Tant stubbornly believed that a Devil Fruit had to be eaten completely to work, so under everyone's gaze, he forcibly suppressed the urge to vomit and stuffed the Devil Fruit down until not a single bite was left.
Only then did Vane speak up, saying, "This is a negative example, okay? You only need to take the first bite of a Devil Fruit. Eating it all or just one bite makes no difference."
Tant: "..." Boss, why didn't you say that earlier? Do you know how disgusting this thing is? I'm crying.
Before he even had time to complain, his body began to change uncontrollably.
His face started shifting toward a feline shape, his limbs thickened, his neck sprouted a thick mane of lion hair, and a long lion's tail appeared.
In the end, he turned into a large blue-maned lion wearing clothes.
This was the Zoan beast form.
Zoan-type fruits generally have three forms: human form, beast form, and hybrid form.
"Tant, control your power and transform into the hybrid form."
The hybrid form was usually the strongest state for Zoan users, possessing both the physical power of a beast and human technique.
Tant struggled on the ground for a while. His body shrank somewhat, becoming a fusion of human and beast that could stand upright.
"A lion really does look domineering."
In hybrid form, Tant stood three meters tall. The thick mane circling his neck looked extremely imposing. Judging by appearance alone, others would definitely think Tant was the strongest, but in reality he couldn't even make it into the top three.
"I'm a Devil Fruit user now! I've become a Devil Fruit user too!"
Tant felt that his strength and speed had increased several times over, and that he looked far stronger than that Black Panther guy or whatever.
"Let me see, this is a lion, right? I'd only ever heard of them before."
"I've seen pictures. This really is a lion—so awesome, Tant."
Everyone crowded around to pet him. For people born on small islands, a creature like a lion was truly rare.
Vane stepped forward, and the others automatically made way.
He reached out and patted Tant twice.
"Zoan users have very strong recovery abilities. From now on, increase the intensity of Electabuzz's electrotherapy on him. Then every morning, come get beaten up once more. Getting beaten makes you stronger."
Tant: "..."
Of course, it couldn't just be mindless beatings. Some techniques for exerting force in real combat still had to be taught. Basic things like breathing methods could be taught by Vane himself, but combat style was something they had to comprehend on their own.
"All of you, get fired up and train properly. In a couple of days, I'll take you out to sea for a spin."
At the mention of that, everyone got excited. They couldn't just keep venting their skills on air and training dummies forever.
"Are we going out to rob people?!"
"Shut up! We're a regular army—how could we go robbing people! We're a regular army entrusted by the princess of the Thorn Rose Kingdom to strike at pirates causing trouble at sea. Big Blade Buri, Axe Potter, Blood Coral Harry, and Black Panther Calder—those are all our achievements."
"We just happened to confiscate their illegal income while striking them. Who told us we're self-funded?"
Oh, got it. Still robbery—just that the targets were pirates.
In this small sea region, the only ones really worth robbing for Vane were pirates anyway. How much could you get from villagers or townsfolk? Rob pirates, and whether it's bounties or pirate ships, everything could be exchanged for large sums of money.
If there really were townsfolk worth robbing, it would only be in the single case where they possessed a Devil Fruit.
...
Several days later.
Seagull Island, not too far from Shell Town.
Seagull Island was relatively prosperous. This could be seen from its somewhat larger harbor and the greater number of brick houses.
But now the island was undergoing a pirate raid. The townspeople tried to resist, but their weapons and ferocity were no match at all, and the small town quickly fell.
The only thing worth being thankful for was that because of the slight resistance, most of the women and children had already fled. Money couldn't run away, but people could escape as many as possible.
"Damn it, not a single pretty woman left. They all ran! Burn the houses. Don't you like running? I'll make sure you have no home to return to."
"Yeah, boss, burn their houses and leave them homeless."
Pirates were people who amplified their inner desires without restraint. They were completely unbound by rules. Ever since enjoying arson once—watching the flames engulf an entire town—the thrill became addictive. As long as conditions allowed, or the captain felt displeased, he found it extremely satisfying.
The idea of total arson had been proposed by a newly joined crew member earlier. After trying it once, they could never stop.
"And those men—how dare they resist the great captain. Throw them into the houses and burn them alive together."
"This… burning them alive together might not be good. Next time we come here, there'll be no one left to rob."
"Yeah, captain, just burning the houses is fine. We'll still want to come back here to rob them later."
"You two dare to oppose the captain's orders?! I said burn them, so burn them…"
Just as the captain was about to act willfully, a pirate guarding the ships at the dock appeared with a face full of terror.
"N-no, captain, the p-pirate killer is here!"
Everyone had been happily robbing and killing in the Thorn Rose domain. Recently, a pirate-killer ship had appeared in these waters. Any pirate who ran into them—there wasn't a single survivor.
Think about it: you've just finished raiding a place at sea, drinking and singing, when suddenly you're targeted by the pirate killer.
How terrifying was that? It scared pirates to death.
"Quick, hurry to the dock."
The pirate captain no longer cared about robbing the town. What robbery? Their ship was about to be taken.
When the captain led his crew and ran to the dock, a hundred-man ship had already sailed in.
On its sail was a large white cat head emblem, with no skull flag.
That was right—the rumored pirate killer had exactly this image.
The people on the ship had already disembarked and formed a standoff with fifty or sixty pirates.
"There're only a little over twenty of them! Everyone, charge together and kill them!"
Seeing that the other side had so few people, while his side had nearly three times the numbers—sixty versus twenty—the pirate captain felt victory was assured.
"Vicious Convict Trisha, bounty thirteen million. Tant, this pirate is yours to deal with."
Just a pirate with a thirteen-million bounty—Vane had no intention of making a move himself.
Tant excitedly rushed out first. With a forward pounce, he transformed midair into a blue-maned lion over three meters long, all four limbs propelling him as he plunged straight into the enemy formation.
"A lion! Why is there a lion?!"
"He's a Devil Fruit user! A terrifying ability user!"
Those who had still thought about putting up a fight instantly lost their nerve when faced with the lion.
Charging into the chaotic pirate ranks, Tant locked onto the enemy captain. With a few leaps, he completed the transition from beast form to hybrid form midair. Under the extremely terrified gaze of Vicious Convict Trisha, the lion's claws sliced through the air and slammed fiercely into his chest.
The vicious criminal who had gained quite a bit of notoriety at sea instantly turned into a ball, bouncing twice on the ground, rolling a couple more times, and finally being pinned to the ground by Tant's massive lion foot, accompanied by a lion's furious roar.
Within the Rocket Team, he got beaten down by the boss all the time. Out here, dealing with these low-bounty pirates, he was absolutely slaughtering them.
"Anyone who doesn't want to die, put down your weapons and surrender."