The coastline of Windmill Village at dusk was dyed a golden hue, and the waves gently lapped against the beach, making a soothing swishing sound.
Luna stepped barefoot onto the soft sand, leaving shallow footprints with every step that were gently washed away by the oncoming tide.
She walked over to a huge reef, sat down with her back against the rough stone surface, and rested her arms on an open wooden box one meter high and two meters wide.
In the distance, the setting sun was slowly sinking into the horizon, rendering the sky into a gradient canvas of orange, purple, and dark blue.
This should have been a breathtakingly relaxing sight, but Luna’s attention right now was entirely focused on the inside of her body.
“There is a devil residing inside the Devil Fruit…”
Recalling the lore discussions she had seen in her past life, she softly repeated these words.
At first, she thought it was just a legend, but now, she could clearly feel that—something was changing her.
It was not memories, nor knowledge, but something deeper: personality, instincts, and thought patterns.
Luna closed her eyes and carefully examined her inner self.
In her past life, she was a cautious, contemplative person who would analyze the pros and cons and weigh gains and losses when encountering things, and even somewhat misanthropic.
She could often go months without leaving her room, relying entirely on takeout for food.
This was also why she was able to endure a whole year of waiting until the most suitable timing to eat the Devil Fruit.
But what about now?
Just now in the bar, when Mountain Bandit King Higuma knocked over her milk, what was her first reaction?
It was not calculating gains and losses, nor analyzing risks, but a surge of anger rushing straight to her head—simple, pure, unmasked rage.
“I’m going to kill him!” Such a crude and direct thought seemed utterly incredible to her past self, so she could only use the willpower of her past life to stubbornly resist this impulse, which was why she appeared exceptionally silent.
“Is this the influence of the Rubber Fruit?” Luna opened her eyes, looked at her palm, and tried stretching her fingers.
This time it was a bit smoother than in the bar, and her index and middle fingers stretched out by five centimeters like rubber bands.
“Nika…
What was the personality of the Sun God Nika like again?”
She tried hard to recall the manga information from her past life: joyful, free, doing as one pleases, a nearly naive straightforwardness, and—fearlessness.
Right, fearlessness—the kind of fearlessness that dared to grin no matter what enemy was faced, and believed they could break through no matter what predicament was encountered.
“So the ‘devil’ of the Devil Fruit is actually a personality imprint?” Luna thought thoughtfully, “Will the person who eats the fruit gradually become permeated by the ‘essence’ represented by the fruit’s ability?”
Even stranger was that when she walked out of the bar, besides making sure Shanks didn’t realize she had secretly eaten the Rubber Fruit, what was the first training plan that popped into her head?
It was not developing the ability step by step, nor securely mastering the basics first, but— “Train directly in the sea!
Afraid of water?
Then beat it until you’re not afraid anymore!”
This kind of reckless, single-minded thinking was completely unlike her.
No, this kind of thinking had to be changed.
Thinking of this, Luna focused her vision on the system interface, and a brand-new idea appeared in her mind.
She picked up the wooden barrel, stood up, and walked to the edge of the seawater.
The waves licked at her ankles, bringing a chill, and a sense of weakness came from within her body.
Fortunately, the contact area was not large, so aside from not being able to use her abilities, the other sensations were not too bad.
Pushing the wooden box hard into the seawater and seeing it fill up with water, Luna then dragged the wooden box step by step back to the shore.
Luna stepped directly into the knee-deep seawater.
“Ugh!”
A wave of weakness instantly swept through her entire body.
It wasn’t pain, but an even worse feeling—as if all the strength in her body had been instantly drained, and every cell was emitting a weary groan.
Her legs went soft, and she almost collapsed into the seawater-filled wooden box.
[Rubber Constitution LV1 (7 / 100)]
The system prompt flashed at the corner of her eyes.
Just by contacting seawater, the skill experience actually increased?
Luna was stunned for a moment, and then understood—this was because she was resisting the weakening effect of the seawater, and this resistance itself was an application and tempering of her ability.
“Interesting…” She clenched her teeth and forced herself to stand firm, “Since experience comes so easily, then—”
She continued walking forward.
The seawater gradually rose to her thighs, waist, and chest.
Every inch deeper she went, the sense of weakness increased by a fraction.
When she walked to shoulder-deep seawater, she felt as if her entire body had been filled with lead, making even lifting her arms exceptionally difficult.
Her breathing began to quicken, and cold sweat oozed from her forehead.
But Luna did not retreat.
Instead, she began trying to move her body in the seawater, starting with the simplest one—clenching her fists.
An action that was normally effortless now required mobilizing the strength of her whole body.
She slowly, bit by bit, curled her fingers, feeling the suppression of the seawater on her Rubber Constitution.
It was an all-around weakening, as if heavy shackles had been placed on every single one of her cells.
[Basic Taijutsu LV1 (5 / 100)]
[Rubber Constitution LV1 (14 / 100)]
The experience points were jumping, much faster than when training on land.
Sure enough, adversity was the best catalyst.
A smile was pulled at the corner of Luna’s mouth, though this smile was somewhat distorted due to weakness.
She began trying more complex actions—punching in the water.
An extremely slow punch, from raising the arm to striking out, took a full ten seconds.
Her fist swept through the water, stirring up faint eddies, but when this punch was completed, the system prompt appeared once again:
[Basic Taijutsu LV1 (15 / 100)]
[Acquired New Skill: Underwater Adaptation LV1 (1 / 100)]
“A new skill!” Luna’s eyes lit up.
Sure enough, the system’s judgment mechanism was very broad.
As long as she performed a certain “action”, and this action had repeatability and room for improvement, it would be recorded as a skill.
This was terrifying.
Theoretically, she could train everything in the world into a skill.
The only pity was that ability users could not use their abilities after contacting seawater.
However, if she trained Underwater Adaptation to the extreme and learned Hold Breath as well, then even without using abilities, she could treat seawater like land.
New thoughts ended here.
“Then…” A trace of fanaticism flashed in Luna’s eyes, “What if I try to control the personality change itself?”
As soon as this thought appeared, she immediately felt a certain resistance deep within her consciousness.
That was not the resistance of the system, but the resistance coming from the essence of the Rubber Fruit—as if that “devil” did not like being constrained or controlled.
But who was Luffy?
She had memories of two lifetimes, an awakened system, and more importantly—she knew what she wanted.
“I don’t want to turn into a pure Luffy,” she said softly facing the sea, her voice drifting in the sea breeze, “I don’t want to become that single-minded idiot.
I want to retain my memories, my way of thinking, my…
desires.”
When speaking of “desires”, her gaze became firm and burning.
The gender-bent Luna doujinshi she read before dying in her past life, although an awkward memory, also made her realize one thing: she was a vulgar person, a very, very vulgar person who liked beauties and enjoyed looking at pretty faces and figures.
This was an instinct engraved in her genes, and there was nothing to be ashamed of.
Since she was living a second life and had such an opportunity, why should she still suppress herself?
“I’m going to form a pirate crew consisting entirely of beauties,” Luna announced, as if swearing to the entire world, “Nami, Robin, Hancock…
All the beauties in the original work, I want them all!”
As soon as this thought came out, she felt a certain balance within her body being broken.
The “joyful and free” essence of the Rubber Fruit and her “lustful and vulgar” desires from her past life unexpectedly began to produce a wondrous fusion.
It wasn’t a matter of one devouring the other, but mutual adaptation and mutual compromise.
A completely new personality was taking shape: she would still be impulsive, still single-minded, but this impulse and single-mindedness would serve a clear goal—finding beauties.
She would still be fearless, still straightforward, but this fearlessness and straightforwardness would retain a share of adult calculation and planning.
“That’s more like it.” Luna nodded in satisfaction.
As for the members of the original Straw Hat Pirates, they could just serve as members of the second fleet.
She continued to train in the seawater.
Time ticked by second by second.
The setting sun completely sank below the horizon, the sky gradiented from dark blue to pitch black, and stars began to light up one by one.
Later on, Luna even left the wooden box and began walking deeper into the seawater to train.
Luna gradually forgot how much time had passed, only knowing that when Makino’s voice came from afar, her skill panel had undergone tremendous changes:
[Basic Taijutsu LV3 (42 / 100)]
[Rubber Constitution LV4 (17 / 100)]
[Underwater Adaptation LV2 (56 / 100)]
[Hold Breath LV1 (74 / 100)]
[Willpower Resistance LV1 (28 / 100)]
Five skills!
And the highest Rubber Constitution had already reached Level 4!
“Luna—!
It’s time to come back for dinner—!” Makino’s voice carried worry.
Only then did Luna snap out of her training state.
She tried walking back to the shore, and was surprised to find that although the sense of weakness still existed, it was no longer as debilitating as when she could barely move at first.
The effect of the Underwater Adaptation skill was very obvious—her body was learning how to maintain minimal functions under the weakening of the seawater.
When she stumbled back onto the beach, she was soaked all over with a pale face, but her eyes were frighteningly bright.
“You…
you went into the sea?” Makino ran over, wrapped her in the dry towel she brought, “It’s too dangerous!
Devil Fruit ability users cannot touch seawater, didn’t you know?”
“I know,” Luna grinned, this smile already carrying a bit of Luffy-style heartiness, “But the more you’re afraid of something, the more you have to face it.”
Makino froze.
She looked at Luna, always feeling that this girl was somewhat different from this morning—not a change in appearance, but a certain inner temperament—more confident, more flamboyant, and with an unquestionable firmness in her eyes.
“Let’s go, time to go back for dinner.” Makino ultimately didn’t ask much, just holding Luna’s hand and walking toward the village.