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With Arthur's permission, the members of the Rockwell Pirates, who had been holding back for a long time, grinned savagely and charged at the Cook Pirates...
Rockwell's strength was on par with Vinsmoke Judge, the ruler of the Germa Kingdom. Although "Red-Leg" Zeff was somewhat famous in the Grand Line, he stood no chance against Rockwell's assault, let alone his crew of underwhelming subordinates.
The outcome of the battle was never in doubt. Every member of the Cook Pirates who boarded Rockwell's ship was captured alive by the frenzied crew!
As for "Red-Leg" Zeff, he managed to escape by leaping into the sea at a critical moment.
The currents carried him to parts unknown. After drifting for several days, rising and falling with the waves, he encountered a passenger ship from the East Blue named the Orbit.
As a pirate without a ship or treasure, his instinct was naturally to plunder. After a fierce battle, Zeff successfully took control of the Orbit, but he showed mercy to a young, blond apprentice cook who had just boarded.
Because this kid, like him—and like every chef in the world—shared the same dream: the "All Blue"!
He thought he was safe after seizing the ship, but a sudden storm destroyed everything, sweeping Zeff and the young blond boy, Vinsmoke Sanji, onto a desolate, uninhabited island.
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Arthur slept for five full days and nights before finally waking up. By then, the ship had already passed two islands along the seventh magnetic path of the Grand Line's first half!
He stood up from the deck, stretched lazily, and leaned against the railing to enjoy the sea breeze, feeling refreshed and incredibly relaxed.
It was midnight. The sky was cloudless and filled with twinkling stars.
The night sky over the ocean was breathtaking; the infinitely distant stars reminded one of their own insignificance against the vastness of heaven and earth.
Most of the Rockwell Pirates were resting, with only a few on patrol or scanning the distant waters for sudden enemy appearances.
"Lord Arthur!" A pirate guarding Arthur, who had been dozing off, immediately bowed respectfully upon seeing him awake, his eyes filled with fanaticism.
"Prepare some food..." Arthur ordered casually, enjoying this rare moment of quiet relaxation.
"Yes, sir!"
The crew member acknowledged the order and hurried into the cabin to the kitchen.
Before long, the chefs brought out a sumptuous feast.
Arthur devoured the food alone, wolfing it down. After filling his stomach, he couldn't wait any longer. Led by a crew member, he walked into the brig deep within the ship.
In the lowest level of the cells, over thirty pirates were detained—all members of the Cook Pirates captured alive five days ago.
dismissing the crew member who had guided him and issuing strict orders that no one was to disturb him, Arthur casually modified the environment inside the cell and began the "Devil Soul Surgery" right then and there!
During the past month of experiments, he had relied too heavily on his ability to see the future and hadn't truly witnessed the results of the surgeries. He desperately wanted to use humans as experimental material to find out exactly where he was going wrong.
There was no doubt that people in the One Piece world possessed souls!
Brook's Revive-Revive Fruit, Big Mom's Soul-Soul Fruit, and Arthur's own Op-Op Fruit had all clearly confirmed the existence of souls or spirits.
The continuous rebirth of Devil Fruits, attaching themselves to nearby fruits, also proved that they contained the "Soul" of a devil!
Moreover, Arthur had successfully used the "ROOM" operation table to modify the souls of Rockwell's crew members during the previous month.
He was absolutely certain that for the people of this world, all joy, anger, sorrow, fear, shock, desires, emotions, and fighting spirit originated from the soul or the heart!
As long as he performed soul surgery to excise those emotions, a person would become emotionless!
The Devil Fruit Soul Surgery was developed based on this principle: to remove the "emotion" within the Devil's soul that caused them to fight upon meeting. If successful, a person could consume Devil Fruits endlessly.
The Op-Op Fruit truly lived up to its title as the "Ultimate Devil Fruit." The ability to perform surgery on anything within the ROOM was the most perfect power Arthur had ever seen, bar none.
Under the terrified gazes of the thirty-plus Cook Pirates, Arthur remained indifferent. With a flick of his finger, he electrocuted them all into unconsciousness and began the surgery on the spot.
He took out several crates of apples to prepare for contingencies, ensuring he could transfer the abilities in time...
"ROOM!"
With a soft shout, Arthur expanded the spherical operating room, enveloping the Float-Float Fruit and the More-More Fruit, which he had taken from his pure gold storage bracelet.
Frowning, Arthur focused on the devil souls within the fruits. With a single cut, he excised what he hoped was the "aggression" emotion, then forcibly shoved the fruits into the mouth of an unconscious pirate on the floor.
One second, two seconds, three seconds... nothing changed!
Just as Arthur was about to wake the pirate, the man's body suddenly began to expand. The swelling accelerated rapidly, turning him into a round, bloated mass in the blink of an eye.
BOOM!
A dull explosion echoed in the ship's hold. The pirate who had eaten two Devil Fruits detonated into a mist of blood on the spot.
Blood splattered everywhere—on the walls, on Arthur, and on the unconscious pirates.
The sickening smell of blood filled the lowest cell...
Arthur's indifferent face was speckled with blood blossoms. In the gloomy, damp environment, he looked like a demon from hell. Anyone with a weak psyche who witnessed this terrifying scene might have gone mad on the spot.
Having seen countless tragedies, Arthur remained unmoved. He casually wiped the blood from his face and continued the experiment.
Who ever said gaining power didn't involve bloodshed?
Every successful great pirate had a mountain of corpses beneath them—no exceptions!
Furthermore, regarding the Devil Fruit Soul Surgery, Arthur was already prepared for this. He intended to pave the way to success with lives. Since he didn't know which part of the devil's soul needed to be removed to make the surgery successful—while ensuring the fruit's ability remained intact—he had no choice.
He could only experiment with human lives.
Inside the ROOM, Arthur transferred the devils of the Float-Float Fruit and More-More Fruit into the apples. In the next second, the Devil Fruits respawned!
At the same time, he reintegrated the excised parts of the devil souls back into them to ensure the abilities wouldn't be corrupted for the next attempt.
Calming his mind to think for a moment, the experiment began again...
BOOM!!
The sound of an exploding body echoed once more. In the brig at the bottom of the ship, the nauseating stench of blood grew thicker. Red blood mixed with white bone fragments splattered all over the floor.
After cleaning up, the third experiment began.
He stuffed the two respawned, surgically altered Devil Fruits into a pirate's mouth, expecting another failure.
However, this time, the result exceeded Arthur's expectations...
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