The moment Ross laid eyes on the fruit, his pupils gleamed with astonishment.
It was a round, fiery-orange fruit covered in swirling patterns like coiling flames. A short teal stem sprouted from one end, while the other ended in a shape that resembled flickering fire. Countless small flame-like whorls wove together across its surface, giving the entire fruit the appearance of a burning sphere alive and glowing with energy.
Ross recognized it immediately. He could never mistake this fruit, not even in his dreams.
The Flame-Flame Fruit.
A Logia-type Devil Fruit the embodiment of fire itself. The one that allowed its user to transform into flames, create fire at will, and become untouchable by normal physical attacks. Blades, bullets, and fists would all pass through harmlessly.
"The Flame-Flame Fruit," Ross murmured under his breath, his voice trembling with excitement. His eyes shone like twin torches.
As a lifelong One Piece fan, he knew this fruit's shape better than he knew his own reflection.
When he first arrived in this world, he had often asked himself a question: If I could get one Devil Fruit just one which would it be?
His answer had never changed.
Not the Rubber-Rubber Fruit of Monkey D. Luffy.
But this one the Logia of fire, the most dazzling, the most beautiful of them all the Flame-Flame Fruit.
At that moment, Ross's heart was burning hotter than the fruit itself. The desire in his eyes was not just for its power, but for the memories and dreams it represented. At the same time, the mysterious system embedded within his mind flared to life.
It shone brighter than ever before, humming with energy as if responding directly to the fruit before him.
There was no longer any doubt. This was what had been calling to him the very reason he had been drawn to this drifting island.
"What kind of fruit is that?" Tess Omic asked, stepping closer. His expression was filled with curiosity rather than awe. "Looks kinda weird, but maybe it tastes good?"
Ross didn't bother answering.
He crouched down and carefully picked up the fruit. The moment his fingers touched it, a brilliant light exploded in his mind.
Two small square icons appeared within his mental space side by side, glowing faintly like buttons waiting to be pressed.
The left square read Team, and the right one read Enhancement.
Ross's brows furrowed slightly. There was something oddly familiar about this interface. He couldn't place it, but it stirred an old memory buried deep in his mind.
After a moment of hesitation, he focused his thoughts on the Team icon.
The box instantly expanded, displaying new information in crisp golden text:
Companions: None
Subordinates: 1 [Daily Gain: 0.02 Enhancement Points]
Enhancement Points: 0.02 [Insufficient for upgrade]
Ross blinked, stunned. He stared blankly at the data, his mind spinning in disbelief.
After several seconds, he snapped back to himself and quickly shifted his focus to the right-hand box labeled Enhancement.
A new window appeared before him:
Strength: 19%
Willpower: 6%
Speed: 17%
Ability: ???
Enhancement Points: 0.02 [Insufficient for upgrade]
Ross froze, his mouth falling open slightly. "Wait a second... isn't this the same stat system I designed for that old game I wrote in high school?"
The realization hit him like a thunderbolt.
Back when he had just entered high school, Ross had been obsessed with One Piece. Inspired, he had once dreamed of creating his own One Piece RPG. He even filled an entire notebook with game systems, character stats, and skill trees.
Of course, making the game had turned out to be much harder than he'd imagined. Writing down ideas was one thing actually building a game was another. Even professional programmers would have struggled with the scale of what he'd envisioned.
His designs had been too ambitious, too vast. The concept was brilliant but far beyond what one person could ever accomplish. And Ross himself had known nothing about programming back then.
So, like many dreams of youth, it had faded away.
He'd eventually tossed the notebook aside, forgetting it completely.
And now five or six years later that same system had reappeared before him, alive inside his mind, as if the world itself had taken his old fantasy and turned it into reality.
He couldn't remember every detail from that notebook, but one thing stood out clearly in his memory:
The Team Enhancement function could only be unlocked after obtaining a Devil Fruit.
Ross let out a soft laugh, half in disbelief. "So my old game design turned into my cheat system. That's… insane."
He wasn't overly shocked after all, he'd been through stranger things since arriving in this world but the irony wasn't lost on him.
Still, even with the system reawakening, it wasn't what made his heart race the most. That honor belonged to the fruit still resting in his palm.
The Flame-Flame Fruit.
Among all Logia-class fruits, it wasn't the most powerful, but it was undoubtedly one of the most dazzling. It might not surpass the Dark-Dark Fruit in destructive potential or the Lightning-Lighting Fruit in speed, but it possessed something the others lacked a soul.
It burned with beauty, pride, and the spirit of freedom itself.
To Ross, this fruit wasn't just an object of power it was emotion, nostalgia, and admiration woven together.
He remembered vividly the first time he saw Ace in the Alabasta arc standing tall, smiling, and casually burning half a dozen pirate ships into ash with a single punch of fire.
He remembered Ace's defiance, his courage when he faced Blackbeard, and that unforgettable line:
"If I bowed to power, I wouldn't be a man. I'll never let regret stain my life."
And above all, he remembered that moment at Marineford Ace's final stand.
When the magma fist of Admiral Akainu pierced his chest, when Ace fell into Luffy's arms with a smile and whispered his final words…
That scene had shattered him. He had cried harder that day than he ever had before.
Ace was more than a character to him. He was a symbol a man who burned brightly and freely until the very end.
To Ross, the Flame-Flame Fruit was sacred. No other Devil Fruit could ever replace it.
He sat quietly for a long moment, the fruit glowing softly in his hand. A twinge of melancholy tugged at his heart.
But he didn't eat it right away.
Something about this island still felt wrong.
He glanced around, his instincts sharpening. The wind was still, the air heavy.
And then, in the corner of his eye, he saw it a half-buried skeleton lying in the dirt, its bones weathered by time.
Ross's expression hardened instantly.
The excitement faded from his face, replaced by a cold seriousness.
For the first time since finding the fruit, he felt a chill deeper than any ocean breeze.
Something had happened here.
And whatever it was, it had left behind the Flame-Flame Fruit.