Flame-Flame Fruit

Ye Mu felt as if his body had been thrown into a washing machine, churned back and forth and colliding constantly with everything around him. The pain made him feel like dying.

"Ugh..."

After who knew how long, the dizzying sensation finally faded, and his body landed steadily on the ground.

But Ye Mu could no longer hold back. He sprawled on the ground and began vomiting, throwing up all the seafood he had just eaten, along with bitter stomach fluid.

Fortunately, even so, he had not died. And although there was not a single part of his body that did not hurt, his miraculous body could still move.

"Looks like this body of mine is pretty tough!"

In the world of pirates, being able to take a beating was a very important skill.

After resting for a moment, Ye Mu climbed to his feet and nervously felt around inside his clothes.

Fortunately, Ye Mu knew how important the Devil Fruit was to him, so he would rather have died than let it leave his embrace.

But now...

Ye Mu looked at the dim surroundings. He could not make out what was around him, but it felt like a cave.

"I should be inside the Sky Island Ruler's stomach now."

"What am I supposed to do? How can I escape from the Sky Island Ruler's stomach?"

Ye Mu had absolutely no idea what to do. Feeling the Devil Fruit still tucked against his chest, he made up his mind.

"Whatever. I'll eat the Devil Fruit first. It can fill my stomach, and it can give me power. Maybe then I'll find a way to escape."

Having made his decision, Ye Mu hesitated no longer. Following the feel of the Devil Fruit in the darkness, he slowly peeled away its pineapple-like skin, then stuffed it into his mouth and chewed it slowly.

"Ugh... This tastes absolutely awful."

The moment it entered his mouth, it tasted like xx, making Ye Mu want to vomit. But remembering that this was an invaluable Devil Fruit, and that his stomach was painfully empty with hunger, Ye Mu pinched his nose and wolfed it down.

"Ah..."

After swallowing it all in one go, Ye Mu let out a deep breath, as if he had been freed from something.

Then he did not dare move anymore, instead slowly sensing the changes within his body.

Strangely enough, the first thing Ye Mu noticed was that his body did not hurt at all anymore. It was as if he had instantly consumed some miraculous elixir; all the pain from his injuries vanished at once.

Then a restless feeling rose within him. As the fruit went down his throat, a strange stirring emerged from inside his body, as though some power were spreading through every cell, ready to erupt.

Ye Mu did not suppress that swelling urge.

Boom!

In an instant, Ye Mu's entire body transformed into Kuma's blazing flames, the bright fire illuminating the pitch-black cave.

"As expected, this is Ace's Flame-Flame Fruit from the original story. And I actually got it! Hahahahahaha!"

At that moment, Ye Mu was beside himself with excitement, unable to describe the exhilaration in his heart. The sensation coming from his body was simply too wondrous.

Ye Mu could clearly feel that his entire body had turned into flames. Kuma's raging fire burned fiercely, yet he could not feel even the slightest heat.

But the flames did not last long. He could clearly feel his stamina being rapidly consumed as they burned.

Seeing this, Ye Mu understood immediately.

It seemed the strength of a Devil Fruit's power was definitely tied to its user's stamina.

"No, I can't let my stamina drain away like this. There's no food in the Sky Island Ruler's stomach. If I run out of strength, how am I supposed to escape later?"

Ye Mu began trying to control the flames covering his body. Although he could clearly feel that the fire was like a part of his own body, controlling it did not seem easy.

After struggling for four or five minutes, the flames on Ye Mu's body finally went out, and he returned to human form.

Luckily, he had controlled them in time. Even so, the stamina drain left Ye Mu gasping for breath.

"Pant... pant... pant..."

It took him quite a while to recover.

"No, I should get out of here first..."

After the excitement passed, Ye Mu quickly calmed down.

If he stayed inside the Sky Island Ruler's stomach until all his stamina was exhausted, he would still die.

So he carefully lit one of his fingers and used the flame on it to look around.

Unfortunately, the Sky Island Ruler's stomach was a complete mess, and he had long since lost all sense of direction.

After thinking it over, Ye Mu followed the Sky Island Ruler's stomach wall in one direction, walking continuously while praying in his heart.

"Heavens, please let me be heading toward its head, not its asshole!"

The Sky Island Ruler seemed to be resting and did not move, allowing Ye Mu to keep walking steadily. Gradually, he reached the direction of its head, and a ray of light shone from afar.

"Great! Just as I thought, Heaven is watching over me!"

Ye Mu excitedly ran toward the light. Just as he reached the throat, the Sky Island Ruler suddenly began convulsing violently. Ye Mu immediately lost his footing, but he did not want to roll all the way back down, so he grabbed the Sky Island Ruler's tongue, and then...

After listening to Ye Mu's instructions, Enel had originally fled in the direction they had come from. But after running for several minutes, there was no longer any movement from the Sky Island Ruler behind him, and a sense of dread immediately rose in Enel's heart.

He wanted to turn back and take a look, but whenever he thought of the Sky Island Ruler's enormous body, Enel could not muster the courage.

"What do I do? What do I do?"

Enel kept asking himself. His gaze inadvertently fell on the Devil Fruit in his arms, and he remembered what Ye Mu had told him.

"As long as you eat a Devil Fruit, you can gain superhuman power."

"Maybe if I eat it, I'll gain power. Then I can defeat the Sky Island Ruler."

Enel did not hesitate at all. He took out the Devil Fruit in his arms and swallowed it. Then he discovered that he possessed the power to control lightning. For Enel, who had always been weak, the feeling of power filling his entire body was simply incredible. It also gave him the courage to face the Sky Island Ruler head-on.

Enel returned to the place where they had encountered the Sky Island Ruler and found it resting there with its eyes closed and its body coiled up, seemingly even belching with satisfaction.

The sight instantly set Enel's anger ablaze.

Although he had known Ye Mu for less than half a day, Enel had already developed a sense of kinship with the boy from the Blue Sea, who was the same age as him. In particular, Ye Mu's words about becoming good brothers gave Enel, who had always been alone, an unprecedented feeling of warmth and of no longer being lonely.

Furious, Enel controlled his still-unfamiliar lightning ability and struck at the Sky Island Ruler's head. Unfortunately, Enel could not yet wield the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's power skillfully, and the lightning he unleashed was no more than a scratch to the Sky Island Ruler.

Though it was only like a scratch, it was enough to enrage the Sky Island Ruler, which felt that its dignity had been violated. It immediately whipped its enormous tail toward Enel.

Naturally, Enel could not yet skillfully use elemental transformation. Faced with the Sky Island Ruler's powerful tail, which lashed toward him as fast as lightning, he could only stupidly wait for death to descend...