The Choice

Having already exceeded his expected goal and grown so much stronger, Werther naturally had no reason to keep training on the island.

As for the Platypuses that had nearly killed him last time, Werther did not go out of his way to find them. If he happened to run into them, he definitely would not let them go, but he would never wipe out the Platypuses entirely.

Though Werther killed without blinking, one condition would never change: someone had to provoke him first.

If they did not provoke him, he generally would not kill them. But if they did, he would never swallow his anger. He would let them witness the sights of hell.

He was no longer an assassin. He would no longer kill people he had never met.

After boarding the ship, Werther found himself in a dilemma. During this time, he had been considering one question: should he take Rabbit out to sea with him?

Rabbit would definitely be willing to sail with him. Judging by the way it was always stuffing its face, it would never want to stay on this barren island.

But taking Rabbit to sea would also be dangerous. The enemies Werther encountered in the future would definitely be powerful. Rabbit had some strength, but its combat ability truly was average.

Even against Werther from two years ago, if he used a sword, Rabbit would not survive for more than a minute.

So Werther was truly conflicted. Then he suddenly thought of something and called Rabbit over.

This time, Werther did not use sign language. Over the past two years, he had taught Rabbit human language. Not only could Rabbit understand it, it could write as well, so it always carried a bag on its back.

The bag usually contained a pen, a notebook, and a pile of carrots. At the bottom were several rubies, because aside from eating, Rabbit's greatest hobby was collecting rubies. Nearly all the rubies on Werther's ship were in its bag.

"Rabbit, I'm setting sail for other places. Do you want to come with me?" Even though Werther already knew the answer, he still asked Rabbit.

"Of course. We're friends." Rabbit took out its notebook, wrote a message, tore off the page, and held it before Werther to show him the words.

"Yeah, I knew you'd sail with me. But in your current state, sailing with me is dangerous, so I plan to have you eat a Human-type Devil Fruit. But I don't know what ability it has. After eating it, you'll become a landlubber, cursed by the sea and afraid of Seastone. So, do you want to eat it?" Werther's solution was to let Rabbit eat that Devil Fruit.

If its ability was decent, Rabbit would gain the ability to protect itself, and Werther would take it on adventures. If the ability was bad, he would take Rabbit to a prosperous island and entrust it to someone else's care.

To Werther, Rabbit's life was extremely important. He would not blindly trust his companions like Luffy did, because he was not the protagonist of a pirate story, not Garp's grandson, not Dragon's son, and his name did not contain a D.

Sometimes, Werther wondered whether Donquixote Doflamingo would truly dare to kill Luffy when they fought in Dressrosa.

Thinking about it carefully, killing Luffy was actually quite a terrifying matter.

His grandfather Garp was no weakling. The title of Marine Hero was not given to him for nothing. Within the Marines, he could call up countless supporters. Gathering a group of vice admirals to avenge his grandson would be ridiculously easy.

As for Luffy's father, he was definitely even more terrifying than Garp. He dared to oppose the World Government and fight them to a standstill. If he went after Doflamingo, would Doflamingo really have a chance of surviving? Even Kaido might not be able to protect him.

Werther brought Rabbit into the bedroom, took out the Human-type fruit, and placed it before Rabbit.

Rabbit seemed not to care about anything Werther had said earlier. Instead, it used a note to ask, "Is it tasty?"

Werther shamelessly answered, "Super tasty," then looked at Rabbit expectantly. He wanted to see how this glutton would react after eating a Devil Fruit, something that tasted like shit.

Werther would never have a chance to try one in his life, so he could only watch Rabbit's reaction.

Rabbit actually believed him. It grinned, revealing two huge front teeth that it brushed every morning. They had practically been polished until they sparkled.

Rabbit actually stuffed the entire Devil Fruit into its mouth and began chewing slowly, apparently intending to savor the flavor.

Werther immediately realized this was bad. If Rabbit truly tasted it, it would definitely spit it out.

So, just as Rabbit's face turned purple, he clamped a hand over its mouth and forced it to swallow.

Rabbit was nearly passing out from the horrible taste, and then its mouth was covered. It could only force itself to swallow the disgusting fruit. Anywhere was better than its mouth. It tasted absolutely awful.

After releasing Rabbit, which had already eaten the Devil Fruit, Werther realized it was nearly unconscious. No wonder. It had eaten and drunk well aboard Werther's ship for two years, and the two of them occasionally went to nearby islands to freeload. Suddenly eating something this disgusting was a catastrophe for its highly sensitive taste buds.

Just as Werther wanted to ask Rabbit what had changed, its body began undergoing enormous transformations.

Dark red exoskeleton spread across its entire body, accompanied by cracking sounds. Rabbit writhed on the floor in pain, as though something inside it was trying to break free of its shell.

With a sharp crack, Rabbit's exoskeleton was completely forced apart and fell away. What burst through it was not something else, but Rabbit's fur.

Logically speaking, a Rabbit that had evolved an exoskeleton should not have fur, or even skin.

Yet for some reason, this Devil Fruit had altered Rabbit's body structure. It shed its exoskeleton and was replaced by a coat of pale yellow fur.

Its fur was slightly long, but glossy and textured. Rabbit went from looking foolishly cute to becoming an outright adorable creature.

Luckily, Werther was a man. If a woman had been standing here now, she definitely would have pounced on Rabbit, hugged it, and cried, "Kawaii!"

Rabbit stood up and looked over its fur. It did not seem panicked at all. It touched itself here and there, examined itself in the mirror, and looked completely intoxicated with its own appearance.

It seemed that with Rabbit's high intelligence, it also knew how ugly its exoskeleton had been.

"Stop admiring yourself. What ability is it? Show me." What Werther most wanted to know now was Rabbit's fruit ability. Though Rabbit had become much cuter, that probably only reduced the damage it would receive from women. If it met a ruthless person, they might not just beat it up—they might even eat Rabbit meat.

Rabbit did not write another note. It glared at Werther angrily, seemingly accusing him of deceiving it when that thing had tasted so horrible.

After sulking for a while, Rabbit used its ability. That was right—its ability was its coat of fur: the Human-type Fur-Fur Fruit.

Looking at Rabbit's ability, Werther had to admit that it was not strong, but it was not weak either. If developed well, it would definitely be a good fruit for defense and escape.

Werther had already thought of one way to escape: Donquixote Doflamingo's Sky Path. Doflamingo used strings to latch onto clouds in the sky, while Werther planned to have Rabbit use its fur to pull itself through the air.

So Rabbit's fruit was actually quite good. With the String-String Fruit as inspiration, developing it would not be difficult. After all, Donquixote Doflamingo had nearly developed the String-String Fruit to its limit.

Even such a lousy fruit as the String-String Fruit had been developed so perfectly by Donquixote Doflamingo. Werther believed that, with his help, Rabbit would develop its fruit well too. It did not need to become especially strong; being able to protect itself should be enough.

So Werther patted the dejected Rabbit and set sail.