Before this, I'd like to ask you a question:
Do you understand "gardening"?
Or, have you ever grown any plants in a pot at home?
How did it grow?
How did it break through the soil? How did it absorb nutrients? How did it bloom and bear fruit?
If you have a little understanding of this, then the following will be easier to grasp.
Fortunately, while Judge didn't care for flowers and plants, as a scientist—especially a former top scientist—he was very clear about the production process of "plants."
And that's precisely why he was shocked and surprised by Rowan's words.
"You're saying we are… nutrients?"
This sounds like a joke.
The world is truly vast, so there's no shortage of strange and peculiar plants, both on the Grand Line and even more so in the "New World" of the Grand Line.
Among them, there are even terrifying plants that can consume an entire island as food on their plate, and special varieties that, with just one plant, can absorb all the nutrients from an island, turning it into a wasteland.
But those are, after all, just "plants."
Let alone Devil Fruit users, even the cannon fire of a pirate fleet can completely destroy these plants!
No matter how horrifying those things are, they ultimately wouldn't affect the entire sea.
But the "tree" Rowan is talking about now doesn't seem so simple.
"Are you saying there exists a tree on this sea that uses the 'world' itself as its nutrient?"
Judge pondered Rowan's words and pressed further, "How exactly do those texts describe it?"
Rowan waved his hand gently, and countless grains of sand floated slowly on the sand table in front of him.
Suddenly, countless little sand figures crawled up from the sand table. They stood neatly in front of the tree, and after the sand on their bodies solidified, they began to act.
Judge could see what the little sand figures were doing.
They were "living."
Building houses, cultivating land, planting crops, hunting, fishing…
And "living" means "the passage of time."
Gradually, one of the older figures collapsed, seemingly reaching the end of his lifespan.
It was evident that the other sand figures around him were very sad.
They buried the fallen old man in a spot not far from the tree.
And just as Judge thought everything had settled, Rowan suddenly flicked his fingers.
*Swish!*
A fine sand line swept across, dividing the entire sand table into two, with the old man's burial site as the dividing line!
And because of his control over the Sand-Sand Fruit's ability, the sand table wasn't destroyed but instead presented its internal "cross-section" completely to Judge.
Judge was able to glimpse the buried old man and what happened afterward.
He saw the tree's roots slowly growing, eventually touching the old man, and then, almost instantly, sucking him dry into a withered husk.
Judge understood; that was what was meant by "becoming the tree's nutrient."
This isn't really strange in nature. Humans are, after all, part of the food chain, and ultimately, they will be buried in this land or sea.
But what happened next made Judge's pupils involuntarily contract…
After absorbing the old man's nutrients, the tree's branches trembled slightly, and finally, at the end of the branches, a "fruit" formed.
Rowan's development of the Sand-Sand Fruit's ability can truly be called peak, especially in terms of precision.
Even on this small sand table, Rowan had the ability to make all the details perfect.
Therefore, Judge could see that the texture on the fruit was extremely similar to a Devil Fruit!
When the fruit grew to a certain stage, there was a soft *pop*, and like any ripe fruit, it fell from the branch.
That "Devil Fruit" lay quietly beside the tree.
And the little sand figures continued to live their lives as usual.
Until about "a few seconds" later, one of the sand figures discovered the fruit.
He picked up the fruit and bounced around, seemingly very curious about what it was.
In the end, the sand figure couldn't resist his curiosity, opened his mouth, and took a bite of the Devil Fruit.
"Phase one is complete."
Rowan's voice, explaining from the side, rang out.
"And so, the first Devil Fruit user was born."
Judge's eyes widened abruptly as he began to process what had just happened on the sand table.
But Rowan started telling the next part of the story.
"Next, we move on to phase two."
The sand table, which had been split in two, was closed again under Rowan's control. Countless grains of sand sealed the cracks, making it a whole again.
And on the sand table, the actions of the little sand figures suddenly accelerated, as if simulating the rapid passage of time.
"After the first Devil Fruit user was born, people quickly discovered that this magical fruit could grant them unimaginable strength."
The first sand figure to eat the Devil Fruit stood on a small mound, seemingly laughing heartily.
Suddenly, a sand arrow shot out. The sand figure who had eaten the Devil Fruit dodged to the side and began to rage at the direction the arrow came from.
Rowan continued, saying:
"Great power inevitably creates a 'gap' between people, and 'gaps' inevitably breed 'resentment' in people's hearts."
"When 'resentment' accumulates to a certain extent, 'war' will erupt. This is one of the reasons for the formation of war."
Upon hearing this, Judge suddenly waved his hand and grinned, saying, "Ryan Rowan, are you a dreamer? Don't you know that even without great power, conflict between people will erupt due to desire, eventually escalating into war?"
"Of course."
Rowan nodded. "That's why I said it's 'one' of the reasons for the formation of war."
"But…"
Rowan's tone shifted, and he smiled, "You should know, when a certain kind of great power is applied to war, what the results will be."
Judge certainly knew.
"Wars" using stones, "wars" using swords and knives, "wars" using cannonballs…
Those "wars" shared a name but were fundamentally different.
Great military power means more sacrifices!
To put it more plainly—it means more deaths!
*Boom!*
On the sand table, intense warfare erupted.
The sand figure who had eaten the Devil Fruit charged into the crowd, wreaking havoc.
Countless little sand figures were "killed" and fell at the foot of the great tree.
And the tree's roots gradually spread out, absorbing all the dead sand figures.
Finally, the sand figure who had eaten the Devil Fruit was forced to stop his rampage. He was killed by countless ordinary sand figures, his body turning into sand grains and scattering everywhere.
Everything seemed settled, but Judge's gaze remained fixed on the tree's branches.
His intuition told him that something even more terrifying was about to happen.
As expected.
One "fruit" after another appeared on the tree.
There were so many, it was impossible to count.
— Those were all "Devil Fruits"!
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