Chapter 301: The Express Shrimp Delivers a Devil Fruit to You

"This is...?"

Rorschach's eyes widened as he looked at what was inside the golden treasure chest Hibari had opened.

Hibari herself was stunned.

Inside the opened box was a strange fruit covered in cloud-like patterns.

The fruit's appearance was also similar to the large floating cloud masses in the sky.

"Brother Rorschach, this... could it be a Devil Fruit?"

Hibari carefully took the snow-white, cloud-like fruit from the box.

The fruit looked surprisingly fresh, as if it had just been picked from somewhere and placed in the treasure chest not long ago.

However, that was impossible.

Not to mention that this treasure chest was retrieved by the Express Shrimp from the Lord of the Sky's lair.

Just by looking at the distorted and deformed clasp on the box, which Hibari could barely open due to its stiffness, and the dry, cracked mud filling the clasp, it was clear that this box had been in the Lord of the Sky's nest for hundreds of years.

Perhaps even longer.

"It must be a Devil Fruit. What kind of luck do we have? To actually find a Devil Fruit worth at least one hundred million Berries?"

Rorschach couldn't help but rub his eyes to confirm that he wasn't seeing things.

Luffy's crew in the manga should be considered lucky, right?

But even the main character group, during their two and a half years of adventure, never encountered even a single wild Devil Fruit.

In the past year or so, he had killed quite a few ability users.

Miguel Jones's Sand-Sand Fruit, Aristo's Blood-Blood Fruit, Daffy Long's Iron Eater Fruit, and the Copy-Copy Fruit of Gulliver, whom he killed not long ago, were all quite powerful fruits.

But so far, the only re-emerged fruit he had seen was Miguel Jones's Sand-Sand Fruit.

And it was rumored that the unlucky fellow who ate that Sand-Sand Fruit had apparently died again.

And now, he had actually stumbled upon a Devil Fruit.

He had accomplished something Buggy, with his Conqueror's Haki luck, hadn't.

Ah no, it seems the Express Shrimp did it...

Rorschach's mouth twitched.

He took the cloud-like Devil Fruit from Hibari, who was equally bewildered, held it in front of him for a closer look, and then sniffed it.

No smell.

Devil Fruits were just like that; they didn't smell good or bad from the outside.

But eating them was truly dreadful.

Rorschach looked at the Devil Fruit and couldn't help but recall how he felt when he ate the Qilin Fruit.

He remembered chewing the entire Qilin Fruit bit by bit, eating it completely.

I really am a ruthless person...

Shaking off the messy thoughts in his head, Rorschach handed the cloud-like fruit back to Hibari.

"Hibari, didn't you see the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia at headquarters? Don't you recognize this Devil Fruit?"

While Devil Fruit encyclopedias were rare, Marine Headquarters was no ordinary place; how could it not have such a thing?

Moreover, Hibari was Akainu's daughter.

Perhaps she even had a Devil Fruit Encyclopedia by her bedside in her room in Marineford, treating it as a children's book.

Hibari frowned, blinked her eyes, and pondered for a long time before counting on her fingers, "I did see that encyclopedia, but the illustrations in the book were quite blurry. As for images similar to this Devil Fruit, I remember there were a few."

"A few?" Rorschach was taken aback.

"Mm." Hibari nodded, "There's the Paramecia type Marshmallow-Marshmallow Fruit, which is also white. Its ability is to endlessly create delicious marshmallows, but you need to carry sugar cubes with you, unless you awaken the fruit. Hmm, this was the ability I wanted most when I was little."

"Then there's the Zoan type Sheep-Sheep Fruit, Sheep Model. Its ability, of course, is to turn into a sheep."

"There's also the Logia type Snow-Snow Fruit, which also looks similar and is white."

"And the Logia type Cloud-Cloud Fruit. Its ability is to create clouds that exist in nature, like thunderclouds and rainclouds. It's said that if developed powerfully enough, it can even create special cloud types like poison clouds or fire clouds. It's a very versatile fruit ability."

"Marshmallow-Marshmallow Fruit, Sheep-Sheep Fruit, Snow-Snow Fruit, Cloud-Cloud Fruit? Hiss... the upper and lower limits of these abilities differ too much, don't they?"

Rorschach felt a headache coming on after hearing Hibari's recollection.

Originally, he had intended for Hibari to eat this fruit.

With Hibari's current strength, if she could gain a high-potential Devil Fruit, she should be able to take a huge step forward.

Then, once she awakened Armament Haki, she could at least become a Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral-level combatant.

But what the heck were the Marshmallow-Marshmallow Fruit and the Sheep-Sheep Fruit?

What if Hibari ate it and found she could only make marshmallows with sugar cubes on the Qilin, or turn into a sheep? Wouldn't that be the end of it?

The Snow-Snow Fruit should currently be with Monet, under Doflamingo's command.

As for the Cloud-Cloud Fruit Hibari mentioned, Rorschach hadn't heard of it.

However, from Hibari's description, this fruit seemed to have the highest growth potential among the four.

And not just generally high.

Seeming to notice Rorschach's hesitation, Hibari seemed to guess his thoughts, and her heart immediately felt a little delighted.

She smiled sweetly, revealing two dimples: "Brother Rorschach, don't worry, even if it's the Paramecia type Marshmallow-Marshmallow Fruit, I won't mind. I loved that fruit the most when I was little."

Rorschach's face fell.

He thought to himself, I am worried about you.

But I'm even more worried about your old man.

Just imagining the scene of Akainu, upon finding out he had fed a useless fruit to Hibari, unleashing a Meigo or Inugami Guren on him, sent shivers down Rorschach's spine.

"The Sheep-Sheep Fruit isn't bad either; it can turn you into a sheep, saving money on wool coats."

Hibari's mumbling continued.

A Sheep-Sheep Fruit?

You want to turn into a cute sheep?

While Rorschach didn't think of himself as a hot-headed sheep, the growth potential of regular Zoan abilities was still too low.

Abilities like the Sand-Sand Fruit, which was almost stronger than an Ancient Zoan, were too rare for a regular type.

"The Snow-Snow Fruit is also good; it can conjure blizzards..."

While listening to Hibari's rambling, Rorschach continued to examine the cloud-patterned fruit, stroking his chin in thought.

Logically speaking, this thing should most likely be the Logia type Cloud-Cloud Fruit.

Both its cloud-like appearance and the cloud patterns on it could be related to clouds.

But who says marshmallows can't be shaped like clouds?

Fluffy sheep's wool, viewed from a distance, also looks like a white cloud.

"No, I still can't risk it. A Devil Fruit is something that, apart from that Teach guy, others can only eat once in their lives. If you eat a trash fruit, even if the ability user is excellent and develops it fancifully, it might still not compare to the casual development of someone who ate a powerful fruit."

Rorschach thought of Doflamingo and his String-String Fruit.

That fruit's ability was indeed developed to its extreme by Doflamingo.

Things like clones, puppet control, stitching wounds, and even fruit awakening.

And he himself possessed all three types of Haki, and his physical combat skills weren't weak.

But just hearing Kaido's name would make sweat break out on his forehead.

This showed that the String-String Fruit hadn't given Doflamingo much confidence.

If he had eaten Akainu's Mag-Mag Fruit back then, with Doflamingo's cunning and arrogance, Rorschach even suspected he could have gone head-to-head with Kaido.

Rorschach remembered that in his previous life, some One Piece fans discussed that there were no useless Devil Fruit abilities, only useless ability users.

He didn't really agree with that statement.

There were indeed many useless ability users in the manga.

Like Foxy the Silver Fox, who ate the Slow-Slow Fruit.

Like Caribou, who ate the Swamp-Swamp Fruit.

Neither seemed very strong.

But there were indeed useless Devil Fruits in the manga.

For example, the Human-Human Fruit, Human Model, eaten by a certain reindeer.

For example, one of Crocodile's subordinates, a woman who ate the Kilo-Kilo Fruit and could change her weight between one kilogram and ten thousand kilograms.

What's the use of ten thousand kilograms?

Mahabais, who weighed ten thousand tons, was blown apart by one of his punches.

And then there were things like the Jacket-Jacket Fruit or the Whisper-Whisper Fruit.

He always believed that talent and effort determined a person's lower limit.

And Devil Fruits determined a person's upper limit.

Whitebeard was called the Strongest Man in the World not just because he was one of the world's top powerhouses, but also because of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit he ate.

In fact, the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's contribution might have been even more significant.

Because it was a fruit capable of unleashing tsunamis and destroying the world.

If Garp had eaten the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, the title of Strongest Man in the World would likely be highly contested.

Of course, these two legendary combatants were now in their seventies; their peak periods had long passed, and their physical condition had severely declined.

Whitebeard was sixty-nine this year, and Garp was seventy-three.

Even Whitebeard's monstrous body often had IV drips attached to it now.

Thinking this, Rorschach placed the fruit back into the golden box and handed it to Hibari.

"Hibari, don't eat it yet. Later, go back to the Qilin and ask Law. He stayed with Doflamingo for a while; perhaps he also saw the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia."

Rorschach said.

Doflamingo had many ability users under him, and in the manga, the Gold-Gold Fruit of Gild Tesoro and the Flame-Flame Fruit after Ace's death were both acquired by that guy.

This was the advantage of having a large organization.

No wonder Blackbeard stayed on Whitebeard's ship for decades, just waiting for the Dark-Dark Fruit to appear.

"Mm, I'll listen to you, Brother Rorschach." Hibari sweetly hugged the golden treasure chest.

The two walked down the pyramid, and Rorschach ordered the warriors to climb up and retrieve the golden artifacts.

Hearing Rorschach's order, the warriors excitedly howled and rushed up.

When they saw the golden items piled high on the stone platform up close, they were so happy they almost pounced on them.

At this point, Cricket also concluded that this was indeed the Golden City of Shandora.

Immediately, everyone's faces were beaming with joyous smiles. With Rorschach's ability, they climbed the rock wall and returned along the forest path towards the Qilin.

(End of Chapter)

────────────────────────────────────

"If you're interested, please support me in my other novel [Naruto: Starting with Tsunade-san]."

"If you're interested, please support me in my other novel [Battle Through the Heavens: Heavenly comprehension]."

"If you're interested, please support me in my other novel [Soul Land 2: Golden Dragon King]."

"If you want early access to nearly 35+ chapters, join my patreon:- patreon.com/BaDwYGaMeR"