Half a month later.
The tenth-floor laboratory.
Chaos, Enel, Stussy, Bonis, and the others had all gathered.
They were inside a large laboratory made of Seastone, watching the innermost room—another small laboratory made of Seastone—through a Den Den Mushi video feed.
To determine whether the experiment had succeeded, and establish the odds of successfully taking a Devil Fruit ability, they had built one laboratory inside another. There were two layers in total.
"It'll work, right?"
Betty was a little excited.
"I hope it does."
"But it's still hard to believe. Someone really can eat a second Devil Fruit, and we're actually testing it."
"Yee-haw!"
"Hahaha! You all should be thinking about what to eat as your second Devil Fruit!"
Chaos grinned, smoking a cigarette and barely able to contain his impatience.
"Boss, I think we should all sit down and discuss this together. By the way, isn't Little West collecting the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia?"
"Call me Little West again and I'll kill you."
Stussy glared at Crocodile. It was one thing when that idiot Gai called her that, but she'd reached her limit.
"Phew..."
Crocodile didn't give Stussy so much as a glance. He blew smoke rings as he considered which fruit he should eat—ideally one that would work well with the Sand-Sand Fruit.
But his current abilities were already powerful enough, and he still hadn't developed the Sand-Sand Fruit to its limits!
For example, what about turning an entire island to sand in an instant, like the Boss had once mentioned?
Or a whole planet?
So eating a second fruit might not help him. It could even become a burden.
Having a wide range of abilities didn't mean you were stronger than someone who had mastered one ability.
All in all, each had its own advantages.
He needed to