Dawn sat blankly in a tub filled with hot water in one of the Marine warship's rooms, feeling the power coursing through his body and utterly bewildered.
I don't feel weak at all? But even if it isn't seawater, it shouldn't be like this, should it?
Dawn realized he was a little confused. He knew that even Devil Fruit users would feel weakened if enough of their body was submerged in fresh water.
Yet right now, he felt no weakness whatsoever.
There was no way Dawn could figure out the principles behind it. Who knew what bizarre mutation this Devil Fruit had undergone inside Stomach Baron before somehow eliminating the Devil Fruit weakness to water?
Could it be because I became sweeter... and more perfect?
Could Stomach Baron actually have some kind of genetic optimization function?
Or was it because two Devil Fruits had been crammed together, leaving no room for all that power?
So Stomach Baron had selectively transferred the Devil Fruit energy it absorbed into a descendant life-form?
Thinking about how Stomach Baron was a gigantic plant that attracted prey with food, producing delicious fruit seemed to be its natural instinct. Perhaps it had rejected the fact that Devil Fruits tasted awful.
And since Stomach Baron grew on the sea, it naturally loathed the weakness of fearing water.
So, driven by biological instinct, after consuming the Devil Fruits, Stomach Baron had discarded the parts of their power it rejected while absorbing and transferring the superior parts into a descendant life-form, eventually growing this strange fruit?
But after thinking it over, Dawn felt that was wrong. Could a mere plant really capture Devil Fruit energy or frequencies?
As far as Dawn knew, only Blackbeard's Dark-Dark Fruit could do that. It was unlikely that Stomach Baron could capture Devil Fruit energy.
But then Dawn suddenly remembered what he had seen when he went to pick the fruit. The plant that had borne this fruit seemed to have been different as well.
Thanks to being dragged into this world, Dawn's excellent memory was the only cheat-like benefit he had brought with him.
So he began recalling the appearance of the plant that had borne the fruit.
Abyssal Maw had been far too intimidating, and for some reason, visibility dropped sharply at a depth of only three or four meters. Combined with how eager he had been to pick the fruit, he had not paid any attention to the plant itself.
Fortunately, his memory was practically hacked, allowing him to recall everything he had seen.
It was like searching through a memory palace for a photograph that had been taken by accident.
And when Dawn froze the image in his memory, all his doubts seemed to have been answered!
Though the image was somewhat blurry and dimly lit, Dawn still saw it!
The surface of that plant—the plant that had borne this strange fruit—was actually covered in Devil Fruit patterns!
Its colors had also been a mix of blue and cyan.
Unlike a Devil Fruit, however, those Devil Fruit patterns had been incredibly chaotic, like a tangled ball of yarn.
It seemed Stomach Baron did not possess the ability to capture Devil Fruit "frequencies." Rather, it had transferred them after consuming the fruits.
More precisely, it had severed them.
To Stomach Baron, its descendant life-forms were also part of itself. But Stomach Baron likely possessed another ability: the ability to sever them and turn them into independent life-forms.
Having lived on Stomach Baron for so long, Dawn had noticed that some food plants grew tall and delicious, while others were relatively weak and did not taste particularly good.
If Stomach Baron managed everything uniformly, such differences would never have appeared.
That meant many of the plants growing on Stomach Baron were independent life-forms.
And at the moment the Devil Fruits were eaten and Stomach Baron gained their abilities, it had grown a descendant life-form capable of containing those Devil Fruit powers.
After this life-form contained the Devil Fruit abilities, Stomach Baron severed it, turning it into an independent plant life-form.
Then this plant, which contained the two Devil Fruits Stomach Baron had consumed, began to mutate.
Yet a plant itself could not contain the powers of two Devil Fruits at once.
So, to avoid exploding and dying, the plant condensed the excess energy into a fruit.
As for the traits of fearing water and tasting awful, perhaps they remained in the plant's main body. Since every Devil Fruit shared the weakness of water, that might have been part of their power.
The shared ability of the two fruits occupied the entire plant.
As for the energy belonging to the two different abilities, because their differing energies would repel each other and cause death, the plant formed them into a fruit and transferred them out.
And due to the genes of a food plant, that fruit became delicious.
After considering it, Dawn felt this was probably the most reliable answer.
As for why Dawn had not died after eating this fruit containing two kinds of energy, perhaps the two energies had merged while the fruit was forming.
Or perhaps... the soul of the original Dawn, who had already died, had housed one of those abilities.
Since Dawn had merged with the other person's memories after transmigrating here, he guessed that although the other person's consciousness had dissipated, his pure soul and memories had fused with Dawn's.
Otherwise, Dawn's mental strength could not possibly be so powerful. He would not have such monstrous recall, able to remember everything at a glance and even recall things he had not noticed at the time.
As for which reason it truly was, Dawn had no idea.
After all, Dawn was no scientist.
Another secret—and one I have to guard with my life. Dawn shook his head and could only put it aside for now.
This secret could never be exposed. If anyone learned that he had eaten a fruit yet did not possess the weakness of fearing water, countless ability users would probably fight to dissect him for research.
After washing up, Dawn stood, changed into the new clothes the soldiers had prepared beside him, and opened the door.
"Ugh, that's bright."
The moment he opened the door, brilliant sunlight shone directly into Dawn's eyes, making him squint involuntarily.
Shielding his eyes with a hand, Dawn took a while to adjust before beginning to examine the warship he was on.
Dawn was currently in one of the rooms on the second deck of the warship.
With the door open, he could see the stretch of sea ahead of the warship's bow as it sailed forward.
Though it was not as high as the lookout platform, he could still see an extremely long distance.
The sea breeze blew into his face, carrying the ocean's distinctive briny scent.
The massive warship sailed beneath the sunlight toward the boundless sea, and Dawn knew their destination was Marine Headquarters.
There, his new beginning awaited.
Before you continue