Devil Fruit

The night grew deep.

The wine was finished, and the food was gone.

Shanks and Yasopp left.

As they parted, Maud assured Yasopp that he would cherish the gun like a son.

Then, after Yasopp departed, Maud silently gave the musket a new name—Usopp.

As the night deepened, Maud, satisfied with having obtained the gun and bullets, lay on his bed, drowsiness gradually overtaking him.

Vaguely, he could hear Saul shouting about being cheated, cursing loudly that all the wine was gone again.

But those things no longer mattered.

What mattered was that he had a gun and bullets, taking a big step toward his second hunt.

The next day.

Maud woke up early again.

After doing several sets of high-intensity exercises, he went downstairs.

At this hour, Sunny had already prepared a table of overly nutritious breakfast, while Saul had once again gone to Flower Street for his morning routine.

He had to say it again—the meals at the shop were nothing short of divine.

But what puzzled Maud was that with such good food and Sunny eating plenty every meal, why was her figure still so flat... well, so slender.

Strange as it was, he didn't let it stop his mouth.

Wolfing down his breakfast, Maud cleaned up the table without Sunny having to ask, then went through his usual routine of tidying up the shop.

Seeing he still had some time, he even cleaned the hallway and stairs.

After that, Sunny came downstairs and took out a fine ruler to measure the placement of every item.

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

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

However, after Yasopp had spent five million Beli on two guns yesterday, Maud had already changed his view of this shop.

It was clearly a boutique weapons store—the kind that went three days without a sale and then made enough to last three years.

With nothing to do, Maud either sorted through his memories or did a few sets of exercises.

Sunny sat behind the counter, carefully reading the daily newspaper.

She paid no attention to Maud exercising in the shop and didn't interfere too much.

Such a relaxed management style actually made Maud feel at ease.

Around noon, the shop door was pushed open.

Maud thought it was Saul back from his morning routine, but when he looked up, it was the mortician, Arthur.

Arthur walked in, pulled the door half-closed behind him, then glanced at Sunny and Maud, asking, "Is Saul back yet?"

"Not yet."

Sunny put down the newspaper and replied.

Arthur found it strange. "It's this late, and he's still not back? He's getting younger and younger."

Sunny said nothing.

Arthur didn't mind. He walked to the counter, half-leaning on it, and started complaining on his own.

"Yesterday at the Pig Farm, nearly a thousand slaves died or were injured in a riot. It wore me out. I don't know what those slaves were thinking. Couldn't they just behave and live quietly? Now with so many dead and injured, the Pig Farm's short-term production can't keep up. Who suffers in the end? The other slaves, that's who."

Hearing Arthur go on about slaves, Sunny's expression gradually turned cold.

Noticing Sunny's reaction, Arthur tapped the mask on his face and offered a half-hearted apology. "Sorry, sorry, I almost forgot you don't like hearing about that."

Sunny snorted coldly and couldn't be bothered to deal with Arthur anymore.

Seeing the atmosphere turn tense, Arthur smiled carelessly, took a plain little booklet from his pocket, and placed it on the counter.

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

"Oh."

Sunny's tone was icy.

Arthur shrugged and turned to leave.

Before going, he looked back at Maud and said in a sinister tone, "Kid, you'd better not go out on the street for a while, or you might get caught and taken to the Pig Farm to make up the numbers."

With that, Arthur pushed the door open and left, not forgetting to maintain the shop's unspoken rule—leaving the door half-closed.

After Arthur was gone, Maud approached the counter and asked, "Sunny, what 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 slav—"

Mid-sentence, Maud suddenly connected the dots to certain images that would be censored, his face changing instantly. "That meat couldn't be...?"

One look at Maud's reaction told Sunny that he had definitely misunderstood.

"What are you imagining? That place is just a food production base, with well-established livestock and farming industries. Most of the people working there are ordinary folks abducted from all over by slave ships and pirates, with a few being navy soldiers captured by pirates. That's why it got that joking nickname."

Having explained this, Sunny suddenly glanced at the bandages still wrapped around Maud and said meaningfully:

"In the eyes of those beasts, a heavily injured target isn't worth much. Sometimes, considering the cost of transport, they won't bother wasting time and effort to send them to the black market for sale. They usually just dump them into the sea to dispose of them."

Pausing, Sunny said calmly, "So, Maud, you're very lucky."

"Lucky..."

Maud thoughtfully looked at the disfiguring scar on Sunny's face and nodded. "Indeed, waking up here is my luck."

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

Sunny flipped open the booklet Arthur had left behind, but her words cut off abruptly, and her expression suddenly grew excited.

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

"Hm?"

Maud raised an eyebrow, disregarding the consequences as he stepped inside the counter and looked at the picture book in Sunny's hands.

A fruit with strange, swirling patterns suddenly came into view.

Looking at the illustration of that fruit, Maud's expression shifted instantly.

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

Unfortunately, with the capital he had now, getting his hands on that Devil Fruit was nothing short of a fantasy.

Maud didn't even dare to think about it, quickly calming down.

He noticed Sunny's fingers, gripping the booklet so tightly they had turned white, and could clearly feel her excitement.

That excitement came from a desperate yearning to grow stronger.

"Benefits as huge as a Devil Fruit are out of my reach for now."

Maud looked away, no longer focusing on the booklet.

Even though a Devil Fruit could put him on the fastest path to hunting and growing stronger, he had no money and no strength to steal it, so why waste his emotions?

That was what he thought, but he was still a bit interested in the auction at the end of the month.

Even without money, he could at least go watch the commotion, right?

Besides, who knew if the auction house might cause some chaos because of the Devil Fruit's presence?

By then, an aging [Usopp] could have an accidental misfire and shoot someone dead from a distance without making too much of a stir.

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

Maud pondered the feasibility.

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

The newcomer wasn't Saul, but a strange man with long golden hair and a blue mask with holes over his face.

Maud looked at the man and recognized him at once.

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

Every bit of support and every recommendation vote during the new book period is very important.

The recommendation votes yesterday nearly broke a thousand. I can only say you all are too amazing, ahhh. I'm truly grateful to all you feeders, bowing in thanks!

Thanks to Justice Zombie Loli for the strong support, another ten-thousand reward. Thanks to Tang 0 for the 1100 reward. Thanks to Devil Gift for the 500 reward. Thanks to Heaven's Blessing for the 200 reward. Thanks to Silly Douban Sauce, Big Madman Emperor Hero, and Early Sleeper Champion for the 100 rewards.