The Dark-Dark Fruit

"Boom--!"

Ace suddenly rushed forward and overturned the table!

The teacup shattered, shards of porcelain flew everywhere, the fruit plate rolled and smashed against the wall, and scalding hot tea spilled all over the floor, the aroma of burning fruit juice filling the air!

But it was too late.

Roy closed his eyes, chewing on the strange fruit pulp as if swallowing the weight of the entire darkness.

He slowly opened his eyes.

Deep within the pupils, a vortex of extremely dark light slowly rotated; it was not color, but utter nothingness—like the bottom that light could never reach.

His breath suddenly stopped, his face turned paler than the dust on the wall in an instant, and cold sweat dripped down like beads of water.

"Ugh... cough, cough cough!!"

Roy suddenly bent over, clutching his chest in pain. His voice was hoarse, and his breathing seemed to be disordered. He staggered like a drunkard, slipped, and fell heavily to the ground with a "thud!"

"Roy!!"

Ace was instantly terrified, his face turned deathly pale, his heart felt like it had been struck by a hammer, and the flames around him almost exploded out of control!

"Hey! You... you scared me!! What's wrong with you?!"

Flames roared up from behind him, and the scorching heat turned a corner of the sofa into charcoal. The temperature in the Rest Room soared, and even the decorative paintings on the wall fell off with a "thud"!

The alarm crystal flashed frantically, but Roy's ability to seal it back into silence forced it back down.

Powered by the Impact of the flames, Ace darted forward like an arrow, scooped Roy up in his arms, and stammered in a panic:

"Medic!! I'll go get a medic right now!! No, no, I'll go find Sakazuki first... or Enel... no, he only knows how to use lightning!!"

"Wake up!!" Ace was going crazy!

Roy leaned "weakly" against him, but the corners of his mouth curled up almost imperceptibly.

Ace, sweating profusely and flames leaping from his brow, cried out, "Hold on! I'm going to find Sakazuki right now!!"

He was panicking, frantically trying to get up and break free of the barrier—

"Pfft."

An unusually cheerful voice interrupted everything.

Roy suddenly opened his eyes, grinned, and reached out to pinch Ace's cheek. "Just kidding~"

Ace: "...???"

"..."

The air froze for a full second.

"Boom!!"

The next second, flames exploded around Ace, the raging flames soaring into the sky like a giant wave, and the surrounding temperature soared to over 100 degrees Celsius!

"You, you, you... you actually lied to me?!!"

His hair stood on end, veins throbbing on his forehead. "Your face just now was three times scarier than a dead man's!!"

"Do you even know my heart skipped a beat, you bastard?!"

He jumped up in a frenzy, shouting, "Don't joke like that!!"

Roy burst into laughter, lying on the sofa until his shoulders shook and tears welled up in his eyes.

"Your face just now really looked like you were about to cry, haha!!"

He patted Ace on the shoulder with a laugh, "You're such a good little brother, I'm so proud of you."

"Relieved my foot!!"

Ace's hair stood on end, flames shooting up from his forehead. He grabbed Roy by the collar and roared:

"Right now, I just want to punch you off the Warship and all the way to the bottom of the sea!!"

"Hehe--" Roy put on a "scared" expression, but his eyes were full of mischief. "Are you willing to do that? You were just shouting 'Brother--Brother, don't die!'"

"You--!"

Ace pounced on him, and the two started fighting on the Rest Room floor!

Stop laughing! I'm going to smash your mouth in!

"Stop messing around! You burned my eyebrows, you jerk!!"

"You still feel pain, you lunatic!!"

"Ouch! My fruit platter! You stepped on my apple!!"

Flames, fruit pulp, tea stains, and shards of porcelain flew around them. The sofa was kicked over, the curtains caught fire, and several fist marks appeared on the wall!

The Rest Room had been completely turned into Battlefield; the scene was horrific.

After a long while, Ace finally caught his breath, and the flames slowly died down.

He leaned against the wall, panting heavily, his lips twitching as he mumbled:

"What the hell is wrong with you...? Are you trying to scare me to death so you can inherit my Flame-Flame Fruit?"

Roy sat on the ground, brushing the ash off his scorched sleeve, and shrugged matter-of-factly. "That was just a test of your reaction... You showed a lot of brotherly love."

Ace rolled his eyes, too lazy to pay him any attention.

After a moment of silence, the atmosphere finally eased.

Ace pondered for a moment, then couldn't help but ask, "Speaking of which, Roy... did you really eat two Devil Fruits?"

"Didn't you watch me eat it?" Roy asked calmly, picking up an intact teacup and refilling it with water.

Ace's eyes widened, his face full of confusion:

"But... anyone who eats two fruits will explode and die! Isn't that an ironclad rule?"

Roy looked up at him, his eyes becoming deep and dark in the swirling tea steam.

"Yes, an 'ordinary person' would definitely die if they ate two fruits."

"But I'm not an ordinary person."

He opened his palm, and a dark vortex, like an abyss, seeped from it, slowly devouring the surrounding light. The broken porcelain shards on the coffee table trembled slightly, as if attracted by it.

Ace felt a chill run down his spine, his breathing tightened, and his Adam's apple bobbed as he asked, "Really? What's the internal structure of your body...?"

Roy smiled, his tone laced with a hint of slyness and mystery. "Want to hear the truth?"

Ace nodded vigorously.

I'll tell you when you're able to eat two fruits.

Ace: "..."

He rolled his eyes speechlessly, then muttered under his breath, "It's just you... so it's not so surprising."

Suddenly changing the subject, he narrowed his eyes and asked, "So now... can you use the Dark-Dark Fruit? Is it really as miraculous as you say?"

Roy smirked. "Want to give it a try?"

Ace was taken aback by what he heard, and was about to say "Stop messing around," when the next second—

"Whoosh!"

Roy vanished in Flash!

"Varied--"

"Bang!!"

A dark figure appeared directly in front of Ace with incredible speed!

He only felt a blur before his eyes, and before he could react, a hand with Dark Vortex pressed heavily against his forehead!

"Huh...?!!"

Ace instantly tried to transform into flames and retreat as an element, but his body was as if bound in darkness, unable to move!

"Flame-Flame Fruit... cannot be activated?!"

He was utterly shocked and still wanted to use Armament Haki to unleash his Impact—

However, that palm seemed to suppress even his will.

Roy's burst of Haki, Martial Arts, and precise spatial control in that instant was almost overwhelming!

Ace struggled with all his might, striking with his elbows and unleashing a barrage of Haki... Roy's hands remained unmoved.

"It's useless," Roy said calmly.

"This is... 'darkness'."

A few seconds later, Roy released his grip lightly, his figure Flash again, and he sat back down on the sofa.

Ace was panting heavily like a drowning man, his hair disheveled, cold sweat pouring down his forehead, and sparks still flying from the corner of his clothes.

He looked at Roy, his voice trembling, "Roy... this fruit combined with your spatial abilities, Haki, and Martial Arts... it's simply..."

"That's terrifying!!"

He was genuinely terrified. For a fleeting moment, he even felt that if he weren't his brother, but some enemy, he would have been dead in an instant.

Roy gently opened his palm, and a dark vortex slowly spun in his hand, seemingly endlessly devouring everything, silent and profound, like a coffin leading to an abyss.

The Dark-Dark Fruit... is indeed a monstrous ability.

However, it is not without its flaws.

Darkness attracts everything—not just light and fire, but also lightning, blades, bullets, fists, and even Haki Shockwaves; nothing can escape it.

That sounds almost invincible.

But precisely because of this, it is destined to have a fatal characteristic:

Users of the Dark-Dark Fruit cannot become immune to attacks after transforming into an element like other Logia.

Conversely, once elementalized, the body will actively attract attacks, ensuring that all damage precisely hits the main body.

Black holes do not distinguish between good and evil; they greedily devour even harm. This is the price of "darkness."

The more you absorb, the heavier the burden you bear, and the resulting pain will be magnified many times over.

The Dark-Dark Fruit won't alleviate your pain; instead, it will make you feel "real pain" that is clearer and more intense than usual.

This is precisely why it is known as the "most ferocious Logia".

However--

I am not an ordinary Devil Fruit User.

With the added advantage of my Giant Physique, my body has long been tempered to its limit, my flesh is as tough as steel, and my recovery speed far exceeds that of ordinary people.

With the ability to Teleportation as a complement, as long as I don't want to be hit, no one can touch me.

As for the so-called "drawback"—that the ability requires physical contact with the enemy to disable it?

Roy lowered his head, flicked his fingertips, and the dark Spiral in his palm reappeared quietly, moving slowly like a snake, cold and silent.

For me--

That's just a minor rule that turns "battle" into "finishing at point-blank range".

He chuckled softly, but his voice was deep and resonant, and there was no hint of jest in his eyes.

"If we catch them off guard..."

"Instantly killing an Admiral- level combatant doesn't seem impossible after all..."