Arms-Arms Fruit

After agreeing with Rosinante on how they would contact each other in the future, Kane said no more.

After searching for a while, they found a cellar amid the island's ruins.

It was far from the edge of the Birdcage and would be safe for the time being. Hina stayed behind to guard Vergo, while Rosinante and Law rested here to recover.

Kane placed Rosinante in a corner of the cellar and told Law to look after him. Then, he and Cuckoo erased the nearby traces and quickly left.

In the sky, Buffalo used the Spin-Spin Fruit's power to create propellers and flew back and forth overhead.

Baby-5, sitting on his back, monitored the Marines' communication channels while scanning the ground for every suspicious person.

Doflamingo's furious appearance earlier had frightened her badly. Even now, she was still afraid, tears welling in her watery eyes as she sniffled from time to time.

Kane sympathetically patted her head and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with a finger.

"Poor child, crying so miserably. You must have been terrified."

"Ah—!"

Baby-5 screamed in fright and nearly fell off Buffalo's back, but Kane caught her in his arms.

Buffalo was also scared out of his wits by the sudden appearance of Kane on his back. Just as he was about to call for his companions on the ground, an iron chain tightly wrapped around his neck.

The next instant, Buffalo felt weak all over. He could no longer use his Devil Fruit power and began falling toward the ground.

Damn it...

Seastone...

Kane watched expressionlessly as Buffalo plummeted in free fall, then used Geppo to race through the air into the distance.

Cuckoo was waiting on the ground. She would slash Buffalo until he was half-dead, then hand him over to Hina for safekeeping.

As for Kane himself, he gave Baby-5 a gentle, kindly smile.

"Little girl, I need you to do me a favor."

"Y-you... need me?"

The terrified look on Baby-5's face instantly vanished, her eyes lighting up. She did not even spare Buffalo, falling toward the ground, another glance.

Abandoned since childhood, Baby-5 desperately longed to be needed. As long as someone needed her, she could not refuse their requests. Kane had struck precisely at her weakness.

"What do you need me to do?"

Baby-5 tilted up her little head adorned with a bow. Her bright eyes stared at Kane, and her small face was filled with anticipation.

[Baby-5, Favorability: 15]

"Could you give me something to eat first? I need some food right now."

To be safe, Kane decided to start with simple requests.

"Here!"

Baby-5 quickly pulled out a piece of chocolate from her pocket. She even thoughtfully unwrapped it and held it to Kane's mouth.

Kane took a bite. It was smooth, sweet, and faintly warm, clearly a treasured snack Baby-5 had kept close to her body.

"That was delicious!"

At Kane's praise, a satisfied smile blossomed across Baby-5's face, and the anticipation in her eyes deepened.

She remembered Kane saying to give him something to eat first, which meant he still needed her!

This big brother was such a good person!

[Baby-5, Favorability: 17]

Looking at Baby-5's blinking eyes, Kane began farming favorability.

"I need to know your name."

"Baby-5!"

[Baby-5, Favorability: 18]

"I need to know your favorite food."

"Chocolate!"

[Baby-5, Favorability: 19]

"I also need to know what stories you like to hear."

"Noland the Liar!"

[Baby-5, Favorability: 20]

"I need..."

As he kept asking, an absurd feeling rose in Kane's heart.

Since crossing over, he had never met anyone whose favorability was so easy to raise!

Baby-5 was utterly immersed in Kane's repeated declarations of "I need." A happy smile bloomed on her face, as though she had fallen into the most wonderful dream in the world.

She felt that she had met the best person in the entire world. Her eyes remained fixed on Kane, unable to look away.

[Baby-5's favorability has reached 30. The first ability copy can begin.]

[Please choose one of the following abilities to copy:]

[1. Paramecia Devil Fruit · Arms-Arms Fruit (Development: 31%)]

[2. Fighting Technique (Beginner)]

[3. Cooking (Proficient)]

[4. Laundry (Proficient)]

[5...]

Kane immediately copied Baby-5's Arms-Arms Fruit. This had long been part of his plan, and it was an important asset for standing against Doflamingo's group.

"I need you to give me the Den Den Mushi, then hide here and wait for me. I also need you to make sure no one finds you before I return."

Kane brought Baby-5 to a concealed corner of the ruins and looked at her seriously.

If he had initially only wanted Baby-5's ability, then after spending some time with her, Kane decided to arrange a better life for this poor little girl.

"Mhm, mhm!" Baby-5 nodded vigorously, looking at Kane with expectant eyes. "Big brother, you'll come back, right?"

Kane noticed the barely hidden tremble in Baby-5's voice. Deep fear lurked beneath her hopeful gaze, as though she were afraid of something.

He immediately understood. His actions had stirred up Baby-5's terrible memories of being abandoned by her biological parents, the deepest fear buried within her heart.

Kane crouched down, looked directly into Baby-5's eyes, and made a solemn promise.

"You can call me Kane. I promise I'll come back. Afterward, I'll need you to help me do many things, so you must hide well. Understand?"

"I understand!" Baby-5 nodded happily.

She went to a corner of the ruins and dug out a nest in the snow. Curling up her petite body, she burrowed inside and even carefully covered herself with snow.

"Good job." Kane gave her a thumbs-up. "If you feel lonely, you can count. I'll be back before you reach ten thousand."

The little pile of snow hiding Baby-5 shifted, seemingly nodding.

Kane cleared away the traces and turned to leave. As he headed toward the place he had agreed to meet Cuckoo, he opened his status panel.

[Douglas Kane]

[Copied Abilities:]

[Zoan · Bat-Bat Fruit (Development: 61%)]

[Paramecia · Flower-Flower Fruit (Development: 82%)]

[Paramecia · Barrier-Barrier Fruit (Development: 45%)]

[Paramecia · Arms-Arms Fruit (Development: 59%)]

[Six Powers (Mastered بالكامل)]

[Armament Haki (Proficient)]

[Observation Haki (Proficient)]

[Giant Strength]

Kane glanced at the development levels of the Barrier-Barrier Fruit and the Arms-Arms Fruit. Seeing that they were higher than Hina's and Baby-5's, he nodded in satisfaction.

After all, a Devil Fruit's development level depended on the user's strength, aptitude, imagination, and other factors. Kane surpassed both of them in every respect, so it was only natural that his Fruit development level would be higher.

With a thought, Kane's right hand turned into a knife, then an axe, before rapidly shifting through all kinds of weapons. It finally settled into a sniper rifle.

This sniper rifle differed from any firearm in the pirate world. Instead, it was identical to an AWM from Blue Star.

Kane said thoughtfully, "My transformation ability is still limited by my knowledge. After all, I can't imagine things beyond my understanding."

He remembered that in the original story, the adult Baby-5 had once transformed into a missile. Yet he could not do that at all right now, likely because his understanding of missiles was still too shallow.

Still, he was already very satisfied with being able to create a sniper rifle. And he had the Flower-Flower Fruit as well. Combined, the two abilities were enough to make him an army by himself!

Thinking of this, Kane tried hard to recall a certain sniper rifle from Blue Star. Soon, his arm twisted and transformed, ultimately becoming an enormous jet-black sniper rifle.

Barrett M82A1 anti-materiel sniper rifle!

It could be equipped with armor-piercing rounds, incendiary rounds, and many other types of ammunition!

Nicknamed the Human Cannon!

Excitedly, Kane leaned toward the scope. Everything in the distance became crystal clear, and the markings on the lens seemed like death's guidance, urging him to pull the trigger shaped like Death's scythe.

In an instant, countless images flashed through Kane's mind, and even his heart thumped violently several times against his will.

Calm down. Let's see what happens when it's combined with the Flower-Flower Fruit!

Kane composed himself and fully activated the Flower-Flower Fruit, whose development level had reached 82%.

A head emerged from the ground, followed by a torso, limbs, and finally a complete Kane standing on the ground.

Flower-Flower Fruit · Flower Clone!

A technique Robin would not develop until more than ten years later had been perfectly replicated by Kane at this very moment.

Kane's clone looked curiously at himself, took two steps in place, then suddenly tilted his head and smiled.

"What a strange feeling. There are clearly two bodies, yet only one consciousness controlling both at once.

"Next, let's see where the limit is."

As soon as he finished speaking, four more Kanes emerged from the ground. They looked each other over, then burst into laughter together.

The senses of the clones, along with Kane's own five senses, merged in his mind, giving him the feeling of a god's-eye view.

Moreover, Kane could clearly sense that creating five clones at once was not the limit of his ability. Continuing to make clones would simply affect his ability to control them precisely.

Kane continued testing. The five clones ran off in different directions and all turned into petals and dispersed once they were more than three hundred meters away from Kane.

"The effective control range is three hundred meters. It will probably increase in the future, but this is enough for now."

Kane created five more clones. One transformed into a huge bat and soared into the sky, circling a hundred meters above Kane's head.

He had copied the Bat-Bat Fruit from Stussy, the queen of the Pleasure District, before joining the Marines.

As though recalling some amusing moments from the past, Kane watched the bat clone soar through the sky, a faint smile appearing on his lips.

A moment later, Kane returned from his memories. He controlled the other four clones to spread out and hide, always maintaining a distance of two hundred meters from himself, while he continued toward his meeting point with Cuckoo.

However, when he was still a little over a hundred meters from the meeting point, a sharp, grating sneer carried over from afar.

"Hohohoho, are you still going to keep struggling? You're already at the end of your rope.

"Or do you want to become an even more outstanding work of art?"