Guanhao Island

One month later.

First half of the Grand Line, Guanhao Island.

At the center of the island, thick roots coiled like giant pythons around shattered boulders and weathered brick walls, forcibly propping up a half-tilted tower. It formed a bizarre symbiosis: a tree growing from the tower's summit, the tower supporting the tree's roots.

Sunlight struggled through the dense canopy, casting fragmented patches of light across the massive circular Arena below and the crisscrossing ruined stone beams.

In the ring at the center of the Arena, two lean figures were locked in a vicious battle far beyond their years, their fists and kicks colliding with dull explosive cracks.

High above, several shadows darted soundlessly between the perilous stone beams linking the broken towers like nimble apes, every leap dangerously close to disaster.

From the distant shoreline came a steady, thunderous roar. Inside Tidal Cavern, bare-chested youths gritted their teeth against the terrifying water pressure created by waves pounding into the cave, tempering their bodies with nature's raw power.

This was one of the World Government's secret training bases for cultivating agents.

The trainees were no older than fourteen. Their childish faces were tense, their eyes sharp as honed blades—focused and cold. The instructors' hawk-like gazes swept over the grounds without the slightest hint of laxity.

No one noticed a boy with a white dove perched on his shoulder, a long-nosed boy, a blonde, blue-eyed girl who looked like an exquisite doll, another blonde girl wearing glasses, or a boy with a strange horn-like hairstyle.

Beneath their feet, several eyeballs perfectly blended into the grayish-brown rocky ground turned silently, taking in their every movement.

Time passed swiftly amid their intense focus. Night silently descended, and silver moonlight replaced the daylight, draping the entire training base in a cold veil.

The door to a dormitory was carefully pushed open a crack.

Bruno, with his horn-like hairstyle, poked his head out and warily looked left and right. After confirming that no one was around, he slipped out like a shadow merging with the night and swiftly vanished into the dense bushes at the edge of the Arena.

He crouched down, carefully parted the wet blades of grass, and pulled a crude wooden box from his clothes.

When the box opened, an oddly shaped fruit lay quietly inside. Its entire surface was covered in intricate spiral patterns, and beneath the moonlight it gleamed with a peculiar luster, neither metallic nor wooden, like a miniature door to an unknown world.

Bruno reached out hesitantly and touched the fruit's skin with a finger. The icy sensation made his fingertip recoil.

"Should I eat it or not... But I don't even know what ability it has..."

The boy scratched at his stiff horn-like hair in frustration, his voice extremely low and filled with confusion.

"In that case, let me help you decide."

A deep voice suddenly sounded right behind him without warning.

Every hair on Bruno's body stood on end, and his heart nearly leaped out of his throat.

"Who's there?!"

He whirled around, instinctively driving his elbow backward. The movement was swift as lightning, cutting through the air with a sharp whistle.

Yet he struck nothing but air.

The instant he turned, a tremendous force struck precisely at the most vulnerable point on the back of his neck.

Bruno's vision went black. A sweet taste surged into his throat, and he spat out a mouthful of blood before his body crumpled forward, slamming into the cold dirt and grass with Heavy-Heavy force.

The ground behind him rippled soundlessly like water. A figure seemed to grow out of the earth itself, silently appearing there.

Adams completely ignored Bruno, his gaze falling directly on the open wooden box.

He bent down and picked up the fruit with his long fingers.

The Door-Door Fruit... I never expected that coming after this guy first would bring such an unexpected gain.

Adams murmured inwardly, with a trace of fate's mockery.

He had spent a month traveling from the West Blue to this place. Upon arriving, he had immediately used his ability to locate and observe several key targets.

Bruno had not originally been his first choice. Tonight, he had merely acted on a whim, wanting to see whether this strategically valuable Devil Fruit had already fallen into Bruno's hands. He had never expected such an unexpected gain.

Adams put the fruit back into the wooden box and closed it. He casually gathered some dead branches and fallen leaves nearby, roughly covering the unconscious Bruno with them as a barely passable disguise.

Finally, he tucked the wooden box into his pocket. His body silently sank into the soil beneath his feet as though submerging into water, leaving no trace behind, as if he had never appeared.

Inside a single dormitory reserved for elites, mist filled the air along with a faint floral fragrance.

In the bathtub, warm water covered Stussy's shoulders. Her golden hair spread across the surface like a waterfall, making the exposed skin of her shoulders and neck appear even fairer.

Stussy leaned back with her eyes closed, humming a song with an unusual melody as droplets slid down her delicate jawline.

"I didn't expect you to be training here too."

A calm, deep male voice suddenly rang out in the enclosed bathroom.

Stussy's song stopped abruptly. Almost instinctively, she shrank back and quickly crossed her arms over her chest before sharply turning toward the source of the voice—the floor beside the bathtub.

The hard floor rippled like melting butter, waves spreading outward. In the next instant, a tall figure rose from beneath it.

The moment she saw who it was, Stussy's tense body immediately relaxed.

Not only did she not panic, she lazily leaned back against the edge of the bathtub. Wet golden hair clung to her cheeks, and her lips curled into a teasing smile as mischief gleamed in her sapphire-blue eyes.

"Oh my, isn't this our little brother Adams? We haven't seen each other in only a few months, and you missed me so badly that you drilled straight into your big sister's bathroom?"

She even deliberately lowered the arms covering her chest, openly displaying the curves beneath the water with dangerous seduction.

"Well? Does it look good?"

The corner of Adams's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly. A flash of helplessness passed through his eyes as he decisively shifted his gaze away from that fair skin and toward the wall.

"Act normal. Don't use the World Government's tricks on me. Besides, I don't develop feelings for someone I've only met once."

Though he said that, his peripheral vision still occasionally drifted toward the bathtub.

A few months ago, they had indeed had a brief "meeting" through an encrypted line secretly modified by Dr. Vegapunk.

However, Adams had not known that Stussy was training here as well. He had only discovered her while secretly observing the grounds during the day.

"Hmph. You little hypocrite. Your mouth says no, but your body is quite honest."

Seeing Adams glance over from time to time, Stussy snorted coldly.

Then her tone became normal as she spoke leisurely.

"Tell me, what did you come for, risking being thrown out as a pervert?"

Adams got straight to the point without concealing anything:

"I need an intelligence network that truly belongs to me. So I want you to work for me."

To be continued