The Kukuku Fruit

When Ryan dragged Golden Lion to Weatheria, everyone was collectively petrified. It was almost as if

"Captain, is this the Golden Lion from earlier?" Kid asked in astonishment.

Golden Lion looked completely different from before. Not to mention his face covered in blood, the main difference was that his iconic ship's wheel was gone. If not for Oto and Kogarashi replacing his legs, no one would have recognized him.

"Yes! I'll tell you all about it later."

Ryan turned to Indigo and said, "Treat him immediately. Keep him alive first." Then he carried Golden Lion toward his room.

Indigo had been impatiently waiting nearby for a long time and hurried after Ryan. That left Beli and the others standing there in complete confusion.

Watching Ryan's departing figure, Kid said thoughtfully, "The captain seems to really like saving his own opponents!"

"Now that you mention it, that does seem to be the case. Last time it was Mihawk, and this time it's Golden Lion." Killer chimed in from the side.

Kid said suspiciously, "Do you think the captain has some kind of special hobby? Like beating people half to death and then becoming friends with them?"

Beli snorted. "Are you two looking to get beaten up? How dare you badmouth Ryan behind his back." As he spoke, he even made a show of cracking his knuckles.

Seeing Beli like that, Kid and Killer immediately shut their mouths.

Beli had no intention of actually hitting them. Once they stopped talking, he ignored them and simply took his equipment to begin his usual training.

Ever since Alabasta, Beli had discovered a problem. As Ryan's strength continued to grow, the enemies they faced would become stronger as well.

But strength could not be gained in a single bound. Therefore, Beli could only train even more frantically, trying to make himself grow stronger a little faster.

While Ryan and Golden Lion were battling high in the sky, a meeting concerning Ryan was being held in the Holy Land, Mary Geoise!

It turned out that Aokiji and Garp had already completed their mission and left Alabasta.

After returning to Marine Headquarters—Marineford, Garp and Aokiji reported everything they had seen and heard in Alabasta. Of course, they left some things unsaid.

Most of the report concerned Ryan, because it involved news about the Ancient Weapon, Pluton. Marine Admiral Kong directly passed Ryan's information on to the Five Elders.

Holy Land—Mary Geoise.

Five old men were discussing something while facing a wanted poster on the wall.

"What a man who never stops making headlines! The Bloody Swordsman—Ryan." An old man in a black suit, with white curly hair and a scar on his left cheek, pointed at the wanted poster on the wall with his cane.

"That's right! Making trouble in the South Blue was one thing, but now he's started stirring up the Grand Line!" said an old man with two drooping tufts of hair beneath his nose and a birthmark on his forehead.

"People from the D Clan are troublesome enough, and he even bears the surname Portgas." The old man with a long white beard chimed in.

"Portgas... It's been a long time since I've heard that surname." The blond old man sitting in a chair fell into reminiscence.

"The entire sea is saying that he has information about Pluton!"

"We can't let the world pursue the trail of the Ancient Weapon. That would be troublesome."

"Then have the Marines resolve this matter quickly. They did a decent job with the Alabasta incident this time."

"His bounty needs to be reassessed. Two hundred million is no longer appropriate!"

"Set it at one billion, then have the Marines send someone with Admiral-level strength to capture him and execute him publicly. Only then can we intimidate those pirates coveting the Ancient Weapon!" An old man in a white robe, holding a samurai sword, made the final decision.

"Agreed."

"Agreed."

"..."

Before long, Marine Admiral Kong in Marineford received the Five Elders' reply. Even the normally composed Kong was shocked when he heard the bounty.

A one-billion-Beli bounty belonged to the great pirates of the New World who had made names for themselves across the world. Bounties had not yet inflated to the level they would reach in the future.

Even Whitebeard, who was already faintly known as the world's strongest man, had a bounty of only 3.5 billion. Yet the Five Elders had actually issued such a bounty for Ryan, a newcomer who had not even reached the New World.

However, since the order had come directly from the Five Elders, Kong naturally would not disobey. He soon passed the order down.

The next morning, the World Economic Journal reported Ryan's exploits on its front page, along with his one-billion-Beli wanted poster.

The entire world was shocked.

In the New World, a man with what looked like horns on his head drunkenly cursed when he saw Ryan's wanted poster. "Have the Marines lost their minds? How is a scrawny brat like that worth such a bounty?"

"Once he comes to the New World, I'd like to meet him myself—the Bloody Swordsman Ryan, known as the strongest supernova in history." A man wearing a mask, with a long sword at his waist and a pair of black wings on his back, spoke calmly.

"Wororororo! King, you're interested in him? How interesting."

The man called King did not answer. He merely looked again at the wanted poster on the table.

East Blue—Goa Kingdom—Foosha Village.

A blond boy wearing a large top hat with goggles on it, and missing a tooth, ran toward a small room while holding a newspaper and shouting, "Ace, come out quickly! Look what I found!"

At that moment, a black-haired, freckle-faced boy emerged sleepily from the room. He was the Ace the blond boy had called for.

The blond boy handed Ace the newspaper and said excitedly, "Ace, look! This person's name is a lot like yours, and even his freckles look similar!"

Ace rubbed his eyes and took the newspaper. The sleepiness immediately vanished from his face as he stared fixedly at it.

"Supernova from the South Blue, the Bloody Swordsman—Portgas D. Ryan, has been given a bounty of one billion Beli by the World Government!" The huge headline on the newspaper instantly seized Ace's attention.

"Ace! Are you all right?"

After coming back to his senses, Ace said to the blond boy, "Sabo, I'm fine."

"Do you know that great pirate, Portgas D. Ryan, from the newspaper?" Sabo asked.

"I don't know, but I feel like I'm connected to him somehow." Ace was confused. "He has the same surname as me, and he's from the South Blue too, but I really don't know him."

Ace held his head and desperately tried to recall anything about Ryan, but he could not remember a thing.

Seeing Ace in pain, Sabo quickly smiled and comforted him. "Why don't you ask him yourself?"

"Right! I can go out to sea and ask him personally."

Sabo's words seemed to give Ace direction, and he was no longer as lost as before.

"Ace, let's work hard together!"

"Yeah, let's work hard together!"

Ryan's news had given the two good brothers yet another reason to set sail.

Meanwhile, at Marine Headquarters—Marineford, a Marine rear admiral trembled as he stared at Ryan's wanted poster and muttered, "How can there still be someone from the Portgas family alive?"

Ryan, far away in the sky island, knew nothing about this. But he did hear a pleasant voice.

Ding! Congratulations, host, on completing the mission: bounty reaches five hundred million.

Reward distribution commencing. Reward: one Devil Fruit compatible with the host. The compatible Devil Fruit will have no side effects!

Matching in progress.

Ding, match successful. Rewarding host with one Kukuku Fruit.

A watermelon-shaped fruit appeared in Ryan's hand. He carefully examined the Devil Fruit. This was the first time Ryan had ever seen one.

As he examined it, Ryan wondered, "The Kukuku Fruit... Is this a spatial-type ability? The system just said it matched me. Is it because I transmigrated here, so it matched me with this fruit?"

Ryan carefully thought it over and recalled that the Kukuku Fruit had never appeared in the world of One Piece. In other words, this was a Devil Fruit that had never appeared in the world of One Piece—and it had no side effects.

Thinking of this, Ryan ate it without hesitation. The taste immediately disgusted him.

"That's awful." Ryan complained, then carefully sensed the changes in his body. He found that it felt no different from before.

"Did I not eat enough? But I remember that one bite should be enough!" However, since he had already taken a bite, Ryan figured there was no harm in taking another.

"I'm going all in!" Ryan finished the entire Devil Fruit in one go.

Ryan despairingly discovered that nothing had changed. No power surged through his body either.

Furious, Ryan drew his sword and slashed at a cloud on the horizon. He then watched as the cloud was instantly cut in half, while the surrounding clouds remained completely unaffected.

Ryan froze. He discovered that the slash he had unleashed was slightly faster than before. In the past, although his slashes could also split clouds in two, the shock waves would affect the surrounding clouds.

"This situation is like..."

Ryan suddenly thought of something and cried out, "It's like a Space Slash!"

The displeasure from eating the Devil Fruit vanished instantly. Ryan was certain that the Kukuku Fruit's abilities were not limited to Space Slash. It definitely had other powers he had yet to develop.