Inside the Devil Fruit shop—
"Boss, this is my fiancée, Vanessa."
Dressed in a white suit, Kingpin stepped into the store with a graceful woman in a black dress at his side.
His tone was polite as he introduced the beauty beside him to Rorschach.
A few days ago, Kingpin had said he would bring his fiancée back for another visit.
And now, he had kept his word.
Still, for some reason, Rorschach felt that the Kingpin standing before him looked exhausted.
Not just physically, but mentally too.
It was the kind of exhaustion that sank into a person from both body and soul.
Clearly, something had happened.
Then again, considering Hell's Kitchen was the chaotic mess that it was, there were probably endless things every day that could drive a man insane.
Rorschach understood that perfectly well.
"Hello, Boss. I've been hearing Wilson praise you every day these past few days, so I finally get to meet you in person. And as expected—you're young, impressive, and carry yourself with real spirit."
Vanessa smiled warmly and politely at Rorschach, casually dropping a flattering compliment right on his head.
"You're too kind, Miss Vanessa. Please, both of you, come in."
Rorschach smiled and welcomed the two of them inside.
"Fisk, how's your fruit development been these past few days?"
Rorschach asked casually as he made small talk.
"I'm not someone who likes boasting," Kingpin said lightly, "but I have trained quite intensely these last few days, so... I've made some progress."
He said it casually, but Vanessa's eyes flashed with unmistakable heartache.
Only she knew what he meant by "trained intensely."
Ever since Wesley died, Kingpin had practically gone mad with training.
It had genuinely frightened her.
That was why she had forced everything else off her schedule and made time today to come buy a Devil Fruit.
It was the only way she could drag Kingpin out.
"Fisk, with that kind of attitude, I'm sure the Steel Fruit will be developed very well in your hands."
Rorschach nodded with clear approval.
"I hope so."
Kingpin nodded, and a cold, dangerous light flickered briefly in his eyes.
Once his fruit reached a certain level, he would make those people pay the price they deserved.
"This time, I mainly came to accompany Vanessa while she chooses a fruit. Boss, could you bring out the catalog for her?"
After exchanging a few more words, Kingpin finally got to the point.
"Of course."
Rorschach handed the catalog over to Vanessa.
The moment she glanced at it, her face filled with amazement.
Just as Kingpin had said, the fruits listed in the catalog were far too strange and extraordinary. It felt like an entirely new world had opened up in front of her.
Unlike most people, Vanessa had already seen Kingpin's Steel Fruit with her own eyes.
So she knew the unbelievable things described in the catalog were all real.
"Incredible."
The word slipped out of her mouth before she could stop it.
Then she turned to Rorschach and gave him a polite nod.
"Boss, forgive me, but I'd like to look through this with Fisk first."
"Please, take your time, Miss Vanessa."
Rorschach smiled.
So Vanessa and Kingpin stood together, carefully going through the catalog, trying to figure out which fruit would suit her best.
But after nearly fifteen minutes, the two of them looked up again, both with troubled expressions.
"Boss, we're having trouble deciding which fruit would be best. How about you recommend one for us?"
Kingpin looked at Rorschach and asked seriously.
The catalog did contain introductions, but they were brief—broad descriptions, general overviews.
The true nature of each fruit, the deeper functions, the possible development paths...
People like them naturally couldn't understand those things nearly as well as the shop owner himself.
So in most cases, the catalog was more like an index than a true guide.
If they really wanted the right fruit, they had to ask Rorschach directly.
"What kind of fruit are you looking for?" Rorschach asked with a nod. "Tell me what you need, and I'll see whether there's something suitable."
Answering customer questions and giving proper guidance—
Wasn't that exactly what a shop owner was supposed to do?
"To be honest, Boss... Vanessa was poisoned not long ago."
Even now, when Kingpin brought it up, a trace of lingering fear appeared in his eyes.
"If it weren't for Dr. Cho, the consequences would've been unimaginable. So I want to know... is there a fruit here that could prevent something like that from happening again?"
With Kingpin's influence, arranging layers of guards around Vanessa was easy.
Against normal assassination attempts, he wasn't worried in the slightest.
Anyone with obvious malicious intent wouldn't even get close to her.
What truly terrified him were dirty methods like poison.
That kind of attack was impossible to predict.
No—even worse.
It was almost impossible to defend against.
After all, what was he supposed to do? Test every single meal she ate for poison before letting her take a bite?
That simply wasn't realistic.
So the best solution was to solve the problem at its root—to erase the very possibility of "being poisoned."
Under normal circumstances, that would've been impossible.
But now, with the existence of miraculous Devil Fruits, maybe it wasn't.
Sure, there was no such thing in the catalog as a "Poison Immunity Fruit."
But then again, the catalog hadn't said the Steel Fruit could turn his fist into a glowing furnace either.
This kind of thing clearly had to be asked directly.
"So, Fisk, Vanessa—your core requirement is immunity to poison. Is that right?"
Rorschach looked at the two of them and confirmed.
"Yes, Boss. That's exactly what we want."
Vanessa and Kingpin both nodded at the same time.
"If the goal is poison immunity..." Rorschach fell briefly into thought, then quickly came up with a fruit that suited them perfectly. "I really do have a solution."
"Please, Boss, tell us."
Vanessa leaned forward immediately, unable to hide her impatience.
As expected, the two of them trying to figure it out by themselves had gotten nowhere.
When it came to Devil Fruits, asking the expert was always the right move.
"The fruit I recommend is called the Squeeze-Squeeze Fruit."
Rorschach pointed to one of the fruits in the catalog as he introduced it.
That was right.
The fruit he recommended to Vanessa was definitely not the Poison-Poison Fruit.
That one might have been fine in the pirate world, but in modern society it was completely impractical.
Not to mention Vanessa was a lady. Spending every day with stomach issues would be ridiculous.
As for the fact that the fruit wasn't currently in stock?
That wasn't really a problem.
If they truly liked it, waiting a little was nothing.
And a higher price wouldn't matter either.
"The Squeeze-Squeeze Fruit?"
Vanessa and Kingpin exchanged a confused look.
They had seen that fruit in the catalog, but hadn't paid it much attention.
Wasn't that just... a fruit for squeezing juice?
What did that have to do with poison immunity?