"But."
"I need to remind you of one thing."
"Huh?"
Seeing Yuuto Kagami suddenly adopt a serious expression, Shen Lele instantly grew nervous.
Just as she was bracing herself for some shocking or unacceptable truth—
Yuuto Kagami suddenly smiled, a mischievous glint in his eyes:
"The taste of a Devil Fruit… is absolutely disgusting."
"Huh??"
Shen Lele froze for a moment, clearly not understanding what exactly he meant by "disgusting."
But some viewers in the livestream instantly recalled the grimace Yuuto Kagami made when he ate the Ice-Ice Fruit earlier—and it all clicked.
"It's fine!"
"As long as I can gain superpowers, I don't care how bad it tastes!" Shen Lele said with a shake of her head.
"Phew…"
Then she took a deep breath.
Amidst the envious and jealous stares of countless online viewers, she bit down hard on the String-String Fruit!
"Mmff!"
The moment the fruit's flesh entered her mouth, everyone could see the drastic change in her expression.
Her whole face scrunched up like a bitter melon!
[Chat barrage]:
— Damn, is this Sichuan opera face-changing?! 😂
— Holy crap, just how bad does that taste?! That expression is rough!
— Respect! I don't think I even looked that bad the last time I ate poop!
— Bro above, that casual sentence of yours just shook me to my core…
Watching Shen Lele's face twist and contort in pain, the whole chat burst into laughter.
At the same time, everyone was secretly wondering:
Just what does a Devil Fruit taste like?!
After forcing down the bite of fruit, Shen Lele began panting like she'd just survived a disaster.
When she finally recovered, she looked at the rest of the String-String Fruit in her hand with a hesitant expression.
There was no helping it—the taste was just too horrific!
Noticing her hesitation, Yuuto Kagami kindly offered a reminder:
"Actually, you don't need to eat the whole fruit."
"Just one bite is enough to gain the power."
"Also, there's something everyone should be aware of."
"If more than one person eats the Devil Fruit, only the first person to take a bite will obtain its power."
"Phew… just one bite, huh…"
Upon hearing that, Shen Lele exhaled in visible relief.
Her face was full of gratitude and lingering dread.
Viewers in the livestream were having a field day.
[Chat barrage]:
— LOL, that fruit must taste insanely bad if one bite feels like escaping death!
— Dang, so only the first person gets powers? That's a shame.
— I'll admit, I was thinking about sharing a fruit with someone… guess that won't work.
— Honestly, maybe it's for the best. After seeing that expression, I'd rather not eat it anyway.
— Hey, girl! Hurry up and try out your powers!
— Yeah! Show us what you can do already!
Seeing that barrage of comments, Shen Lele immediately perked up.
She turned toward Yuuto Kagami on the stream and nervously asked:
"Brother Fan, I already have the power of the String-String Fruit now, right?"
"S-So… how do I actually use it?"
Snap!
Yuuto Kagami flicked his fingers, and an icy, crystalline spike appeared on his fingertip.
"It's simple."
"Just visualize strings in your mind. Imagine what you want to create, and then make it happen!"
[Chat barrage]:
— Wait, using a fruit power is that easy?!
— I've imagined it like a hundred times already—why isn't it working for me?!
— Genius, you didn't eat the fruit. Of course it won't work!
"Okay!"
Despite the nonsense in the chat, Shen Lele nodded vigorously.
Then, under the eager and expectant gazes of the viewers, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
A few seconds later, her eyes snapped open.
She raised her hand—and whoosh! Several visible white threads shot out from her fingertips!
"Shu-shu-shu!"
The white threads danced in the air!
"Shoom!"
Under Shen Lele's control, the threads gathered together and shot toward a pencil on the table, yanking it into her hand.
Then, with a flick of her mind, the threads tightened with incredible force—
SNAP!
The pencil was cleanly sliced in two!
"Whoa!!"
[Chat barrage]:
— HOLY SHIT, she really did it!!
— Damn! Those threads are sharp!
— She's got it down already! That was awesome!
"I-I actually did it!"
Shen Lele looked at the threads in front of her, face full of joy and amazement.
"Congratulations!"
Yuuto Kagami congratulated her at just the right moment.
But—
Just as Shen Lele was still excitedly playing with her new String-String powers, Yuuto Kagami's tone suddenly changed.
His face grew serious once more.
"There's something else I need to tell you."
"And it's very important… It could even put your life in danger."
At those words, Shen Lele's smile froze.
The entire livestream fell silent.
Everyone stared nervously at Yuuto Kagami.
And then—
"The truth is… Devil Fruit powers do come with a cost."
"Huh?!"
Shen Lele was stunned.
The chat erupted.
[Chat barrage]:
— Wait WHAT?! There's a cost?!
— Are there side effects?!
— Will she turn ugly? Lose her lifespan?!
— Bro! Why didn't you say this earlier?! That poor girl's already eaten it!
"The reason it's called a Devil Fruit…"
"Is because those who eat it are cursed by the sea."
"The curse… is that you will never be able to swim again."
"And if you come into contact with a special substance called Seastone, your powers will stop working altogether."
[Chat barrage]:
— Cursed by the sea?!
— No swimming?! Not even touching seawater?! That's a HUGE drawback!
— Tbh, compared to having superpowers, that's not too bad.
— Yeah, I'd still eat one in a heartbeat. Just avoid the ocean, right?
Just as panic started to build, Yuuto Kagami added calmly:
"But you don't need to worry too much."
"The reason Devil Fruit users can't touch seawater is because the ocean in the One Piece world contains a substance similar to Seastone."
"But on Blue Star, our oceans currently don't have anything like that."
As soon as he said that—
The whole stream went quiet.
Even the bold viewers who'd said they didn't care about the side effects fell silent.
"So that's how it is…"
As for Shen Lele, she finally relaxed completely.
After offering Yuuto Kagami a sincere thank-you, she disconnected from the stream.
"Alright," Yuuto Kagami said, turning to the camera.
"Time to begin searching for the second treasure."
With that, the livestream chat exploded with excitement once more!
◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews. comment
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on P@treon if you're interested: patreon.com/HorizonStudios0