Long-Lived Species

Over the past year, Daisy had been drifting around outside, worrying Jaba and Mark, grandfather and grandson, sick with concern.

Fortunately, one year later, Daisy successfully returned to this little town.

"Mark, I saw my uncle!" Daisy suddenly lifted her little face and said.

Mark nearly bit his tongue when he heard that.

"What? You saw Donquixote Doflamingo?"

"Mm..." Daisy said softly. "Three months ago, I saw him in Dressrosa."

"Does he know where you came from?" Mark asked.

Daisy said, "He knows..."

"How did he react?"

"He didn't really react. He was ridiculously full of himself, wearing sunglasses every day. Who knew what he was thinking?"

Mark was left somewhat speechless.

That was Donquixote Doflamingo. Back when he watched One Piece, Doflamingo had been a character Mark liked for quite a while.

Even now, that was still the case.

In his previous life, he had even gone through a chuunibyou phase where he copied Doflamingo's walk and that infectious laugh. Thinking about it now was rather funny.

Hearing Daisy call Doflamingo full of himself, along with what she had just said—

After a moment of silence, Mark said, "Donquixote Doflamingo treated you very well, didn't he?"

Though he was asking Daisy, Mark's tone was certain.

Ever since Daisy returned, she had been very protective of her uncle, Donquixote Doflamingo. Considering Doflamingo's attitude toward family, Daisy must have lived happily over the past three months.

"Yes!" A sunlit smile appeared on Daisy's little face.

For an instant, Mark actually lost himself, staring blankly at Daisy's smiling face.

Those crescent-shaped eyes, those watery eyes, that skin as smooth as congealed cream...

His heartbeat unexpectedly sped up.

"Cough, cough..." Mark suddenly coughed.

Daisy stretched out her boneless little hand and clasped Mark's bronze-colored hand, asking worriedly, "Mark, are you sick?"

As she spoke, a faint green glow rose from her body.

Mark was about to wave his hand and reassure her, but the sight of that green glow immediately left him stunned.

"This feeling, damn it..."

It really was the feeling of his heart being moved. He had actually fallen for a little girl. She was only three years younger than him.

He was an outstanding young man who had transmigrated from the twenty-first century. Counting his previous life and this one, he was nearly forty. How could he possibly fall for a little girl?

I'm an uncle, an uncle...

Mark kept drilling the concept of being an uncle into his head, but gradually... his thoughts began to take a strange turn. Little girl, fair and sweet, uncle's got candy—want a treat...

Just as he was hopelessly immersed in that white-lotus nursery rhyme, a crisp voice pulled him from his fantasy and back to reality.

"You're fine? Then why did you cough?"

A trace of confusion flashed across Daisy's little face.

Mark gave a light cough. After slowly calming the turmoil in his heart, he forced himself to speak calmly. "I just choked on my own saliva. I'm fine..."

Only then did he sense that something was off.

Lowering his head, he carefully examined the little girl. The green glow that had just radiated from her body definitely had not been an illusion. Could it be...

"You ate a Devil Fruit?"

Daisy wrinkled her delicate nose and nodded.

"Donquixote Doflamingo gave it to you?"

"Yes!"

Mark was immediately speechless. Was Donquixote Doflamingo some kind of Devil Fruit distributor? Forget artificial Devil Fruits—he had so many Devil Fruit users under him, and he also held an unknown number of Devil Fruits in his hands.

That made Mark, a pathetic rookie who had fought desperately just to obtain the Dark-Dark Fruit and awaken the Combat Bracer, incredibly envious. What a humblebrag.

"The Paramecia-type Repair Fruit. It can repair all living things," Daisy said with a hint of pride.

After hearing that, Mark fell silent for a moment... then slowly raised his right hand. A power of darkness wrapped around his entire palm.

"The most vicious Logia-type Devil Fruit in history—the Dark-Dark Fruit!"

He gave Daisy a look that seemed to ask, See? Isn't my lollipop sweet?

Daisy's reaction satisfied Mark as well.

Her little mouth opened slightly, her red tongue pressed tightly against her lower teeth as she stared at Mark in shock.

She had not expected that after just one year apart, Mark had also become a Devil Fruit user—and the user of the Dark-Dark Fruit at that.

In the family's Devil Fruit encyclopedia, she had seen an introduction to this fruit.

Its descriptions were extremely comprehensive, far more detailed than the Devil Fruit encyclopedias circulating outside. It even recorded certain Devil Fruits that were unknown to the world.

Dark-Dark Fruit: Said to embody the power of a black hole, it possessed an exceptionally vicious ability. It allowed its user to wield power comparable to Seastone. Anyone seized by its power would lose their abilities.

There were also plenty of flattering remarks. In short, they all said this fruit was freaking awesome.

Of course, it had side effects as well. Though it was a Logia-type Devil Fruit, it could not allow its user to transform into an element, and the pain caused by damage was twice that of an ordinary person.

Mark: Pain makes a real man. Those bullets this morning had really hurt...

The Repair Fruit was described there as well.

It was also an exceptionally powerful fruit.

It repaired everything, but that did not include dead things. It could only repair living things.

The reason was that the Repair Fruit possessed an ability similar to the Soul-Soul Fruit, though its focus differed from the Soul-Soul Fruit.

The Repair Fruit achieved physical restoration by touching and repairing the soul.

From the inside out, users of this fruit...

Were a rare type of Long-Lived Species.

After recovering from her surprise, Daisy slowly explained the Devil Fruit abilities of the two of them to Mark.

"What is a Long-Lived Species?" Mark asked in confusion.

The term sounded incredibly high-end.

After thinking for a moment, Daisy began explaining what Long-Lived Species were.

Long-Lived Species were Devil Fruits that could grant people long life.

Such Devil Fruits were rare—extremely rare.

So rare that there were only a scant three.

That was according to the most comprehensive Devil Fruit encyclopedia. In the Devil Fruit encyclopedias circulating across the seas, aside from one known to the public, the other two had not been recorded at all.

The Celestial Dragons had also exhausted every effort in searching for the whereabouts of Long-Lived Species Devil Fruits.

The temptation of longevity was simply too great for them.

Unfortunately, such Devil Fruits were far too rare, and even if they appeared, they would not necessarily fall into the Celestial Dragons' hands.

Gradually, their target shifted to the legendary Pure Gold, which was said to grant immortality.

Back to the topic.

Among the three Long-Lived Species Devil Fruits, the most famous was undoubtedly the Op-Op Fruit.

Its ultimate ability could create an immortal person free of all side effects and unafraid of the sea.

In the early days, it had not even been recorded in Devil Fruit encyclopedias circulating across the seas, so people knew very little about it.

But after Corazon obtained it and gave it to Law, the abilities of this Devil Fruit finally became known, though only a few people learned of its ultimate ability.

Even so, the powerful Op-Op Fruit had been offered at the sky-high price of five billion. One of the Four Emperors did not even necessarily have a bounty that high.