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Chapter 48 - Chapter 47: A Rose with Thorns

Elektra had only asked casually.

She'd just thrown out an example on impulse and hadn't actually expected Rorschach to give her a real answer.

But the moment he heard her question, he smiled.

"So you've seen the Bullet Fruit before, haven't you?"

"The Bullet Fruit?" Elektra's brows lifted slightly.

"That's right. It's a fruit that allows the user to fire bullets from inside their body. Whoever eats it can shoot bullets from their fingers, or even other parts of their body."

Rorschach answered calmly, then casually pulled out the Devil Fruit catalog.

He pointed to one of the entries.

"Take a look. This is the Bullet Fruit."

Elektra lowered her eyes.

And sure enough, there it was.

The Bullet Fruit.

There was even a short description beneath it.

It matched exactly what Rorschach had said.

And exactly what she had seen with her own eyes.

Could Devil Fruits actually be real?

The thought surfaced in Elektra's mind.

Because the answer seemed obvious.

There was no way this young man could have prepared an entire catalog like this just to fool her.

Logically, the existence of this catalog only proved one thing.

Devil Fruits were real.

After a brief silence, Elektra looked up and asked, "Do you know someone named Wesley?"

That made things even clearer for Rorschach.

So Elektra really had witnessed the Bullet Fruit through Wesley.

Though he was a little curious how Elektra had crossed paths with Wesley in the first place, he still nodded with a smile.

"Yes. Wesley purchased the Bullet Fruit here."

That answer only made Elektra surer.

"Can I take a look at the catalog first?" she asked again.

"Of course. Take your time. If there's any fruit you want to know more about, just ask, and I'll explain it in detail."

He paused, then added, "And more than that, every fruit in the shop has a sample available for tasting. If you eat a sample, you'll gain that fruit's ability for five minutes. If you're interested, you can try one yourself."

"A sample? Five minutes of the ability?"

The moment Elektra heard that, her eyes sharpened.

She set the catalog down and looked directly at Rorschach.

"Then can I try the Bullet Fruit?"

Even though her conversation with him had already all but confirmed that Wesley got his power here, Elektra still wanted to verify it for herself.

After seeing so many impossible things firsthand, her acceptance of Devil Fruits was naturally much higher than most people's.

"Of course. One moment, please."

Rorschach agreed without hesitation.

A customer willing to sample a fruit was exactly the kind of thing he liked to see.

Because once they experienced the power for themselves, they would understand just how extraordinary Devil Fruits really were.

At that point, he wouldn't need to sell them anymore.

They'd beg to buy.

Of course, that only applied if the customer actually had the money.

If she turned out like that trend-chasing idiot from earlier, then it would just be another waste of time.

But Elektra?

Rorschach was confident she wasn't short on cash.

He quickly brought out a Bullet Fruit sample and handed it to her.

He also gave his usual warning about the taste being absolutely awful.

"So this is the Bullet Fruit?"

Elektra looked down at the sample in her hand, hesitated for a fraction of a second, then swallowed it in one bite.

"Wow... this thing isn't just bad. It's horrifying."

A look of lingering trauma flashed across her face.

When Rorschach had warned her earlier, she hadn't taken it seriously.

How bad could it really be?

But now, thinking back on that disgusting, soul-crushing flavor, Elektra genuinely felt a little shaken.

On that point alone, she already believed in Devil Fruits a little more.

Because if this were some kind of scam, why would the shopkeeper make the fruit taste this terrible?

"Compared to the incredible power it gives you, the taste is just a minor detail."

Rorschach smiled at her.

"Have you noticed the change in your body yet?"

At first, Elektra actually hadn't.

She'd been too busy recovering from the aftertaste, which was basically one step above eating poison.

But the moment Rorschach reminded her, she felt it.

A change.

A very real one.

She could clearly sense a new power inside her.

The ability to create bullets.

The ability to fire them.

"This... this feeling..."

Elektra's eyes widened.

She immediately darted toward the front of the shop, raised a hand toward the street outside, and focused.

The next instant—

A bullet shot straight out from the tip of her slender finger.

"It's real."

"I really fired a bullet from my finger."

"So that's how he did it."

Elektra stared at her right hand, murmuring in disbelief.

Devil Fruits were real.

At that moment, all her doubt vanished.

No matter how hard she tried, she could no longer deny it.

Something as absurd and miraculous as Devil Fruits truly existed in this world.

And after that, Elektra wasted no time.

She immediately greeted Rorschach with a quick nod, then picked up the catalog again and began reading through it carefully, page by page.

"Take your time. If there's anything you want to know, just ask."

Rorschach paused, then added, "Though if you're interested in the Bullet Fruit, I should tell you in advance—it's already sold out."

"That's fine. The Bullet Fruit isn't really my style."

Elektra sounded completely unconcerned.

She was a killer.

An assassin.

Her weapon of choice had always been blades, not guns.

The only reason she chose to sample the Bullet Fruit was to confirm whether Wesley had really gotten his power from a Devil Fruit.

That was all.

In her eyes, the other fruits—those far stranger, sharper, and more interesting ones—were much more valuable.

A short while later, she finally looked up again.

"Shopkeeper, I'd like to know more about the Thorn-Thorn Fruit. The thorns it creates... they're not just ordinary thorns from nature, are they?"

So Elektra had taken a liking to the Thorn-Thorn Fruit.

A thorned rose.

Honestly, Rorschach thought it suited her perfectly.

"Of course. I understand what you mean."

He smiled and explained at once.

"The thorns created by the Thorn-Thorn Fruit are extremely durable. Their strength is comparable to blades. They can even pierce through solid rock with ease."

"So if that's your concern, you have absolutely nothing to worry about."

[Author Note]

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