Devil Fruit

Late at night.

The wine was gone, and the food had all been eaten.

Shanks and Yasopp left.

Before parting, Maud promised Yasopp that she would take good care of the gun as if it were her own son.

Then, after Yasopp left, Maud silently gave the smoothbore gun a new name—Usopp.

As night deepened, Maud lay contentedly on the bed with the gun and bullets she had gotten, and drowsiness gradually overcame her.

Vaguely, she seemed to hear Saul shouting that he had been cheated again, wondering how all the wine had disappeared.

But that no longer mattered.

What mattered was that she had both a gun and bullets, and had taken a major step toward her second hunt.

The next day.

Maud woke up early again.

She first did several sets of high-intensity exercises before going downstairs.

At this hour, Sunny had already prepared a breakfast overflowing with nutrients, while Saul had gone to Flower Street for his morning training.

It really had to be said again: calling the food at the shop heavenly would not be an exaggeration.

But what puzzled Maud was that the food was so good, and Sunny ate quite a lot at every meal, so how could her figure still be so flat... Well, so slender?

Strange as it was, Maud could not stop eating.

After wolfing down breakfast, Maud cleared the table without waiting for Sunny to tell her, then routinely cleaned the shop from top to bottom.

Seeing that there was still some time left, she also cleaned the corridors, stairways, and other areas.

After that, Sunny came downstairs and once again took out a thin ruler to measure the placement of each item.

Once all that was done, the shop began another day of business.

As expected, just like yesterday, several hours passed without a single customer.

However, when Yasopp had spent five million Beli on two guns yesterday, Maud's opinion of the shop had already changed.

This was clearly a weapons shop taking the high-end route—the kind that did not open for three days, but lived off one opening for three years.

With nothing else to do, Maud either organized her memories or performed several sets of exercises.

Sunny sat behind the counter, carefully reading the newspaper of the day.

She turned a blind eye to Maud exercising in the shop and did not interfere excessively.

Such a relaxed management style made things much easier for Maud.

As noon approached, the shop door was pushed open.

Maud thought Saul had returned from his morning training, but when she looked up, she saw that the visitor was the Undertaker, Arthur.

Arthur entered the shop, pulled the door nearly shut behind him, then looked at Sunny and Maud before asking, "Has Saul come back?"

"Not yet."

Sunny put down the newspaper and answered.

Arthur said strangely, "It's already this late, and he still hasn't returned? He's really growing younger with age."

Sunny fell silent.

Arthur did not care. He walked to the counter, leaned halfway against it, and began complaining to himself.

"Nearly a thousand slaves were killed or injured in the riot at the Pig Farm yesterday. It nearly wore me out. I don't know what those slaves were thinking. Wouldn't it be better to live obediently? Now look what happened. With so many dead and injured, the Pig Farm's short-term production can't keep up. And who suffers? The other slaves, of course."

As Arthur repeatedly mentioned slaves, Sunny's expression gradually turned cold.

Noticing Sunny's reaction, Arthur patted the mask on his face and apologized with little sincerity. "Sorry, sorry. I nearly forgot that you don't like hearing about this."

Sunny snorted and could not be bothered to respond to Arthur anymore.

Seeing that the atmosphere had become somewhat stiff, Arthur laughed indifferently, took an ordinary-looking booklet from his pocket, and placed it on the counter.

"This is the booklet released by the auction house today. I think Saul will be very interested. Also, tell him that I'll be waiting for him at the auction house entrance at the end of the month."

"Oh."

Sunny's attitude was cold.

Arthur shrugged and turned to leave.

Before going, he glanced at Maud and said ominously, "Kid, you'd better not run around the streets during this period, unless you want someone to capture you and send you to the Pig Farm to make up the numbers."

With that, Arthur pushed open the door and left, not forgetting to maintain the shop's unspoken rule by leaving the door slightly ajar.

After Arthur left, Maud approached the counter and asked, "Sunny, what kind of place is the Pig Farm?"

"Some of the meat you ate this morning came from the Pig Farm. What do you think it is?"

"But what does that have to do with slaves..."

Halfway through her sentence, Maud suddenly thought of certain scenes that would have been censored. Her expression changed at once, and she blurted out, "Those meats couldn't possibly be...?"

Seeing Maud's reaction, Sunny knew that Maud had obviously misunderstood.

"What are you imagining? It's merely a food production base with well-developed animal husbandry and agriculture. It's just that most of the people working there are ordinary people kidnapped from various places by Slave Ships and pirates. A few are also navy soldiers captured by pirates, which is why it was given that mocking name."

As she explained, Sunny suddenly glanced at the bandages Maud still had not removed and said pointedly:

"In the eyes of those beasts, seriously injured targets aren't worth anything. Sometimes, considering the cost of transport, they can't be bothered to send them to the black market for sale and will simply throw them into the sea."

After a pause, Sunny said calmly, "So, Maud, you're very lucky."

"Lucky...?"

Maud thoughtfully glanced at the scar on Sunny's face, which had left her disfigured, and nodded. "Indeed. Waking up here was my good fortune."

"Actually, you should thank Saul. He..."

Sunny opened the booklet Arthur had left behind, but abruptly stopped halfway through her sentence. Her expression suddenly grew agitated.

"A Devil Fruit! There's actually a Devil Fruit at this auction!"

"Hm?"

Maud raised an eyebrow. Ignoring the consequences, she walked behind the counter and looked at the illustrated page in Sunny's hands.

A fruit covered in strange patterns suddenly entered her view.

The instant she saw the drawing of that fruit, Maud's expression changed.

A Devil Fruit—the shortcut to becoming stronger that most people dreamed of!

Unfortunately, with her current resources, obtaining this Devil Fruit was undoubtedly an absurd fantasy.

Maud did not even dare to imagine it, and soon calmed down.

She noticed that Sunny's fingers, gripping the booklet so tightly that they had gone pale, clearly revealed her excitement.

That excitement came from her desperate desire to become stronger.

"A tremendous benefit like a Devil Fruit has nothing to do with me for now."

Maud shifted her gaze away and stopped looking at the booklet.

Although a Devil Fruit could put her on the path of hunting and growing stronger as quickly as possible, she had no money and lacked the strength to steal it. There was no point in wasting her emotions on it.

That was what she thought, but she was still somewhat interested in the auction at the end of the month.

She had no money, but she could at least go and watch the excitement, right?

Besides, who knew? Perhaps the auction house would descend into chaos because of the Devil Fruit.

By then, if old Usopp had a misfire and unexpectedly shot someone dead from a distance, it probably would not cause too much of a commotion.

"There are still more than twenty days until the end of the month. If I can hunt a few prey before then..."

Maud considered whether it was feasible.

Suddenly, the shop door was pushed open for the second time.

The visitor was still not Saul. Instead, it was a strange man with long blond hair and a mask with blue openings.

Maud looked at the man and recognized him at a glance.

Wasn't this Killer, one of the supernovas from Kid's crew?

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