Hello everyone, I'm here to tell you about the protagonist's Devil Fruit.
As planned in the story, he'll soon obtain it, and no, it's not Shiki's fruit, in case you were wondering.
It took me a long time to think about it, but I decided, and no matter what happens, I don't plan on changing it for anything.
I went through a lot of creative tests to decide, as it had to be something that would empower Dante but wouldn't break the power scales, like the Mangekyō Sharingan in Naruto.
Among the options I had were the Thunder Fruit, the Fire Fruit (both Logia), the Space Fruit (that would have been too broken), the Leviathan Fruit, the Godzilla Fruit, the Crystal Fruit, and the Sound Fruit.
But I didn't choose any of these. I'll just say that it's not a Paramecia; it will appear in the story soon, just wait a little longer. Without further ado, follow the chapter.
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Already at night, we traveled in the direction where the town mayor told us the islands had moved.
We sped along until Trini spotted the floating islands. From there, I slowed down so as not to attract attention.
The place was gigantic, a huge island next to other small- to medium-sized ones. The island even had seawater; I don't know how he was able to raise the seawater, but with this, this guy can already defeat half the pirates or marines at sea.
Isis: "Incredible, that must be a Devil Fruit ability."
Dante: "I expected nothing less from a pirate with a bounty of 4,092,400,000 belly."
(Note: I got this bounty from Reddit, which convinced me of its logic, so I took it.)
Arthur: "So, what do we do? We fight him right now?"
Dante: "Don't be hasty. If we defeat him, what will happen to the people living here? If Shiki falls, all of these islands will as well. We must take a tour of the island to see what's happening here."
Arthur: "I understand."
Sulli: "We'll go by boat?"
Dante: "We won't attract too much attention; we'll go on foot."
And with that, we arrived at one of the islands and disembarked. The place felt like a jungle; I felt life here, but I didn't sense people.
Dante: "Do you sense anything that could be human?"
Trini: "No, at least not on this island, only animals."
Sulli: "And on another island?"
Trini placed her fingers on her temples, closed her eyes, and concentrated. After about 20 seconds, she opened her eyes suddenly, only to direct her gaze in one direction and point.
Trini: "I sense people in that direction."
At that moment, a species resembling a bull and a hippopotamus attacked us. I just frowned at the sight of this strange creature.
Before it could do anything to us, Arthur hit it and knocked it down. This caught the attention of the other beasts in the area. Arthur and Isis quickly brought them all down.
Trini: "Now I sense people coming, but armed."
Dante: "They must be Shiki's people. We must be alert. This is enemy territory, and they must have it completely under control. They're watching every corner and nook. They may have cameras or a transmitter. Let's move to a place where we can spend the night."
All: "Understood."
At that moment, I gestured to Hun, who was in the air, who landed on my arm.
Dante: "Find a place where we can rest away from the beasts and people."
Hun: [Understood, master], and with that, he left.
Shortly after, he arrived, finding a cave almost sealed off by some rocks; the place was empty, so we headed there. He also told us about places that smelled awful and that he didn't want to go there.
That would be for tomorrow; it's better to rest.
...
The next day, he had us look around the surroundings. And from what we discovered, we can say three things.
First, we didn't find any audio transmitters, but we did find cameras, more specifically, some den den mushi that transmit images. We were lucky not to find any when we landed.
Second, the animals here are strange; they're a mix of two or more animals, which is unusual. They behave very aggressively and tend to avoid certain areas, and that's a general thing about animals, since Hun does too.
Third, the island is currently heading toward the Grand Line, more specifically, Paradise; that means it won't hijack any more islands and wreak havoc in the South Blue.
Right now, we're walking through a forest that looks more like a jungle.
Isis: "Does anyone know what kind of beasts these are?"
Sulli: "I have no idea. Didn't we say it was a mix of several?"
Isis: "Yes, but this is naturally possible."
Dante: "In theory, yes, this is called evolution; creatures change according to their needs, but we're on floating islands, and these beasts don't respond to their environment; it's as if they've been genetically forced to be that way."
Trini: "If that's so, then they're also forced to be as aggressive as they are."
Dante: "Most likely, when we infiltrate Shiki's lair, we'll be able to get answers."
And so, we followed a path without being seen by the cameras toward the island where Trini sensed the people.
...
Third-person POV.
In a large room, a bald man with long blond hair, a bowl embedded in his head, and swords instead of legs could be seen. This was Shiki, the golden lion; in front of him was a screen displaying several beasts.
All the beasts were chained, furious, in a rage, trying to fight each other.
The curious thing is that Shiki wasn't paying attention to the screen but instead had his eyes on a book. Sadly, his reading was interrupted by the footsteps of a man dressed as a mime.
Shiki shifted his gaze to look at his right-hand man, Indigo. Indigo began making strange gestures with his hands and body.
Shiki: "What are you trying to say? I don't understand."
Indigo: "The Chimera 3 experiment is too unstable for field research."
Shiki: "CAN YOU TALK?" Shiki cried in surprise. Once the whole show was over, Shiki returned to seriousness. "I mean, instability."
Indigo: "We can't make it move at our convenience. It doesn't listen; it only destroys. Besides, the Daft Green has no effect on it. Right now, we've imprisoned it with sea stone to calm it down and allow it to be moved."
Shiki: "That's bad news. We can't get rid of it like Chimera 2, as that would be a waste of a Devil Fruit. Let's set the conditions and try again tomorrow. We still have time to carry out our plan to overthrow the World Government."
Indigo: "Understood," and with that, she walked off, clicking her shoes with the sound of farting.
Shiki: "If this doesn't work, we'll have to cancel the Chimera project. Besides, I couldn't get another Devil Fruit as good as the current one for another experiment." She said, pondering aloud.
Once he finished his meditation, he stood up and walked to another room, where there were a number of people at monitors, dressed as scientists. As he was looking around, one of the scientists arrived.
Scientist: "Sir, we have the data ready for the recently obtained islands; according to reports, two of them have a high percentage of iron, while three of them are full of animals, which we can continue to milk with IQ." "Finally, three of these islands are inhabited. What do we do with the people?"
Shiki: "Use them as food for the imprisoned beasts; the rest of the islands I'm going to throw into the sea once I've removed everything important." And with that, he left.
...
Dante's POV
Arthur: "How do we get from island to island?" he asked, staring into the void between the floating islands.
Dante: "I can take two with me; Isis can float."
Trini: "That means one of us will have to travel with Isis on her oxygen-depleting wind."
Arthur: "And who will that be?" he asked, sitting down on the ground. We all looked at him directly, and after a few seconds, he realized what was happening. "Why did I have to open my mouth?"
* Moments Later *
I reached the next island, holding Trini and Sulli at my sides like sacks of potatoes. I carefully let go of them, and when they hit the ground, I saw Arthur get roughly slammed into the ground. He lifted himself up slightly to look at Isis, who had arrived a little later.
Isis: "What? You were asking me to hurry, saying that you were running out of oxygen."
Arthur: "This is clearly abuse."
Dante: "Sorry, Arthur, but there are no organizations for protection against animal abuse, so you have nothing to do."
He went from glaring at Isis to me.
At that moment, he felt the ground shake, and in less than two seconds, a giant centipede appeared, with insect-like wings. Why does it travel underground if it has wings? I wondered when I saw it.
Before it could move, Isis, with a tornado of wind, attacked the centipede, destroying its head.
Isis: "It seems like you get used to the behavior of these beasts; they all do the same thing: attack, attack, attack."
I just sighed and looked at Trini.
Dante: "How long until we reach the island inhabited by people?"
Trini: "About two more islands."
I lost the desire to continue this when I heard what she said.
Dante: "Okay, let's go." I signaled Hun, who was in the sky; it was a signal to let us know if there were any people around, or a resting place, or, in this case, an area with that plant that scares away beasts.
* 3 hours later *
Arthur: "How did we get lost? We weren't following Trini."
Trini: "Sorry, but I feel a little sick," she said, only to run off to throw up. Sulli went after her.
Sulli: "Are you okay? Do you need me to check you out?"
Trini: "No, I'm fine. I just need to rest a little."
Isis: "Maybe she ate something bad."
Dante: "Hey, I don't remember cooking anything wrong."
Isis: "How can you be so sure?" she asked, posing confidently with one hand on her hip.
I just looked at her as if her bossy, never-mistaken behavior didn't affect me.
Trini: "I said I'm fine. You don't have to fight; let's just walk slower."
I looked at her, and she looked back at me as if she were trying to convey a message, as if to say, "I'll tell you later."
Dante: "You heard her; let's go slower." I said, looking straight ahead. "I'll guide you. I can sense the end of the island so I can go to the next one."
And with that, we continued our journey.
After a few good moments of walking, interrupted every 10 minutes by waves of beasts and hiding from the sight of Shiki's henchmen next to the camera in the area, we decided to rest since it was getting dark.
We found a place to hide thanks to Hun; we made a super-makeshift house to hide the fire we started.
Dante: "Well, I'm going to look for fruit and animal parts that are edible and not poisonous to make something to eat." I told the group.
Trini: "I'll go with you."
Sulli: "Are you sure? weren't you feeling sick before?"
Trini: "I'm not feeling sick now; besides, it helps make up for my mistake earlier." And with that, we both left.
After a while of finding some fruit, he found a rhinoceros boar, and we got ready to head back to the base.
Trini: "Hey, Dante, I have something to tell you," he said just as we were about to leave.
Dante: "I bet it's something about your dizziness earlier."
Trini: "It's kind of related; more than anything, I'm a little scared of facing this guy, especially when he can make the island we're on suddenly descend to the ground."
Dante: "Don't worry so much; you might get hurt badly, but there's almost no wound that Sulli and Arthur can't fix, except if you lose a body part; that's where it gets complicated."
Trini: "That's the problem with being seriously injured."
Dante: "Why is that?" I looked at Trini; she'd never cared about being hurt before.
Trini: "Well, the thing is, I—I'm pregnant." She said very nervously.
The moment I heard that, I released the prey I'd captured and looked at her in shock. I hadn't expected that revelation; In fact, I feel a little stupid not to think that Trini would want to be a mother at some point in her life; she's already 30 at this point. I should expect the same with Isis, but I haven't seen any interaction with men with her; could she be a lesbian?
Dante: "Show your belly," he said in a serious tone.
She looked at me strangely, as if she didn't want to do it, but seeing how serious he was, she did.
I approached, bent down, and placed a hand where her belly should be. Using observation haki, I could feel something forming inside, growing slowly but steadily, without stopping.
Now, confirming this, I stood up and looked at her.
Dante: "Who else knows?"
Trini: "Only you so far."
Dante: "I imagine the father is Sulli, right?" She just nods. "She's planning on having him, right?" She nods again. I just sigh a little at this; the situation we're in isn't very good for a pregnant woman. The good thing is that she must have been pregnant for a few weeks, seeing the fetus. I don't know if it's a fetus now; I don't know anything about those things.
Trini: "You're not going to tell the others, are you?" she asked, a little fearfully.
Dante: "I think they should know."
Trini: "Please don't tell them. Let me do it. I just don't feel safe right now. Besides, it would distract from the mission, and I don't want that to happen. I just have to stay safe."
I sighed deeply.
Dante: "Okay, just be safe."
Trini: "Thanks, Dante," she said with a smile.
I know this woman is going to get into something crazy, so I'll have to watch her closely so she doesn't hurt herself.
After the big reveal, we returned to the base to eat and rest before continuing the next day's trip.
...
We finally arrived at the island where the people were; it only took us three days to get there since we'd been on these floating islands.
The island seemed inhabited by normal people, so to speak, from what Trini and I felt. Normal in the sense that we didn't feel like they were Shiki's people but rather a civilization that inhabited this place.
The bad thing was that it was surrounded by this plant that repels animals, so Hun had to stay outside.
Trini: "Wait," she said, stopping us all.
Dante: "What's going on?" I asked. She just pointed at a specific spot, and when I looked, I could see a den den mushi the size of a carriage traveling through the streets of the small town.
Isis: "It's so huge; I didn't know rare snails could grow that big."
Sulli: "It must be another genetic mutation on their part; after all, the den den mushi are alive."
Dante: "For now, let's go inside and avoid those things," I said, entering the place with the others.
We stayed hidden from the locals so they wouldn't see us, and looking at the people, I could conclude two things. First, they weren't young men or women; second, the people were growing feathers on the sides of their arms. Could they have also played genetic games with these people?
???: "Who are you?" a voice came from behind us.
Isis: "KYAAAA," a frightened scream came from her.
I turned around to where the voice was coming from, along with the others, only to see a very young girl, about 4 or 5 years old. She was looking at us very curiously.
???: "You're not from around here; what are you doing here?" she asked curiously.
I could think about the curiosity of children. But I was worried about these people being on Shiki's side, but since she's such a little girl, I shouldn't think of her that way. I approached her to talk to her.
Dante: "We came to teach a certain Shiki a lesson; this man does bad things to people. I hope he can keep this a secret." I decided to use the innocence and naiveté of children to get her on our side; upon hearing my words, her eyes lit up.
???: "That means they'll save our village." At that moment, it clicked for me: these people are being tormented by Shiki. It made sense now, the vigilant den den mushi. I just nodded. "Great, let's go with Grandma; she should know," she said, taking my hand and leading me somewhere.
I just looked at the others to follow me.
Finally, we arrived at one of the cabins, where there was only a rather elderly woman. She looked at us a little surprised and fearful, especially since we were next to her granddaughter.
???: "Grandma, these people say they're going to save us from that Shiki." She looked at us briefly, but after a while, she approached me a little fearfully.
???: "You're the great hero, Dante, aren't you?"
...
The woman and the girl were named Maylin and Ever; they are grandmother and granddaughter. Ever's mother currently works at a place where Shiki's allies gather to drink, a little far from here.
Maylin previously worked there, like at Shiki's main base, but as a cook; but when younger people arrived, they kicked her out. For that same reason, she knows who I am, since news of the world reaches that place.
She explained to us about this place, about Shiki, her alliance, Merveille, IQ, and the Draf Greeb.
Dante: "I see. It's more complicated than I thought."
Sulli: "I imagine the wings appearing on your arms must be caused by IQ." She just nodded.
Maylin: "It works like a medicine to accelerate the evolution of animals, and, in all fairness, people are animals too."
Dante: "Make a decision. We'll save this village and defeat Shiki in the process."
Maylin: "You're sure of this, Mr. Hero."
Dante: "Don't worry, Grandma, and just call me Dante. To accomplish all this, I'll need your help. You've been there, haven't you?" She just nodded. "Okay, I'll need you to guide us to Shiki's base so I can knock his teeth out with one blow." I said with great confidence. She just nodded at me.
Arthur: "And when will we do this?"
Dante: "Right now." Everyone looked at me in surprise. "We can't wait any longer," I said, looking at everyone, focusing specifically on Trini.
Trini: "Dante is right, we can't wait any longer; the people on the other islands must be being tortured or imprisoned; we must act right now."
Isis: "You have a plan, don't you, Dante?"
Dante: "Obviously."
Maylin: "Okay, let me find someone to take care of Ever while I'm gone."
I just nodded, so she took her granddaughter and left.
Sulli: "Hey, Dante, how are we going to save these people, since if we defeat Shiki, all these islands will most likely fall into the water suddenly?"
Dante: "Don't worry, I have someone who will take care of it."
Isis: "Yeah? And who is it?"
Dante: "You," I said, pointing at Isis. She looked a little surprised, but after thinking about it for a moment, she glared at me.
Isis: "Wait, you want to take me out of the main action, bad boss."
Sometimes I wonder how she can be so airheaded; then I remember that this woman still confuses her right hand with her left hand, so I think it has to be her quirk. Now all that's left is Trini's and Sulli's.
(P.S. It took me almost the entire day to write this entire chapter, from 11:00 when I started until now, and I dedicated myself almost entirely to it.)
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