Devil Fruit Consciousness, Curse Power

"Lord Rody, this is the Zoan Devil Fruit you seized. And this is the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia sent by the World Government." Before long, Mike returned, carrying a small box in one hand and a booklet in the other.

"Really? They even sent a Devil Fruit Encyclopedia? Looks like they know how to behave!" Rody took the small box containing the Devil Fruit, opened it, and removed the fruit inside. He then took the Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit from Nami. Holding one in each hand, he examined and sensed them carefully.

"Does the encyclopedia say what animals these two Devil Fruits are?"

"Lord Rody, the Zoan Devil Fruit we confiscated is listed in the encyclopedia as the Ox-Ox Fruit, Buffalo Form. The Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit sent by the World Government isn't listed, but the CP agent handling the handover said it was a Zoan, Mythical Zoan, Flood Dragon Form Devil Fruit," Mike answered.

"Oh, a Mythical Zoan, Flood Dragon Form?" Rody remembered that only two dragon-related Mythical Zoan Devil Fruits had appeared in One Piece. One was Kaido's Fish-Fish Fruit, Azure Dragon Form; the other was the artificial Devil Fruit Vegapunk had replicated based on Kaido's Fish-Fish Fruit, Azure Dragon Form, which that damned Momonosuke had eaten.

Vegapunk himself had called the replicated artificial Devil Fruit a failure, but Rody believed that was merely an excuse Vegapunk used to placate the World Government. In Rody's view, the artificial Devil Fruit had not completely failed. After Momonosuke ate it and was ripened by the Ripe-Ripe Fruit, the giant dragon he transformed into possessed all the abilities it should have, such as flame clouds and Blast Breath. Other than its color being different from Kaido's, there was no difference.

However, Rody had long forgotten what the artificial Devil Fruit Momonosuke ate looked like. He had no idea whether this was the one Vegapunk had made, or merely part of the World Government's own collection.

As he carefully scrutinized the two Devil Fruits in his hands, an idea suddenly struck Rody. All Zoan Devil Fruits possessed self-awareness, and where there was will, there were emotions.

Could he use cursed energy to sense the consciousness inside a Zoan Devil Fruit? He acted immediately. Rody closed his eyes as cursed energy flowed from both hands, enveloping the Devil Fruits while he slowly reached out to communicate with the consciousness within.

"Just as I thought!"

Just as Rody had expected, cursed energy truly could communicate with the consciousness inside a Devil Fruit. From the Ox-Ox Fruit, Buffalo Form in his right hand, he easily sensed an extremely simple consciousness, like that of a four- or five-year-old child.

Yet within the Mythical Zoan, Flood Dragon Form Devil Fruit sent by the World Government, he could not sense even the faintest trace of consciousness.

Logically, a Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit should have been more spiritually aware than an ordinary Zoan. With cursed energy, he should have been able to sense its consciousness easily. How could it have no emotions whatsoever?

Rody therefore concluded that this Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit from the World Government was likely the artificial Devil Fruit Vegapunk had replicated from Kaido's Azure Dragon Fruit. That explained why it looked so ordinary and why he could not sense the slightest trace of consciousness within it.

The consciousness inside a Devil Fruit was the key to whether it could awaken. Artificial Devil Fruits lacked that consciousness, and without it, the user's heart could never fully match the fruit. Thus, no matter how much the user developed or trained their abilities, they would never reach the awakened state.

That was why, even though Momonosuke possessed abilities like flame clouds and dragon breath after eating the artificial Devil Fruit, Vegapunk still claimed that the artificial Devil Fruit he had created was a failure.

Still, the lack of consciousness within this artificial Devil Fruit was not entirely bad news for Rody. Devil Fruit awakening required the consciousness inside the fruit to match the user's body and mind, but Rody could nurture the artificial Devil Fruit with his cursed energy, allowing it to develop a consciousness that completely matched him in both body and mind—a one hundred percent perfect fit.

"Those old bastards dared to fool me with an artificial Devil Fruit. I'll slaughter them sooner or later!" Rody opened his eyes with an irritated expression. Although this artificial Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit might suit him even better than an unknown Mythical Zoan, being deceived by those old bastards from the World Government still greatly annoyed him.

"An artificial Devil Fruit?" Robin and Nami both looked curiously at the Devil Fruit in Rody's hand.

"That's right. This Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit is an artificial Devil Fruit those old bastards from the Five Elders had Vegapunk replicate from Kaido's Azure Dragon Fruit, then used to fool me." Rody held up the artificial Devil Fruit for Nami and Robin to see.

"Then, Lord Rody, should we have the World Government replace it with another Devil Fruit?"

"No need. This artificial Devil Fruit has other uses for me." Rody waved away Mike's suggestion.

"Then, Rody, what's the difference between this artificial Devil Fruit and a naturally formed Devil Fruit?" Nami asked curiously.

"This artificial Devil Fruit made by Vegapunk is actually decent. Aside from lacking the unique consciousness found within naturally formed Devil Fruits, it's basically on par with a natural Devil Fruit in every other respect."

"Then isn't that guy filthy rich? Even ordinary Devil Fruits are worth at least a hundred million Beli. If he made ten Devil Fruits a day, then in a year..." Nami's eyes sparkled with little stars.

"You really are..." Rody shook his head helplessly.

"Lord Rody, Windfire Wheel says our ship has been completed. Would you like to go take a look?" Seeing that Rody had decided to keep the artificial Devil Fruit, Mike relayed the news that Windfire Wheel had finished building the ship.

"Sure, let's go take a look together. Haha... Windfire Wheel was so confident. Let's hope he doesn't disappoint us."

Rody was also deeply curious about the ship Windfire Wheel had built. The technology of the Machine Beast World, combined with the various precision machines carried by the ten T-X Terminators Rody had later dispatched, as well as Skynet's technology, had all been used to help Windfire Wheel complete the ship's construction more effectively.

Rody swept the two Devil Fruits on the table with the spatial storage ring on his hand. The artificial Devil Fruit vanished into thin air and appeared inside Rody's spatial storage ring, but the Zoan Buffalo Fruit did not disappear and remained quietly on the table.

"I forgot that conscious things can't be stored in a storage ring." Only then did Rody remember that objects with consciousness could not be placed into his spatial ring. Still, he did not care much. This Zoan Devil Fruit was simply too useless, so he casually tossed it back to Mike for safekeeping.

Rody led Robin, Nami, and the others toward the port where Windfire Wheel had built the ship.