Mythical Zoan

Mythical Zoan

No, the Devil Fruit he had eaten was not the Castle-Castle Fruit, and it might not even belong to the Paramecia class of Devil Fruits at all.

The ability of the Castle-Castle Fruit was to garrison everything—including oneself—within one's own body, just like a castle. Everything and everyone that entered the ability user's body would shrink down, and they would return to their original size after leaving the user.

At the same time, the user could use the weapons garrisoned inside the body to output firepower to the outside world, or capture opponents into the castle, launching attacks by commanding the various "weapons" inside the castle. Alternatively, they could use the ability of the Castle-Castle Fruit to command the castle structure within their bodies, transforming it into a swamp to torture targets trapped inside. They could even turn their legs into treads, moving around at high speeds exposed to the outside while acting as a castle on the move. This was also one of the reasons why Capone Bege's pirate crew was named the Fire Tank Pirates.

Although William also found at this moment that he possessed an ability similar to the Castle-Castle Fruit—capable of forming a castle within his body and freely controlling the things inside that castle—the essence of the Castle-Castle Fruit remained a castle. Yet, hard scales were growing on William's body at this moment; what kind of castle would have animal scales?

Rather than saying the fruit ability William ate was Paramecia, it was more fitting to call it a Zoan: hard scales covered his entire body, sharp claws belonged to some unknown animal, his neck had grown quite a bit longer, and a lizard tail had sprouted behind his buttocks.

Lizard-Lizard Fruit? Dinosaur-Dinosaur Fruit?

However, whether it was an ordinary Zoan or an Ancient Zoan, neither could possibly possess the abilities of a Paramecia fruit. Unless it was a Mythical Zoan, which was a Devil Fruit even rarer than a Logia; to think he had obtained such an extraordinary fruit.

Stop! Stop! Watching his own body in its hybrid form continuously grow larger, William hurriedly shouted. Because he had just acquired the fruit ability, his body simply could not adapt to or control it.

As William's body grew huge, he had to choose to lie prone on the ground, otherwise his height would definitely cause his head to smash right through the ceiling of the room.

"Why is my neck so long?" William muttered speechlessly as he twisted his long neck. This looked quite similar to Kaku, who had eaten the Ox-Ox Fruit, Model: Giraffe, except that Kaku was a giraffe, while he looked no matter how he inspected it like a lizard or a long-necked dinosaur.

Fortunately, the transformation had not caused too much of a commotion, otherwise it would be troublesome if the Marine soldiers outside saw this scene because an enemy had rushed in. Otherwise, there was no way to explain how he, who previously had no Devil Fruit ability, suddenly possessed the power of a Devil Fruit. If linked with the escort mission, it would be equivalent to being sentenced to death.

After over an hour of control, William could barely manage his Devil Fruit ability, and at least maintaining his human form was completely unproblematic. If he wasn't afraid of exposing that he had eaten a Devil Fruit, he definitely would have thoroughly explored and grasped the ability of this Devil Fruit of his.

Holding the documents back to his chair, the first page was a receipt, which implied that the headquarters' Devil Fruit Encyclopedia had found no matching data. In other words, this fruit had not been recorded in the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia.

In William's memories, the only mythical beast similar to a lizard was the Western dragon. If it were the Lizard-Lizard Fruit, Mythical Dragon Model, he should have fire-breathing skills.

However, William quickly dismissed this thought. First of all, dragons possessed wings; secondly, it was impossible for a dragon to have the abilities of the Castle-Castle Fruit.

Could this be a Mythical Beast type that had never appeared before?

Dragon? Castle? Castle Demon Dragon!

From now on, let's call the name of this fruit the Lizard-Lizard Fruit, Castle Dragon Model. However, William did not understand the ability of this fruit very well. From the information currently under his control, he only knew that it was a Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit.

Furthermore, it possessed an ability similar to the Castle-Castle Fruit. The rarity of a Mythical Zoan was not only because its species was scarce, but also because a Mythical Beast type concurrently possessed the abilities of both Zoan and Paramecia fruits.

It was impossible for a person to possess two Devil Fruits at the same time, but the Mythical Beast type undoubtedly gave people the ability to possess two Devil Fruits simultaneously. It allowed William to simultaneously possess the three-stage transformation ability of a Zoan, as well as the ability of the Paramecia Castle-Castle Fruit.

Although William had eaten the Devil Fruit, he was not worried; instead, he sank into the joy of acquiring the Devil Fruit ability. As for how to account for the whereabouts of the Devil Fruit to his superiors?

Although he temporarily didn't know William's relationship with those two figures, as long as they were still in the Marines, he shouldn't have to shoulder heavy responsibility for "losing" the Devil Fruit. At worst, he would be demoted or face other punishments, but surely he wouldn't be sentenced to death?

The second document was an appointment order regarding William's transfer from Marine Headquarters to serve in a local branch. Although the rank of colonel was not considered a big official at headquarters—where one could casually greet officers of equal rank and major generals were not in short supply—transferring to a local branch was different. That made one a supreme local boss.

Especially since the transferred location was the weakest East Blue. To him, East Blue was far safer than any other place. After all, there were no powerful pirates here, nor were there terrifying Sea Kings.

However, when William finished reading the third document, his heart plummeted straight from heaven into hell. This was an order sheet, a simple yet crucial mission.

Comparing dates, the date on the order sheet was several months later than the appointment order. This meant he had long since arrived to serve in East Blue, and the sea area he was currently in was already East Blue. The order sheet stated that the mission was currently underway, and coming from headquarters, it was obviously an order issued recently.

This was just a very simple escort mission; as long as he completed the mission, he could return to headquarters to serve.

However, the escort target was a Devil Fruit.

A Devil Fruit? There was only one Devil Fruit here, could it be the exact one he had just eaten? This was an act of stealing what one was assigned to guard.

Furthermore, the destination was not Marine Headquarters Marineford, but Sabaody Archipelago. What kind of place was that? That was a place where Celestial Dragons frequently haunted. Didn't this make it obvious that the target of his escort this time was to be delivered to the Celestial Dragons?

As the world nobles, the Celestial Dragons never reasoned with anyone. Perhaps they looked down upon Devil Fruits and could even casually bestow them to slaves to eat, but if he failed to deliver the Devil Fruit, even those two stepping forward might not necessarily protect him. Moreover, William wasn't sure what kind of relationship those two had with him; once it got involved with the Celestial Dragons, even an admiral had to take it seriously.

No, he couldn't just sit and wait for death. He had to find a way to leave this place and then live under an assumed name. William's mind was currently full of thoughts about how to abscond to avoid punishment. He didn't want to just transmigrate only to ruin his life. Given the personalities of the Celestial Dragons, directly sentencing him to death would be a blessing; if they dragged him off to be a slave for the Celestial Dragons, his life would truly be worse than death.

William didn't want to become a slave and be led around on the ground crawling like a dog by someone. He would rather die standing than submit; even if he was hunted down for the rest of his life, he could never become a slave.

An hour ago, William was still thinking about how to get along in the Marines in the future, but now his mind was entirely filled with how to leave the Marines—not for anything else, just to live with dignity.

However, since he was going to run, William needed to determine how much time he had left to escape.

From the intelligence obtained before him, the Marine warship he was riding on should be heading from East Blue to the Grand Line. It was just that William currently didn't know if he was still departing from East Blue or had already arrived at the Grand Line.

"Colonel William, is there anything you need?" The soldier guarding the door saw William open the door and immediately asked proactively. His duty was to be responsible for Colonel William's daily life and relaying messages.

"Nothing. By the way, where have we sailed to now?" William asked seemingly casually. Although the soldier was somewhat puzzled, it wasn't inappropriate for the boss of this warship to pay attention to these matters at any time.

"Reporting to the Colonel! We are currently still in East Blue, but we will soon enter the Calm Belt!" The guarding soldier answered very honestly.

Entering the Calm Belt soon? It seemed the time left for him was not very abundant. The danger level of the Calm Belt was not much weaker than the Grand Line. However, as long as they hadn't entered the Grand Line yet, William wouldn't end up dying at the hands of pirates after escaping; after all, this was still universally acknowledged as the weakest East Blue.

But this was the boundless ocean, how was he supposed to escape? This was a huge problem! Although his fruit ability was a Mythical Zoan, it didn't possess any flying capabilities at all. Once he entered the Calm Belt, he wouldn't even have a chance to escape.

The Lizard-Lizard Fruit, Castle Dragon Model is an original Devil Fruit of this work, belonging to the Mythical Zoan. After consumption, the user can simultaneously possess the three-stage transformation ability of a Zoan and the ability of the Castle-Castle Fruit. Later on, more original Devil Fruits and original characters will appear in this work.