Awakening Fruit

"Get over here. You two, keep leading the way." The cocky Coby grabbed the youngest of the three and ordered the remaining 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.

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

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

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

The eerie green glow of the fluorescent stones made the already sinister atmosphere even more frightening. Even Locke, who always kept the twenty-four-character mantra in mind, broke out in goosebumps.

Fortunately, the passage was not very long. They soon passed through it and entered a spacious burial chamber. This place was even more excessive—even the floor beneath their feet was packed with fluorescent stones.

Yet none of that drew Locke and the others' attention. Their eyes were all fixed on a platform in the center of the chamber.

There was no coffin or anything of the sort in the middle of the burial chamber, only a modestly sized platform. Unlike the rest of the tomb, it had no flooring and was simply bare earth. A tree grew from the soil, with three Devil Fruits hanging from it. They looked more or less alike, but each was a different color.

For some reason, though, Locke felt that the fruits were incredibly illusory, not real at all.

Someone quickly proved his suspicion right. It was still that arrogant Coby. The moment he saw the three Devil Fruits, he rushed forward, reached out, and grabbed at one. However, his hand passed straight through it.

"Coby, come back!" the captain called out when he saw Coby charge forward.

"Captain, what's going on?" Coby returned to the captain's side in confusion after failing to grab the Devil Fruit.

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

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

"What is it?" Coby asked curiously.

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

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

The captain ignored Coby's question. Clutching the book, he rushed forward and uprooted the tree with a single palm strike.

Then they saw that at the roots of the uprooted tree was a red fruit. It had no patterns on its surface, yet it gave off its own light. The burial chamber, which had been dyed green by the fluorescent stones, turned entirely red because of this fruit.

"Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! It's really here—the legendary Awakening Fruit!" The captain burst into laughter when he saw it.

"Captain, what is that? Is it valuable?" Coby asked what everyone else was thinking.

"Valuable? This is priceless! So many people on the seas have Devil Fruit abilities, but how many of them have awakened them? This fruit can awaken a person's Devil Fruit ability with a one hundred percent success rate. Do you think it's valuable?" Perhaps because he was in such a good mood, the captain actually took the time to explain.

"Then doesn't that mean we've struck it rich?" The captain's question left Coby dumbfounded.

"Of course!"

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

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

While everyone's attention had been drawn to the fruit in the captain's hand, the three had helped each other untie the ropes around them. But just as they freed themselves and prepared to slip away quietly, everyone's gaze suddenly turned toward them.

The three froze mid-sneak.

"Big Brother, I think they spotted 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 also got ready to fight.

"What?! You three brats dare to run away?!" The captain finally reacted when the three took up fighting stances and roared.

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

"Kill!" The group shouted as they charged toward the three.

Seeing the people rushing at them, the three refused to be outdone and charged forward as well.

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

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

Their leader turned directly into a black bear, the second became a polar bear, and most bizarrely, the third transformed into a panda.

After transforming, all three spat out blood. Their injuries were evidently quite serious.

Spitting blood as they fought, the three charged into the crowd and clashed with the crew. The scene immediately descended into chaos.

Watching his crew members get sent flying one after another, the captain grew anxious. He set the tree he had been holding aside and charged straight in, intending to deal with the three quickly.

At that moment, Locke, who had been watching from the side, also moved. He rushed straight 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 to ash and vanished from his hands.

The sight left Locke stunned. He had no idea what was happening, but he had no time to think about it.

After reacting, the captain threw a punch straight at Locke. A layer of black Haki wrapped around his fist.

Unable to dodge in time, Locke was sent flying.

However, while he was flying through the air, Locke stuffed the fruit directly into his mouth.

Bang!

Locke slammed into the wall. Before he could inspect his injuries, he realized that the fruit he had just put into his mouth had vanished.