A TIME LATER
Rody lay lazily on the lounge chair, somewhat bored. At one point, he seemed to remember something. The next moment, the shadow next to Rody seemed to come to life, spinning frantically. Finally, after a few seconds, a strange-looking fruit emerged from within. It was black and shaped like a feline's paw, with strange patterns that seemed to writhe on its surface.
Rody reached out and caught the fruit thrown by the shadow. Holding it in his hands, he observed the Devil Fruit with interest. This Devil Fruit was the one he had obtained earlier in the East Blue, along with the instruction manual for practicing Haki.
"Seeing its peculiar shape, it should be a Zoan-type, right?" Rody thought with interest as he took a sip of his orange juice.
At that moment, Rody, who was observing the Devil Fruit, narrowed his eyes, and a blue energy with black lines appeared in his hand, and he began to imbue the Devil Fruit, covering it completely.
This strange energy was naturally his cursed energy. The goal of doing all this was to create a new shikigami for his Ten Shadows Technique, but derived from the Devil Fruit.
As someone who obtained the Curse King Ryomen Sukuna's template, he naturally inherited all his memories, including the creation of cursed objects, the creation of curses, and other sorcery rituals.
In his memory, there are two ways to create a shikigami. The first is through inherited shikigami using an innate technique. In this case, the Ten Shadows Technique would be a clear example of an innate inherited technique. However, in this case, the shikigami is not created from scratch, but already exists within the technique itself.
Once a mage possesses an innate technique that allows them to summon a shikigami, they channel cursed energy to summon its spirit form. However, to use this shikigami in combat, they must first exorcise it in order to gain control.
In this case, this method is unsuitable for what they intend to do, so it is ruled out. The second method involves creation through a molding technique or a contract. Some sorcerers can create personalized shikigami by infusing their cursed energy into a form or seal.
First, a vessel is chosen, be it paper, a common stone, a talisman, an animal, etc.
Once this is done, it is imbued with cursed energy, giving it a spirit form, ensuring that it is assigned a will or "specific commands" to determine the shikigami's character.
Finally, once this is done, a sealing technique or contract is employed that binds the shikigami to the mage. It's worth noting that the more detailed the contract or symbol, the more stable the shikigami will be.
If the shikigami dies, it usually dissolves with its master, or in other cases, if the shikigami is too powerful, it becomes a free spirit.
But creating a shikigami isn't as simple as it seems. The first thing to keep in mind is that forming a shikigami from scratch requires a terrifying amount of cursed energy. This is nothing compared to seeking out a wild curse and transforming it into a shikigami through a contract ritual.
This is another interesting point for Rody. By inheriting Sukuna's memory, he understood the differences between curses and shikigami, for example. A curse is born from negative human emotions; on the other hand, a shikigami is created by infusing cursed energy into an object, giving it a spiritual form, or by seeking out a curse and, through a contract ritual, subduing it to the caster to follow their will.
Finally, a major difference between the two is that a curse is free and hostile to everything around it, while a shikigami's actions are completely controlled by the caster.
Back on topic, his current goal is to create a shikigami. Not that he needs it, but he's doing it more out of boredom. After all, he already has ten shikigami. One more won't change things much.
As for the object to store his shikigami, isn't his Ten Shadows Technique the best place to do it?
After a few minutes, a piece of information entered his mind. "So that's it, huh. Zoan Neko Neko no mi type, Black Panther model," Rody thought, learning which Devil Fruit he had obtained.
This Devil Fruit is of the same quality as Rob Lucci's. After all, a panther is practically the same as a leopard, except that a panther has melanism, which is excess dark pigmentation. So it's no exaggeration to say they're the same.
A FEW MINUTES LATER
The more he imbued the Devil Fruit with his cursed energy, the more Rody felt it tremble in his hands, as if trying to resist what he wanted to do.
"Hmm, is the Devil Fruit trying to defend itself?" Rody thought with interest, seeing how the Devil Fruit resisted his shikigami-making ritual.
Rody knew that Devil Fruits possessed willpower, but his knowledge only extended to Zoan-type Devil Fruits. As for the Paramecia-type and Logia-type Devil Fruits, he had no idea. After all, as far as he could recall, it was never mentioned in the manga that these two also possessed it.
Vegapunk, the world's number one scientist, mentions that Zoan-type Devil Fruits possess willpower within them, even more so if it's a Mythical Zoan.
This would explain how the Hito Hito no Mi, Nika Model, was able to deceive the World Government for hundreds of years. It is estimated that the willpower of this Devil Fruit is so great that it managed to fool the World Government into believing it was another Devil Fruit.
This inner willpower in Zoan-type Devil Fruits should not be underestimated. After all, if the Devil Fruit's will is not compatible with its user's, it can overpower them at a certain point. This would explain why Impel Down's jailers have silly faces and strange physical appearances.
Rody theorizes that these jailers were on the verge of awakening, but at that moment, the Devil Fruit's will, noticing it was incompatible with its user, took control of its host.
That's why Rody didn't let Nami eat this Devil Fruit; after all, prevention is better than cure; he didn't want a beauty like Nami to turn into a disgusting creature.
Noticing how the Devil Fruit's will was resisting, Rody smiled disdainfully. Immediately afterward, the amount of cursed energy infusing the Devil Fruit increased terrifyingly.
Rody's cursed energy, like an endless abyss, began to diminish and gradually subdue the Devil Fruit's will. After a few minutes, Rody noticed that the Devil Fruit's will had stopped resisting, as if it had accepted its fate.
"So you've understood your place," Rody thought, noticing this change. At that moment, Rody had two options: eliminate the Devil Fruit's will and create a new one from scratch, or subdue the existing one and bind it to an eternal contract under his service.
Naturally, Rody opted for the latter. After all, creating his shikigami's will from scratch would take a long time, and he was too lazy for that. He preferred to simply forcibly subdue this little black cat.
Feeling that everything was ready, Rody knew the final step had arrived. Now he had to seal his new shikigami into an object. But naturally, Rody didn't opt for this method. Instead, he decided to seal this new shikigami into his Ten Shadows Technique.
....
With that in mind, Rody tried it, but in the next instant, he felt the clear rejection of his own innate technique, causing Rody to frown.
But then Rody understood why his Ten Shadows technique seemed to repel him. There was simply a limit to the number of shikigami the Ten Shadows technique could withstand.
"I see!" Rody nodded inwardly.
Of course, it wasn't going to be that easy. If this were possible, the ancient Zenin Clan sorcerers who inherited the Ten Shadows technique would have tried before.
Or, you could say they tried, but failed. One lacked the skill to do it, and the other probably did so due to his pettiness. This isn't surprising; it's well known that the Zenin Clan is an extremely petty clan, abiding by the traditions of their ancestors without question. Modifying the Ten Shadows technique, the most powerful technique inherited by the Clan, is practically sacrilege for them.
So it was likely that other Ten Shadows users also wanted to add new shikigami to the Ten Shadows, but were unable to do so due to a lack of cursed energy capacity and the limitations of the technique itself, in addition to the fear of breaking tradition.
Thinking about this, Rody sneered in his heart. To be tied to the past without following the path of the times, a bunch of ignorant people trapped in the glory of the past, no wonder they were massacred by one of their own. What a joke!
Rody stopped thinking about such nonsense and focused on his goal. "Hmmm, I see. So it can be done like this. If that's the case, which one should I eliminate?" Rody thought.
After thinking for a few seconds, Rody made his decision and carried it out without hesitation. The next instant, the Devil Fruit in his hand began to be enveloped by shadows.
DISAPPEAR
A few seconds later, the Devil Fruit, shaped like a cat's paw, disappeared into the shadows, leaving only an ordinary apple in Rody's hands, which turned to dust within seconds.
Success! Rody thought excitedly, seeing that everything he had done had paid off.
"Wooooooaaahh, Rody, what... what happened to my 100 million berries!" Nami exclaimed as she watched the Devil Fruit in Rody's hand disappear, turning to dust.
At that moment, Nami's face looked like that of someone who had lost something important in their life. Nami had been studying in the library for several hours. At that moment, while studying, she felt her body extremely exhausted from the effort, so she decided to go to the bow of the ship to rest.
But who would have imagined that upon arriving, she would find a heartbreaking scene: that Devil Fruit, worth 100 million berries, had turned to dust.
"What a waste of money, what a blatant waste of money, Rody! If you didn't want it, why destroy it? You could have given it to me, and I would have taken care of getting those 100 million berries!" Nami said, her voice breaking as tears threatened to spill out.
....
Seeing Nami's reaction after seeing the Devil Fruit disappear, Rody was speechless, not knowing what to say. Finally, finding no words, Rody pulled her by the arm and laid her on his chest.
He stroked her back and said softly, "Don't worry about that Devil Fruit. If you only want gold and jewels, wait a while. Soon you'll have so much that you won't know what to do with it!"
Sniff, sniff
"It's not that money matters, Rody, well, just a little. "What really hurts me is seeing you wasting things like this!" Nami sobbed in Rody's arms and said sadly.
...
Hearing Nami's words, Rody rolled his eyes, obviously not believing Nami's charade that she didn't care about the money. It was obvious that Nami cried because those 100 million berries disappeared just like that, as if by magic.
"Be that as it may, that Devil Fruit, don't think I destroyed it on a whim. In reality, this happened because I was planning to make it one of my summoned pets. You know what I mean, right?" Rody stroked Nami's back and said softly.
"Ah, I see, Rody!" Nami blinked slightly and said in a warm voice, with no trace of her previous sadness.
....
Rody was once again speechless. This woman lived up to her nickname, the greedy kitty Nami. The only thing that seemed to calm her down was him telling her they would soon have gold and jewels. This made Nami recover from her sadness.
"Mr. Rody, Miss Nami, we've reached our destination. There's an island ahead."
At that moment, Rody and Nami, who were playing, heard Bumblebee's exclamation, interrupting their interaction.
"Hmm," Rody murmured and looked ahead. As he looked up, he glimpsed the silhouette of an island vaguely looming on the horizon.
"Look, Rody, look, there are a bunch of giant cacti right in front of us!" Nami exclaimed, surprised at the enormous cacti on the island. She had never seen a cactus that big.
"Hmm, that's pretty big!" Rody responded with interest, seeing the silhouettes of the enormous cacti. As the ship moved forward, the enormous cacti on the island became more visible.
"Captain, we've seen a river in front of us crossing the island. We can continue sailing directly and navigate the river into the interior of the island without having to dock on the shore and walk to the nearest town," Leo and José said excitedly as they scanned the island carefully through their telescopes.
"Do it then!" Rody responded with a smile.