Devil Fruit

Now that he had accepted the fact that he had transmigrated, he had to find a way to survive—and survive without arousing anyone else's suspicion.

After all, he couldn't go around telling everyone he had amnesia, nor could he avoid contact with everyone else. Besides, this was a world where strength reigned supreme. Without strength, he might not even have a chance to protect himself. The group of Marine subordinates outside might be useful against small fry, but in the eyes of true experts, those Marine soldiers were just small fry too.

Was William a Two-Sword Style swordsman?

William's gaze settled on the two swords hanging on the wall. Muttering inwardly, he picked up one of them. Still, he thought that this body's former owner might have only been a One-Sword Style swordsman who simply enjoyed collecting famous blades.

"What a sharp blade!" The moment William touched the blade, fragments of memories related to it flashed through his mind. Though those memories were chaotic, he knew that the two swords on the wall were both his own weapons. Moreover, both were Skillful Grade Blades.

So he had been a Two-Sword Style swordsman? When William learned that he was a swordsman—and a Two-Sword Style swordsman at that—he gained a little more confidence in this body's former strength. If he also knew the Six Powers, could he become a Four-Sword Style swordsman like Kaku from CP9? Just thinking about it, William felt that Four-Sword Style was pretty cool.

Still, William believed he probably knew the Six Powers. Although they were CP9 techniques in the anime, most officers at Marine Headquarters knew at least some of the Six Powers; only their proficiency varied. As a colonel from Marine Headquarters, it was impossible for him not to know them, right?

And hadn't he taken a photo with those two big shots at Marine Headquarters? That meant he had come from Marine Headquarters. If he could take a photo with them, then at the very least, he must have had a good relationship with them. Surely he had received guidance from both of them.

"Huh?" William found a safe in the room. Luckily, it used a key rather than a password. Otherwise, without knowing the password, he would have had no way to open it.

There was not much inside the safe: just a pair of handcuffs, a box, and some documents underneath. Anything kept in a safe was obviously important.

But why would a pair of handcuffs be kept in a safe? Their surface was extremely rough, clearly polished by hand. William quickly thought of Seastone handcuffs. Only handcuffs made from such rare and hard material would be treated as valuables. Still, these handcuffs were specifically meant for Devil Fruit users, so using them against ordinary people would have been overkill.

This was equipment used to capture Devil Fruit users. Yet he felt nothing despite directly touching the Seastone handcuffs. Clearly, this body had never eaten a Devil Fruit before. Otherwise, his body would have become weak and drained of strength. That disappointed William somewhat. He felt that if someone transmigrated into the One Piece World without eating a Devil Fruit, it would have been a wasted trip. While not every strong person was a Devil Fruit user, he still thought having Devil Fruit powers was much cooler.

However, a Devil Fruit cost at least a hundred million Beli on the black market, and even then, they were nearly impossible to obtain. If he could get a Devil Fruit, he would not have cared even if it turned him into a landlubber. Devil Fruit users, cursed by the sea, could not swim, and a person could only eat one Devil Fruit; otherwise, they would suffer a backlash and explode to death.

What made William more curious was the exquisite large box beside it. Did it contain jewelry, or gold?

Of course, no matter what was inside, it now belonged to William. He immediately opened the box to see what treasure it held. But after opening it, William found no gold or silver treasures inside. There was only a fruit with strange patterns.

William stared excitedly at the fruit in the box, saliva practically dripping from the corner of his mouth. That fruit was not something delicious; on the contrary, it was universally acknowledged to taste terrible. Yet this universally hated thing made William drool uncontrollably!

That's right—it was a Devil Fruit! William had never imagined that there would be a Devil Fruit on his ship. This was something that could rapidly increase his strength. For William right now, strength was the most important thing. Only with sufficient strength could he survive in this perilous world.

Why hadn't this body's previous owner eaten this Devil Fruit? He should not have been a Devil Fruit user. William could not sense any unusual changes in his body, and he felt no discomfort while holding the Seastone handcuffs. Unless those were not actually Seastone handcuffs. But that clearly made no sense. Why would ordinary handcuffs be kept in such an important place?

Perhaps the body's former owner simply did not want to become a Devil Fruit user. Devil Fruit powers were certainly tempting, but not everyone was interested in them. Especially for people who pursued pure physical strength, Devil Fruits were completely unnecessary. And since the former owner was a skilled swordsman, perhaps he really had disdained eating one.

But William clearly could not resist the temptation of a Devil Fruit. From the moment he accepted that he had transmigrated into the One Piece World, he had hoped to obtain one.

But a person could only eat one Devil Fruit, and without a Devil Fruit Encyclopedia, William had no way of knowing what power this Devil Fruit possessed.

Had this body's former owner seen the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia before and known that this fruit did not suit him, which was why he had not eaten it? But without the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia, it was impossible to determine a Devil Fruit's power solely from its patterns. One could not even tell whether it was a Logia, Paramecia, or Zoan.

Still, there were no worthless Devil Fruits, only weak users! William repeated those words over and over in his heart. He believed that any fruit could become powerful if developed properly.

Even if William obtained the legendary Devil Fruit Encyclopedia through the Marine intelligence network, it would only record Devil Fruit powers that had appeared before. Devil Fruit powers that had never appeared could not possibly be recorded in it.

So William was gambling on luck. If he was lucky, he might get a good ability. It was even possible that he could obtain a Logia power.

After eating a Devil Fruit, he would have to face the sea as a weakness. Even so, countless pirates and Marines still wished to become Devil Fruit users. No matter how hard many people trained, they could never break through their physical limits, while a Devil Fruit was like gaining another option.

Take Luffy, the protagonist of One Piece. By developing the Rubber Fruit, he created Gear Second and Gear Third, allowing him to wield strength beyond his own limits.

But for William, even though he did not know what power the Devil Fruit in his hand possessed, he still resolutely decided to eat it. In his eyes, only an idiot would leave a Devil Fruit untouched. Train honestly? He had no idea what this body's talent was like. If his training reached a bottleneck, then developing Devil Fruit powers would be the best way to increase his strength.

Besides, having one more trump card gave him one more measure of security for survival. He might become a landlubber, but he had never been good at swimming in the first place. As long as he stayed on land as much as possible in the future, it would be fine.

"Ugh!" The moment he took a bite, William nearly vomited. Although he had been mentally prepared, it was simply too disgusting. Fortunately, he only needed one bite to gain its power. Otherwise, William might have given up. This thing was not merely bad—it was disgustingly awful.

Looking at the Devil Fruit in his hand with a bite taken out of it, William threw it back into the box. Once someone had tasted a Devil Fruit, its flavor would be unforgettable for the rest of their life. At that moment, just seeing the Devil Fruit made William nauseous, which showed just how terrible it tasted.

A moment later, William discovered that his consciousness had appeared inside a castle. It was a very crude castle. Yet his consciousness could freely control it, creating and manipulating tables and chairs at will, even turning the crude castle into something luxurious and extravagant.

He could freely alter his body and the surrounding environment with his thoughts alone. That was rather similar to the elemental transformation of a Logia. Had he obtained a Logia Devil Fruit power?

But why did the scenery outside the castle look so familiar? And yet it also seemed strange! It was as though everything outside had become enormous!

No, that wasn't right! Could this castle be his body? William quickly realized that the fruit power he had obtained was not a Logia, but a Paramecia. Moreover, this ability reminded him of a Paramecia Devil Fruit—the Castle-Castle Fruit.

In the original anime, this Castle-Castle Fruit belonged to "Gang" Capone Bege, one of the eleven Supernovas from the West Blue who debuted alongside Luffy, and captain of the Fire Tank Pirates.

But how had "Gang" Capone Bege's Castle-Castle Fruit ended up on his warship? Could it be that he was currently in the West Blue? Or had he already entered the Grand Line?

Gol D. Roger's name was derived from gold and the pirate flag.