priests, a spider-headed clown who was uncoordinated and often forgot to breathe, fell from the sky and landed right on Hot Spring Island.
With the help of this Priest and some magical animals, Goro and his team actually dug straight through the island, emerging from the Yuba oasis in Alabasta!
Not only did they find hot springs, but they also connected the two islands!
King Cobra always smiled when he mentioned his daughter, Vivi.
Seeing Taro, the smile on his face became even more uncontrollable.
Taro felt his scalp tingle. He forced a smile and chatted with King Cobra for a while before timely stopping the conversation.
"Your Majesty, besides seeing Vivi, I also have some other matters I'd like to inquire about!"
King Cobra looked at Taro with an unreadable expression. He had probably spoken too much earlier.
His spirits were somewhat low, and his voice revealed fatigue.
"Just'some other matters'?"
Facing his ailing 'future father-in-law,' Taro's gaze flickered, and his voice was somewhat weak.
"Yes!"
King Cobra chuckled softly. "Alright, you really have no talent for lying!"
Saying that, he turned and returned to his throne. With the lesson from the previous "mighty water incident,"
King Cobra understood that what Taro wanted to ask would not be simple. His old bones had to hold up.
"Speak, what else do you want to inquire about?"
Taro rubbed his cheeks and said solemnly:
"I want to know how Pell and Chaka inherited their Devil Fruit Abilities, and what is the essence of this process?"
King Cobra appeared somewhat astonished, then his expression became solemn.
"Why do you want to know this? As far as I know, you don't have Devil Fruit Abilities!"
Taro lowered his eyes, considering his words. After a long time, he spoke softly.
"I've recently encountered some difficult issues, and the key to solving them involves the essence of Devil Fruits!"
Hearing Taro's ambiguous answer, King Cobra wasn't particularly displeased. He nodded gently.
"Taro, since you agreed to be engaged to Vivi, I naturally trust you!"
"Therefore, there's no harm in telling you things that only members of the Alabasta royal family know!"
King Cobra said, standing up from his throne.
"Let's go to the Royal Mausoleum. What you want to know might be there!"
Taro was astonished. He hadn't expected to get so close to the "truth"!
This made him feel as if he were dreaming for a moment, very unreal!
It wasn't until King Cobra walked beside him and spoke again that he snapped back to reality, taking King Cobra and flying towards the mausoleum.
King Cobra's health was poor. Although Taro was extremely anxious, he didn't fly fast. His Internal Energy enveloped King Cobra, protecting him from the erosion of the airflow.
Due to Crocodile's previous coup attempt, many parts of the Royal Mausoleum had collapsed and were buried in the sand.
After this period of repair and cleaning, the main hall section was finally preserved.
Huge stone pillars supported the grand hall, and several Sea Cat sculptures lined both sides of the passage. The entire mausoleum was magnificent and solemn.
"The answer you seek is right there!"
King Cobra pointed to a mural almost covering the entire wall at the front of the main hall.
On that mural, on the left and right sides were the guardian gods, the Jackal and the falcon, respectively. In the center was a pattern resembling a scale.
The central pivot of the scale had a circular pattern with two ribbon-like or hair-like strands.
Below it were three smaller circles arranged in an inverted pyramid shape, each with a tail, like tadpoles!
Taro actually thought it looked more like the Yin and Yang fish from his previous life's Tai Chi!
But thinking about it, that should be impossible!
Taro looked for a long time, still completely bewildered.
"King Cobra, uh, what does this mural mean? I don't understand it!"
King Cobra was not surprised by Taro's reaction.
However, he didn't rush to answer the question, but first said something inexplicable.
"Taro, no one in the Alabasta royal family has ever eaten a Devil Fruit!"
Taro was even more bewildered, raising an eyebrow.
"Your Majesty, do you mean...?"
King Cobra didn't speak, just quietly looked at the mural!
Taro's brows furrowed, his mind racing.
Suddenly, a thought flashed in his mind.
"Your Majesty, Alabasta was originally one of the 20 nations that founded the World Government 800 years ago. You should have been Celestial Dragons!"
"And as far as I know, the Celestial Dragons of Marijoa also don't eat Devil Fruits!"
"Why is that?"
King Cobra looked at Taro with appreciation.
"Taro, it's rare that you could think of that so quickly!"
Saying that, he sighed.
"Why those people in Marijoa don't eat them, I don't know!"
"As for our royal family... this is an ancestral teaching left by the contemporary king 800 years ago!"
"It's also one of the mysteries I've puzzled over. What exactly happened 800 years ago? I, too, want to know clearly!"
Taro's jaw almost dropped in shock.
With the power of the Celestial Dragons who rule the world, what kind of Devil Fruit couldn't they obtain?
However, apart from showing interest in the Ope-Ope no Mi, they would rather feed other fruits to slaves for entertainment than eat them themselves.
Doflamingo, a 'traitor' in the eyes of the Celestial Dragons, only ate a Devil Fruit after descending to the Lower Realm.
The King of Alabasta 800 years ago also left the ancestral instruction of 'not eating Devil Fruits'!
Could it really be such a coincidence?
---------------------------------
I hope you're enjoying the fanfiction so far! If the story has you hooked and you can't wait to see what happens next, you can unlock 30 chapters in advance over on my Patreon: patreon.com/TLHimejima1
Every bit of support means the world to me so if you're loving the ride, don't forget to drop a Power Stone and let me know.