Two Devil Fruits

Under the sun, the surface of the sea shimmered with sparkling waves.

Azure humanoid figures climbed up from the sea, taking stiff steps as they moved toward the floating fragments of the sailboat scattered in all directions.

On the deck, the members of the Red-Haired Pirates stared with wide eyes at the figures, which lacked any gender characteristics or facial features.

"What the hell are those things?!"

Shanks narrowed his eyes at the sight. He searched through his memories, eventually finding something similar. "Are they like Homies?"

The members of the Roger Pirates had once made rubbings of the Road Poneglyph in Big Mom's territory, and Shanks had naturally seen Homies there.

Thus, he quickly associated Louis's Devil Fruit creations with Big Mom's Homies.

Shanks watched the humanoid creations walking away across the sea, a meaningful look in his eyes.

"Just like Big Mom, he can manipulate seawater through his ability..."

On the other side, having done his part, Louis leaned back against the railing with peace of mind, watching everyone else work at their leisure.

Beside him, Yelena realized she should probably do something as well, so she stepped forward, intending to help.

But soon, her idea was sternly rejected by Hongou, and she sat back down beside Louis, feeling dejected.

Before long, the equipment for the banquet had been set up on the sailboat. Howling Gab, with his long dark-red hair, and Snake, who wore sunglasses, dove headfirst into the sea.

They prepared to search the seabed for lucky spectators and warmly invite them to be special guests at this banquet.

Soon, the humanoid creations formed from gathered seawater converged, bringing a portion of the ship's wreckage near Louis.

Once this was done, their mission was complete; Louis reclaimed their vitality, causing them to collapse back into seawater and scatter into the ocean.

"Louis? What do you call those ability creations of yours?" Just then, Shanks finished his work and walked over from the other side.

"They don't have a name." Louis shook his head.

Before he had his own ship or territory, Louis had no intention of creating things that would exist for a long time.

Therefore, he couldn't be bothered to come up with a unified name for those creations.

Hearing this, Shanks was stunned for a moment, then chuckled. "You haven't even named them?"

"That's a bit like someone I met in Loguetown..." As he spoke, a flash of memory crossed his eyes, and the image of a man with hawk-like eyes surfaced in his mind.

Louis listened, lost in thought.

Loguetown, not naming one's techniques.

That's talking about Hawkeye, right?

According to Shanks, it seems Hawkeye Mihawk is the only one who fits the criteria.

Soon, Louis cast those thoughts aside, ignited the flames on his back, and manipulated the fire snakes to extend toward his arms, raising a miniature orange sun in his palm.

The sun radiated intense heat, instantly causing the surrounding temperature to spike. Heat waves rose, distorting the air.

The high temperature dissipated, continuously baking the wet ship debris in front of Louis, rapidly evaporating the seawater clinging to it.

On the deck, everyone watched the miniature sun hovering in Louis's palm, their mouths twitching slightly.

Under their perception, the heat contained within this sun was terrifying; if it were to explode, it would be enough to evaporate the entire warship into thin air.

Yet, such a dangerous sun was actually being used by Louis to dry firewood.

For a moment, they sighed inwardly. Although they knew Louis was carefree ever since he set sail at the age of ten, seeing this action made them feel that their assessment of him had been a bit too conservative.

Louis sensed the strange gazes and felt a bit confused for a moment.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, carry on." Everyone waved their hands in unison, speaking at the same time. Their expressions were inexplicable, and their tone was incredibly bizarre.

The mental state of the people on this ship is truly absurd... Louis turned his head and continued with his task.

Soon, feeling that the moisture in the wood before him had completely evaporated, Louis extinguished the miniature sun with a flick of his hand.

Next, everyone quickly set up the tools and fuel needed for the banquet.

Everything was ready; all that was missing were the special guests.

Splash. Following two successive sounds of water, Gab and Snake surfaced one after another, each carrying the special guest they had found.

Those were... two unconscious small Sea Beasts.

Thud, thud... The two leaped from the sea one after another, landing on the deck.

"What the hell, why is it so hot?"

"Have you guys started eating already?"

Just after returning to the Red Force, the two felt the sweltering heat rushing toward them, accelerating the evaporation of the seawater remaining on their bodies.

Faced with their questions, the group didn't answer immediately, instead subconsciously turning their eyes toward Louis.

"..."

Gab and Snake saw this and roughly understood the situation. They didn't dwell on it too much, however, and instead shouted out to Shanks.

"Boss, we found something good!"

Gab grinned, revealing a mouth full of sharp, serrated teeth, as he tossed two small wooden crates between his hands.

"Something good?" Shanks, who had been communicating with someone via Den Den Mushi, paused at the sound of this. He hung up the phone and walked toward the two of them.

On the other side, Uta, who had been playing with Yelena, looked at the two wooden crates in Gab's hands and fell into a memory.

Soon, she snapped back to reality, squeezed through the crowd, and arrived at the front to look curiously at the crates.

"Shanks, can kids be opened from inside these too?"

"..." Shanks smiled helplessly at her words. "How could there be so many kids in treasure chests?"

Yasopp teased, "Besides, Gab fished these two crates out of the sea. Even if there were, it would have to be a little mermaid, right?"

Uta seemed to be deep in thought at his words.

In the end, she shook her head. "Better not. There can't be a second kid on this ship!"

"Mermaids aren't allowed either!" Uta said firmly, her expression resolute, as if she were prepared to toss any child found inside onto another ship.

The crowd burst into laughter at the sight.

"Don't worry, Uta."

"No one can take our love away from you!"

"That's right, that's right!"

Uta's ear tips turned red at these words, and the corners of her mouth curled up involuntarily. To hide her feelings, she urged her father in a hurried tone, "Shanks, hurry up and open them!"

Shanks didn't dawdle. He slashed through the steel-forged chains with a single stroke of his blade, and then, under the expectant gazes of the crowd, he opened the wooden crate.

Presented before everyone was a strange fruit, pink all over, with patterns resembling a biological brain and a stem shaped like a musical note.

"A Devil Fruit?" The crowd was stunned on the spot.

"It's actually a Devil Fruit..."

"Boss, what about the other one? Open it and see!"

Shanks reached out and flipped the lid off the second wooden crate.

"??"

"It's really a Devil Fruit too?"

"But... why are two different fruits connected to this one stem?"

Outside the crowd, Louis, who had been admiring the magnificent expanse of the sea, froze. "A Twin Devil Fruit?"