After Michael and Stella left the Marine Headquarters building, they headed straight to the library.
Upon entering the library, Michael immediately handed the slip of paper to the librarian.
"Please wait a moment, Commander Michael."
The librarian turned and walked to a massive safe.
After unlocking it, he retrieved a thick, heavy volume.
"You have half an hour to read the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia." With that, he handed it to Michael.
After leading Stella to sit in a quiet corner, Michael opened the front page of the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia.
A striking image of a black tree filled the page—the symbolic Tree of Devil Fruits.
Stella took off the bag she'd been carrying and placed it on the table. Inside, three Devil Fruits lay quietly.
"Let me take a look..."
"This purple one that looks like a pear... it's a Paramecia-class Soundwave Fruit."
"And this one... found it!"
"This is a Zoan-class Mouse-Mouse Fruit. Tch, doesn't seem that useful."
Michael quickly found the information on two of the fruits.
But no matter how hard he searched, he couldn't find any details on the last one.
So he began carefully examining the third Devil Fruit.
Its appearance resembled a melon formed entirely from fluffy clouds.
This feature...
It looked very much like a Logia-type fruit.
Paramecia fruits usually had external "traits," while Zoans bore corresponding "animal features."
But Logia-class fruits typically revealed "elemental attributes" in their appearance.
For example, the Flame-Flame Fruit had flame-like edges, and the Rumble-Rumble Fruit resembled a ball of lightning.
However...
This fruit could still potentially be Paramecia.
Michael found himself stuck choosing between the Soundwave Fruit and the unidentified one.
To be honest, the Soundwave Fruit did suit Stella's identity as a wandering singer quite well.
It just didn't have much potential in the long run.
"Stella, which Devil Fruit do you want to choose?" Michael placed the two fruits in front of her. "The Paramecia-class Soundwave Fruit, or this unidentified one that might be a Logia?"
"You pick first. I'll just take the one you don't want."
Stella blinked and nudged the fruit Michael offered back toward him.
"Uh, I appreciate your thoughtfulness..." Michael said awkwardly, "But I've already eaten a Devil Fruit."
"Wouldn't eating a second one let you gain another power?"
"Nice idea, but everyone can only eat one Devil Fruit. If you eat a second..."
Michael didn't finish the sentence and instead made a "BOOM!" gesture with his hands.
Realizing her question had been a bit ignorant, Stella lowered her head and thought for a moment.
Finally, she reached out for the unknown fruit.
"When life presents a crossroads, sometimes you've just got to take a gamble, right?"
With that, she raised it to her mouth.
"Wait!"
Michael was alarmed. He reached out to stop her—but she had already taken a huge bite.
"...This is the most disgusting thing in the entire world, hands down!"
"Cough cough cough! Why didn't you tell me it tasted like this?!"
"Stella! The light in your eyes is fading! Does the taste really turn people yandere?!"
The taste exploded on her tongue, and her face almost turned the same color as her eyes.
But she resisted the nausea and forced herself to finish the whole fruit.
Michael wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
The fact that you only need to take one bite of a Devil Fruit...
Let's not tell her that just yet.
Just like what happened when Michael ate his fruit, Stella immediately understood what ability she had gained.
"Michael, we made the right bet!"
"I've eaten the Cloud-Cloud Fruit and become a Cloud Human."
With that, her body transformed into a patch of pure white cloud, visually resembling Smoker's Smoke-Smoke Fruit.
As for calling it a lower-tier version of the Ice and Rumble Fruits...
It actually made perfect sense!
Clouds are composed of micro-ice crystals and water droplets.
And among cloud types, there are "cumulonimbus" clouds—aka thunderclouds.
A compound elemental type!
Of course, its freezing and lightning capabilities were weaker than those of the higher-tier fruits.
But there are only so many Logia fruits in total. Against most enemies, this fruit would be incredibly powerful.
Michael couldn't help but marvel again—how lucky was that slave trafficker?
Not only did he capture Stella, but he also ended up with three Devil Fruits, one of which was a Logia!
"But… are there any downsides to eating a Devil Fruit?" Stella asked next. "Do you really just gain power by enduring a disgusting taste? That sounds too good to be true."
"Of course there's a downside. After eating one, the sea rejects you. You become a landlubber, and contact with seawater causes your powers to vanish and your body to go limp."
"Is that so? Then it doesn't matter." Stella smiled contentedly. "I was already a landlubber to begin with."
"...You say that with such pride!"
...
After leaving the library, Michael brought Stella to his home in Marineford.
To be precise...
It was Sengoku's home.
But it was also the first place Michael had lived in for over a week at a time.
A two-story house with a courtyard.
He easily pushed open the gate, which had never been locked. Memories came flooding back like a tide.
The three years he'd spent in that little courtyard might have been the most relaxing years of his life.
Just as Michael was reminiscing, a window on the second floor suddenly swung open.
A tall, sleepy-looking teenager poked his head out.
"Who is it? Who comes knocking on someone's door at midday—Mi, Michael!?Is that you!?"
The boy rubbed his eyes again. His sclera nearly popped out from the effort.
Then, with a cheer, he leapt straight out of the second-story window.
"Yo, Rosinante, long time no see." Michael reached out to pat Rosinante on the shoulder, but the younger man had grown taller than him. He settled for patting his arm instead. "You... you're over three and a half meters tall now! What have you been eating—livestock feed?!"
Michael just couldn't resist poking fun at his height.
Especially knowing that Rosinante would eventually grow to 4.3 meters!
The height standards for humans in the One Piece world were ridiculous.
At 1.88 meters, Michael was tall by normal standards.
But in Marineford...
1.9 meters was nothing.
Rosinante had no idea what his brother was thinking. He simply scooped Michael into the air, grinning ear to ear.
"Michael! I thought you wouldn't come back until your next promotion!"
"Anyway... welcome home!"
Michael paused for a second, and all the gloom that had been pressing on his heart vanished.
"Yeah... I'm home."