Potential Stock

An unexpected "Mom" left Sunny standing there, rooted to the spot.

It wasn't because she had been called Mom, but because Beli had spoken human words.

"A Devil Fruit ability user?"

That was Sunny's first reaction.

Once she realized that Beli had most likely eaten a Devil Fruit, her feelings suddenly became complicated.

The Devil Fruit she had dreamed of finding had actually been eaten by a stinking skunk?

Maud's reaction was far less intense than Sunny's, and he didn't make a direct judgment either.

An animal being able to speak didn't necessarily mean it had eaten a Devil Fruit.

Saul stared expressionlessly at Beli, whose desire to survive had exploded to its limits. He slowly withdrew his hand and turned his head toward the two people standing by the bathroom door.

"Who brought this little thing here?"

Sunny immediately raised her hand and pointed at Maud.

Maud: "..."

Ten minutes later, everyone was seated around the dining table.

Beli, whose upper body had been bound up like a rice dumpling, was sprawled on the floor beside the table.

Two steaks and a plate of vegetables had been placed in front of him.

The dinner, practically overflowing with humanity, offered some slight comfort to his wounded heart.

Saul stuffed a piece of chicken leg into his mouth and swallowed it after chewing a few times. Then he glanced at Beli, who was gnawing on a steak.

"You hid yourself pretty well, little thing."

As one of the auction's items, Saul had recognized Beli at once.

The reason he had nearly crushed Beli's head just now was that he had sensed a faint hostility from him.

And Saul was highly sensitive to hostility. His action had been practically a conditioned reflex.

If Beli hadn't spoken human words at the brink of life and death, Saul definitely wouldn't have stopped in time.

Fortunately, Saul was an expert in hand-to-hand combat. He had struck quickly and retracted his hand just as quickly; otherwise, Beli would have already become a headless corpse.

"Beli didn't eat a Devil Fruit, so why can he speak?"

Sunny looked at Beli in confusion.

Just now, Saul had answered her question about whether Beli had eaten a Devil Fruit with an extremely rare Seastone bullet.

But that had brought another question with it.

Maud held back the urge to give his opinion and silently continued eating.

With his current identity, it wasn't appropriate for him to explain things to Sunny in a setting like this.

Saul knew what was going on and explained, "In the Grand Line, there's an isolated race called the Mink Tribe. This little thing probably has some connection to them, but clearly, the bloodline he inherited isn't complete. It could even be said to be extremely thin, which is why he turned out like this."

"The Mink Tribe? What kind of race is that?"

Sunny's expression shifted.

Beli, who was beside the dining table, also slowed his gnawing and tilted his ears toward Saul's explanation.

He had been different from birth, so he had left his tribe at an early age.

He had once been troubled by his own special qualities. To find out the truth, he had even risked contacting human society.

That was also why he had ended up being captured by humans.

Saul, however, was too lazy to explain in detail and brushed her off. "Just think of the Mink Tribe as a group of humans who have eaten Zoan fruits."

Nearby, Maud almost choked on Saul's explanation.

But after thinking about it carefully, it did seem to make some sense.

Sunny nodded in sudden realization, instantly filling in the image of the Mink Tribe in her mind.

Saul shoveled several more mouthfuls of meat into his mouth before sighing.

"Maud, you've really struck gold. Minks with bloodlines as thin as this little thing's aren't common. I've only seen a few in my entire life. If the auction house knew his true background, how could they possibly have left him here for direct auction?"

"Is that really necessary? He's only worth a little money."

Maud didn't think Beli could be called a treasure.

If Saul was willing to trade Chidori for Beli, Maud would gladly slap himself in the face.

"Whether he's a treasure depends on how you use him."

Saul took a large gulp of wine, his eyes glimmering faintly.

"Several decades ago, a rising pirate star suddenly emerged in the Grand Line. At his side was a sleek black hunting cat, just like this little thing. It was also a Mink with a thin bloodline."

"Although its form was no different from that of an ordinary animal, it understood human nature and could speak human words."

"People who didn't know that black hunting cat would only assume it could speak because it had eaten a Devil Fruit. They wouldn't have been entirely wrong, either. That cat really had eaten a Devil Fruit."

"However, the fruit it ate was neither the Human-Human Fruit nor a fruit related to language. It was... the Weapon-Weapon Fruit."

"Because that hunting cat had eaten the Weapon-Weapon Fruit, many famous old pirates ended up falling into the hands of that rising star without realizing it. I was young and hot-blooded back then, and I nearly fell victim to his schemes as well."

"To this day, I've made it this far partly because I have to thank him for teaching me a good lesson back then."

Speaking of his past experiences in a slightly nostalgic tone, Saul raised his cup and downed several more mouthfuls of wine.

Listening to Saul's account, Maud immediately pictured an old schemer in his mind and couldn't help glancing at Beli.

He knew there was a technique that could make weapons eat Zoan fruits, but he had never expected someone to make an animal eat a Weapon-Weapon Fruit.

Thinking about it carefully, it wasn't impossible. But an animal was still an animal.

There were far too many drawbacks...

However, a Mink with a thin bloodline like Beli was indeed no different from a human when it came to eating a Devil Fruit. And the Weapon-Weapon Fruit wasn't the only functional Devil Fruit.

Handled this way, he would have the potential of a low-end version of a dual-Devil-Fruit ability.

Of course, whether it was worth investing a Devil Fruit in a pet was another matter.

Still, he was ultimately a potential stock.

At that thought, Maud's gaze toward Beli immediately changed. He promptly picked up a chicken leg and placed it in front of Beli.

Beli: "..."

After hearing Saul's words, Sunny was also watching Beli.

However, she was thinking in a different direction from Maud.

She still had the same thought as before.

"What a waste."

Sunny shook her head.

If it were her, how could she possibly let a pet eat a Devil Fruit?

It wasn't something that could be found everywhere. Encountering even one in a lifetime was already incredibly difficult.

This was actually a difference in perspective.

To ordinary people, Devil Fruits were indeed rare treasures that were difficult to obtain.

But Maud knew very well that on pirate crews like Doflamingo's or those of the Four Emperors, practically every officer had a Devil Fruit. Not to mention that a small number of people casually squandered Devil Fruits.

All he could say was that as long as one was strong enough, the rare treasures in ordinary people's eyes would eventually become commonplace.

"So, it'd be better to sell Beli after all."

Given Sunny's values, it was impossible for her to waste a Devil Fruit on Beli. Naturally, her main focus was still on exchanging Beli for money.

"Beli already called you Mom. Wouldn't it be bad to sell him?"

Although there was no Weapon-Weapon Fruit, Maud had already regarded Beli as one of his potential stocks, so he naturally had no intention of selling him.

The moment he finished speaking, a chicken bone flew straight at him, accompanied by Sunny's icy expression.

Being suddenly called Mom by Beli had left her bewildered as well.

How could she have known that the reason Beli called her Mom was because she had given him a name?