Matou Sakura: "…"
For some reason, that line sounded so casual, as if switching bodies were as easy as changing clothes.
Was that really okay?
"What exactly are you trying to do?" This time, the one who spoke wasn't Sakura, but Medusa.
"What am I doing? Helping her, obviously. Don't tell me you don't know how terrible her body's condition is."
Rowan pointed at Sakura as he spoke.
Medusa fell silent. After a long while, she finally said, "Is it really that bad?"
She knew Sakura's body was in awful shape, but exactly how awful, she truly didn't know.
Rowan said, "Sakura's body was modified by worms from childhood, and she was implanted with crest worms. During the Fourth Holy Grail War, Matou Zouken also used a shard of the Holy Grail as a catalyst to create a crest worm and buried it inside Sakura, transforming her into an incomplete Lesser Grail."
"To put it bluntly, her body is in truly terrible condition."
"It can barely be repaired, but that would be too troublesome. It's better to give her a clean body."
"That would be a good thing for her too, don't you think, Matou Sakura?"
Sakura didn't understand. She asked, "Why help me? We don't know each other, do we?"
"Do you need to know someone to help them? When an ally of justice wants to do good, do they need to ask the victim, 'Do I know you?' first?" Rowan asked back.
Sakura didn't know how to respond. She became half-believing, half-doubtful. "Are you really an ally of justice?"
"I'm not just an ally of justice. I'm also a savior, actually."
In the near future, Rowan was going to save the One Piece world. Whatever the reason, wasn't he already walking the path of saving a world?
So Rowan felt there was nothing wrong with calling himself a savior.
"A savior?" Medusa looked at Rowan suspiciously a few times, thinking this guy really knew how to brag. A savior? Wasn't he afraid of biting his tongue in the wind?
Were people nowadays all this thick-skinned?
Rowan noticed Medusa's gaze, but didn't care. He continued smiling at Sakura.
"Have you decided? Do you want to change bodies?"
Sakura looked at Medusa. Medusa said gently, "Although I don't know if what this man says is true or not, I can promise you one thing. These people don't mean you any harm."
In other worlds, Medusa might simply be a Gorgon.
But in this world, before she fell and became a snake-haired monster, Medusa had been a genuine goddess.
She could still sense whether someone had malicious intent.
And in Medusa's perception, Rowan wasn't human at all. He was a true god.
A god of death.
A death god had no need to deceive a human, nor would he bother stooping to deceive one.
Hearing Medusa say that, Sakura decided to try. Compared with Rowan, whose origins were completely unknown, she was far more willing to trust Medusa.
"Can I really change bodies?"
"Of course."
Rowan opened an air door and brought Medusa and Sakura to Egghead in the One Piece world.
Then he dragged Vegapunk, Orochimaru, and the others out of the laboratory and asked them to clone a clean body for Sakura.
After performing a full examination on Sakura, the two said this would be easy. Give them a month, and they could clone a brand-new body for her.
Sakura didn't doubt them. Forget Orochimaru for now—Vegapunk looked far too much like Einstein. With a face like that, he had to be terrifyingly capable. He was absolutely a top-tier scientist.
Otherwise, that face would be wasted.
At the same time, Medusa sensed that this place was different. Ever since arriving on Egghead, she had realized there were no traces here of any gods having ever existed.
They had only passed through a single door, so why did it feel like they had crossed into another world?
"What exactly is this place?"
Medusa took a few steps forward and grabbed Rowan by the collar.
"You noticed?" Rowan didn't mind Medusa's offense. He said with a smile, "What would you think if I said this was another world?"
Medusa released Rowan's clothes, stepped back, narrowed her eyes, and seemed to sense something.
"Although it sounds absurd, this place really is strange."
"If you say it's another world, that doesn't seem impossible."
Then she opened her eyes and looked at Rowan seriously. "So what you said earlier was true? You're a savior? You saved this world?"
"To be precise, I'm in the middle of saving it," Rowan said. "If nothing changes, this world will be swallowed by the sea in a few years. The people who rule this world know that, but they've hidden the truth."
"So I'm recruiting like-minded companions. I plan to overthrow this world's rulers, and then save the world."
"How about it? Want to join us and help save this world?"
Medusa sneered. "Do I look like the kind of person who saves worlds?"
In mythology, Medusa appeared as a monster.
And she was beheaded by Perseus.
Perseus became famous because of that, becoming one of the great heroes of Greek myth.
In other words, in the myths, Medusa was a villain.
Now Rowan was asking a villain to save the world. In Medusa's eyes, this guy was humiliating her.
But Rowan remained calm and didn't lose his footing because of her anger.
"Whether you look like someone who saves the world isn't up to me, nor is it up to anyone else. It's up to you."
"Whether you want to become a hero or a monster is your own choice."
"I'm simply inviting you. Whether or not you want to save this world with me is something you decide for yourself."
As he spoke, Rowan slowly extended his right hand.
Medusa looked expressionlessly at Rowan. Rowan smiled back.
After a long while, Medusa reached out and took his hand.
"For the sake of you saving Sakura, I can help you."
"That's wonderful." Rowan smiled happily. He had gained another powerful fighter.
Seeing that the two had reached an agreement, Sakura let out a breath of relief. "That's great."
Medusa asked, "What do you plan to do next?"
Rowan said, "Rest for one night. Tomorrow, we'll go find another great hero."
"Who?"
"Heracles."
"Who? Heracles? He's participating in this Holy Grail War too?" Medusa was shocked. Good grief, this Holy Grail War really was full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers.
Even Heracles had appeared.
"He won't be easy to deal with."
"Relax. I have a plan. Besides, I'm not looking for him to fight."
Rowan patted his chest, indicating there was no problem.
After that, he brought them back to Ryuudou Temple.
The Matou residence had already been blasted to pieces and was completely unlivable, so they could only make do at Ryuudou Temple for the night.
Time passed, and morning arrived.
Rowan brought everyone—Nico Robin, Hashirama, Medea, Yamato, Sakura, Medusa, King Hassan, Cu Chulainn, and the others—to Wano for breakfast.
Naturally, breakfast had been carefully prepared by Cosette.
For this, Cosette had gotten up at five in the morning and worked busily to make a whole table of breakfast for everyone.
Rowan and the others dug in with enthusiasm.
Medusa took a few bites, and her eyes lit up. This cooking was excellent, even better than her own.
Yes, in the Fate world, Medusa was actually quite good at cooking.
And the taste was pretty good too.
It was one of her unexpected cute points.
After breakfast, Cosette specially washed some fresh fruit and brought it over as dessert.
But just then, something strange happened.
After Cosette placed the fruit on the table, one of the fruits suddenly developed ring after ring of patterns in full view of everyone. Even its leaves transformed into a snake head.
Yes, in that instant, this dragon-fruit-like fruit had turned into a Devil Fruit.
Rowan was dumbfounded.
Wait, what was going on? Why had a Devil Fruit been born right before their eyes?
And what fruit was this?
Nico Robin's eyes flickered. She glanced at Medusa and said, "I know this fruit. I once saw it in some books in Ohara. This should be the Snake-Snake Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Model: Medusa."
Model: Medusa?
Everyone instinctively looked at Medusa.
Medusa was also somewhat surprised. A Devil Fruit named after her?
Robin said, "According to legend, Devil Fruits seem to possess wills of their own and will subconsciously seek out suitable hosts. Perhaps this Devil Fruit appeared before us because it sensed Miss Medusa's presence."
Rowan had heard that legend too.
The most typical example was the Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Model: Nika.
After Joy Boy's death, the World Government had never stopped searching for that fruit over the past eight hundred years, but they had never managed to truly obtain it.
The closest the World Government had come was through Who's-Who of the Beast Pirates' Flying Six.
He had originally been a CP9 agent under the World Government.
More than ten years ago, Who's-Who was assigned to escort the Gum-Gum Fruit.
However, during transport, the World Government ship he was guarding was attacked by Shanks and the Red-Haired Pirates, and the Gum-Gum Fruit was stolen.
From then on, the World Government lost that fruit once again.
So the World Government suspected that Devil Fruits possessed wills of their own and had always been avoiding their search.
Now, the appearance of the Snake-Snake Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Model: Medusa seemed to confirm that point.
Perhaps sensing Medusa's appearance, this fruit had manifested in front of everyone in this way.
Because it had realized Medusa was its most suitable host?
The question was, did Medusa need this Devil Fruit?