About Trying to Obtain Devil Fruits

"Before we set sail, we should make some plans and take stock of what we have."

After making their decision, everyone sat together again.

"First, Rod, why did you bring this guy back?"

Nia pointed at Bellamy, who was unconscious in the corner, and asked.

"Although they claimed earlier that they were working for Doflamingo, that was probably just wishful thinking on their part. I doubt someone as powerful as a Shichibukai would have any use for small-time thugs like them."

"Doflamingo?"

Luo's gaze fell on Bellamy.

He hadn't expected to hear news about Doflamingo right after opening up to them and explaining his grudge against him.

"By the way, what's this Shichibukai you've all been talking about?"

Pekoms raised his hand, and Shakky nodded along with him.

Ever since Captain Luo had started talking about all this, they'd been wondering what these so-called Shichibukai were.

The mood had been too good to interrupt, and they'd been caught up in the excitement of being able to set sail with everyone. Only now had they finally gotten a chance to ask.

"Honestly, don't you ever read the papers? And you decided to set sail with us without even understanding the situation?"

"Sorry, but we spent all our time training. Otherwise, we'd never have met Captain Rod's standards. Besides, as long as we stick with Captain Rod and the others, there's nothing to worry about!"

"Forget it..."

Nia glanced at the two of them and sighed softly before explaining.

"The Shichibukai are Great Pirates who've been granted permission by the World Government to plunder. They stand at the very top of the sea, and every one of them possesses terrifying strength and influence."

"So our goal is to take one of them down and take his place?"

"That doesn't sound too bad."

Watching the two of them discuss it with straight faces, Nia sighed again.

"Let's get back to this guy."

"You all know about Devil Fruits, right?"

Instead of answering Nia's question directly, Rod suddenly brought up Devil Fruits.

"According to legend, when a Devil Fruit user dies, the devil inside him is reborn somewhere in the sea, and the same Devil Fruit appears again. That's why the Devil Fruit encyclopedia exists: most fruits have appeared somewhere in the world before."

Nia looked at Rod in confusion, unsure why he'd brought this up.

"But this world is so vast that finding the corresponding Devil Fruit after a user dies is like searching for a needle in the ocean."

Ignoring Nia's puzzled look, Rod continued.

"So what if we made the world smaller? If the world weren't so vast, wouldn't it be easier to find that Devil Fruit?"

"That's true. A smaller area would definitely make it easier to find things."

"But how do we make the world smaller?"

"Obviously, we can't shrink the world we live in. But we can try shrinking the world around a Devil Fruit user—even until it's no bigger than a single room!"

Rod looked at Luo, his eyes shining.

"I see!"

Luo understood at once.

"You'd already thought of this, hadn't you? That's why you had me develop this ability."

"Exactly! Let's try it. Pekoms, hurry and bring out all the fruit. We should have plenty in storage!"

"On it!"

Soon, everyone formed a circle. In the middle lay Bellamy, still unconscious, surrounded by a huge pile of assorted fruit.

"ROOM—Isolation Room!"

Blue light flashed across Luo's palm. A hemispherical blue space spread across the open ground, enclosing Bellamy and the fruit around him.

"That looks a little different from your usual ROOM."

"This technique, Isolation Room, was developed from my ability. It completely separates the space inside ROOM from the outside world, so even air can't circulate. If someone stayed inside for too long, they could even suffocate from lack of oxygen."

"ROOM—Conductor's Baton!"

Luo curled his fingers slightly. The sword lying off to the side rose into the air, then plunged straight through Bellamy's heart.

As Bellamy died, everyone stared intently at the pile of fruit inside the space. If all went well, the devil of the Spring-Spring Fruit inside him would be reborn in one of them.

Time ticked by, second by second.

"Looks like it failed!"

After a while, Rod let out a breath. He wasn't too disappointed.

Although he thought the method was feasible, he hadn't expected to master the way to obtain Devil Fruits so easily.

After all, even in the original story, it seemed that only Blackbeard had figured out how to obtain Devil Fruit powers after eating the Dark-Dark Fruit.

"I think I felt something."

After deactivating his ability, Luo took a moment to catch his breath. His Op-Op Fruit consumed a great deal of stamina when he used it. Normally, he conserved his strength by repeatedly opening and closing his space.

Maintaining the space for so long—especially with Isolation Room, a newly developed technique that took even more stamina—was a huge challenge for him.

"Just now, I think I felt something pass through my Isolation Room. Looks like the idea is sound, but I still need to develop this ability further."

"It's good that the idea is sound. But you still need to work on your stamina. You're already worn out after maintaining your ability for just ten minutes, Luo."

"I've told you, using my ability consumes a lot of stamina."

"Don't give me that. Using any Devil Fruit power takes stamina. You just have no staying power!"

"Bastard!"

"Devil Fruits can fetch at least a hundred million Berry on the black market. We've found ourselves a way to make a fortune!"

Nia looked at Luo as if he were a walking gold mine.

Although this attempt hadn't worked, as long as his ability improved further, it was bound to succeed. Then they'd be able to obtain Devil Fruits consistently.

A hundred million Berry!

That could buy so much dried fish...

"By the way, what happened to the money Jason gave you earlier? We haven't even counted it yet. We'll need to buy a lot of things before we set sail."

After snatching the money chest from Rod, Nia held her breath and opened it, her heart pounding with excitement.

"Fifty million Berry!"

After counting it, Nia cheered. With that much startup money, they could prepare plenty of supplies.

"But you're not planning to sail in my boat, are you?"

Suddenly remembering something, Nia turned to Rod.

"I'll say this now: it's just a secondhand little boat I bought. It can't withstand rough seas at all."

"Let's get some rest first. We can talk about the ship tomorrow. If nothing unexpected happens, we should have a really great ship."