The Rumble-Rumble Fruit's Rebirth (3/10) / The One Who Ate the Rumble-Rumble Fruit... (4/10)

The Holy Lance appeared in Arthur's hand, and without another word, he thrust it at Enel.

The spear struck like a dragon, its tip slicing through the air toward Enel's heart.

Let your guard down!

Let your arrogance make you drop your guard completely!

Arthur's face was deadly serious, but he was shouting inwardly.

As the spearhead closed in on Enel, Arthur's Instinct (A) kept flashing the same image through his mind.

Faced with Arthur's "sneak attack," Enel did nothing. He casually tossed the apple in his hand, watching Arthur with an amused look.

But he failed to see that Arthur's spearhead had acquired a coating of pure black.

"Goodbye, Enel," Arthur suddenly said.

"Not good!"

Seeing the smile on Arthur's face, Enel found it rather baffling.

Then, for some reason, a sense of panic welled up inside him.

"Pfft—"

Before he could react, however, a fierce pain surged through him, a sensation he hadn't felt in a long time.

"How... how is this possible..."

The apple fell from Enel's hand. He lowered his head in disbelief, staring at the spearhead piercing his heart, his eyes filled with fear and confusion.

As his eyes glazed over, he seemed unable to understand why his ability to ignore physical attacks, which he had possessed ever since eating the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, hadn't worked this time.

If Arthur had known, he would surely have answered that Enel had lost because of the gap in their knowledge.

Chapter 50: The Rumble-Rumble Fruit's Rebirth (3/10)

"Pat... Though this was a dishonorable victory, and even went against the integrity of chivalry, I'm not a real knight..."

Pulling out the Holy Lance, Arthur looked at Enel, whose eyes had glazed over as he lay on the ground, his breathing gradually fading away. "If you're going to blame anything, blame your ability," he said calmly. "It's far too troublesome."

Taking advantage of Enel's carelessness and ignorance of Armament Haki, as well as his own vastly superior knowledge, Arthur had actually thought of a way to deal with Enel from the moment he was discovered.

Arthur had never considered fighting him head-on.

It wasn't that he was afraid or thought it would be troublesome, but that he had concerns.

Even against Crocodile or the Three Admirals, Arthur would have dared to fight head-on.

Enel alone was different, not only because the Rumble-Rumble Fruit was troublesome, but also because Enel had a flawed personality.

He might look as though he considered Arthur an interesting toy now, but the moment Arthur touched him, he would thoroughly enrage this delusional guy.

Enel would consider it an affront to a god and attack Arthur frantically, stopping only after erasing Arthur, the one who had offended a god, from the world.

In the end, there was no doubt he would go after Nami and Robin.

It was precisely because of this concern that Arthur had secretly instructed Robin before coming: if she saw any change in the sky, she was to take Nami and flee immediately.

Because of this concern, Arthur had already developed killing intent the moment his Instinct (A) detected danger in Enel's gaze.

Arthur couldn't teleport, but Enel could, and Arthur clearly couldn't keep up with his speed.

His Observation Haki couldn't even compare to the bare basics of Enel's.

These two concerns made it impossible for Arthur to settle down and fight Enel openly and fairly.

From the very beginning, Arthur had come to God's Island, Upper Yard, intending to kill Enel.

As a result, Enel's fate was even more tragic.

In the original story, although he lost to an insulator and the protagonist's plot armor, he at least survived.

This time, however, he ended up being killed in an instant.

How sad. Far too sad—

"Hm?!!!"

After pulling out the Holy Lance, Arthur was just about to leave when a startling sight stopped him in his tracks. His green eyes suddenly narrowed, and a look of profound shock escaped onto his handsome, composed face.

The apple that had fallen from Enel's hand and landed on the ground was gradually changing before his eyes, its small, bright red form transforming at a visible pace.

It slowly grew larger, changing into the shape of a pineapple, while spiral patterns emerged from its bright red skin as though wriggling.

In just over ten seconds, the small, bright red apple had become a pineapple covered in blue spiral patterns.

Although Arthur had never seen this pineapple before, it was certainly not unfamiliar to him.

Aside from a few particularly unusual Devil Fruits with distinctive shapes, the fruits of the three major categories—Logia, Paramecia, and Zoan—generally didn't vary in shape.

Logia fruits resembled pineapples, Paramecia fruits resembled melons, and Zoan fruits resembled bananas.

Of course, these only accounted for the majority. In reality, there was no particular uniformity to the colors and shapes of Devil Fruits.

Picking up the pineapple-like fruit with its distinctive blue patterns, Arthur could guess what it was almost without thinking.

It was the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, which he found incredibly troublesome and which many people in his previous life had considered the strongest Logia fruit.

Looking at the Rumble-Rumble Fruit in his hand, Arthur fell silent.

Looking at the Rumble-Rumble Fruit in his hand, Arthur fell silent.

No two identical Devil Fruits could exist in the world, so after a Devil Fruit User died, their power would be reborn somewhere in the world.

This was one form of Devil Fruit rebirth, and the one people believed in.

(bhbg)

But Arthur knew there were two other forms.

The first went without saying: the unique nature of the Dark-Dark Fruit.

The other required tremendous luck: a Devil Fruit would sometimes be reborn in a nearby fruit the instant its user died.

Clearly, the Rumble-Rumble Fruit in Arthur's hand was an example of the last form.

And yet Arthur had encountered something with such an infinitesimal probability.

At this moment, Arthur was absolutely certain his luck was EX.

The Rumble-Rumble Fruit!

The Rumble-Rumble Fruit, recognized by many in his previous life as the strongest Logia fruit, whose versatility and usefulness were impossibly great!

Looking at the Rumble-Rumble Fruit in his hand, Arthur, who had originally resolved never to eat a Devil Fruit, couldn't help wavering.

Since arriving in the world of One Piece, Arthur, who possessed Excalibur, had considered whether to eat a Devil Fruit.

The answer was definitely no.

Why not eat a Devil Fruit? There were two main reasons!

One was the weakness to seawater, which was practically fatal to Arthur, who could walk on water.

The other was that there was no fruit tempting enough for him.

Across the entire world of One Piece, fewer than five fruits tempted Arthur, but those fruits already had owners.

After learning that he had transmigrated to the year the story began, Arthur had completely abandoned the idea of eating a Devil Fruit.

And now, one of the fruits that tempted him had appeared in his hand in an almost comical way.

It was only natural for Arthur, who had been determined not to eat a Devil Fruit, to waver.

After all, if he ate the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, leaving aside the explosive growth in his speed and power,

his Observation Haki alone would reach new heights in a single step. Combined with Instinct (A) and radio waves, not only could he cover a wide area, but he could also hear voices and use Future Sight... Unless the Pirate King came back to life, there would be virtually no one on the seas who could match him.

He could foresee the dangers of the weather at sea, as well as enemy attacks and encirclements, avoiding them in advance or striking first.

Say goodbye to the sea, foresee everything.

The pros and cons flashed through his mind. After transmigrating, Arthur had stopped worrying ever since he summoned Excalibur, but now he found himself torn for a time.

Should I eat it?

Or shouldn't I?

The scales tipped back and forth, unable to settle.

Finally—

Chapter 51: The One Who Ate the Rumble-Rumble Fruit... (4/10)

(Fourth update! I still have class tomorrow morning and will be back after noon. I'll write the remaining six updates then.)

Finally—

After wrestling with the choice, Arthur tipped the scales in favor of not eating it.

The reason was still the same: the weakness was too deadly.

Not only was seawater a weakness, making it difficult for him to walk on water in the future, but eating a Devil Fruit would also mean he couldn't submerge his whole body in a bath. Once the water covered more than half his body, he would grow weak and exhausted.

A weakness that would even make bathing a problem was enough to make Arthur resist the temptation.

"What a pity." Looking at the Rumble-Rumble Fruit in his hand, Arthur shook his head regretfully.

The fruit was destined to be wasted in his hands, and its fate from now on would surely be to sit in some box.

Arthur wouldn't eat it, and he certainly wouldn't let anyone else eat it or put it up for sale.

This fruit was too troublesome; even he had almost failed to resist its temptation.

Of course, Arthur had considered letting Nami eat the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.

But the thought flashed through his mind and was promptly discarded by Arthur.

There was no denying that Nami had an extraordinary talent for weather. Even as an ordinary person in the original story, she had been able to use special tools to create weather phenomena and attack her enemies.

If she ate the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, even if she couldn't develop it to Enel's level, she wouldn't let it go to waste.

Nevertheless, Arthur abandoned the idea.

It wasn't because Nami was a navigator. Being a navigator didn't conflict with eating a Devil Fruit; on the contrary, it would give Nami an even greater advantage.

What stopped Arthur was a terrifying scene he imagined.

Even thinking about it sent a chill down his spine and left him shaken.

There were only three people aboard Arthur's ship, and Robin was already a Devil Fruit User. If Nami became one too...

If both of them fell into the water at the same time and Arthur happened to be away, merely imagining the scene made him panic.

Unless something unusual happened, Arthur would probably remain a bounty hunter.

Arthur had no plans to recruit more crew members either.

His goal wasn't to overthrow the World Government, nor was it to become the Pirate King.

When he had first been at a loss, the [Achievement Quest] issued by the game system had lit the way forward for Arthur.

Arthur's goal had always been to complete the [Achievement Quest] and, along the way, leave his mark on the vast world of One Piece.

By chance, he had met Nami before Luffy did.

That had added another person to what was originally a solitary journey. Then, because Nami encountered the poisonous insects from the original story, he captured Robin, and with fate also playing its part, Arthur gained another companion aboard his ship.

Unless something truly unusual happened, Nami and Robin would probably remain the only two crew members aboard Arthur's ship.

As a transmigrator, Arthur possessed the greatest cheat of knowing the story in advance. Especially at this point, when the story had only just begun, he could think of a solution to any enemy or danger he faced.

That was why he had easily defeated both Crocodile and Enel.

Enel in particular had died at his hands in a humiliating fashion.

This greatest advantage allowed Arthur to protect Nami and Robin well.