New Base
Sakazuki had not expected Leo to refrain from giving the Lava-Lava Fruit to someone else to eat, instead keeping it in a drawer.
That decision was truly astonishing.
"Why?" Even his old face could not help but gape as he asked involuntarily.
"I haven't found its owner yet." Leo glanced at him and posed an age-old question from the One Piece World. "Did the Devil Fruit fulfill its owner, or did its owner fulfill the Devil Fruit?"
It was truly a question of which came first, the chicken or the egg.
Did the owner of a Devil Fruit use its power to break free from the mire and rise above the rest in this world, or did they already possess extraordinary will and awareness, merely lacking an opportunity—and once that opportunity and favorable wind arrived, immediately take off?
For Sakazuki, who had seen far too many pirates, too many worthless scoundrels, and too many Devil Fruit users, this ancient question was not difficult. He casually took a cigar from the cigar box beside him—it was for Leo's guests—skillfully cut off both ends, then lit it with a match. Wisps of smoke rose through the room. "Of course it was the strength of the user that made the Devil Fruit what it was."
"I've seen countless Devil Fruit users, but only a few ever amounted to anything. Most were trash who wasted their Devil Fruit powers. Those powerful Devil Fruits were wasted on them."
Sakazuki's words made Leo nod. Great minds truly thought alike.
That was right. He saw it the same way.
Ordinary people might be dazzled by powerful figures like the Three Admirals and the Four Emperors, but Leo paid more attention to the ordinary people who had failed to make something of themselves, such as those