Chapter 15: The Man-Eating Behemoth in the Extreme Cold

Chapter 15: The Man-Eating Behemoth in the Extreme Cold

For a hundred years, the survivors of Canaan had watched as generations of their kings and queens died in battle on the plains or suffered from debilitating diseases, passing away miserably in their beds.

When one monarch fell in battle, the next would immediately shoulder the heavy burden, either defending the border between the plateau and the plains or climbing down the cliffs into the deep sea to secure food for their people.

When the responsibility fell to Yelena's generation, she was only five years old. Yet, she bore no resentment, carrying the royal family's duty day after day, year after year. As the youngest to ever contract the disease, Yelena never showed a hint of negativity to her people; instead, she gently comforted them every day.

The survivors of Canaan were not heartless people; they knew gratitude. Even without powerful talents, the young men and women would follow their monarch to defend the plateau. However, they simply lacked the ability to climb down a thousand-meter cliff to get food from the deep sea as the royal family did.

Their ancestors might have resented the royal family for allowing the Jacobites into their land, leading to the loss of their home. But they, who had survived precariously under the royal family's protection, held absolutely no resentment.

Not a single member of the Canaan royal family had met a peaceful end. The talented ones died in bloody battles or hunting accidents without exception. The untalented were sent away with the royal family's help to seek outside aid, but the Marines, constrained by the Jacob Kingdom's status as a World Government member nation, paid them no mind. Pirates, those vicious predators who lived by the law of the jungle, scoffed at their plight. Over many years, only the empathetic Roger Pirates had ever offered help.

Most other kingdoms remained aloof, but a large nation in the West Sea and a desert kingdom in the Grand Line had provided a small amount of aid. Due to the great distances, however, their help was limited to condemning the Jacob Kingdom during the World Council. Eventually, the members of the royal family who traveled the seas seeking help gradually disappeared. Among them was the previous princess—Yelena's mother.

She had returned from the Grand Line and given birth to Yelena, who had Oni blood. A few years later, she set out again, attempting to rescue Yelena's father who had been captured by the Marines and to ask for his help, but she too disappeared at sea.

Yelena met the eyes of her people, each one looking at her as a drowning person looks at a life-saving straw. Her wavering heart gradually became firm.

Louis watched this unfold without a word. He felt that the bond between the people of Canaan and their royal family was even closer than that between the Lunarians and the Skypieans on Baal. The probability of convincing Yelena to leave them was infinitely close to zero.

Not far away, the Red Hair Pirates also fell silent. After a moment of stunned silence, Shanks revealed a gratified smile.

As for the doctor, Hongo, he was pulled from his thoughts by a tug on his sleeve before he could react. He looked down and met a pair of teary purple eyes. "What's wrong, Uta?" he asked softly.

Uta, with her two-toned hair, stared straight into Hongo's eyes, her small face set in a serious expression. "You can cure Yelena, right?"

Hongo: "..."

Shanks patted Uta's head with a doting expression and smiled. "You have to believe in your crewmates!"

Hongo took a deep breath and then announced loudly to the crowd, "Everyone, rest assured, I will cure Yelena! We are friends, of course we won't ignore something like this!"

Hearing this, the people looked up in joyful surprise, their eyes full of gratitude towards Hongo. They quickly stood up, clearing a space for him to diagnose Yelena.

However, Hongo scratched his head and said, "There's no medical equipment here. I need to go back to the ship to use the facilities there."

He explained that he had originally prepared medicine for diver's disease as per Shanks's instructions. He never expected this generation's queen, Yelena, to be so much more severe than the kings of the past. The only reason she could still fight was because of her formidable Oni bloodline. The Oni were one of the top human subspecies in the world. Hongo even believed that if Yelena had only shouldered her burden in her teens, she might not have contracted the disease at all.

Hearing this, Shanks once again proposed to Yelena, "Yelena, you should eat that fruit first."

"Louis is right. Zoan-type Devil Fruits provide a great boost to one's physique. It could significantly alleviate your symptoms. Perhaps it will even help with the upcoming treatment."

At these words, the eyes of the Canaan survivors lit up. After the series of events that night, they no longer doubted Louis or the Red Hair Pirates, and they all joined in to persuade her.

"Your Majesty Yelena, please eat it!"

"..."

Yelena silently lowered her gaze to the Devil Fruit in her hand, which looked like the skull of a deer. Then, she gently lifted it, opened her chapped lips, and took a small bite.

"Ugh..." The intense flavor and sticky, disgusting texture made Yelena's face contort, turning pale. She gasped for air. The taste of the Devil Fruit was so nauseating it almost took her breath away.

Then, under the worried gazes of the crowd, she lifted the fruit again, preparing to continue eating it.

Seeing this, Louis was reminded of his own bad memories. An empathetic expression appeared on his face as he stopped her. "One bite is enough to get the power!"

Yelena paused, staring blankly at the fruit in her hand. After some hesitation, she turned to Louis and replied, "But then... the rest of this fruit would be wasted..."

In the end, she closed her eyes and, bite by bite, finished the entire Devil Fruit. The process earned her the immense admiration of Louis, who had also eaten a Devil Fruit. He could feel his own teeth aching in sympathy.

A moment later, Yelena slowly opened her eyes. She placed a hand on her chest, feeling the changes in her body. A joyful smile spread across her face. "My breathing... it really doesn't hurt as much!"

Yelena's words made the surrounding Canaan survivors' eyes turn red, their noses sting. In the crowd, some of the more emotional women and children began to sob. For a hundred years, the disease that had plagued the Canaan royal family was about to become history. The massive boulder that had been pressing on their hearts was finally starting to crack.

Louis slowly walked forward, gently guiding Yelena to try and activate her newfound ability. "Concentrate. Sense the other power within your body, and activate it with your will!"

Yelena closed her eyes and did as Louis said. At the same time, Shanks and his crew began to move the gathered crowd back to a safe distance.

In the next moment, under everyone's watchful eyes, Yelena's form underwent a drastic change.

Her body began to grow, swelling from her original 2.2 meters to 3 meters. The skin on her face gradually disappeared, exposing a bone-white skull as fangs extended.

Louis was instantly stunned. "Isn't it a deer?"

The Red Hair Pirates also held their breath, searching their minds for what kind of animal this could be.

Yelena's transformation didn't stop because of their reactions. Her body continued to expand, breaking the 4-meter mark. A coarse, bone-white fur sprouted from her skin, her feet turned into hooves, and her legs became digitigrade. Her once-slender arms grew thick and long, and razor-sharp claws grew from her fingers.

Atop the terrifyingly exposed skull, a pair of huge, sharp antlers sprouted out from next to her original oni horns. At the same time, snow from an unknown source extinguished the bonfire, and a terrifyingly low temperature began to spread.

Among the Red Hair Pirates, the burly man with the sharp, serrated teeth exclaimed, "Ice and snow! It's a Mythical Zoan!"

Looking up, darkness shrouded the 6-meter-tall behemoth. Under the faint moonlight, Yelena's form was gone. In her place stood a terrifying, four-horned monster, standing erect on two legs with a long tail dragging behind it.

Its face was devoid of skin, its skull exposed. Its massive antlers looked like tree branches in the moonlight. Where its eyes should have been were empty sockets, with a faint scarlet light glowing within.

Finally, a strange emotion, as if directed specifically at humans, began to spread through the crowd...

...

Louis's mouth was twitching. A question rose in his mind. Is this a Human-Human Fruit or a Deer-Deer Fruit?