Passive Trigger

Mousse knew the other man was an adult and had to be given some face. After criticizing him, he immediately softened his tone. "But since you asked me, I can't just tell you nothing. Tell me about the difficulty you've encountered!"

Baron Tamago was somewhat embarrassed to speak, because he had been completely unable to develop it at all.

If he had not been killed in a battle and triggered his transformation, Baron Tamago might still not know what abilities this Devil Fruit possessed.

Mousse was astonished as well. "Completely impossible to develop? There can't possibly be a Devil Fruit like that. Considering this fruit's unique ability, could it be—could it be that you have to be killed frequently? More precisely, you have to be injured badly enough to transform before it can be developed?"

"Um..." Baron Tamago immediately hesitated.

He had transformed after reviving before, but who knew whether it might suddenly fail?

It was hard not to be afraid when asked to actively seek death. Besides, even if he could revive and transform, the pain of being injured was unavoidable—especially when it had to be a fatal wound. The agony was far beyond that of ordinary minor injuries. Who would want to repeatedly torture themselves like that?

Even knowing that it would be hard to gain a foothold in the monster-filled New World without strength, it was not an easy resolve to make.

After deliberating for quite a while, Baron Tamago finally made up his mind and went to ask Cracker to kill him.

Then screams rang out one after another. Mousse became interested, cheerfully brought over a small stool, found a good spot, and sat down to observe firsthand the marvelous cycle of Baron Tamago going from egg to chick, then rooster, then egg again.

After being killed repeatedly, Baron Tamago felt his stamina clearly declining. His spirit had become utterly listless from the repeated excruciating pain, and he finally could not endure any longer and loudly called a halt to the fight.

Though he had suffered terribly, Baron Tamago instead wore a delighted expression.

First, confirming that his stamina would be rapidly depleted dispelled his fear that the transformation might suddenly fail. If there were a fixed number of revivals within a certain period, testing it out would mean actually dying.

Then, the Egg-Egg Fruit's ability truly had developed after he was killed again and again. He excitedly ran over to Mousse and bowed in thanks. "Your Highness Mousse, you guessed right! The transition time before transforming has clearly shortened, and the increase in strength after transforming seems to have improved a little too!"

"So it really is like that?" Mousse was delighted as well, because his understanding of Devil Fruit abilities had expanded considerably. "It seems this is a passively triggered type of Devil Fruit ability. It has to be triggered frequently to be fully developed. Wait, perhaps Devil Fruit abilities also have something like proficiency. As long as the development path remains unchanged, the higher the proficiency, the easier it is to develop? For example, Brother Katakuri could immediately imitate Luffy's moves after seeing them. Aside from being strong enough himself, perhaps it was also because his Devil Fruit ability had already maxed out its proficiency? If that's the case, I need to use my Book-Book Fruit ability whenever I can in daily life."

Having tasted the benefits, Baron Tamago went straight back to Cracker for training whenever his stamina recovered even slightly, as though the pain of dying over and over had become insignificant.

Seeing this, Mousse could not help sighing. "In a world where great power belongs to the individual, the drive brought by the words 'become stronger' really is terrifying!"

Cracker was far stronger than Tamago, and the latter was actively seeking death now, so one sword strike was usually all it took to trigger the transformation.

But after doing it so many times, mistakes were inevitable, and Baron Tamago ended up suffering extra pain for nothing.

What caught Mousse's attention, however, was that once Baron Tamago transformed, even the nonfatal injuries he had suffered earlier were completely healed, without leaving a single scar!

"That's not right. If that's the case, why didn't Baron Tamago's eye grow back after Pedro blinded him in the original story?" Mousse was immediately puzzled.

But after thinking for a moment, Mousse guessed the likely reason. "Maybe Tamago hadn't realized this back then. Once a wound has scarred over, getting killed again is useless."

"Tamago, if you get injured in the future, even if the injury isn't serious, make sure to have someone kill you once before the wound heals!" Upon hearing Mousse's suggestion, Baron Tamago's first reaction was, Young master, where did I offend you again?

Fortunately, Baron Tamago was not stupid. He quickly recalled what had happened earlier and finally understood, repeatedly praising Mousse for his keen observation.

Afterward, Mousse also advised Tamago to seize the opportunity to conduct real combat training while in his strongest form, so that he would adapt better after transforming. The latter readily accepted.

However, seeing his younger brother constantly worrying over an "outsider," Cracker, who was not broad-minded, could not help feeling displeased. "Mousse, don't just focus on giving others advice. How is your own fruit development going?"

"That? There aren't any new books to read on the ship! But I've found a way to remove useless memories." Mousse took out a blank notebook and demonstrated it to his brother. "Look, I can copy the information in my mind onto this notebook and turn it into a book. That way, once the book is printed, the memories in my mind remain. I can also use a cut-and-paste method: the information is printed into the book, while the memories in my mind are erased."

Given Cracker's intelligence, it was truly difficult for him to understand the value in this, so he naturally asked, "What's the use of that?"

Talking to someone with a bad brain is so tiring. Mousse silently mocked him in his heart, but he still patiently explained it to his brother. "No matter how smart a person is, their memory capacity is limited. Right now, I can remember everything just by touching a book. The speed is simply too fast; sooner or later, my mind will be crammed full. Now that I can erase some useless memories, I'll be able to retain more useful information."

This could actually be achieved through the Memory-Memory Fruit's ability as well, but as a transmigrator, Mousse could not possibly let anyone peek into his memories—not even if that person was his own younger sister.

Besides, the family had not obtained the Memory-Memory Fruit yet, so being able to erase memories himself was naturally best.

Apart from the books he had previously "read," Mousse also planned to delete some memories from before his transmigration, retaining only those that were more valuable or that he did not want to forget.

On one hand, this freed up some memory capacity, or at least improved the efficiency of recalling information. On the other, it allowed Mousse to better integrate into the world he was currently in and better adapt to his present identity as a mere six-year-old child.

The only drawback to deleting memories was that it was troublesome, far more troublesome than recording books. Fortunately, it did not have to be completed immediately. He could slowly sort through them in his spare time, so Mousse was not in a hurry.

The new ability was quite useful, but Book World—the most crucial ability from the original story—still showed no sign of appearing, which left Mousse somewhat frustrated.

He did not know whether this ability was simply difficult to develop, or whether Mousse's ambitions were too great and his expectations for Book World too high, causing him to fail to make a breakthrough.

Fortunately, Mousse was still very young, so there was no need for him to be anxious about it.