[Quick, store your brain now—two brains returned after a hundred years!]
[Special offer! Store one brain today and receive a random Devil Fruit as a bonus!]
"This… this is the Flare-Flare Fruit?"
Staring at the orange fruit with strange flickering flames etched into its skin, resting inside an ancient wooden chest, Don's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Wait—this is the world of One Piece?"
The thought hit him like a thunderclap. He had already been shocked by his surroundings—the bird's nest beneath his feet spanned at least twenty meters across, perched atop a towering tree no less than two hundred meters tall. This was clearly no ordinary world.
After all, in the world he came from, there were no birds this gigantic, nor trees so monstrously tall. Unless, of course, he had somehow traveled back to a prehistoric age of colossal beasts.
The last memory he had was of crossing a pedestrian lane at night, holding takeout, when two blinding headlights bore down on him at terrifying speed.
Had he… struck gold with his luck?
In every sense of the phrase—he had quite literally hit the jackpot.
The legends turned out to be true. How absurd was that?
What was even more absurd was the fact that, while searching for a way down from this dizzying height, he had stumbled upon this very chest. And inside, unmistakably, lay the kind of fruit he thought existed only in fiction.
Having followed the series that had been famous for over two decades, Don recognized it instantly. This strange, flame-marked fruit couldn't be anything else.
"So… I really did cross into the world of One Piece?"
Almost without realizing it, Don reached into the chest and picked up the orange fruit. His lips moved unconsciously as he muttered to himself.
Still, he couldn't bring himself to believe it fully. Yet there was one sure way to find out.
He stared at the fruit in his hand, lips pressed tightly together.
If this really was that incredibly dangerous pirate world, then for him, this so-called "dog-wouldn't-touch-it" Devil Fruit might be his one lifeline.
Because, in his current state, he had no way of resisting most dangers he might encounter.
Even if he somehow managed to leave this nest and find civilization, if he ran into pirates, he'd have no means of defending himself.
The manga never showed the truly gruesome side of pirate violence. But now, standing here in the flesh, Don understood all too well.
This was reality.
And this fruit—this was a Logia.
Even if people liked to joke about it, the Flare-Flare Fruit was still a Logia, a fruit embodying the elemental power of fire.
Forget everything else—just the passive ability to become intangible fire was enough to handle most threats.
The only drawback: he'd become a land-bound duck, unable to swim.
But compared to survival, that flaw was hardly worth mentioning.
These thoughts crashed through Don's mind in the span of seconds. His gaze fell once more on the fruit, his throat tightening. He swallowed hard.
If he ate this and gained the powers of flame, then he could confirm this truly was the pirate world.
If not—if it was poisonous, and he dropped dead—well, then that was just rotten luck.
Crunch!
Without further hesitation, Don bit deep into the fruit.
Yeah. That taste… it checked out.
The moment the pulp touched his tongue, his mind reeled.
In the world of One Piece, Devil Fruits were always described as unbearably foul, impossible to stomach calmly.
Some even claimed they were worse than eating literal shit.
Now he understood. He had no idea what shit tasted like, but the flavor in his mouth was a nauseating cocktail of every disgusting thing he'd ever hated in life.
It was as though his very soul was revolting against the pulp he forced down.
Pure disgust, from the depths of his being.
But fortune had fallen into his lap, and with it came resolve.
If a man isn't ruthless to himself, how can he stand tall?
And being ruthless to oneself was always harder than being ruthless to others.
Gritting his teeth, Don stretched his neck, swallowed the mush whole, then bit into the rest.
Crunch, crunch!
One mouthful after another.
Until, at last, the final piece slid down his throat, and he collapsed onto his back, face pale and lips blue.
His body convulsed from the shock.
Now he finally understood why all those predecessors who crossed into this world said Devil Fruits tasted worse than shit. Maybe they had never eaten the latter—but surely they believed nothing could taste worse.
And yet, compared to this… maybe shit would've been a delicacy.
It was a long while before Don finally managed to sit up again, his body gradually recovering from the nausea.
At the same time, he felt it—something awakening within him. Not just a sensation, but an instinct. A power.
Boom!
A burst of fire roared to life in his upraised palm.
The searing heat didn't harm him—in fact, it felt warm, almost comforting.
His clothes, too, were untouched by the flames.
No—closer inspection revealed his very sleeve had become fire.
When he dispersed the flames with a wave, the fabric reappeared unharmed.
"It's real. I've crossed into the pirate world… and I'm a Devil Fruit user now. So what does that make me? A… Flare-Flare Man?"
Don muttered aloud.
It sounded self-mocking, but in truth, it was a sign of his relief.
Though steady by nature, anyone faced with the reality of transmigration would be hard-pressed to stay calm.
His earlier calm demeanor had been an act—inside, he had been panicking like crazy.
Especially after noticing that this nest contained three colossal eggs, each taller than himself.
No dinosaur in history could have laid such things.
But now, with the power to become fire itself, the dangers ahead were no longer quite as terrifying.
After all, Logia users were practically invincible against anyone without Haki.
Just the passive intangibility alone could leave most opponents utterly helpless.
At the very least, he now had the foundation to survive.
With that realization, his nerves finally began to settle, and he turned his focus back to the nest around him.
The nest spanned a good twenty meters across.
If its owner existed, the bird's wingspan would easily reach forty or fifty meters.
To put it in perspective, a Tu-160 bomber's wingspan was fifty-four meters.
Even with his new powers, Don had no intention of testing himself against such a monster.
Circling the nest, he frowned in silence.
Getting down wouldn't be easy. Sure, the powers of a Logia might allow him to survive a two-hundred-meter fall, but he had no intention of testing that either.
He wasn't some shōnen protagonist with a freakishly strong body.
This was still his body, after all. Even if he now looked fourteen or fifteen, the scar he'd gotten on his knee as a child was still there.
"…What a mess," he muttered with a sigh.
Then his gaze fell upon the three massive eggs in the nest.
There was another way—he could burn the nest down.
Despite its massive size, it was built from branches, dry grass, and enormous feathers. Perfect fuel.
With the Flare-Flare Fruit, he could survive in the fire. As long as he landed on the tree's supporting branches below, he'd make it.
And who knows—maybe he could even enjoy some roasted eggs along the way.