Hungry? Eat a Fruit

"Brrring, brrring, brrring, brrring, brrring!" An urgent Den Den Mushi rang in the office. It took quite a while before someone answered.

"Bastard! If this isn't important, you're disturbing my nap."

"When you get back, go guard the prison gates."

Donquixote Doflamingo was lounging in a recliner as he answered the call that had interrupted his afternoon nap.

"Young Master, there's been a change!" The voice on the other end was clearly a little uneasy.

"Hmm?"

"It seems you won't receive today's newspaper until tomorrow at the latest."

"And the Marines have tightly restricted news of this matter. The Sea Fruit being transported by CP0 was seized by unknown enemies along the way."

"Oh? That really is interesting." Doflamingo chuckled.

"One seriously injured, three lightly injured. A crushing defeat! The enemy is estimated to be Admiral-level." The caller gave Young Master Doflamingo a brief analysis.

"Mm. Keep watching. Find information on that Fruit if you can!"

"Young Master..."

"Is that Fruit important? How does it compare to the Devil Fruit that was lost some time ago?"

The young Doflamingo had also begun dealing in Devil Fruits.

"Hmph! Last time, a Devil Fruit was displayed at an auction, and the Celestial Dragons didn't interfere. This time, they sent their highest-ranking watchdogs to transport it. What do you think?" Doflamingo was clearly displeased.

"Yes... yes, I'll do my best to find its trail. Please rest assured!"

Click! Doflamingo hung up. He leaned back against the recliner as intense sunlight streamed through the window and fell over his eyes.

He casually grabbed a logbook from the desk beside him and covered his face with it. "Will someone from the D. Clan truly come to punish us in the next generation?" Then he quietly fell asleep.

A beautiful maid who had been about to bring him food saw that he was resting. She gently set the dessert on the table before withdrawing.

"Waaah! I want food!" Unlike Doflamingo, who had maids bringing him meals, Swain seemed to be surviving in the wilderness. He could not find anything edible in this house built from wood.

Then he looked at the blue Fruit on the table.

"Let me see what this tastes like."

He was truly starving. Even though he knew eating the Fruit might turn him into a landlubber, grant him all kinds of strange abilities, or even give him something as useless as the Fence Fruit...

Ever since he had taken over this infant body, he had gone three days without food. The only thing he had eaten was half a banana.

Fortunately, people in the One Piece world were physically strong. Even a two-year-old could endure three days without eating.

Swain laboriously dragged over a wooden stump from elsewhere. By the time he had moved it over, he was already gasping for breath. He wiped the sweat from his face with his slightly shriveled little hands.

"I reached it! Oww!" He accidentally fell, Fruit and all, and the Fruit struck him in the face on the way down. He howled in pain, vowing to eat the Fruit and vent his anger!

Crunch! Swain took a bite. It was truly "fresh and juicy."

After eating more than half of it, he was full. After all, he was only two years old and did not have much of an appetite.

As for it tasting awful, he did not think it was as disgusting as the legends claimed. Soon afterward, he fell fast asleep.

When he woke up again, Ape-Man was pinching his ear and dragging him upright.

"Waaah! Waaaah! Waaaah! Wuwuwuwuwu!" Tears instantly welled up in Swain's eyes. It hurt too much!

"Did you eat this?" Ape-Man pointed at the Devil Fruit on the table, most of which had already been bitten away.

Although Swain had transmigrated here, he could understand what Ape-Man was saying. He nodded through teary eyes, while looking at him with large, "innocent and sincere" eyes, as though saying that he had been forced into it and it was not his fault.

"What a little bastard!" Ape-Man said darkly.

"Since you're still young, I'll let you off this time. Don't go eating things carelessly again!"

Ape-Man warned him in a low voice.

Though it was only a warning, Swain still felt a trace of warmth. So he was angry because Swain had eaten something carelessly! Not because Swain had eaten the Fruit Ape-Man had stolen!

When Ape-Man had carried him onto this island, Swain had carefully observed that it was not some random deserted island. It was likely where Ape-Man had lived for a long time. But the place was incredibly remote, with no other islands nearby and no traces of human activity.

There was something else! Swain realized that Ape-Man seemed to have lived alone for many years. Did he not have a tribe? Or others of his kind? And judging by his appearance and agility, he seemed to be something like Chopper!

Growl! Swain's stomach rumbled again, protesting the lack of food.

Ape-Man glanced at him, placed some tinder in a shallow pit, and began roasting meat.

"Slurp, slurp!" The scent of roasted meat spread through the air. Swain stared without blinking, swallowing hard several times, his little hands fidgeting helplessly.

"Here, eat."

"Be careful. It's still hot."

Swain hurriedly caught it and prepared to take a bite, but then pushed the roasted meat toward Ape-Man.

"I'm not hungry right now. You eat first."

Ape-Man kept smiling as he watched Swain wolf down the meat.

But as he smiled, tears began to glimmer in his eyes.

Swain could not speak yet, but he could gesture with his hands. He asked why Ape-Man was crying.

Ape-Man kindly patted Swain's head. "I..."

"Used to have many... family members too."

Hearing that, Swain understood. No matter how passionate and free this world appeared, only the strong were entitled to such things.

The mood had become rather subdued. Ape-Man seemed to realize that he should not reveal such emotions, so he changed the subject.

"My name is Woli."

"Come to think of it, you little fellow are quite interesting. You actually have some connection to the great pirate Rocks."

Swain was astonished when he heard that. "I'm related to Rocks?"

This body has too few memories. He only knew his own name. His mother was a beautiful dancer, but he knew nothing about his father.

He had never seen his father since birth. He only remembered his mother saying that his father had gone out to sea while she was pregnant, searching for traces of Swain's grandfather.

Could my grandfather be that great pirate Rocks?

But the thought only flashed through his mind. He was still too young, and knowing too much would not do him any good.

"Can't you speak?" Woli asked twice before finally interrupting Swain's thoughts.

Swain hurriedly shook his head, indicating that he could not read and found speaking difficult. He had been separated from his mother at the age of one because of the war, living on the abandoned island until Woli rescued him. During that time, he had never interacted with the outside world. The only reason he could understand was because the soul of a twenty-first-century young man was answering for him.

"Tomorrow, I'll teach you how to read!" Woli made plans for Swain's tomorrow.

"No! I don't want to study!!" Swain made muffled protesting noises, but... his protest was invalid!

At night, the bright moon hung high in the sky, while several coconut trees bent in the wind.

"Achoo!" Swain sneezed, then wrapped the leaves around himself more tightly.

Several miles away in the direction of his sneeze, the sea became turbulent. Waves dozens of meters high surged up before quickly settling back into calm.