Testing: Is the Fruit Poisonous?

Ron had no idea what was happening outside. Inside the temple, only one of his hands remained, clamped around the old man's neck; the rest of his body had vanished completely. The restless lightning raging outside had been produced by the power leaking uncontrollably from his body after it was scattered apart.

But soon, the strange phenomenon disappeared. Strands of electric current intertwined and wove together, lightning flashed, outlining Ron's form. The scattered lightning returned to its source and gathered into a human shape once more.

Aside from one spot, not a trace of lightning could be seen anywhere else on his body.

Crackle!

"...Ah!!"

The arm turned to lightning erupted with a powerful current again. The old man's mouth gaped wide, his entire body twitching uncontrollably as a scorched stench rose from his skin.

As Ron's first test subject for using his power, the fact that he had lasted this long without dying undoubtedly made him qualified.

Rubbing the stubble on his chin with his free hand, Ron slowly considered the matter.

"No wonder Logia were called invincible abilities in the early stages. Their Elementalization is actually a passive skill! Though it can still be controlled by the Devil Fruit User, allowing them to touch physical objects whenever they want."

"Also, if my body is scattered over a large area and I can't control the power before reforming it, it will still consume stamina. After all, gathering myself back together is also a process of using the Fruit Ability. So even with Elementalization, I can't let my guard down."

After obtaining the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, Ron had plenty of time to evade before an attack reached him. Even if he had not learned Enel's Teleportation through an Electromagnetic Field, lightning's speed itself was not something to underestimate.

He had only wanted to test something he had always been curious about and gather data for developing his Fruit Ability later. Know yourself and know your enemy, and you would never be defeated.

As a transmigrator, Ron had achieved "knowing his enemy," but as a newly awakened Devil Fruit User, he had yet to achieve "knowing himself"...

Crackle, crackle, crackle!

The current in his hand intensified again. The old man, foaming at the mouth and unconscious, could only let out miserable screams. He no longer had any power to resist. From this, Ron gained another insight.

"...The power of a Devil Fruit is not only related to how developed it is, but also to the user's physical strength. I only just obtained the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, so its development is practically zero. Therefore, the power of my lightning is linked only to my current physical strength."

"From the looks of it, using fifty percent of my strength isn't enough to kill this man. After all, he's a little superhuman who only lost one arm after taking an impact of that scale. An ordinary person can probably withstand at most ten percent of my power..."

Though an Impact Dial was inferior to the legendary Repel Dial, its recoil was still terrifying. That was why Birka classified it as a controlled weapon.

While it possessed immense destructive power, an ordinary person who used it once would inevitably suffer shattered muscles and bones, becoming crippled for life!

The old man being able to lose only one arm after a "MAX Launch" was enough to demonstrate his strength.

Only...

"Ten percent power..."

Ron sighed.

"It looks like not only is dominating the world a distant dream, even catching up to Enel from the original story will be a long and arduous road..."

The One Piece World was filled with countless monsters. Power that was generally lethal to Earthlings was merely standard in the Four Blues, or even the East Blue. The gap between the East Blue and the pinnacle of the world went without saying...

Creak!

Ron casually released his hand, letting go of the old man who had turned into charcoal. As his fingers loosened, the corpse, roasted crisp by lightning at full power, shattered and fell apart, turning into a pile of black ash.

"...MAX Launch? I thought some little girl from the Kaikain Family had walked through the wrong door!"

Ron curled his lip disdainfully and dusted the ash from his hand. The motion tugged at his rapidly healing injuries, making him stumble. Ron frowned slightly and looked toward the doorway.

"...Tch. You ran fast enough."

After witnessing such bizarre lightning, the Sky Island soldiers, who worshipped Thor, immediately assumed Thor was furious. They threw down their weapons and fled in panic. Now that Ron had freed up his hands, they were already nowhere to be seen. He was unfamiliar with this world; unless he waited for his injuries to heal and wasted time slaughtering the entire guard force, who the hell knew who was who!

And why would that be a waste of time...

Grrr...

A low rumble echoed through the ruins.

It did not come from the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. It was just his stomach...

He had not eaten for an entire day. Coupled with the enormous amount of exertion and the energy required to heal his injuries, Ron was so hungry his eyes had turned green.

"I'm starving!"

He swept his gaze around the temple. On the offering table sat thumb-sized purple fruits that looked fresh and delicious. With his stomach empty, Ron did not care what they were. He grabbed the golden plate and poured them into his mouth.

"Not bad. Nice and sour..."

He wolfed down the pile of fruit in a few bites. The fullness accelerated his body's healing.

Green smoke rose from some damaged wounds, while torn skin began closing at a visible rate! In just a few breaths, the injuries on the surface of his skin had healed, leaving only traces of the severe damage to his muscles and bones!

But at this rate, fractures and serious injuries that would take an ordinary person three or four months to recover from would take Ron only a week!

Dozens of times faster than ordinary people!

This healing ability was the confidence Ron had always relied on when risking his life!

As long as he did not die on the spot, no matter how serious the external injury was, it could heal!

The only thing it could not heal was deformative disease originating from within his body...

That was another problem altogether.

As his stomach digested the food, it drew away a large amount of blood, reducing the oxygen supply to his brain. His tightly wound nerves gradually relaxed as a result.

Ron let out a comfortable sigh and considered his next move.

"Now that I'm full, what should I do next?"

Stay on Sky Island and become Dugu Qiubai?

With the invincible power of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, should he imitate Enel and rule Birka, or even all of Sky Island?

That idea was too childish and did not suit Ron's personality. As a madman who constantly challenged himself, Ron could not accept living idly while being waited on by others.

"Right! I should go to the Blue Sea!"

Ron's eyes lit up. Sky Island was only an insignificant corner of the One Piece World. The entire "kingdom" of Birka was not even as large as some second-tier cities on Earth.

Only the vast Blue Sea!

The magnificent Great Pirate Era, with its surging waves and countless sails racing forth, could stir at least a little interest in Ron.

"But... how do I leave Sky Island and return to the Blue Sea?"

Looking out at the sea of clouds through the hole in the temple, Ron furrowed his brow.

His mind was made up, but the technical problem remained right in front of him.

Sky Island stood at least five thousand meters above sea level. An ordinary person who went up could never come back down. As a Logia, Ron could ignore all physical damage and jump straight down, but what if there was seawater below? He might not die from the fall, only to drown instead.

"...Enel doesn't have wings, and he seems to be from the Blue Sea. Maybe he knows a way..."

Ron raised his head. His body rapidly transformed, and with a flash of lightning, he vanished from where he stood.

Outside the shrine's high walls, Enel sat hugging his knees, his entire body trembling against the wall. He had clearly been badly frightened by the lightning.

Then, crackling electric sounds filled the air and wove themselves into a human figure. A tiny stray bolt struck Enel's arm, making him leap to his feet with a jolt. He stared at Ron, dumbfounded.

This was not Teleportation. It was merely the Devil Fruit User's movement speed after being Elementalized by the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, but in the eyes of ordinary people, it was no different from Teleportation.

His upper body human and his lower body lightning, Ron spoke expressionlessly.

"Tell me, Enel. Do you know how to get to the Blue Sea?"

Across from him, Enel stared blankly as though he had yet to recover his senses.

He had actually... succeeded...

No, that was impossible!

It couldn't be real!!

The appearance of a Logia user was harder to accept than that of the other two types. They looked like gods or demons. Ron knew this well and assumed Enel's terror was caused by fear of his appearance, so he thought nothing more of it.

But he had not considered that since Enel had chosen to hide in the open ground outside the temple rather than enter it himself, there was no way Enel did not know that a powerful Old Birdman was inside.

Yet Enel had said nothing because he maliciously hoped Ron would be beaten to death by the Old Birdman!

In the end, Ron had not only survived, he had even...

In an instant, Enel's eyes widened, his pupils constricted, and the corners of his mouth twitched madly. The next moment, he lunged at Ron like a vicious ghost.

"No!!!"

"Spit it out! Spit it out right now!"

"That was mine!!!"

"Hm?!"

Ron raised an eyebrow, a suspicion suddenly forming in his heart.

Facing Enel's wild, unstructured punches, Ron sneered. He stepped forward and blocked Enel's swinging arm with his shoulder, then grabbed his wrist with both hands and lifted it. He pulled it outward and sideways, redirecting the force of his resistance... then suddenly pressed it back, clasped both hands over his chest, and shoved downward!

Crack!

"Ah!!!"

Great strength did not mean great defense. The gaunt Enel's ability to take a beating was absolutely fodder-tier. Under the pressure Ron applied with all his upper-body strength, using leverage to create crushing force, his fragile shoulder joint instantly dislocated with a crisp crack.

After landing the blow, Ron moved as slyly as a hunting hyena. Dragging Enel around by his dislocated, swollen arm, Ron circled behind him and kicked the back of his knee, sending Enel crashing face-first to the ground with a thud.

If he had not been seriously injured and unsuited for intense exertion, Ron would have snapped Enel's neck right then!

But even so, Enel was in agonizing pain. He rolled wildly on the ground, his blood-covered face glaring at Ron with eyes that looked ready to devour him as he struggled and roared.

"That was mine... mine!!"

"Why didn't you die? Why didn't you die?!"

His voice was filled with indescribable grief. Combined with his miserable state, it was enough to make anyone weep at the sound. If the victim had not been himself, Ron might have sympathized with him for two seconds.

"So that's how it is... Because of my bad attitude, you deliberately hid the truth and wanted the birdman to beat me to death... right?"

Ron suddenly felt like laughing.

He had thought nearly being beaten to death had been an accident. Birka was a nation, after all. Who knew if it had an organization of guardians or something similar? But he had never expected the culprit to be Enel, someone he had not considered worth his attention at all...

If the Old Birdman had struck a little harder the first time, Ron would not have had even the slightest chance to turn things around.

"Never underestimate anyone, Ron... Your life belongs to you alone. You have to take responsibility for it!"

Remembering the words once told to him by the retired military officer who had taught him Sanda back on Earth, Ron sighed.

This time, he had truly been careless!

"I waited five whole years for that fruit!"

"Five years!!"

"Do you know how I got through them?"

Enel roared madly. Then... under Ron's baffled gaze, he grinned and began laughing like an idiot.

"Ha... Hahaha! It's gone, it's all gone!!"

"I'm not the freak. He's the freak! Hahahaha!"

Then he started dancing, flailing his arms and legs wildly.

The old priest was nearing the end of his life and would soon die of old age. The gap before a new priest took office would have been Enel's best opportunity to steal the "power of God." But Ron's appearance turned Enel's five years of waiting into nothing. Still only a bullied nobody, Enel could not withstand such a tremendous blow and directly lost his mind.

Thinking about how he had first destroyed the birdman's countless years of persistence and driven him mad, then unintentionally made Enel's five years of endurance pointless...

"What a coincidence... burp!"

Condensing feet beneath himself to stand on the cloud, Ron looked at Enel's deranged state, burped, and stared speechlessly at the sky. "I really have nothing to say..."

But this was the One Piece World!

If you did not fight for something, someone else would take it!

Holding your fate in your own hands was always a greater truth than hoping others would be merciful!

"Not good!"

At that moment, Ron suddenly felt a wave of heat in his stomach. It was warm, like sitting beside a furnace, but it came with a gut-wrenching pain.

"Damn it! Could the fruit be poisonous?!"

Offerings for the gods, and they had actually chosen poisonous things???

He clutched his stomach, curling up as his skin flushed red.

The burning heat did not ease with his movements. In an instant, it swept through his entire body like the blazing summer sun, roasting him until sweat streamed down his face. As the heat spread through him, Ron leaned miserably against the Island Cloud wall, gasping in great breaths with bloodshot eyes.

The onset had been so fast; it had to be a deadly poison!

At a time like this, no method would be fast enough. He could only endure it with his body!

Crack!

Amid the heat raging through his body, a bolt of lightning as thick as an arm burst from his skin, blasting the ground into a scorched, stinking crater. Clutching his increasingly painful stomach, Ron suddenly unzipped his pants and squatted down.

Splash!