In fact, if Robin and Vegapunk had asked a few questions about Devil Fruits and combined the answers with the historical records Dragon had gathered, they could have worked out the truth themselves.
Ivy had already told Loa that she had removed the curse from the Tremor-Tremor Fruit before letting him fuse with it.
A Devil Fruit granted its eater supernatural powers, but it was also a curse.
It was a curse the D. Family had written against the invaders with their own flesh as ink, their bones as pens, and their suffering as paper—the work of an entire people.
Unlike the Winged People, who had developed their technology alone, the D. Family had pursued spiritual transcendence. Their clash was what people commonly called a collision between technological and cultivation civilizations.
"Just look at the Sea Kings and the Giants. This world is full of strange races, and there's no telling how many powerful ones there are. The D. Family was one of them, so naturally they had a unique innate ability. Otherwise, they could never have built a civilization and dominated the world eight hundred years ago, in the Primordial Era."
As Robin and the others explored the ruins, Loa slowly explained all this to Simon.
"And the D. Family's special ability was the power of conviction!"
"The power of conviction?"
Simon mulled over the unusual phrase, then frowned. "You mean how someone can be incredibly weak, yet grow rapidly through one brush with death after another because they hold fast to their convictions?"
"That's one way to put it."
The corner of Loa's mouth twitched. "You've probably noticed that people with strong convictions and unwavering wills often become famous figures. You could call it a trait all great fighters share, but for the D. Family, it was their