Two Meatballs

Training, eating, and tying himself to a tree to rest.

Every day followed this monotonous three-point routine.

Yet on this enormous plant island, Dawn never felt lonely despite being far from people. All he felt was an immense yearning for the most glorious era that was about to arrive!

But Dawn knew that without sufficient strength, he could only watch the tides of the era advance—or... be swallowed up by them.

Still, every day here was both painful and joyful for Dawn, constantly tempering his will.

The pain of training to his limit, the enjoyment of delicious food, and the pain of resisting its temptation became Dawn's daily life.

Moreover, as he kept training, Dawn's appetite continued to grow. Several times, his gluttony for delicious food nearly overwhelmed him, forcing him to take out his knife as a final safeguard.

Under the dual strain and tempering of body and will, Dawn continued to transform.

Even with delicious foods here that he loved, such as fried chicken cutlets, cocoa milk drinks, and tomato pasta, Dawn had to force himself to suppress his appetite.

He even made rules for himself to resist his ever-surging hunger.

For example, if he increased his food intake by a certain amount, he had to correspondingly increase his training by a quarter or a third.

Later, because training required him to eat more food to replenish his energy, Dawn's training volume continued to increase as well.

This endlessly repeated self-imposed rule unknowingly created a virtuous cycle, allowing Dawn to keep surpassing himself.

For three months, Dawn did nothing but repeat this cycle of training every day.

Perhaps because he had grown used to being alone, Dawn never became impatient despite training constantly every day.

His only entertainment was reading the occasional newspaper he came across and keeping up with the state of the world.

Speaking of which, it was necessary to mention how Dawn got those newspapers.

Up to now, Dawn had not spent a single penny on any newspaper he received.

Of course, it was not because Dawn had done something as insane as killing News Birds and taking their papers.

It was because... the News Birds had become round and plump too, and could no longer fly...

After all, even humans could not resist this place, much less the somewhat intelligent News Birds.

So most of the time, Dawn found newspapers lying around, but never saw any News Birds...

Whenever he rested on the island, Dawn always tied himself to a tree before sleeping, lest the island feed in his dreams and swallow him as a snack.

The interval between each feeding was usually around twenty days. As for whether it came earlier or later, that seemed to depend on the number of prey on the island and how much they had grown.

Dawn did not know how Stomach Baron sensed it, but he had his own ways of dealing with it.

First was the condition of the sea beasts on the island.

If they had gotten so fat they resembled round balls, then Stomach Baron was usually about to feed.

The other reason was that Dawn was located near the center. That was a relatively advantageous position, since he could always feel the internal tremors first whenever they began, allowing him to respond immediately.

If he had been on the outer edge, however, his sliding speed would have multiplied as the slope steepened. Once that happened, stopping would be impossible.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Amid violent tremors and thunderous roars, every living creature on the island let out terrified cries. Their sense of danger warned them to flee.

But it was already too late.

The beasts that had eaten themselves into balls had long since lost their ability to move properly.

Whether they were eagles that once soared through the skies or Sea Kings that ruled the ocean, all they could do now was cry out in despair as their lives came to an end.

There was no helping it. They were far, far too fat!

Addicted to food and unable to free themselves, they had not noticed their bodies constantly growing larger. The muscles they once used to hunt prey had gradually turned into soft fat.

And now, that fat, along with their immense weight, had become their ticket into hell.

Dawn knew that the creatures on the island had been fattened up. Stomach Baron needed to harvest its prey and replenish its own nutrients.

Amid crashing waves, the "Stomach Baron" slowly began to feed. All the prey, fattened pale and plump, cried out in despair as they rolled into Stomach Baron's stomach.

The moment the ground began to tremble, Dawn immediately stopped training.

He skillfully untied the rope around his waist and, with a few quick movements, tied himself to a large tree. He wrapped both arms tightly around the trunk, and as the island rose, his whole body pressed against it.

This was no joke. Even with a rope, safety was not guaranteed. The deeper inside one was, the more careful one had to be. If he fell, he would go straight into the stomach.

So Dawn had adjusted his posture long ago, clinging to the tree as he watched those unlucky "bursting foods" roll down.

Because he was so close, Dawn could clearly see an Abyssal Maw below, so deep that its bottom could not be seen.

Beyond it lay endless darkness. Whether animals or Sea Kings, every life that fell into that abyss went silent the moment it entered the dark.

"Help me!!"

Suddenly, a man's cry for help rang out beside Dawn.

Still clinging to the tree, Dawn turned toward the voice and found a dark-skinned black ball shaped like a "beef meatball" shouting continuously.

It was obvious that he wanted to stop himself from sliding, but having turned into a meatball through overeating, he was exceptionally weak.

Even so, he still struggled to climb upward, desperately trying to get farther away from the Abyssal Maw that had swallowed so much prey.

"Damn it!!! Didn't you say there was no danger?!" Another meatball cursed without stopping.

"Who the hell knew this island was like this?!" the black ball snapped back. His sliding speed immediately increased, frightening him into silence as he desperately scrambled upward.

Before long, the other man had no time to keep cursing, because as the island closed, his body was continuously slipping downward.

Clinging to the tree, Dawn looked toward the opposite side of the Abyssal Maw.

Amid cries for help and furious curses, two enormous meatballs, clearly dressed like pirates, were slowly sliding down from the top of the outer edge.

As the two drew closer and closer to the Abyssal Maw, they began to panic. A strange power began to manifest around them.

"Speed-Speed Aura"!!

"Snatch-Snatch Lock"!!!

With their shouts, Dawn finally saw for the first time the strange power unique to this world.

It was the power of the Devil Fruit, known as the secret treasure of the sea.