Dark-Dark Fruit

Rune immediately understood what was happening. His Observation Haki was warning him!

His future—a future in which he would die tonight!

And die alongside Thatch...

Rune instantly realized it. Teach would make his move tonight and kill both him and Thatch!

Teach's strength...

Was it really that great?

Rune called out to Vista and ran over to his side. With the premonition from his Observation Haki, Rune had determined roughly when Teach would act. That made things much easier.

"Flower Sword, can you come with me to Thatch's room?"

"Why?"

"Well... I always steal his food, and I feel kind of bad about it."

Rune casually came up with an excuse. "I want to apologize, but if I go alone, I..."

As he spoke, Rune scratched his head. He put on a simple-minded look that left Vista helpless.

"Flower Sword, please. If you don't come, I really won't dare go..."

He was not lying to Vista. If Vista did not go, Rune felt that both he and Thatch would be in grave danger. But with Vista there, they should be safe.

At this point in time, Teach should not have been Vista's match.

"It isn't such a big deal..."

"Flower Sword, please!"

Rune's attitude was earnest. "If we ever get the chance to go to Wano Country, I'll pick out a few good swords for you! If you don't come with me, I really won't dare go..."

Vista was somewhat helpless, but he had no way to refuse this younger brother who had only recently joined the ship.

"Fine, I'll go with you."

Rune got along well with most of the crew aboard the Moby Dick. Everyone had a favorable impression of this hardworking, sincere, and slightly simple-minded young man.

The two went to Thatch's room together. Rune knocked on the door, and he and Vista waited outside.

"Oh, it's you two? What is it?"

When Thatch saw Vista and Rune, he smiled and invited them into the room. The moment Rune entered, he saw the Dark-Dark Fruit on the table.

"Rune insisted on apologizing to you, so I came along. You two talk."

Vista said with a smile, and Thatch could not help but look puzzled when he heard that.

Apologize?

Apologize for what?

"Thatch, I shouldn't have kept stealing your food before..."

As Rune spoke, his gaze fell upon the Dark-Dark Fruit. Knowing what would happen later, Rune naturally understood the value of this fruit.

Forget Teach—even Rune himself felt tempted as he looked at it. But compared with the fruit, Rune felt that these companions who had cared for him were more important.

"You want this Devil Fruit, don't you?"

Thatch saw Rune's gaze and immediately understood. He smiled faintly and sat down on the bed.

"To be honest, I haven't decided whether I should eat it. If it gives me some useless ability, my strength might actually decrease instead."

For those who did not know the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia, eating a Devil Fruit was purely a gamble. If it was a powerful ability, one could naturally join the ranks of the strong in a short time.

But if it was a useless ability, not only would it provide little increase in strength, it would also add the weakness of being unable to handle water.

Of course, what mattered more was how well the fruit's ability was developed. Even Donquixote Doflamingo's lousy String-String Fruit had been developed into something powerful.

Yet a certain fellow who had eaten the Yamata no Orochi Fruit was useless to the extreme.

In the end, a person's strength still depended on the person.

"Then... Captain Thatch, give this fruit to me."

Rune blinked. "I'll eat it right now. When I find another fruit later, I'll give one back to you. Is that okay?"

"You really want this Devil Fruit?"

Thatch smiled and waved his hand casually.

"I wasn't that eager to eat it anyway. Since you like it so much, Rune, take it."

"Thanks, bro!"

Rune took the Dark-Dark Fruit, and an image flashed before his eyes.

It was a scene of Teach attacking from the shadows, ambushing him and snatching the fruit away!

Rune grabbed the Dark-Dark Fruit and stuffed it into his mouth in one motion. Yet the expected attack never came. Even after Rune swallowed the Dark-Dark Fruit, he did not sense even a trace of Teach's presence.

Could it be because he had brought Flower Sword Vista here?

Teach did not feel certain of victory, so he gave up on the attack?

Rune felt that was most likely the case. Now that he had eaten the Devil Fruit, even if Teach wanted it...

He would have to kill Rune first.

Moreover, killing a Devil Fruit user did not mean one could obtain that user's fruit. After a Devil Fruit user died, the original Devil Fruit would randomly reincarnate in a nearby piece of fruit.

Rune did not know how large that range was.

Rune guessed that this was one of the reasons Teach had given up. He had already eaten the Devil Fruit; unless Teach could create a sealed environment, even if he killed Rune, whether he could find the Dark-Dark Fruit afterward was another matter entirely.

Rune had originally thought Teach would be unable to resist attacking. With Thatch and Vista beside him, they could directly crush Teach and eliminate this hidden danger. But now it seemed Teach was even more patient than Rune had imagined!

Since Teach had not acted, Rune naturally could not make a move against him directly. Even if he did, he would have to do it cleanly.

Now, the danger had shifted onto Rune himself. Teach knew Rune had the Dark-Dark Fruit. He would probably start planning how to kill Rune while taking the Dark-Dark Fruit for himself.

"So? What ability does this Devil Fruit have?"

Thatch looked at Rune curiously. Rune sensed it for a moment, then began mobilizing the power within his body. Black smoke emerged from Rune's body, but he frowned.

"This fruit's ability is kind of weak..."

Rune looked a little devastated, and both Vista and Thatch froze for a moment.

"It is the Logia-type Dark-Dark Fruit, but even after I turn into an element, I can't use elementalization to avoid any attacks. Instead, I feel double the pain. It also makes me much more sensitive to pain."

Rune frowned. "However, if I can touch another Devil Fruit user with both hands, I can nullify their ability. But my Conqueror's Haki can do that too! I should just keep developing my Three Types of Haki. I'll pretend this fruit doesn't exist."

"This ability really is hard to judge."

After hearing Rune's explanation, both Vista and Thatch felt that the fruit was not particularly impressive. But Rune had said all of that purely for Blackbeard Teach, who was hiding in the shadows.

Rune believed Teach should be nearby. If he said this, perhaps Teach would misjudge his strength.

Then, when Teach made his move, he would assume Rune considered the fruit's ability weak and had not developed it much, causing him to overlook that part of Rune's strength. When the time came, perhaps Rune could use that information gap to send Teach into a doomed situation.