"Bro, big bro,"
"Please, have mercy and let us go~~~"
Mr. 5, his face bruised and swollen, knelt on the ground and begged through tears. If the ordinary members of Baroque Works saw their lofty "officers" in such a state, one wondered whether they would come to their senses and quit this hopeless secret assassin organization.
Miss Valentine, equally bruised and swollen beside him, nodded frantically as she cried a storm inside! This had clearly only been a simple "kill the chicken to scare the monkey" mission. The two of them had clearly dealt easily with Mr. 9 and Miss Monday, who had failed to read the situation.
They had been just about to capture the undercover Mr. 8—the captain of Alabasta's royal guard, Igaram—and Miss Wednesday—Alabasta's princess, Nefertari Vivi—when:
A Three-Sword Style swordsman and some kid in a straw hat had ruined everything!
Given Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine's tempers, they had naturally planned to show those two a thing or two on the spot! A few moves later, however, they discovered that they preferred being the ones looking at those colors...
They had finally seized a chance to escape—Luffy and Zoro had not even spared these two fodder a second glance—only to run into the man before them, who called himself a "concerned citizen." He had "warmly invited" them to participate in an experiment on Devil Fruit development.
Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine had refused at first!
They were officers of the mighty Baroque Works, after all. It was not as though they would come just because someone invited them! At the very least, they needed more money...
Unfortunately, the other man's fists were too big!
After he generously declared, "Use whatever tricks you have!" and then proceeded to beat them down one-sidedly... or rather, mercilessly thrash them, Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine began cooperating enthusiastically with his experiment, smiles blooming on their faces.
"Are you two seriously this weak?"
Roman looked at the pair before him with an expression of sorrow at their misfortune and anger at their refusal to improve.
Were there even Devil Fruit users this weak in the East Blue? Mr. 5's Explosion-Explosion Fruit was used for nothing but flinging boogers. Was he trying to disgust his opponents to death? And that damage—an explosion right in Luffy's face had only dusted him with a layer of grime. The humiliation value was extraordinarily high, but the damage was not even worth mentioning...
And then there was this Miss Valentine. Golden Lion's Float-Float Fruit had kept more than a dozen islands floating ten thousand meters in the air for years. Even if your Fluffy-Fluffy Fruit was a lower-tier version of a lower-tier fruit, it should not be limited to changing your weight by such a tiny amount, right? And its limit was only ten thousand kilograms. In the One Piece world, even a bricklayer could lift that easily...
"Can't you really use your abilities on my paper?"
Frantic head shaking ×2
"Sigh, you're so useless. Maybe I should just kill you..."
"Don't, big bro!" ×2
"You're a great and merciful man, please spare us~~~" ×2
As expected of Baroque Works officers, they had mastered the art of yielding and adapting. Roman now understood how these two had survived this long.
"Devil Fruit users like you are just wasting slots by staying alive!"
The Explosion-Explosion Fruit and the Fluffy-Fluffy Fruit had not originally been trash Devil Fruits, yet these two had forcibly turned them into trash... Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine lay flat on the ground, furious but afraid to speak. After being ruthlessly beaten down barehanded, they had completely lost the courage to resist. More importantly:
Their opponent had not used his Devil Fruit ability in battle at all!
How the hell were they supposed to fight that...
"Looks like both of you have Paramecia-type Devil Fruits that only alter your own bodies—the Body Modification type."
Devil Fruits were divided into three major categories: Zoan, Logia, and Paramecia, which encompassed everything that was neither of the first two.
If Paramecia were further classified, the first category would be the Superpower type: fruits like the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, Shield-Shield Fruit, and Slow-Slow Fruit... These fruits did not alter their users, instead granting them a particular "superpower."
Then came the Ability type based on bodily modification: the Slippery-Slippery Fruit, Weapon-Weapon Fruit, Scissors-Scissors Fruit... These fruits visibly changed the user's appearance while also granting abilities based on those changes.
Next was the Body Modification type. The most typical examples were Luffy's Rubber-Rubber Fruit, the Spring-Spring Fruit, the Diamond-Diamond Fruit, and Buggy probably counted as well... Their appearances did not change, but their inner constitutions became a certain type of substance.
The fourth was the Creation type: the Biscuit-Biscuit Fruit, Thread-Thread Fruit, Candle-Candle Fruit... Their users were no different from ordinary people, but they could create the substances corresponding to their fruits. And those substances would not disappear because of seawater, Seastone, or anything similar.
The fifth was the Special type, like Roman's. He could both create paper and turn himself into "paper." Although that seemed very versatile, Devil Fruits ultimately depended on individual development and personal strength.
Incidentally, Katakuri's Mochi-Mochi Fruit was also a Special Paramecia.
"Sigh, you two pieces of trash are both Body Modification-type Paramecia..."
"Wait!"
Roman narrowed his eyes, making Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine tremble all over as they sensed that something was terribly wrong.
"Thinking about it from another angle, since you are both Body Modification-type users, that means your flesh and blood possess the properties of 'explosion' and 'weight'..."
Under Roman's gaze, which looked ready to chop people into pieces, Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine grew ever more despairing!
They could not beat him, and they could not run away.
They were done for...
Rustle—
A thick sheet of paper appeared in Roman's hand. He passed it to Mr. 5, and against the latter's pale face came Roman's calm voice.
"Here. Smear blood on it."
"Spare me! Please spare..."
"Blood... just blood?"
Mr. 5, who had already begun begging on instinct, raised his head. An incredulous expression appeared on his bruised and battered face.
"What else? Did you want to smear your brains on it?"
"No, no, no! I'll do it—"
Pulling out a small knife, Mr. 5 viciously slashed open his wrist and let blood gush onto the white paper, making Roman raise an eyebrow.
Tsk, tsk. Was blood free or something?
...Well, it really was free.
"Come here."
Roman created another thick sheet of white paper and handed it to Miss Valentine beside him.
"I've always believed in gender equality. You smear blood on this one too."
Speechless, Miss Valentine accepted the paper. She did not have Mr. 5's nerve to slash her wrist, so she could only cut open a finger and squeeze drops of blood onto the white paper.
Boom—!
"Just as I thought."
Facing the explosion caused by the "Explosive Tag" he had just thrown, Roman first nodded in satisfaction, then frowned.
"I'm saying this, Mr. 5."
"Your explosions are way too weak, aren't they? They're only good for clearing fodder..."
Sorry for being fodder, then!
Mr. 5's face was pale, and he wanted to cry but could not. Damn it! If he had known, he should have buried his head in developing his Devil Fruit ability every day...
"Forget it. Thinking about it carefully, I can't stockpile a billion Explosive Tags anyway. Besides:"
And unlike the Naruto world, where attack power was generally high and defense low, the One Piece world was full of absurdly tough people. Fighting for days and nights was nothing unusual. Broken bones, massive bleeding, severed arms and legs—those were all minor injuries. Wrap them with bandages and tape, and they could fight another three hundred rounds!
Explosions? Cannonballs? What a joke. Could those things even kill anyone? Weren't they just released to serve as background effects...
"All right, you can go."
Roman waved his hand, and the pale Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine scrambled to their feet as if they had been granted amnesty. Supporting each other, they hurried away.
"Roman?"
Nami looked at the figure emerging from the shadows. Amid her surprise... tears streamed down her face.
?!
"What kind of expression is that? Are you really that excited to see me?"
"No, Roman."
Two streams of tears silently ran down Nami's face, and she had no words for her bitterness.
"Do you know that we've only just entered the Grand Line, and we're already being hunted by one of the Shichibukai you mentioned?"
"Y-Yes... I'm sorry."
The blue-haired girl beside her, who had removed her disguise—Miss Wednesday... no, she should be called Nefertari Vivi—kept bowing to Nami in apology.
"This is all because of me..."
"If you don't mind, I personally have five hundred thousand Beli..."
All right, it seemed Crocodile would receive the news soon.
With Roman's ability, he could naturally eliminate the animal duo carrying the report in advance: Mr. 13 the sea otter and Miss Friday the vulture. But:
What would that accomplish? As long as Luffy, Nami, and the others intended to help Vivi, they would inevitably clash with him. In that case:
It would be better to let the overconfident Crocodile send over some officers first for "level grinding."
"Mm, we'll talk about this later."
As for provoking a Shichibukai, Luffy and Zoro beside them merely laughed it off, not taking it seriously at all. Their eyes even hid eager fighting spirit! Roman finally understood what it meant for newborn calves not to fear tigers.
This really was... forget it, he was tired...
"Here."
Roman handed a thick book to Nami. Seeing her blank expression, he personally guided her step by step.
"See this picture?"
Opening the book, the first page depicted an "explosion." At its crimson center, massive energy was released within 0.01 seconds, producing blistering heat and billowing black smoke! Rings of crimson expanded outward. It was vivid and lifelike, as though ready to leap off the page.
"Then turn to the back. Imagine the 'explosion' you just saw. Tear off a sheet of white paper and throw it out..."
Under the curious gazes of Luffy, Zoro, and Vivi, Nami followed Roman's instructions, tore out a page, and threw it. Then:
Boom!!
A violent explosion erupted around the paper, blasting the hair of all the onlookers high behind them.
"This... this..."
The moment she thought about what would have happened if she had thrown that paper directly in front of herself, Nami burst into tears again.
I want to go home! I don't want to sail with these monsters anymore...
"Not bad. This thing isn't much use to me."
"You can use it to protect yourself."
Roman rubbed his chin. Though the explosion's power was "completely insufficient" in the eyes of himself, Luffy, and Zoro, it was still useful for dealing with ordinary fodder.
"I'll call it, Paper Dance—"
"The Art of Thievery!"
Before you continue