Ch 8: Obtaining the Baku Baku no Mi

Chapter 8: Obtaining the Baku Baku no Mi

"Your Majesty, the King!"

In front of the treasury stood two guards in full armor. Upon seeing the king—played by Ayaan—approaching, they hurriedly saluted.

"Open the treasury. I need to check the inventory," Ayaan said, raising his head slightly.

"Yes, Your Majesty." The two guards took the key handed over by Ayaan without hesitation and pushed open the door to the treasury.

This kind of action might have seemed sudden, but Ayaan already knew that the former king had a peculiar hobby of constantly counting his treasures. It was said that, at its worst, he had once checked the treasury more than ten times a day.

This was also why Ayaan didn't wait until the next day—after all, the night is long and full of uncertainties. He had no memories of the old king, and if someone started asking questions he couldn't answer, things could easily fall apart.

The treasury was magnificent. Although the Drum Kingdom was only a small nation, it was famous for its medical prowess. Many wealthy individuals came seeking treatment, so the national income was quite substantial.

And precisely because the country was small and its population limited, the amount of Heavenly Tribute that needed to be paid was relatively low, leaving a considerable amount of treasure in the treasury.

Fortunately, there was only one Devil Fruit inside. Otherwise, Ayaan would have been at a loss—he didn't even know what the Baku Baku no Mi looked like.

Ayaan picked up the Devil Fruit, which had strange patterns, and weighed it in his hand. But he didn't eat it right away. He still remembered how Luffy lost control of his body and turned into rubber immediately after eating his fruit.

Clearly, now was not a good time to consume a Devil Fruit.

So, Ayaan reopened the sealed scroll, placed the Devil Fruit inside, and proceeded to loot more than ten billion berries in gold, a fine sword, and, unexpectedly, a manual on Observation Haki from the treasury.

He stored all of these in the scroll and walked out with a calm, confident demeanor.

After he exited, the guards were a little surprised. Why had the king taken such a short time to count the treasury this time?

However, that wasn't a question they were supposed to ask. The two guards closed the door, locked it, and handed the key back to Ayaan.

Ayaan took the key, returned to the bedroom, laid the old king's body on the bed, and then, just as before, knocked out two guards and quietly left the castle.

He wasn't worried about what the guards might say. Although the old king's death was related to the medicine, in truth, he had died of exhaustion. Any competent doctor would know at a glance that the old king's time had simply come.

If the guards kept quiet, it would be reported as a natural death—unrelated to them. But if they mentioned anything suspicious, they could be blamed for failing to perform their duties. The choice was obvious.

And even if someone did talk, the investigation capabilities in the One Piece world were not strong enough to trace anything back to Ayaan.

The next morning, Ayaan, who had returned to the hotel, looked at the Devil Fruit in his hand, frowned, and finally ate it.

"Wow... it really lives up to its reputation—the taste of a Devil Fruit is terrible."

After consuming the entire fruit, Ayaan felt a strange transformation occurring within his body.

He glanced at the samurai sword at his waist and seemed to detect a creamy aroma. At the same time, he had a bizarre instinct that told him he could eat the sword.

Opening his mouth, Ayaan's jaw stretched wider and wider—eventually reaching an impossible size—as he swallowed the samurai sword whole.

A strange taste filled his mouth, somewhat like a cookie. Before he could even savor it, he felt a cold, unusual energy flowing through his body. He could now manifest that energy in any part of his body at will.

Ayaan extended his hand. His arm quickly turned into metal, and his nails transformed into sharp blades over ten centimeters long. With a light swipe, he left a visible scratch on the table.

"So this is the power of the Baku Baku no Mi... It fuses two entirely different substances into one."

"But I don't think I've digested this energy completely... It just merged with me temporarily and altered my form."

With that in mind, he withdrew the energy, opened his mouth again, and spit the samurai sword back out.

"Maybe when I develop the Baku Baku no Mi further, I'll be able to digest these things permanently. If so, it might even be possible to enhance my physical strength permanently."

Of course, Ayaan knew that was just a distant fantasy for now. He was still far from mastering or awakening the fruit's full potential.

Still, what he had gained from the Drum Kingdom palace wasn't just the Devil Fruit. There was also a fine sword and a manual for learning Observation Haki.

Although the sword was of excellent quality, it was currently useless to Ayaan—the blade was around 1.14 meters long, taller than him at the moment. Plus, he only knew the basics of swordsmanship, so wielding it now would just expose more weaknesses.

If he tried to force its use, it would likely hinder him more than help. Still, it could serve as material for the Baku Baku no Mi, so it wasn't entirely without value.

What excited Ayaan the most, however, was the Observation Haki manual. After all, in the first half of the Grand Line, methods to learn Haki were extremely rare.

Upon opening it, he discovered that the manual was written by a doctor—no wonder it was kept in the treasury of a renowned medical nation like Drum Kingdom.

This version of Observation Haki focused more on perceiving the human body, even allowing the user to sense internal organs, bone marrow, the brain, and other subtle physiological details.

Clearly, the person who wrote this was a medical expert, not a combatant.

But for Ayaan, it didn't make much difference. Ultimately, Observation Haki was just a tool that could be adapted to different purposes—it still retained its core perceptive and combat capabilities.

"The real question is, can I actually awaken Observation Haki? I'm not a native of the One Piece world."

After all, the physiological and spiritual differences between people from the Naruto world and the One Piece world were vast. In the latter, there were even individuals born with awakened Haki—something never seen in the Naruto world.

---