Silver Axe's Ability

One of the main reasons Sig came to find Gage was because he noticed that Voda's attitude towards him was not quite right, which showed that Silver Axe did not have much goodwill towards Gage —meaning that there was a basis for cooperation between himself and Gage.

Although Sig was somewhat surprised that Gage's Battle Suit could detect his Observation Haki, it did not change this fundamental condition.

Gage's expression turned cold upon hearing this. "Do you think I would believe your attempts to sow discord?"

"If you believe it, there's nothing to lose, isn't there?" Sig's Observation Haki told him that Gage actually believed it.

Clearly, Gage only noticed that Sig's Observation Haki was extending outwards, but did not understand its special characteristics; otherwise, he would not have allowed Sig to read his emotions.

"So what if I believe you? Your strength isn't even enough to warrant cooperation from the great Germa Kingdom," Gage said arrogantly.

However, Sig could tell that he was just bargaining, "No, strength is not the only bargaining chip for cooperation, and besides... I don't represent only myself."

After a pause, Sig carefully observed Gage's emotional shifts, probing as he continued, "Besides, the Navy, CP0, and other forces... there are quite a few people who share your goal, aren't there? An ally who merely wants the Giant Axe Pirates to disappear wouldn't be bad for Germa."

"So, to show your sincerity, shouldn't you tell me which side you're on?" Gage asked impatiently.

Without hesitation, Sig grew taller and stronger with a series of bone-grinding sounds, and at the same time... a layer of scales spread across Sig neck and cheeks!

Gage initially thought it was Devil Fruit ability, but then he sensed something was wrong. When the scales became clearly visible, Gage realized. "Fish-Man Race? Huh? How can there be Half Fish-Man like you..."

Gage frowned—having studied Lineage Factor, he knew all too well what a "hybrid" should look like, and was clearly not as "open-minded" as Jinbe and the others.

Sig didn't speak, because Gage was just temporarily acting out his researcher tendencies, and it wasn't actually important.

Gage quickly realized what was going on. "So it's the Fish-Man Pirates... Looks like you guys have some brains than I thought, you didn't just impulsively storm Silver Axe's lair, hahaha..."

Gage spoke with a hint of mockery; he looked down on even the minds of ordinary people, let alone the Fish-Man Race were generally discriminated against!

And...

Fisher Tiger and Jinbe's main force indeed "brainlessly" charged straight into Aix, Sig's presence here was just an accident!

However, Sig naturally wouldn't explain any of this to Gage, who might mistakenly believe that the Sun Pirates really had some kind of plan.

Gage had no idea that Sig only became completely convinced, after seeing his reaction, that the events on Axe Island were indeed related to the Sun Pirates.

After all, the newspapers didn't go into details, so the Germa Kingdom's information network was more efficient.

"So, shouldn't the Germa Kingdom at least show some sincerity...?"

Sig had already sensed Gage's impatience halfway through his sentence, but he continued, "What exactly is this thing you just mentioned that you, the Navy, and CP0 might be searching for?"

Sig could sense that Gage was more relieved after he asked his question, but... he also felt a bit more contempt for him!

The reason is easy to guess. Sig doesn't even know what "it" refers to, so it's clear that the Sun Pirates didn't come for it. They were simply dissatisfied with the Giant Axe Pirates. With Gage's information channels, he would naturally know that Fisher Tiger's crimes are not as simple as they seem on the surface. It's also perfectly logical that the Fish-Man Pirates are dissatisfied with the biggest slave trader.

This reassured Gage, but also filled Gage with more contempt.

"The fruit of the Silver Axe is more important than you think," Gage said cryptically.

Sig paused for a moment, then asked, "Silver Axe... what kind of fruit is it?"

Gage's disdain became even more obvious—they didn't even know something like this? So you guys just blindly rushed in, huh?

However, cooperating with simple-minded guys is beneficial to me, Gage felt relieved.

"You should have seen that Voda... He's a user of the Goat-Goat Fruit, Black Goat form, but he also has a pair of Bat-Bat Fruit wings attached to his back! The ability to attach those wings is Silver Axe's. Many of the Giant Axe's subordinates are similar splicing ability users because... their Master is Op-Op Fruit user!"

Gage told Sig this information, which wasn't exactly a secret to begin with.

Sig's heart skipped a beat—although he didn't know the Silver Axe's abilities before, how could he not know about the Op-Op Fruit?

In the original work, this is a legendary Paramecia Fruit that can perform "Eternal Youth Surgery." Doflamingo coveted it for some reason, and the World Government also cared about it a lot. It is of great significance!

Is Silver Axe the "previous" user of the Op-Op Fruit?

By the way, how old is Luo now?

Good heavens, yet another candle flickering in the wind...

If it is Op-Op Fruit, then the special characteristics of Sitoon and Davo are indeed explained.

Perhaps due to different moral bottom lines, or perhaps due to different development directions, Law in the original work did not use the Op-Op Fruit to increase the strength of his crew by piecing things together. However, while Law was playing along with Doflamingo, he did create quite a few strange half-human, half-beast creatures on Punk Hazard.

Silver Axe's subordinates must have combined different ability users...

Gage didn't explain why the Op-Op Fruit attracted him, or even the World Government, but Sig could roughly guess the reason.

Gage's research focuses on the heritability of Lineage Factor, even going so far as to use innate Lineage Factor to modify his children, turning them into cyborgs. Besides Sanji, his children include those born with the abilities to release poison, breathe fire, generate electricity, and extend their bodies...

People would believe me if I pretended to Devil Fruit ability!

It could even be said that this itself grants humans some of the abilities of Devil Fruit —if Devil Fruit abilities are achieved by altering a person's Lineage Factor, then Gage has already mastered some of the rules and methods of such alteration.

The Op-Op Fruit allows for the Grafting of parts from different organisms without rejection, and its power is clearly closely related to Lineage Factor. It's perfectly normal for Gage to covet the Op-Op Fruit's abilities.

This is probably why he wants to cooperate with Silver Axe...

As for the World Government, they coveted the Op-Op Fruit in the original work, seemingly because it was related to a secret of a certain Celestial Dragons.

Sig held back, not revealing his special abilities—if Gage discovered that he, a Devil Fruit user, was not countered by Seastone, he would definitely be very interested.

However, unlike the half- Fish-Man, Gage is at most curious when he sees strange hybrid anomalies. But if he discovers Sig's abnormal Devil Fruit ability, he might do something irrational out of covetousness.

Therefore, this is a more important bargaining chip for Sig, and when to use it requires careful consideration...