"So… now that Red-Haired Shanks has officially set sail, what the hell am I supposed to do?" Mark muttered, frowning.
Now fully convinced he had landed in the world of One Piece, Mark couldn't help but feel a wave of anxiety.
In this world of monsters and legends, he too wanted to sail the seas like Gol D. Roger, Edward Newgate, and Monkey D. Luffy—wielding incredible power and forging a name that would shake the Grand Line.
But here he was: no teacher, stuck on a deserted island, and worst of all… no Devil Fruit to speak of.
Hmm… Wait a second. A Devil Fruit…
A sudden realization struck him like lightning.
He flipped open the worn notebook he'd been poring over. There it was—written plain as day.
His heart nearly jumped out of his chest.
A Devil Fruit.
Worth over 100 million Berries on the black market. A mysterious treasure of the sea that could grant its user supernatural powers—real powers.
And right now, it was the one thing Mark wanted more than anything, something he could only dream of.
Devil Fruits were said to be the incarnations of sea devils. Consuming one granted a unique ability—but at the cost of losing the ability to swim. The ocean would reject you forever. That's why people called them "the Sea Devil's curse."
Still—"Oh, you cursed fruit, hurry up and let me devour you!" Mark was trembling—not with fear, but with excitement.
"The notebook says Borar Tori of the Black Rhino Pirates picked one up when he fled back to the East Blue. Thought it was useless, so he locked it away in a box." Mark re-read the line, eyes wide as he confirmed the details again.
If no one had taken the fruit when the rest of the Black Rhino Pirates fled, then… it had to still be here. Maybe—just maybe—it was in this very room. The captain's quarters.
He slowly turned his head, scanning the room in disbelief.
"Okay, calm down… no need to rush. I'll find it. One thing at a time," he told himself, trying to steady his racing heart.
He opened the drawer of the desk.
Hmm. A key. He took it. Moved on.
He opened the wardrobe—just some clothes. Still nothing.
Checked the bed, a sturdy single one made by Sakura wood—still no luck.
"What about under the bed?" he muttered, scratching his head before hopping down and flipping up the sheets.
There it was—a small metal box wrapped in iron plating, with a tiny ornate brass lock.
"Ha! Found it!" Mark's pale face flushed red with excitement. His grin stretched wide as he held back a shout of joy.
Superpowers. Superpowers…
He whistled as he pulled the box out from under the bed. "Man, this thing's heavy!"
"This lock…" Mark squinted, frowning at the box.
"Wait—that key from the desk…"
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the brass key, sliding it into the lock and giving it a twist.
Click. It opened.
"I knew it! Haha! Who's the man now?" he said smugly, puffing out his chest.
Just as he was about to flip open the lid, he stopped, swallowed hard. "Wait, let me think. Gulp… Devil Fruits come in three types: Paramecia, Logia, and Zoan. If it's a Logia, that'd be amazing. Paramecia's not bad either… unless it's one of those totally useless ones. And Zoan… ugh, too ugly—unless it's a Mythical Zoan."
Drooling a bit, Mark slowly lifted the lid.
Inside lay a strange pale-purple fruit, covered in circular spiral patterns, shaped somewhat like a pineapple.
"HAHA! A Devil Fruit!" he burst out laughing, his childish voice echoing through the dilapidated pirate ship.
He reached in—well, used both hands—and carefully picked it up, examining it from every angle. "Uh… what kind of fruit is this? I don't recognize it. What if it's a Zoan type? That'd suck…"
"But hey—they say there's no such thing as a useless power. Only useless users."
"Me? I'm a proud youth from a modern world! Developing powers? Please, that's child's play. Give some trash-tier dude Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit and he'll probably just turn it into a vibrating back massager."
"Whatever. No turning back now. Time to see if I've drawn a dragon or a worm."
He pulled out his knife and peeled back the skin—those swirling purple spirals gave way to pure white flesh underneath, also laced with faint spiral marks. He looked like a martyr about to charge into enemy fire, eyes closed tight, and then—
CHOMP.
As if biting into a mortal enemy, Mark took a huge bite.
Instantly, his eyes bulged. His face turned red. Then, grimacing hard, he forced down the rest of the fruit in three more bites.
"BLEH—!" He bent over, gagging violently.
"Goddamn that's disgusting! I've never eaten anything this vile! No wonder even Luffy said it was worse than crap! I've never eaten crap, but if this fruit's any indication, it probably tastes about the same…"
After dry heaving for a solid minute, he finally caught his breath.
"T-That was… awful…" he whimpered, wiping his mouth.
But then—the rush hit him.
The excitement of gaining a superpower overwhelmed the nausea.
"Let's see what I got!"
He stretched his arms. Legs. No transformation—so not Zoan. Phew.
Poked himself. No elemental dispersion. Not Logia either. Dang, a little disappointing.
Paramecia, then. But unlike Luffy or Buggy, his body didn't seem changed—more like there was a power stirring inside him. Something like the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, or the Float-Float Fruit, or maybe even the String-String or Bomb-Bomb types.
He raised one little hand, pressed it gently against the desk—then focused.
CRACK. The desk trembled.
When he pulled his hand away, a thin fracture had split the surface clean down the middle.
"HAHAHAHA! This power… this is awesome!" Mark beamed, staring at the crack, then at his small pale hand, giddy with triumph.
"Getting a Devil Fruit this easily… on my first day after transmigrating… this has to be my cheat code, right?"
Some mysterious voice: Ahem. Shhh. Don't say it out loud. A cheat? I don't know what you're talking about… Keep it low-key.
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