The Devil Fruit Encyclopedia

"Lately, marines or government agents have occasionally come to the island to investigate Kuma... Kuma destroyed the evil king who tried to make a comeback and reclaim this country, yet they branded him a 'tyrant' and put a bounty on his head. But thanks to that 'tyrant' label, their visits to the island are just routine, a way to satisfy their superiors. Ruidio, if you run into them, don't start a fight. Just wait for them to leave on their own..."

As Ruidio walked through the northern royal capital of the Sorbet Kingdom, he did indeed spot several people in special marine uniforms sitting outside a shop, chatting and laughing. They were probably from the Marines' criminal investigation department.

Just as the old queen dowager Connie had said, because Kuma had been falsely branded a tyrant, the Marines didn't believe he would care about a country he had already "ravaged" and "abandoned."

Besides, if they had investigated seriously, they would have gone looking for information on Kuma in the impoverished south, not here in the main city in the north...

Did these guys know the Six Powers?

What about Haki?

They looked like nothing more than a few low-ranking marine grunts, but what if? Smoker didn't know those abilities, but that didn't mean these people didn't either. They were from different departments, after all. Even if they didn't know them, they might have acquaintances in other departments who knew the Six Powers or Haki...

Ruidio watched them from a distance and quickly completed a few easy little tasks, earning a total of 21 essence. In the end, he refrained from doing anything unnecessary that might cause trouble for this place and turned back toward the old church in the south.

"No! You really can't!"

Two muscular fishermen, panic written all over their faces, blocked the church doors with their lives, refusing to let them out.

Dr. Kureha had gone mad! She actually wanted to take Bonney out of the church!

Did she know how harsh the sun was outside?

The sight of Ginny's death was still vivid in their minds...

Little Bonney might be turned into a human-shaped gemstone by the evil sun on the spot!

"Move."

Kureha spoke coldly, drawing two incomparably sharp scalpels and holding them against the two muscular fishermen's necks. "I'm her doctor. If I say she can go outside, then do as I say. How dare you question my judgment?"

How can you be like this?!

Nami held Bonney close and said to Kureha, "They're just worried about Bonney. You don't have to do this, do you?"

Kureha said calmly, "Do you know what happens when you keep a six- or seven-year-old child shut away in a place like this, where no light gets in, year after year? With no sunlight for so long, she'll develop a severe vitamin deficiency, which can cause rickets. Her immunity will also drop sharply, and her eyesight will gradually deteriorate..."

Going outside into the sun would cause the Blue Jade Scale Disease to worsen rapidly.

But without sunlight year after year, the child's own body would give out first.

No wonder the local doctors, before Dr. Kureha arrived, had concluded that little Bonney wouldn't live to see her tenth birthday... The two muscular men burst into tears. Connie, the short old woman, slowly walked forward and said to them, "Let them through."

"Queen Mother, do you really believe her...?" The muscular fishermen were reluctant. Kuma had repeatedly warned them not to let Bonney into the sun.

Connie said, "I believe Ruidio. And Ruidio believes her."

"Hehe." Kureha smiled. "Little Bonney, what do you say?"

"Bonney?"

Nami noticed that Bonney seemed unwilling to leave her spot and gently reassured her, "If you're scared, we can leave it for today, all right?"

Bonney had soaked in a medicinal bath for an hour and changed into a black, lace-trimmed little dress that Ruidio had bought her. She looked like an exquisitely cute doll.

Faced with everyone's various expressions of concern, she merely shook her head, refusing to go out but unwilling to say why.

Knock, knock!

Suddenly, someone knocked on the church doors.

"What happened?" Ruidio's voice came from outside. He soon pushed one of the doors open a crack, somehow pushing the two muscular fishermen stumbling aside.

"Bonney took her medicine and had a medicinal bath. Ku... Dr. Kureha says she can go outside and get some sun now. But Bonney doesn't seem to dare go out herself," Nami briefly explained to Ruidio.

"Is that so?" Ruidio crouched in front of Bonney and straightened her little dress. "Bonney, scared? I don't believe it. Right?"

"Hehe."

Bonney broke into a smile, clapped both hands against Ruidio's face, and asked, "Ruidio, I want you to take me outside to get some sun. Will you?"

"She..." Nami was surprised, but immediately realized what Bonney was doing.

[Bonney has entrusted you with a task: Hello, Sun]

[Estimated difficulty: -]

Ruidio laughed and tapped Bonney on the forehead. "You little rascal, you're good at reading people!"

"Let's go~~"

Giggling, Bonney went to pull the doors all the way open, then came back and grabbed Ruidio's big hand. She skipped out of the dimly lit church.

"Boo-hoo-hoo..." Watching Bonney step into the golden sunlight, the two muscular fishermen were both terrified and deeply moved.

Nami followed Kureha outside and asked, "Will she really be all right?"

Kureha said, "An hour a day at most. Remember that."

The short old woman Connie followed at a slow pace and nodded. "Don't worry."

The moment Ruidio led Bonney into the sunlight, a system notification appeared:

[Task completed]

[Task reward: 7 essence; Heavenly Restriction Tyrant x1]

Chapter 16: The Devil Fruit Encyclopedia

The group of seven left the church for a walk under the blazing sun and entered the woods to the south.

"..."

Nami watched the pink-haired girl ahead, walking briskly with Ruidio's hand in hers, a relaxed smile on her face. Suddenly, she thought of something and asked Queen Mother Connie, who was walking slowly beside her, in a slightly teasing tone, "Before Ruidio agreed to help treat Bonney, did he make you ask him for help?"

Connie said slowly, "No."

Huh?

Nami was taken aback. Was this the Ruidio she knew?

The two muscular fishermen shook their heads repeatedly when they heard her. "He's joked around like that with other things, deliberately making us ask him, but not when it came to Bonney."

"..."

Nami was speechless for a moment. She quietly followed behind, gazing at Ruidio's back.

Kureha drank from a bottle of South Blue liquor beside her and said with a grin, "Little girl, has he made your heart flutter? Hehehe, love is like a hurricane. It comes when it comes."

Nami said, at a loss for words, "What does that have to do with anything?"

They followed the two ahead out of the woods. The rush of the tide came from up ahead, and Bonney held Ruidio's hand as she lightly hopped onto a rock.

Splash!

Sea spray flew as her long pink hair danced in the wind.

Bonney gazed at the boundless sky and sea, the world before her eyes a single expanse of blue. "It's so big outside," she said blankly.

Hearing this, the two muscular fishermen couldn't help laughing. "You were very naughty when you were little and used to run around outside all the time. Have you forgotten it all?"

"Hehe." Bonney was a little embarrassed.

"All right," Kureha reminded them from behind. "It's about time. Let's go back."

Bonney obediently nodded, turned around, and jumped. By the time she landed, she had transformed into a tall, thin figure with long, wavy gray-white hair, a face full of wrinkles, and an exposed navel.

The two muscular fishermen were startled. Why had she transformed while they were outside?

Kureha didn't pay it much mind.

Nami stared, dumbfounded. She looked to her left and right. It seemed... she was the only one making a fuss. Everyone else, Ruidio included, looked as though nothing unusual had happened.

Could it be that a little girl like Bonney suddenly turning into a tall old woman like Kureha was actually perfectly normal?

That can't be right, can it?

Confused, Nami followed everyone back to the dimly lit church. Bonney had already returned to normal on the way.

"She can only get one hour of sun a day at most."

Kureha reiterated this, directing the reminder especially at Connie and the two muscular fishermen, who were Bonney's guardians. "She needs a medicinal bath every day and a pill once every three days. After taking the pill, she must wait three hours before eating."

Bonney was a little disappointed. She had been outside for so long and gotten so much sun that her whole body was warm, and she had wanted to have a big meal right away.

Nami produced a pocket watch from somewhere, crouched in front of Bonney, and turned the knob to demonstrate. "Turn it all the way around like this, and that's exactly one hour. It'll ring halfway through. Bonney, whenever you go out from now on, wind it up like this. Once it rings, you need to head back, understand?"

Bonney happily stuck out her head so Nami could hang the pocket watch around her neck. "I'll remember! Hehe, Nami, it looks like a necklace." She held it up for Ruidio to see, as if showing off a treasure.

Ruidio smiled. "Once that hand goes all the way around, we'll have a feast."

"Yay!"

Bonney raised both hands excitedly, then cupped the pocket watch and watched the second hand tick forward, her face full of anticipation.

Five minutes later, Bonney was sprawled across the crook of Ruidio's arm, fast asleep.

After an hour in the sun for the first time in ages, the little girl was especially excited and tired. She had been full of energy just moments ago, but in the blink of an eye, she was too exhausted to keep her eyes open.

Only then did the dim church finally fall completely quiet...

Even the two fishermen and Queen Mother Connie took the opportunity to find places to catch up on sleep. Kureha sat in the last row of church pews, gazing at the high, dilapidated ceiling as she drank alone. Nami gently carried Bonney to one side and covered her with a small blanket, then wandered around the church by herself with her hands behind her back, looking at everything with curiosity.

Only now did Ruidio have the time to take a proper look at the reward the system had given him an hour ago.

The simplest task, with a difficulty of less than one star, had actually dropped a special item.

What were the odds?

Ruidio opened the Mission Records and saw that, on the reward line, besides the seven essence, a special item was quietly waiting to be claimed.

He didn't rush to claim it. Instead, he selected it and entered a screen resembling an inspection interface. He found that it was a thin circular band, like a headband, woven from densely packed black curses...

Put this on, and from then on, I'll have nothing to do with the supernatural abilities of this world, right?

Inspecting the "black headband" also brought up a description—

[Heavenly Restriction Tyrant (artificial version)]

[Description: Forced to abandon all Cursed Energy from birth, but granted an unparalleled powerful body in return, such a special bearer of Heavenly Restriction is called a Heavenly Restriction Tyrant. Using this item will artificially produce the same effect.]

[Note 1: If the user has no Cursed Energy but possesses any other form of supernatural energy or the corresponding potential, such as a Devil Fruit, Haki, or others, then all of it will also be sacrificed in exchange for greater physical strength.]

[Note 2: This item cannot be duplicated.]

"..."

Ruidio read the item's description and notes carefully, over and over, especially the line "possesses any other form of supernatural energy or the corresponding potential... all of it will also be sacrificed." For a moment, he was genuinely stunned.

What does "any other form of supernatural energy" mean?

If I use this thing, it won't sacrifice my dear system too, will it?

Will it?

Or won't it?