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"So, I'm the main character of this world?" Steve let out a short, breathless laugh, shaking his head in disbelief. "Manager, don't you think that's laying it on a little thick?"
His laugh was a bit self-deprecating, like he couldn't quite believe he was having this conversation. But even though he was trying to play it cool, Rosh's words had clearly hit home.
The idea of 'Luck' being an actual, measurable force was a lot to take in. To Steve, it sounded more like something you'd find in an old book of myths rather than something that existed in the real world. Yet, the more he let the thought sit there, the harder it became to just brush it off.
When he took a second to actually look back at his life, it did feel a bit like a movie script.
Think about it: a skinny, chronically ill kid from Brooklyn should never have been allowed anywhere near a military recruitment center. By all logic and every medical rule in the book, he should have been rejected, sent home, and forgotten. Instead, he ended up becoming the first and only successful Super Soldier.
Steve never took his own hard work for granted. He knew he'd fought tooth and nail for every single inch of progress. He knew his determination was real. But even he had to admit that fortune had been leaning in his favor more often than not.
Then, there was the Arctic.
A normal human being doesn't just survive crashing a plane into the freezing depths of the ocean. It's impossible. Yet, somehow, Steve hadn't just survived, he'd been perfectly preserved under the ice for seventy years. He'd slept through decades of history only to be woken up and brought back into a world that needed him.
That wasn't just "good timing." That was a straight-up miracle.
And honestly? If he was being real with himself, the biggest miracle of all wasn't even his survival.
It was Peggy.
Seventy years ago, he had missed his chance. He'd missed the dance. When he finally opened his eyes in the modern world, the woman he loved had already lived a whole lifetime without him. She wasn't the vibrant, sharp-witted agent he remembered; she was an elderly woman nearing the end of her road.
In any other story, that would have been the end. A tragic "what if." There shouldn't have been a second chance.
But then, fate stepped in again.
S.H.I.E.L.D. had managed to get their hands on the Return-Return Fruit. It did the impossible, it restored Peggy's youth, giving them the one thing they both thought was gone forever: time. A real future. The dance they had waited nearly a century to share.
When Steve looked at the big picture, he had to admit it, it really did seem like the universe was playing favorites. He still wasn't 100% sold on Rosh's theory about being the "protagonist," but the logic was getting harder to fight.
"I'm not trying to flatter you, Captain," Rosh replied, his voice calm and steady. He had that professional, "just the facts" vibe down to a science. "I'm just telling you how it is. Luck might be invisible and hard to touch, and sure, most people call it superstition. But its existence is just as real as the air you're breathing right now."
Steve rubbed the back of his neck, looking a bit sheepish as he looked at his hands. "When you put it that way," he said with a wry, lopsided smile, "I guess I really have been one of the lucky ones."
"Most people are lucky if they experience one incredible stroke of fortune in their entire lives," Rosh said, giving a small, knowing nod. "But for you, Steve, those moments happen like clockwork. They repeat over and over again. That isn't just a coincidence, it's the true, physical manifestation of your Luck."
Steve leaned back in his chair, the fabric creaking slightly as he tried to process what he was hearing. He'd seen a lot of weird things since waking up in the twenty-first century, but this was on a whole different level.
"So, you're telling me a force like Luck actually exists?" Steve asked, his brow furrowing. "Not just as some abstract idea people talk about when they win the lottery, but as something real? Something you can actually measure?"
Of course it does," Rosh replied simply. He then gestured toward the high-tech tablet resting in Steve's hands, its screen glowing softly in the light of the room.
"Take another look through the catalog. Go ahead and search for an item called the Luck-Luck Fruit. Its ability is pretty straightforward: it allows the user to literally steal the luck of anyone they touch."
Steve didn't need to be told twice. He immediately began scrolling through the digital pages, his thumb moving quickly over the glass. A few moments later, he found the entry.
The description was right there in black and white, exactly as Rosh had described it.
Steve stared at the screen for a long beat. At this point, it felt ridiculous to even think Rosh was making this up. Nobody would go through the trouble of fabricating an entire Devil Fruit, complete with its own history, power set, and detailed illustrations, just to win an argument. The proof was right there in his hands, staring him in the face.
Slowly, the skepticism in his chest began to melt away, replaced by a cautious acceptance. At least for now, he was willing to play along.
"Okay, so let me get this straight." Steve looked up from the tablet, meeting Rosh's steady gaze. "You're saying that because I'm so lucky, my 'fortune' is worth one billion Origin Points?"
Steve paused, a puzzled expression crossing his face as a new thought occurred to him. "But I still don't get one thing. If those points are just sitting there, doesn't that basically mean you're handing me a billion points for free? What's the catch?"
"Not quite, Captain." Rosh shook his head, his expression remaining calm and professional.
"Origin Points are just a numerical value. Think of them as a way to measure the amount of Luck you currently possess. They aren't a currency in the way you're thinking, like dollars or gold. When we make a trade, you aren't paying me with points."
He let the silence hang in the air for a second before delivering the punchline.
"You are paying me with your actual Luck."
The second those words left Rosh's mouth, everything clicked. The confusion vanished, and the weight of the deal finally hit Steve.
"I get it now," Steve's expression turned thoughtful, his mind racing through the implications.
"So, if I make a trade with you, my good fortune is actually transferred over to you. In other words, you're taking a piece of my 'protagonist' status. You're buying my seat as the world's luckiest man."
"In a manner of speaking, yes," Rosh replied. "I would gain a share of that Luck. However, the amount that gets transferred depends entirely on the scale of what we're doing and what you decide to buy."
Steve sat there for a few seconds, considering the trade. He thought about his life, his history, and the miracles that had brought him here. Then, a slow, determined smile began to spread across his face.
"Well, that definitely makes things simple," He lifted the tablet slightly, his eyes shining with a new kind of interest. "Just how much of my Luck I'm willing to part with is going to depend entirely on what's actually inside this catalog. Let's see if you've got anything worth the price."
With a polite, respectful nod, Steve turned his attention back to the tablet. He wasn't just browsing anymore; he was on a mission. As he scrolled, he made a silent, firm executive decision: he was going to use his own Luck for this.
He wasn't touching S.H.I.E.L.D.'s gold.
The reasoning was simple, really. Steve already felt like he owed Nick Fury more favors than he could count, and he knew exactly how Fury operated. A debt that huge would come with a mountain of strings attached. If he had the power to make this happen on his own terms, using his own "protagonist" energy, there was no way he was dragging the agency into his business. He wanted to stand on his own two feet.
The room settled into a comfortable silence. The only sound was the faint *Swish-Swish!* of Steve's thumb sliding across the glass.
He took his time, reading through the entries with a sense of wonder that felt almost like being a kid again. He noticed pretty quickly that the catalog seemed... curated. It wasn't just a random list of everything possible; some of the heavy hitters he'd heard whispers about, like the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, were nowhere to be found.
But honestly? It didn't matter. Even with the "missing" items, the stuff that was there was enough to make his head spin. Every few pages revealed a power that could literally rewrite a person's destiny.
Then, suddenly, Steve's thumb stopped.
His eyes locked onto one specific entry. A tiny spark of genuine interest lit up his face, followed by a slow, satisfied grin.
"The 'Strongest Paramecia-Type Fruit'..." Steve whispered, mostly to himself. "Wow. This... this is unbelievable."
Rosh glanced over, his sharp eyes instantly identifying the page Steve was looking at. "Ah. The Tremor-Tremor Fruit," Rosh said, acknowledging the choice with an approving nod.
Steve looked up, listening intently as Rosh began to break it down.
"Like the description says, this fruit gives you the power to create and control massive vibrations. In terms of raw, unadulterated destructive power? Most people consider this the absolute king of all Devil Fruits." Rosh leaned forward slightly, tapping the table to emphasize his point.
"With this power, you can actually fracture the air itself. You can release shockwaves so powerful they travel through the ground, buildings, and entire landscapes. At its peak, the fruit is capable of triggering massive earthquakes and tsunamis that can reshape the map."
Steve's eyes widened, his breath hitching. "Earthquakes... and tsunamis?"
He couldn't even hide how stunned he was. The scale of it was hard to wrap his brain around. A single punch that could literally shake the planet? It didn't sound like a superpower anymore, it sounded like the power of a walking natural disaster.
Could a regular person, even a Super Soldier, really handle that kind of power?
"Of course," Rosh added, his voice steady and grounding. "Getting to that level isn't something that happens overnight. The Fruit isn't an instant win; it's a seed. It provides the potential, but it's up to the user to make it grow."
Rosh met Steve's gaze, a faint, encouraging smile playing on his lips. "However, given your physical strength, your discipline, and that famous willpower of yours, Captain? I have zero doubts that you'd be able to unlock every bit of that potential. You're exactly the kind of person this power was meant for."
Steve nodded slowly. That made sense to him. He'd never been a fan of shortcuts, anyway. Everything worth having, his strength, his rank, his life, had required hard work and time. He respected the grind.
He took one last look at the description of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, then set the tablet down on the desk. A small, confident smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"In that case, Manager..." Steve said, his voice firm. "Would it be possible for me to try out that sampling service that the website mentioned?"
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Next Chapter: Ultimate Defense Meets Absolute Destruction
Next Next Chapter: Nick Fury Demands to See the Universe's Manager!
Next Next Next Chapter: The Sovereign Might of the Ancient Zoan
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