"So, do you have any information about the appearance or general location of the Op-Op Fruit?"
"Unfortunately... only fragments of information remain about this Devil Fruit. The reason we can confirm it's in Alabasta is because a stationed garrison soldier there seemed to have discovered its existence." The battalion commander shook his head.
"Those Lunarians must know more specific details, but all I know is the approximate shape of the Op-Op Fruit."
There was nothing wrong with the battalion commander's words.
They were just here to do hard labor for the Lunarian lords.
So, there was no need for them to know every detail...
Their job was simply to find the Devil Fruit and hand it over to Boulde.
The task itself was quite simple, but...
Now it seemed his survival depended entirely on Li Chengfeng's blade.
"Since you know, you'll serve as our guide to find this Op-Op Fruit," Michael said, looking up with a smile.
"You'd better perform well—both your life and your brother's are in the hands of the Nefertari family."
"Yes, yes! I'll follow every order to the letter!"
...
After handling all governmental affairs in Alubarna, Michael led those eager to witness this historic moment, following the battalion commander on their journey to find the Op-Op Fruit.
Though they were searching for this extremely dangerous yet immensely useful Devil Fruit...
"Father, is the rumor true? The previous user of the Op-Op Fruit sacrificed their life for the Great Kingdom, granting eternal near-immortality to a young king at the time."
And this king was one of the Great Kingdom's past rulers who held real power.
Decades ago, however, he had already grown frail, as if every breath might be his last.
Yet he stubbornly refused to die...
Now, the time was ripe, and a new Op-Op Fruit was ready to emerge.
"Even so, what difference does it make? He was still suppressed by the Lunarians until he held no power whatsoever."
"In that case, whoever wants the Op-Op Fruit must be someone from the Lunarian race."
The group trekked through the vast desert, with nothing but barren landscapes surrounding them aside from their occasional conversations.
Of course, this was the typical image of a desert nation.
Still, Alabasta was relatively prosperous compared to others... thanks to its abundant metal resources.
However, the population of Alabasta was noticeably smaller than it would be in later eras.
Not far ahead, there was a hidden passage descending from the rocks...
"Are you sure the Devil Fruit is here?"
"There's a mark on the left. This place clearly hasn't been thoroughly searched yet."
Michael nodded.
In other words, there might be a Devil Fruit here, but there was no guarantee it would be the Op-Op Fruit.The secret passage spiraled several times underground until they reached the very bottom.
At the lowest level, a grand altar stood prominently in the space.
And placed upon that altar was a single fruit.
Michael stepped forward, finding no assassination traps or mechanisms.
Then he began examining this Devil Fruit.
First, it was yellow, whereas the Op-Op Fruit was a vivid, unmistakable red.
Second, the shape didn't match—the Op-Op Fruit should have been a heart-shaped cherry-like Devil Fruit.
The one before Michael, however, resembled a cactus with two arms raised upward as if holding something up.
A cactus…
Michael's lips twitched.
How on earth was one supposed to take a bite out of this?
Eating a Devil Fruit meant enduring its revolting stench to the point of delirium…
And at the same time, rolling over a bed of nails for good measure.
But Michael merely entertained the thought in his mind.
Soon, he began sifting through his memories to identify what fruit this was.
In the end, he arrived at a definitive answer…
This was none other than the Sand-Sand Fruit!
"The Sand-Sand Fruit?" Lily craned her neck to look at it. "So, the user of this Devil Fruit would be practically invincible in Alabasta, right?"
"Is that even a question?"
Michael scoffed.
Unless some naive brat with zero tact somehow managed to defeat Crocodile, the user of the Logia-type Sand-Sand Fruit, that is…
As long as common sense prevailed, no such brat would be able to take down a Sand-Sand Fruit user in the desert anytime soon.
"So, this isn't the Op-Op Fruit?" Imu stepped closer. "I've always had mixed feelings about Devil Fruits. Personally, unless I'm at the brink of starvation, I'd never touch the stuff."
"I wasn't planning on making you eat it anyway… Unless you're planning to permanently relocate to Alabasta after consuming it?"
"Uh… fair point." Imu nodded, his expression growing serious. "Then who should eat it?"
"Not me either…"
Lily shook her head firmly.
Under Imu's guidance over the years, she had become an exemplary ruler of the kingdom.
She had always made a point to avoid Devil Fruit powers whenever possible.
"I wasn't expecting either of you to eat it… Why not just keep it in Alabasta's royal palace until you find someone trustworthy who can handle it and settle down here?"
"That… actually makes sense." Imu rolled his eyes. "Well, since it's not here, let's move on to the next suspected location… Out of nineteen possible spots, we've only searched eleven so far."
"I agree… After all, we still have our plans to carry out… We really shouldn't linger too long on breaks like this."
"Breaks…" Joy Boy sighed listlessly. "Who in the world spends their 'break time' wandering around Alabasta's uninhabited wastelands?"
...
In the end, the rumors of the Op-Op Fruit appearing in Alabasta turned out to be unfounded.
At least with all the currently known information, there's no way to pinpoint the approximate location of this Devil Fruit...
But Michael wasn't too surprised by this.
Devil Fruits do indeed have a tendency to "run away" on their own.
Take the Nika fruit for example—after arriving in later generations, it had been actively evading the World Government's search efforts.
"Should I... reply to the Great Kingdom like this?"
The army commander stood outside the gates of Alubarna in his armor.
"This is your only chance to return to the Great Kingdom."
"Staying here means certain death. Going to the Great Kingdom offers a possibility of survival. Choose."
"Then I'll choose the latter."
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