Awakening Fruit

"You, get over here. You two, keep leading the way." The cockier Coby grabbed the youngest of the three and told the other two to continue leading them inside.

"You..." One of the two wanted to say something, but the steadier one stopped him with a look.

With no other choice, the man could only glare viciously at Coby, as if he wanted to devour him alive.

"What are you looking at? Get moving, or I'll kill you!" Seeing the brute glare at him, Coby kicked him again.

The two had no choice but to obediently head into the tomb.

Before long, Locke followed the group into the tomb as well. He had expected it to be pitch-black inside, but upon entering, he discovered that fluorescent stones had been embedded into the walls at regular intervals.

The eerie green glow of the fluorescent stones made the already bizarre atmosphere even more terrifying. Even Locke, who constantly recited the Twenty-Four Character Mantra in his heart, got goosebumps.

Fortunately, the passageway was not very long. They soon passed through it and arrived in a spacious burial chamber. This place was even more excessive—fluorescent stones had been embedded all across the floor beneath their feet.

However, that did not draw Locke and the others' attention. Their gazes were all fixed on a platform in the middle of the burial chamber.

There was no coffin or anything else in the center of the chamber, only a medium-sized platform. Unlike the rest of the tomb, it was not paved with stone slabs, but bare earth. A tree grew from the soil, with three Devil Fruits hanging from it. They looked similar, but each was a different color.

For some reason, though, Locke felt that the fruits looked illusory, completely unreal.

But someone soon confirmed his suspicion for him. It was that arrogant Coby. The moment he saw the three Devil Fruits, he rushed forward and reached out to grab one, but his hand passed straight through it.

"Coby, come back!" Seeing Coby rush forward, the captain immediately called out.

"Captain, what's going on?" Since he had failed to grab the Devil Fruit, Coby returned to the captain's side and asked in confusion.

The captain did not answer right away. Instead, he pulled out a book from who knew where and began slowly flipping through it.

"It really is it!" After reading for a while, the captain said excitedly.

"What is it?" Coby asked curiously.

"The legendary Devil Fruit Tree. I never thought it really existed!"

"What Devil Fruit Tree? How come I've never heard of it?"

The captain did not answer Coby's question. Holding the book, he rushed forward and yanked the tree out of the ground with a single pull.

Then they saw that at the tree's exposed roots was a red fruit. It had no patterns on its surface, yet it emitted its own light. The burial chamber, which had been dyed green by the fluorescent stones, turned entirely red with the appearance of the fruit.

"Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! It's really here—the legendary Awakening Fruit." The captain burst into laughter at the sight of it.

"Captain, what is that? Is it worth a lot?" Coby, standing below, voiced the question on everyone's mind.

"Worth a lot? This is priceless! So many people on the seas have Devil Fruit powers, but how many of them have awakened those powers? This fruit can awaken a person's Devil Fruit ability with a one hundred percent success rate. You tell me, is it valuable?" Perhaps because he was in such a good mood, the captain even took the time to explain it to Coby.

"Doesn't that mean we've struck it rich?" The captain's rhetorical question left Coby dazed.

"Of course!"

"But just now, I couldn't grab the three Devil Fruits on that tree," Coby asked again.

"They were probably eaten by those three." As he spoke, he looked toward the three men who had led them here.

At that moment, while everyone's attention had been focused on the fruit in the captain's hand, the three had helped one another untie the ropes around them. But just as they loosened them and prepared to sneak away, every gaze suddenly turned toward them.

The three froze mid-escape.

"Big Brother, I think they found us!"

"I know!"

"Then what do we do?"

"Prepare to fight!" With that, he immediately assumed a fighting stance. Seeing their leader's posture, the other two prepared for battle as well.

"What?! You three brats dare to run away?!" The captain finally snapped out of it when the three took their fighting stances and roared.

"What are you all standing around for? Get them!" The captain turned back and shouted at his crew again.

"Kill!" A crowd of men shouted as they charged toward the three.

Seeing the men rushing at them, the three refused to show weakness and charged forward as well.

"Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!"

With three loud roars, the three transformed together just as they neared the crowd.

The leader turned directly into a black bear, the second became a polar bear, and the most bizarre was the third—he transformed into a panda.

After transforming, all three spat out blood. Their injuries were clearly severe.

Spitting blood as they fought, the three charged into the crowd and battled the crewmen. In an instant, the scene descended into chaos.

Watching his crewmen get sent flying one after another, the captain grew anxious. He set down the tree he had been holding and charged straight in, intending to quickly finish off the three.

At that moment, Locke, who had been watching from the side, also began to move. He rushed directly toward the tree that had just been set down, passing the charging captain along the way.

Before the captain could react, Locke grabbed the tree and plucked the fruit from it. The moment he removed the fruit, the tree turned into ash and vanished from his hands.

The sight left Locke stunned. He had no idea what was happening, but there was no time for him to think.

The captain reacted and threw a punch at Locke, his fist wrapped in a layer of black Haki.

Unable to dodge in time, Locke was sent flying.

But while he was flying through the air, Locke stuffed the fruit straight into his mouth.

Bang!

Locke crashed into the wall. Before he could inspect his injuries, he felt the fruit he had just put into his mouth vanish completely.