Does Nobody Want the Slip-Slip Fruit?

Sky God Kingdom, Amazon Lily.

Several days after Amazon Lily had been relocated, Yake remembered the little pet he had taken in back on Upper Yard. He hurried into the forest to find Jormungandr. It was only a little smaller than him after he transformed, so there was no way to transport it by air. Yake could only ride on its head as it swam across the Sea of Clouds to Amazon Lily.

The residents of Amazon Lily went absolutely wild. The Kuja Tribe had always worshipped snakes and treated them as their totem, so they immediately regarded Jormungandr as a snake god. They fed it the finest food and drink, and it lived even more comfortably than Yake did. Every day, scantily clad young women cleaned its scales. Tears of envy streamed from the corner of Yake's mouth—he was drooling with jealousy.

"Ding~ Task series three, Standing at the Pinnacle of the Sea, completed. Reward: Paramecia—Slip-Slip Fruit, 10 lottery draws."

"New task issued: Standing at the Pinnacle of the Sea—series four, A New Emperor (defeat and abolish a Yonko pirate crew). Reward: mysterious item ×1, 10 lottery draws."

"???" Yake was utterly baffled. I haven't been causing trouble lately, have I? How did the whole crew get bounties?

Yake hurriedly bid Hancock farewell and headed to the Blue Sea to buy a newspaper. News Coo were rarely seen on Skypiea, and since his abilities made travel convenient anyway, he decided to go down and see what was happening.

After getting the newspaper, Yake immediately gathered the crew for a meeting.

"Everyone, take a look! This is today's paper. We've all been issued bounties." Yake laid the wanted posters out across the table one by one and looked up to watch everyone's reactions.

Everyone picked up their own wanted posters, their faces either full of excitement or grief...

"Captain, waaah! Why am I only worth 500 Beli? This isn't fair, meow!!!" Anna stared in disbelief at her bounty, then at everyone else's. Her young heart suffered a devastating blow. Even Perona, who had the lowest bounty besides her, was worth sixty thousand times more than she was. The gap was simply too enormous.

That was getting greedy. She had no combat achievements and wasn't even a Devil Fruit user. The only reason she got 500 Beli was because she was cute. Besides, Anna's first bounty was already worth ten Choppers. Chopper would be insanely jealous, okay? Yake ranted inwardly. But as captain, he had to comfort Anna's fragile heart. That was right—patting her little cat head was the answer.

"Captain, why do I have a bounty too?! I'm doomed now, waaah?" Perona said pitifully. She had not even had a bounty when she followed Shichibukai Moria, but now it had suddenly shot up to thirty million Beli. There had to be plenty of people out at sea who wanted the head of a beautiful girl like her.

Yake's head immediately started aching. One was crying because her bounty was too low, while the other was crying because hers was too high. He quickly signaled Robin and Reiju with his eyes, asking them to help.

"Perona, don't worry. If you get killed, the captain will definitely avenge you," Robin said calmly.

To Perona, Robin was practically a demon.

Perona froze, blinking her large eyes at Robin, before tears flooded her face and she burst into loud sobs. It was so heartbreaking that anyone who heard her would cry. She had not even cried this hard when Moria died.

Robin, you're here to make things worse, aren't you?! You definitely are!

Fortunately, Reiju was more cooperative and considerate. She comforted the two little ones, Perona and Anna, and they finally stopped crying, fussing, and threatening to tear the place apart.

"Alright, everyone. We're all on the Marines' radar now, but we're currently on Skypiea, and the Marines can't get up here. So make sure to train hard. Once Skypiea is fully built, we'll head out to sea together and make our mark!"

Yake spoke with boundless ambition. Although his bounty had already reached 2.4 billion, that was not important. The Marines only knew the tip of the iceberg about him. The sea was still too peaceful now. Once Luffy set sail, this sea would finally become interesting!

"Captain, can you explain what this Pirate Empress is to you? Why does she want to join our pirate crew?" Robin asked, pointing at the report on the Shichibukai. That woman definitely had something to do with Yake.

"Captain, I'm interested too. Is the island you moved up here a few days ago related to her?" Reiju looked at Yake with great interest, ruthlessly adding fuel to the fire.

Well, that blew up in his face.

Cold sweat instantly broke out across Yake's forehead. He had nearly forgotten about that. His relationship with Robin and Reiju really was somewhat ambiguous, but Hancock was his official girlfriend.

"Ah, hahaha... she's my girlfriend." After an intense internal struggle, Yake still chose to tell the truth. Lying was pointless; Robin and Reiju were both smart women.

"I thought you'd lie, Captain." A faint smile appeared on Reiju's face.

"Captain, you really are greedy. You already have a lover, yet you still..." Robin glared viciously at Yake, as if she wanted to shoot lasers from her eyes and burn him to ash.

It seemed she still had not forgotten about Yake kissing Reiju that day...

"Well, that was an accident. Yes, that's right, just an accident. As for Hancock, I'll take you to meet her another day. You'll become good friends." Yake forced himself to say it.

"Hmph~" Robin rolled her eyes, defeated by Yake's shamelessness.

Reiju smiled as she watched Robin and Yake bicker. She was destined to be tied to Yake for the rest of her life, and she was willing to accept that. Robin, however, might not be...

Anna and Perona watched the drama from the side with great relish, paying extremely close attention.

"By the way, I have a Devil Fruit. Does anyone want to eat it?" Yake placed the Slip-Slip Fruit he had randomly received from completing the task on the table, trying to change the subject and put this matter behind them first.

"What kind of Devil Fruit is it?" Reiju asked curiously. Only she and Anna had not eaten a Devil Fruit. If someone was going to eat it, it would be either her or Anna.

"A Paramecia—the Slip-Slip Fruit. After eating it, you become a Slippery Human. Your skin becomes smooth, and anything that touches it slides away. If nothing unexpected happens, this fruit should also have beautifying effects." Yake briefly explained the Slip-Slip Fruit's abilities.

In Yake's view, this fruit had plenty of potential too. If it were developed like Kuma's abilities, it would not be weak at all. On the surface, it simply made attacks slide off the user, but if someone truly mastered the core concept of "slipping away," they could even make fatigue and pain slip away...

Still, it would not matter even if Anna or Reiju failed to develop it well. Its beautifying effect alone was enough to drive every woman crazy. Iron Mace Alvida had eaten this fruit in the anime and transformed from a fat woman into a stunning beauty overflowing with charm. Wasn't that better than cosmetic surgery?

"Captain, forget it. Give it to Anna. I don't want to become unable to swim." After thinking it over, Reiju decided against it. There were already enough people on the ship who could not swim.

"Anna doesn't want to eat it either, meow. I already hate water, and if I ate it, I'm afraid..." As a member of the cat-eared tribe, Anna was instinctively afraid of water. If she truly became unable to swim, she would be useless.

"Sigh, alright. Then I'll keep it for now!" Yake said helplessly. He had not expected that he would not even be able to give away a Devil Fruit.