Back at the anchorage, Yami brought Carina and Nami aboard Mad Treasure's sailboat.
Turning to the two girls with empty hands, Yami asked as if it were nothing, "And the treasure?"
"Uh… ahaha, treasure? I don't have any treasure!"
Their hearts skipped. Carina forced a stiff smile.
Nami wore a strained grin as well.
Seeing their shifty eyes—about as subtle as a signboard—Yami nearly laughed.
He set down Mad Treasure's corpse and said in a mock-irritated tone, "What are you afraid of? If I cared about treasure, I'd have robbed you already."
"Well then, seeing is believing. Let me show you your future Master's strength."
He pointed at Nami. "Go to the galley and bring me a fruit from the icebox."
"…!"
Still cowed by Yami, Nami ran into the cabin and quickly returned with an ordinary piece of fruit.
Taking it, Yami deftly released black mist and wrapped Mad Treasure's corpse.
Unlike the last two times he'd seized a power, this time he poured out even more darkness and wrapped himself as well.
Ink-dark mist swelled into a great black sphere before the girls' eyes.
At the sight of it, they remembered the treasure hunters being swallowed and gulped, stepping back by reflex.
The sphere formed—and quickly faded.
All the mist flowed back, absorbed into the black hole's space.
When Yami and Mad Treasure's body reappeared, sharp-eyed Carina instantly noticed the fruit in Yami's hand had changed.
Before, it was an ordinary fruit that fit his palm, neither big nor small.
Now its size had swelled. It had turned into a silver-white fruit covered in special spiral patterns, like the tracery of chains.
Wait… chains?!
A spark flashed through Carina's mind. Her blue eyes flew wide.
"C-could it be…"
Even the iron-nerved girl stammered. The guess was too unbelievable.
"Carina, what is it?"
Seeing her partner so shaken, Nami asked in curiosity.
Yami was very satisfied with Carina's reaction, full of praise for her powers of observation.
He nodded, confirming her guess. "Correct. That fruit now holds the Devil Fruit that man had eaten."
"Y-you're kidding me. A Devil Fruit?"
Nami finally sensed something was off, staring at the transformed fruit in disbelief.
"Hiss…"
Carina drew a sharp breath, then ventured a wilder guess. "M-Master, you can seize the sea's secret treasure from someone who's eaten it because of that black mist. Does that mean all ability users can take each other's powers?"
"Your head is sharp. This one is my unique ability."
Yami liked the girl even more and introduced himself. "I'm Yami, user of the Logia Dark-Dark Fruit, the Paramecia Door-Door Fruit, and the Paramecia Glare-Glare Fruit."
"A-amazing…"
Carina and Nami didn't grasp what it meant to be a three-fruit user, but they felt the awe.
From their expressions, Yami knew they understood Devil Fruits only as 'sea's secret treasures.'
So he didn't belabor it. Tossing the fruit lightly, he said, "A Devil Fruit goes for at least a hundred million belli. With an ability like mine, do you think I'd be eyeing that little stash of yours?"
Carina and Nami shook their heads without thinking.
"I'll give you half an hour. Go fetch your treasure back. I won't be staying on this uninhabited island."
Leaving that, Yami turned and walked into the cabin.
Watching his back, Carina and Nami obediently disembarked to retrieve the loot.
"Carina…"
On the way, Nami kept glancing back at the ship.
When Yami didn't appear at the bow, she couldn't hold back and looked to Carina to speak.
"Shh."
Carina seemed to know what Nami wanted to say and put a finger to her lips.
Seeing Nami's hesitation, she leaned close and whispered in her ear, "A test."
"...Mm."
After so long together, Nami caught her meaning at once and nodded again and again.
What she had been about to ask was whether they should use the chance to hide.
An uninhabited island is big. If they truly hid, it wouldn't be easy for that man to find them.
If they saw him searching, they could seize a chance to steal the ship and flee. Odds were good they could escape.
But Carina's words made Nami abandon the thought.
Because of how he appeared—opening a door in the air and stepping out of a green space.
Right now, that man might well be in that space, watching in silence.
If they hid, he could step out of it at any moment.
How would they explain then?
As Carina said, it was a test.
In truth, Carina thought further than Nami.
More precisely, it wasn't just Yami's test; it was the road ahead.
This Master was plainly not the same as some captain they might 'throw in' with.
He was a strong one unlike any she had met since she went to sea, one who shattered her worldview.
To be able to seize Devil Fruits—what did that truly mean?
She didn't know everything about Devil Fruits, but she knew that method was terrifying.
Becoming the maid of such a powerhouse might be an opportunity.
Caught by Mad Treasure, she had tasted the suffocating nearness of death for the first time. She couldn't go on like this.
This time Yami had saved them.
If next time someone took them, she didn't dare imagine what they might suffer.
To live on this sea, they needed to follow a true powerhouse.
This Master fit that bill.
First, spend some time and see whether this Master was dependable—worthy of following.
Carina resolved it in her heart.
"Is this what true quick wits look like in the real world?"
Carina didn't know that every thought in her heart was laid bare to Yami by mind-reading.
Seeing the girl pierce his 'test' in an instant, recognize reality, and move to seize the chance, Yami could only marvel, "What a find."
A find indeed.
He had thought that in this hero-saves-the-beauty, Nami would be the greatest prize.
Yet a girl who existed only in a movie had surprised him even more.
Her intellect, her reactions, her eye—all refreshed Yami's view.
In a real world, you can never look down on those characters who took only a little space in the original story.
In the real world, many who showed up rarely were hidden gems buried in dust.