"Hello, shopkeeper. I was just passing by. I saw the words Devil Fruit and got curious, so I came in to take a look."
Bruce Banner greeted Rorschach politely.
Given his current circumstances, Bruce had no intention of telling the truth right away. For now, he just wanted to test the waters.
"Welcome. Please, come in."
Rorschach smiled and invited Bruce into the shop.
"Thank you."
Bruce nodded politely and followed him to the counter.
His gaze was immediately drawn to the strange, bizarre-looking fruits inside the display case.
"So these are the Devil Fruits?"
Bruce looked at them with obvious surprise.
Even though Helen had already told him how incredible they were, he still hadn't expected them to look this weird.
"That's right. These are Devil Fruits."
Rorschach nodded.
"Don't let their appearance fool you. Every single one of them is an extraordinarily magical fruit."
He then gave Bruce a brief introduction to what Devil Fruits were.
Bruce listened carefully, his mind already turning.
Everything this young shopkeeper said matched Helen's explanation perfectly. And after personally experiencing Helen's healing ability, Bruce already had a foundation for belief.
He still had doubts.
But at least now, he was willing to accept the possibility.
"Sir, all the fruits currently available are listed in this guide. Take a look and see whether any of them catch your interest."
Rorschach handed over the catalog.
"Thank you."
Bruce took it and began reading it with great care.
Very great care.
Over the past months, he had tried countless methods to cure what he considered his "condition."
Every single one had failed.
And now, this place was his last hope in this stage of his search.
"Horse-Horse Fruit?"
"Cat-Cat Fruit?"
What kind of bizarre nonsense was this?
Then he remembered what the shopkeeper had said.
These were Zoan-type fruits—fruits that allowed a person to transform into animals.
They were completely useless to him.
Bruce quickly skipped past that section and moved on to the Paramecia fruits.
Munch-Munch Fruit, Stitch-Stitch Fruit, Horm-Horm Fruit, Mute Fruit...
These fruits were all undeniably fascinating.
They opened his eyes.
But none of them could solve the Hulk problem.
"At this point in time... Bruce Banner should already be the Hulk, right?"
As Bruce carefully searched the catalog for an answer, Rorschach quietly studied the weary, haggard-looking scientist in front of him.
Then he shook his head inwardly.
No matter how he reviewed the fruits currently unlocked by the system, none of them could truly solve Bruce Banner's problem.
Even when he thought through the Devil Fruits known from One Piece, how many could actually fix Bruce's situation?
Then one fruit suddenly came to mind.
It couldn't solve the problem perfectly...
But it could help contain it.
The Door-Door Fruit.
That was right.
The fruit that allowed its user to open doors anywhere.
With that fruit, Bruce could escape the moment Hulk was about to emerge. He could immediately open a door and retreat to a safe place.
Better yet, the Door-Door Fruit also connected to its own separate space.
Hulk could rampage in that isolated dimension as much as he wanted.
Then, once he calmed down and turned back into Bruce Banner, Bruce could simply open another door and return.
Of course, that would only mitigate the problem.
It wouldn't truly cure it.
But even so, it was still a workable solution.
Unfortunately, the Door-Door Fruit wasn't available yet.
"Excuse me, shopkeeper... does this catalog include all the fruits you currently have?"
Bruce finally looked up, hope flickering in his eyes.
He had already gone through the entire guide, and not a single fruit could deal with Hulk.
"Yes. All the fruits currently available are listed there."
The moment Rorschach said that, he saw the light in Bruce's eyes dim.
There it was.
His last hope had fallen through again.
"But don't worry, sir. In the future, the shop will continue unlocking many more fruits. If none of the current ones suit your needs, then I believe future ones definitely will."
Rorschach changed his tone and spoke with renewed confidence.
Bruce's mood lifted slightly.
He looked up at once.
"Then... what kind of fruits will you stock in the future?"
"The upcoming fruits will have a much wider variety of abilities. Their powers will be even more diverse... and much higher-level."
Rorschach smiled.
"For example... the Door-Door Fruit."
He directly named the fruit he had already picked out for Bruce in his mind.
"The Door-Door Fruit?"
Bruce froze for a second.
"What kind of fruit is that?"
"It's a fruit that allows you to open a door anywhere at will."
Rorschach explained simply.
"For example, even if you're standing right in front of me, you could casually open a door in the empty air before you and step through it."
Bruce's eyes lit up.
That fruit...
That fruit would absolutely be useful to him.
"Shopkeeper, where would the door lead?" Bruce asked immediately.
"To anywhere you want to go."
Rorschach continued.
"And even if you don't want to go anywhere, you can simply enter the strange extra-dimensional space that exists inside the door itself."
A flicker of excitement appeared on Bruce's face.
This was exactly the kind of fruit he needed.
If he truly had the Door-Door Fruit, then the moment Hulk started surfacing, he could simply escape.
In a sense, the Hulk problem would be handled.
Bruce suppressed the excitement in his chest and kept asking.
"Then are there any restrictions on opening these doors?"
"None at all."
Rorschach answered directly.
"You can open a door anywhere you need one—on stone, on trees, in water, in midair... even on a person's body."
That was it.
Bruce felt certain now.
He had come to the right place.