"Help me find someone. Trafalgar Law."
"And the feud between me and the Gold Emperor will be settled," Bellamy stated his demand directly. He believed that with Morgans's intelligence network, finding Law would not be a difficult task.
"No problem." As expected, Morgans agreed without hesitation.
"Lord Bellamy, please accept my dedicated line Den Den Mushi." The reporter from the World Economic Journal immediately took out a brand-new Den Den Mushi from his pocket. "I will notify you as soon as we have news."
For some reason, Morgans adopted a very humble posture before Bellamy. This man was a renowned figure in the underworld, a big shot whom the World Government had been trying to capture for years without success.
"So be it."
Bellamy also sensed Morgans's strange attitude, but it was a minor matter. He had enough parasites on him already; a few more wouldn't hurt.
"Oh, right. Help me tell Doflamingo something." Just as he was about to leave, Bellamy suddenly remembered something important. "He should just stay put in the New World. No need to chase me all over the world. I'll be coming for him soon enough."
There was a moment of silence from the other end of the Den Den Mushi. There had been so much big news lately; he was getting overwhelmed.
"I will put your declaration of war on tomorrow's front page."
The world's largest newspaper was published by none other than Morgans. Wherever the News Coos flew tomorrow, everyone would know that the Mad Dog Bellamy had issued a challenge to Doflamingo.
This time, it wasn't some petty squabble. The position of the Seven Warlords of the Sea was a very special one. The World Government had propped up these seven individuals, firstly, to divide the pirate community, and secondly, to use their immense influence to maintain their rule. Once a Warlord lost their deterrent power, they would be cast aside by the World Government like garbage. Once Bellamy's declaration of war was published, Doflamingo's position would inevitably be shaken. Unless he could deal with Bellamy cleanly and decisively—which would, conversely, solidify his status even further.
"I look forward to seeing tomorrow's paper." Since Morgans was being so cooperative, Bellamy saw no need to say anything more.
Taking the dedicated line Den Den Mushi from Morgans, he quickly returned to his ship. Drake and the others had already bought the supplies and were waiting for him.
As soon as he was back on board, Bellamy called everyone to the dining hall. "I got a Devil Fruit while I was out."
The Slow-Slow Fruit was a round, spherical fruit with dark purple spiral patterns. One look at its appearance, and you could tell it was a Paramecia type.
Bellamy placed the fruit on the table. "This is almost certainly the Slow-Slow Fruit. Who wants to eat it?"
The moment she heard the fruit's name, Mia immediately lost interest. "Give it to Muret."
In truth, Bellamy's intention had been to give the fruit to the ship's doctor all along. In the hands of a doctor, the Slow-Slow Fruit could potentially unleash some miraculous powers.
"Eat it, Muret."
"Okay." With an excited heart, Muret didn't even peel the fruit, holding it and taking a big bite.
Under the gloating gazes of Bellamy and the others, a super-disgusting, indescribably strange taste exploded in her mouth.
"Don't you spit it out. Eat the whole thing." With a deep sense of wicked amusement, Bellamy shoved the entire Devil Fruit into Muret's mouth.
"Blech..." After a long while, Muret dry-heaved for a bit before finally recovering. "Why does a Devil Fruit taste like this..."
"That's just how they taste." Although no one knew why, or what secret lay behind it.
"Alright, let's get down to business." The joking was over. Now Bellamy wanted to know what abilities Muret had gained. "Try out your new power."
Muret nodded and reached a hand out towards Bellamy. "Slow-Slow Beam."
An invisible wave rippled through the air. The moment the beam touched Bellamy, he suddenly felt as if the entire world had sped up. He knew this wasn't an illusion, and the world hadn't gotten faster; rather, his own body and thoughts had slowed down. What the principle behind this was, or whether his own flow of time had been altered, Bellamy didn't know. As for Muret, although she was the user, she probably had no idea what was going on either.
"Alright, stop."
Hearing this, Muret ceased her action. Three seconds later, Bellamy returned to normal.
"Drake, you try it too." Drake had fought Foxy before, so he was the perfect test subject to gauge the intensity of Muret's ability.
Drake was also very curious about the power of the Slow-Slow Fruit. That last guy, if not for being so weak himself, would have definitely caused him a lot of trouble.
Muret once again used the Slow-Slow Beam on Drake. The result was very interesting: the effect on Drake was almost identical to when he had been hit by Foxy.
"It feels no different from last time."
This meant that Foxy had basically done no deep development of this fruit. Muret, having just eaten the fruit, could only use the Slow-Slow Beam and no other abilities for now. Paramecia-type abilities weren't as straightforward as Zoan types, where you could transform immediately after eating.
But for the time being, the Slow-Slow Beam was more than enough. This ability had a huge impact on combat. Once hit, even someone as strong as Bellamy couldn't escape its effects. Only by training one's Armament Haki to the point where it could cover the entire body could one ignore such a cheat-level Devil Fruit ability. But in this world, how many people possessed such powerful Armament Haki? Bellamy even suspected that the weakest of the Seven Warlords couldn't manage it.
"Let's do one more experiment."
Bellamy had high hopes for the Slow-Slow Fruit. In his vision, if this fruit was developed properly, it could become a heaven-defying support tool.
Bellamy took out a knife and made a deep cut on his wrist. Instantly, blood began to flow freely.
"Use the Slow-Slow Beam on me."
Muret seemed to understand what the captain wanted to test. She nodded and used her ability again. The Slow-Slow Beam entered Bellamy's body for a second time.
In that instant, the blood flowing from his wrist immediately slowed down. It was still flowing, but the speed had been greatly reduced.
The Slow-Slow Fruit could indeed affect physical injuries.
With this confirmed, Muret's value as a ship's doctor had just increased dozens of times over. To say it slowed injuries might not be clear enough. To put it simply, it was a forced extension of life. If this ability were developed to its extreme, it could forcibly halt the life of someone on the brink of death.
To slow down speed by several thousand times was almost equivalent to stopping time, to pausing life itself.