The splashing water hit Gigue's face, and he suddenly began coughing violently. An unnatural flush surged across his face, and steam could even be seen rising through his skin, as though his blood had "boiled."
Ivan and the others hurried over from behind him. Ivan supported Gigue and said,
"Gigue, are you okay? Your body..."
After recovering slightly, Gigue undid the front of his shirt. At the spot over his heart, his skin was covered in crisscrossing scars marked with stitching, an exceptionally terrifying sight.
Steam rose from his skin as well, and his entire body was bright red. The skin around his heart was especially conspicuous, as if a red sun had been branded onto it.
Gigue's appearance did resemble Luffy's Second Gear state, though only on the surface.
When Luffy entered Second Gear, it was like he had been injected with stimulants, full of energy and vitality. But whenever Gigue entered this state, he was like a deflated ball, weak as could be.
This happened whenever he became emotionally agitated or after intense physical activity.
This was clearly a problem his original body had come with. Judging by these scars and the clothing he wore, which was obviously different from that of the other slaves, his original body must have gone through something extraordinary.
However, Gigue had not inherited the original owner's memories, so he had no clue why this condition existed.
Damn it. Having no Cheat/System was bad enough, and I came with a fucking Debuff too!
Cursing inwardly, Gigue endured the discomfort in his body and slowly sat down. Kuma immediately straightened up and let Gigue lean against him.
Ginny held water in her tiny hands and brought it to Gigue's lips, carefully helping him drink.
The concern of the three of them was plain to see, warming Gigue's troubled heart.
Meeting these three was truly a blessing amid misfortune. Otherwise, he probably would not have survived until now on his own, let alone escaped God Valley.
Gigue's only advantage was that he had read the manga and knew some key information. The problem was that the manga never gave the exact locations of the six Devil Fruits the Celestial Dragons had placed on God Valley.
However, according to the rather mystical saying that "fruits choose their owners," as long as he stayed with Kuma, the odds of finding the Paw-Paw Fruit would be extremely high.
Of the six Devil Fruits, the ones confirmed so far were the Paw-Paw Fruit and the Azure Dragon Fruit. Those two alone could be considered top-tier fruits among the Paramecia and Zoan types respectively. Since the Celestial Dragons had chosen them as prizes, the other fruits could not possibly be inferior.
However, as far as Gigue knew, one of the other four Devil Fruit boxes most likely contained that brat Red-Haired Shanks. More precisely, there should only be five Devil Fruits on the island now.
Gigue guessed that the Phoenix and Great Buddha Fruits were among them. He still could not determine the last one. He did not know whether Whitebeard had already eaten his fruit; if not, then it was very likely the Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
No matter which of those five Devil Fruits someone ate, as long as they were not complete deadweight, it would be like ascending to the heavens in a single step. Their future potential would be limitless.
Don't give him that nonsense about how "there are no useless Devil Fruit abilities, only useless Ability Users." Anyone with half a brain knew that was bullshit.
Just look at Monkey D. Luffy's rubber turning into Nika. In the end, wasn't it simply because rubber had become impossible to hype any further?
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Could an ordinary bird-type Zoan possibly compare to the Mythical Zoan Phoenix?
You could say Lucci was formidable after eating an ordinary Leopard-Leopard Fruit and could trade a few moves with Nika, but wasn't that purely because Lucci himself had solid fundamentals and powerful Taijutsu?
What if he had eaten the Azure Dragon Fruit or the Great Buddha Fruit? Wouldn't the enhancement have been far greater than that of a Leopard-Leopard Fruit?
Since he had come to the Pirate World, eating a Devil Fruit was a must. For Gigue, without a Cheat/System, a powerful Devil Fruit was the foundation that would let him survive in the Pirate World.
Thinking this, Gigue raised his head and looked at Ginny with a serious expression.
Caught in Gigue's gaze, Ginny instinctively sat up straight and asked softly,
"W-what is it, Gigue...?"
"Ginny, you're sure you spread the information that there are top-tier Devil Fruits here, right?"
At that, a confident smile immediately bloomed across Ginny's somewhat dirty little face. She slapped her chest hard and said,
"Don't worry, Gigue! This is my specialty. I can guarantee that everywhere in the world capable of receiving signals already knows about this!"
After receiving Ginny's confirmation, Gigue let out a soft breath. What he feared was that his arrival had caused some kind of butterfly effect, preventing the Rocks Pirates and the Marines from appearing at God Valley.
If those two forces did not come, then God Valley would remain a hunting ground, and they could only remain prey to be slaughtered. Right now, they were utterly weak; aside from Kuma, Gigue and the others would struggle even to take down an ordinary adult.
To obtain Devil Fruits, they needed God Valley to descend into chaos. Only then would they have a chance.
Since the day Ginny spread the information, Rocks should have arrived by now. The number of slaves on the island had already dropped drastically. If Rocks did not come soon, he would not even catch the shit while it was still warm.
Perhaps tomorrow would be when the melee began.
Thinking this, Gigue narrowed his eyes and went over the plan in his mind once more.
The Paw-Paw Fruit was the absolute core of this plan. Its ability was what would guarantee that he, Kuma, and the others could escape God Valley.
It was an absolutely god-tier Paramecia Fruit. As long as he could find it, Gigue would eat it without hesitation. Over the past few days, he had gone over its potential development in his mind again and again.
The Azure Dragon Fruit was certainly good too, but Gigue felt that compared to the concept-level Paw-Paw Fruit, it still fell somewhat short.
Moreover, while the Azure Dragon Fruit granted the ability to fly, that would definitely not be enough on the current God Valley battlefield, where powerful fighters were everywhere. With his current physique, his flight speed could never be fast. He would probably be shot down by a long-range Haki attack before he could even ride a cloud into the air.
What was more, Gigue had to consider taking Kuma and the other two with him. Though they had not known one another for long, bonds formed in desperate circumstances were often the strongest. Besides, Gigue knew the character of all three of them; they were people worth befriending deeply.
Even if eating the Paw-Paw Fruit and escaping alone was the optimal choice, Gigue looked at the arrow still lodged in Kuma's back and slowly shook his head.
A person could be somewhat selfish, but they must never become a heartless beast.
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