Hearing this, Lance immediately clamped his mouth shut again.
After finally swallowing the fruit in his mouth, he let out a long breath of relief.
“Oh, I forgot to mention.
You only need to eat one bite of a Devil Fruit.
You don’t have to finish the whole thing…”
Valsa spoke with a slightly guilty expression.
“Captain… you!”
Lance’s face had already gone pale, and upon hearing this, he nearly choked.
“Hahahaha!
I was only doing it for your own good.
Don’t worry about it.”
The moment he finished speaking, several strange looks came from around the room.
“What are you looking at?!”
Valsa said sternly.
Everyone immediately straightened up.
It seemed the Captain’s authority needed to be displayed from time to time.
Otherwise, wouldn’t these guys start walking all over him?
“Captain, how long will it take before this Devil Fruit’s ability…”
Before Lance could finish, a strange energy began circulating through his body.
Valsa smiled faintly.
Looks like the ability has already manifested.
“How does it feel?”
Lance’s eyes widened.
A glimmer of light flashed within them as he stared straight ahead.
“I’ve never felt better!
This… this fruit was practically made for me!”
“What kind of fruit is it?” everyone asked eagerly.
“It’s the Paramecia-type Gaze-Gaze Fruit.
It lets me see through obstacles and ignore distance.
I can see more than ten kilometers in every direction, and I can even see through walls.
Sitting here, I can see the fish swimming deep beneath the sea.”
“Ohhh!”
“That’s incredible!”
“So this is how powerful a Devil Fruit can be?”
Everyone cried out in astonishment.
What an incredible ability!
It wasn’t that the Devil Fruit itself was overwhelmingly powerful.
It was that Lance was a sniper.
The two abilities were practically a match made in heaven.
“And that’s not all.
I can even see inside your bodies.
I can see your bones and organs.
Hmm… Captain’s heart is beating incredibly strongly, while Adrian’s heart is enormous…”
Those incredibly blunt words sent chills down everyone’s spines.
The looks of envy they had worn moments ago immediately turned ugly.
Valsa also forced an awkward smile.
“All right, all right.
Don’t say anything else for now.
Looks like you’re in a very good mood.”
“This is amazing!”
Lance waved his fists excitedly.
“Then next is Lucas.”
After witnessing Lance gain such a powerful ability, Lucas was trembling with excitement.
His hands shook, and his legs were bouncing nonstop beneath the table.
Is it finally my turn?
Although everyone’s warnings—and Lance’s reaction just now—had made it clear that Devil Fruits tasted absolutely disgusting, that drawback could practically be ignored if it meant gaining powerful strength.
Lucas took the yellowish-brown fruit from the chest and held it in his palms.
His eyes twitched nervously.
Under everyone’s expectant gazes, he took a huge bite.
Instantly, a flavor that seemed to strike directly at his brain spread through his mouth.
Lucas’s eyes rolled upward, his face turning green.
After finally forcing the fruit down his throat, he let out a long sigh of relief.
“Ugh… ugh… I’ve never eaten shit before, but with a taste like this, I honestly think even shit would taste a whole lot better…”
Lucas gasped for breath as he spoke.
His words sent everyone into a fit of laughter.
The next moment, Lucas composed himself.
He could feel an immense power filling his body.
He felt like he could flip the entire ship over with a single punch.
“How is it?
What type of fruit is it?” everyone asked.
“Looks like it’s a Zoan…”
With that, he prepared to activate his Devil Fruit ability.
The muscles throughout his body bulged as his frame began expanding.
Larger and larger.
Brown fur began sprouting across his body.
“Hey!
Wait!
…Hey!
Those are my treasured antiques!!!”
BOOM!
With a tremendous crash, the entire Captain’s quarters was torn apart by his enormous body.
Countless pieces of splintered wood rained into the sea.
A colossal figure now sat atop the Nautilus.
Its entire body was covered in brown fur, while muscles bulged like massive rocks.
Its body towered far above the lookout.
By rough estimation, it stood more than forty meters tall.
“Ancient Zoan!”
The moment Valsa saw the creature’s true form, he immediately reached a conclusion.
It was a Devil Fruit he had never heard of before, but judging from its appearance, it should belong to some kind of primate.
“ENEMY ATTACK!!!!”
The commotion aboard the Nautilus was enormous, naturally attracting the attention of the pirates below.
Thinking they were under attack, the pirates hurriedly grabbed their weapons and equipment, looking around warily and blowing their horns.
Meanwhile, the Nautilus had been severely tilted by the colossal creature.
The ship was almost at a ninety-degree angle.
The giant beast seemed unable to control its transformed body freely.
The next moment, it toppled directly into the sea.
SPLASH!
A wave more than a hundred meters high erupted from the impact, creating an absolutely terrifying spectacle.
The moment Lucas fell into the sea, his Devil Fruit ability began to fade.
He quickly returned to his human form and started thrashing about in the water.
But after only a few seconds, he no longer had the strength to move.
His body slowly began sinking toward the depths.
After Lucas fell overboard, the Nautilus quickly righted itself, sending wave after wave rolling outward.
[Facebreaker]
Valsa extended his hand.
A powerful suction force erupted.
Lucas was immediately pulled out of the sea and flew back onto the deck.
“Cough, cough, cough…”
Lucas desperately coughed up the water in his lungs.
He knelt on the deck, supporting himself with his hands, faint red veins still visible in his eyes.
“Everyone, go back.
Stand down.
That was just one of the officers using his power, but he failed to control it properly.”
Quans ordered the pirates under his command.
“What?!
One officer alone can produce that kind of power?”
“Which officer was it?
I’ve never heard of anyone on the crew who could transform into such a terrifying giant beast!”
“Could this be the legendary…”
The pirates were gradually sent back to their posts.
Only then did Valsa turn his attention back to Lucas and ask about the exact nature of his Devil Fruit.
“Lucas, oh my god!
What the hell was that thing?!”
Elik couldn’t hold back any longer.
“Hahahahaha!”
Lucas wiped the seawater from the corner of his mouth and burst into hearty laughter.
He was completely captivated by this kind of power.
“It’s the Monkey-Monkey Fruit, Ancient Zoan, Brown Rock Kong form!
After transforming, I can become a forty-meter-tall Brown Rock Kong!”
“Damn it!
How did a guy like you end up with such a powerful fruit?!”
Elik gritted his teeth.
“Can it really give you that much power?”
After seeing Lucas’s transformation, Lance suddenly felt that his own ability wasn’t quite as impressive.
But after thinking about it carefully, he realized that wasn’t necessarily true.
His role was that of a sniper.
A Zoan-type Devil Fruit simply didn’t offer him as much utility as the Gaze-Gaze Fruit.
“Uh… Ancient Zoan?
What’s that?”
Adrian scratched his head in confusion.
Although he thought the fruit’s ability was amazing, he wasn’t jealous at all.
Instead, he was genuinely happy for Lucas.
Adrian was simple and honest by nature.
He didn’t overthink things, nor had he ever entertained the idea that every good thing should belong exclusively to him.
The others were just as confused by the question.
One after another, they turned their heads toward Quans and Valsa.
In their eyes, Quans and Valsa were practically omniscient beings.
There was nothing they didn’t know.
◇ THE STORY DOESN’T END HERE…
◇
Want to see what happens next?
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