Chapter 3: Paramecia · Moonlight Fruit Ability
"Then you'd better have my back, Rocks!"
"And from now on, when I make requests, I hope you'll help out. I'll trade you even more information in return."
Akane swallowed the food and accepted Rocks' invitation on the spot, becoming member \(001\) of the Rocks Pirates.
Akane even started negotiating terms with Rocks.
"Wororororo! Fine! A trade of interests works too!"
Rocks laughed wildly, his ambition swelling even further. In a great mood, he led Akane and the soldiers out of the dim prison hold.
"The wind of freedom, the warmth of the sun...
You only understand its value after you've lost it..."
Standing at the bow, Akane embraced it all, eyes growing sharper.
Akane swore never to become a prisoner again.
Sea-Prism Stone cuffs and shackles, an explosive collar—those things could drive anyone to despair.
And Akane would also take revenge for the kind old man and woman of Gu Yue Village.
At that moment—
As stamina and spirit recovered, clusters of tiny white soul-flame insects began to appear around Akane, drifting over Akane's shoulders, almost like an awakened Devil Fruit power.
"Hey, kid! Is this your ability?"
Rocks was extremely interested in Akane's ability to foresee the future.
With powerful Observation Haki, he continuously scanned the small white flame-clusters that had suddenly appeared around Akane.
"More or less."
The dim deep-blue crescent mark on Akane's forehead suddenly transformed into a crystal-clear little insect—curved like a crescent moon, made of blue crystal.
One blue and eight white—nine little insects circled around Akane.
Akane gently held the blue crystal insect in a hand.
It was so light it felt almost weightless.
The plump, transparent little creature looked strangely cute.
It was only about the size of a jade pendant. Through its crystalline body, Akane could even see the palm lines underneath.
"What is that?"
Rocks' eyes brimmed with curiosity.
"My power—my Gu insects."
Akane spoke calmly, a sharp light flickering in the eyes.
This was the soul mutation that happened after crossing over.
Soul insects.
Plump, chaotic clumps of soul-stuff, with eyes and a nose...
As Akane willed the blue Gu insect to exert force, a small moon blade took shape.
The deep-blue moon blade was over a meter long, like a crescent hanging in the night sky.
"Go!"
The deep-blue crescent slash shot out at extreme speed, carving a trench across the sea's surface.
"That's way too weak."
Rocks didn't hold back. In his eyes, that slash truly wasn't even as good as a normal swordsman's.
"This is only the beginning."
Akane glanced at that monster of a man, then stroked the blue little insect and the eight white ones with visible fondness, slowly sinking into memory.
...
Akane was from Earth—Gu Yue Village, Yunnan Province, China.
The villagers made their living by raising venomous snakes, toads, scorpions, spiders, centipedes, and other economically valuable poisonous creatures—some even getting rich from it.
At the same time, Akane had just turned eighteen and had only recently started university.
But Akane never could have imagined that after only a month or two of school, luck would hit—and Akane would arrive in this world.
Even stranger, the place Akane crossed into was also called Gu Yue Village.
Fortunately, this wasn't the Gu Yue Village from Reverend Insanity, but Gu Yue Village in the One Piece world.
Otherwise, Akane would have ended up being refined alive by the demonic Fang Yuan.
Coincidentally, back in Akane's village, there really was a younger uncle named Fang Yuan—the exact same name as that "Great Love Immortal Venerable."
More than ten years ago, while in college, that uncle had gotten into an accident and was taken out by a Dongfeng truck.
Now that Akane had crossed over to Gu Yue Village in the One Piece world after a stroke of "luck," the thought made Akane uneasy.
That Uncle Fang Yuan... hadn't been sent by that Dongfeng truck to the Gu Yue Village in the Reverend Insanity world, had he?
If that were true, then hopefully they might meet someday across the three thousand worlds.
Of course, Akane didn't really want to meet that cold, ruthless demonic Fang Yuan.
...
By today, Akane had already lived in this world for two and a half years.
It took a year or two to slowly blend in, learn the language of this world, and adapt.
Luckily—whether Earth hadn't completely abandoned Akane, or whether it was some coincidence after crossing over—
After being smashed into this world by that stroke of "luck," Akane's soul had been shattered open.
It split into nine soul fragments.
Those fragments fused with the powers of this world and slowly became the soul-flames around Akane—what could also be called soul insects.
They were both split bodies of Akane's soul and independent soul insects existing outside Akane.
Akane treasured these plump soul insects like priceless artifacts.
Akane understood clearly: these soul insects were definitely the cheat and trump card, tied to the future.
But for over two years, Akane couldn't find any method to cultivate or use them.
Akane tried methods from a past life—raising snakes and venomous bugs, even using hazy, half-mythical Gu-raising methods...
Still nothing worked.
Over these two and a half years, Akane studied the world's common language and writing, trained physical fitness, and searched for a way to use the soul insects.
Until not long ago, while foraging for mountain goods and wild vegetables in the hills behind Gu Yue Village, under the blessing of the goddess of fate, Akane accidentally found a Devil Fruit.
Only then did Akane understand the true purpose of those soul-flames.
Or rather—now they should be called soul Gu insects.
One of the soul insects instinctively rushed up and devoured the Devil Fruit, transforming into a soul Gu insect.
That plump white soul insect became a deep-blue crescent-shaped Gu insect.
Akane tasted the power and exhilaration brought by a Gu insect infused with Devil Fruit power.
Akane finally grasped the meaning behind the saying: humans are the spirit of all things, and Gu is the essence of heaven and earth.
So the soul-flames could gain special abilities by fusing with Devil Fruit powers.
Which meant that in the future, Akane could become a multi-fruit user with nine different Devil Fruit abilities.
If Akane's main body could still eat one as well, then Akane would become a ten-fruit user.
...
Through shared origin and resonance within the soul, Akane learned what that Devil Fruit ability was.
Paramecia: Moonlight Fruit.
This was the first Devil Fruit power fused into one of Akane's soul insects.
That soul-flame, now carrying the Moonlight Fruit power, was what Akane called the Moonlight Gu—or the Moonlight Soul.
It had the ability to release moon-blade slashes, and under moonlit nights it also possessed other enhanced abilities.
Gu Yue Village, the Moonlight Fruit, the Moonlight Gu—was all of that really just coincidence?
After obtaining this first ability, Akane felt endless hope, and ambition began to grow wildly.
But following the true meaning of lying low, Akane had no intention of going out to sea and drawing attention so soon.
Akane planned to train the Moonlight power first, then head out to find other Devil Fruits.
Akane believed that as long as Akane lived long enough, Akane would become an unparalleled powerhouse in this world.
The longer the time, the more abilities—then the stronger Akane would become.
Akane once believed Gu Yue Village was a blessed land: it granted the Moonlight Fruit, helped Akane understand the cheat, and opened the path to becoming stronger.
But Akane never could have imagined that just as Akane was preparing to keep developing in the shadows—
Gu Yue Village, just like the Gu Yue Village in the Reverend Insanity world, suddenly welcomed its own apocalypse.
Before Akane could properly train the Moonlight Fruit ability, before Akane could go to sea and find a second Devil Fruit—
The small country that Gu Yue Village belonged to was invaded by a powerful allied nation called the Cang Kingdom.
Under shameless plunder and mass slaughter, Akane—who had only recently gained the Moonlight power—was forced to resist in order to survive and to protect the villagers who had shown kindness.
In the end, a powerful general from the Cang Kingdom suddenly made a move, suppressing the newly emerging Akane with overwhelming force in an instant.
It filled Akane with helplessness and unwillingness. The strongest journey had only just begun—yet it was already about to be cut short...