Chapter 8

"Hey, you! Ape!" Garp bellowed, his voice echoing through the forest. The massive ape, previously minding its own business, paused and slowly turned toward them. Its eyes locked onto Garp, and it bared its teeth, ready to attack. 

But then Garp glared. The ape froze, horror spreading across its face like it had just seen death itself.

"Train these two," Garp ordered, completely unfazed, before casually hurling both Lucy and Luffy straight at the ape.

This is training?! Well, it wasn't the first time. In fact, this was tame compared to the usual hell Garp called "training."

Once, he'd tossed them into a deep pit and told them to climb out. No rope, no help—just raw effort. Another time, he threw them into the forest and told them to survive. And the list went on…

Hearing how a weak pirate had beaten up Luffy infuriated him. So, in his mind, the solution was simple. They needed more training.

"Go on, this is your training," Garp said with a grin as he plopped down on a nearby rock. "You two are gonna grow up to be fine Marines one day, just like me!"

With a casual wave, he signaled the ape to attack. The ape didn't hesitate. It roared and charged, massive fists swinging down toward the twins.

Luffy moved quickly, jumping to the side, while Lucy darted the opposite way. But before Luffy could even process his next move, Lucy vanished. One moment he was beside Luffy. The next, he was right in front of the ape.

BAM!

Lucy's palm slammed into the ape's stomach with explosive force, sending the massive beast flying through the air. It crashed into a tree, knocking it over with a thunderous crack.

Garp blinked. "Oh yeah… I forgot about you," he muttered, rubbing his chin. It had slipped his mind that one of his grandkids wasn't exactly normal. Well, neither of them was normal now. One was a rubber man. The other? A kid with strength no child should ever have.

"No fair! I wanted to try my Gomu Gomu no Pistol on it!" Luffy whined. Ever since eating the Devil Fruit, Luffy had struggled to control his limbs. They stretched when he didn't want them to and flopped around like noodles. But after some trial and error, he'd come up with an idea—pull his fist back, then punch forward with the built-up momentum. Simple, but deadly.

But now, his target was already unconscious, thanks to Lucy. Before Luffy could sulk any further, a thought popped into his head.

"By the way, Grandpa, I don't wanna be a pirate anymore," Luffy said casually. Garp froze. For a moment, it was like time itself stopped. Then, with a burst of joy, he jumped to his feet, scooping Luffy up and spinning him around like a trophy.

"That's right! You're gonna be just like your grandpa!" Garp cheered, eyes practically sparkling. But Luffy, still grinning ear to ear, shook his head.

"I'm going to become the Pirate King!" Luffy declared with a grin. Garp's bright smile froze. For a long second, there was silence. Then, his face turned red—not with joy, but with pure, boiling rage.

"This is all that red-haired Shanks' influence!" Garp roared. "You punk! I'm gonna knock some sense into both of you!"

Lucy stood there, speechless. "What did I do?!"

"I will not let you become one of their kind!" Garp bellowed before sending Luffy flying with a powerful kick.

Lucy tensed. Before he could react, Garp's gaze locked onto him. Through gritted teeth, Lucy braced himself and jumped forward, ready to fight back.

But Garp was too fast. With a single blur of movement, the old man appeared behind him. A well-placed kick to the butt sent Lucy as well.

Lucy cried out in pain as he crashed through tree branches, leaves scattering around him. He groaned, rubbing his sore butt while trying to untangle himself from the mess of limbs and twigs.

Pushing aside a few branches, his eyes landed on something unexpected—a tree heavy with fruit. Pears. But one pear stood out.

It was golden, covered in countless tiny brown hairs, almost like peach fuzz. Strange swirling patterns wrapped around its surface, the unmistakable mark of a Devil Fruit. Lucy froze, eyes widening.

He knew this fruit. Saru Saru no Mi, Model: Sun Wukong. But something was off about the information had had about it. This world information didn't match with the information Valkora had given him. This fruit had completely different abilities in the book.

Did the gods screw with the records? Or does this world not even know what it really is? Lucky didn't know.

In this world, the Devil Fruit was known as a Paramecia-type called the Henkan Henkan no Mi. But according to the goddess's information, it was the Saru Saru no Mi, Model: Sun Wukong—a Mythical Zoan.

Lucy didn't hesitate. He'd already decided to trust Valkora's judgment over the world's flawed records. Gripping the golden pear tightly, he plucked it from the branch and, without a second thought, sank his teeth into the fruit.

And instantly regretted it. The taste was horrific. No, horrific didn't even begin to cover it. It was like every rotten, spoiled, vomit-inducing flavor imaginable had been mashed together into a single bite.

Lucy gagged, eyes watering as he struggled to swallow. Worse, his cheat made it unbearable. His taste buds were 100 times more sensitive than a normal person's. If the average person found Devil Fruits disgusting, Lucy was tasting something a hundred times worse.

The next moment, Lucy's eyes widened in confusion as his body suddenly melted, turning into a strange, liquid. He slipped through the tree branches like water, dripping down to the ground below.

"What the hell?!" Lucy tried to move, but his limbs didn't respond the way they should. Instead, his body wobbled and sloshed, more like a slime than a person.

Lucy's heart dropped. The goddess's information had said nothing about this. His body rippled like liquid slime, sloshing uselessly as he tried to move. This… this didn't match the Saru Saru no Mi she'd promised. No, it looked exactly like the world's description of the Henkan Henkan no Mi.

The supposed Paramecia-type fruit that turned one's body into something like Play-Doh, malleable, able to reshape into weapons, tools, or any solid form imaginable. But liquid? That wasn't part of the fruit's known abilities.