One Piece: Invincible from the Start

Armament Haki was like tempered steel: the more you used it, the more refined it became, and the more refined it became, the easier it was to control.

Eventually, advancement came naturally.

But most people struggled even to awaken Armament Haki. How could they keep using it without the reserves to sustain it?

That was why the Swordmaster Realm and the rank of Great Swordsman defeated so many swordsmen.

For ordinary people, the gap between those two levels was as vast as heaven and earth.

It was not a level you could reach through hard work or by risking your life.

Some people simply lacked the innate ability.

Kuina, of course, had the talent.

She had fought Zoro ten thousand times and won. Even if her talent was not the very best, it was certainly among the finest.

She had also trained alongside Kuta since childhood, had all that experience from Great Swordsmen to draw on, and worked hard herself. It would be harder to imagine her not becoming a Great Swordsman.

In fact, after training with Kuta for so long, Zoro would soon reach the Swordmaster Realm once he awakened Observation Haki.

As for Armament Haki, Zoro would probably awaken it well before King Luffy set sail two years from now.

Kuta wondered whether King Luffy's charisma would still be enough to bring Zoro aboard when he set sail in two years and met a swordsman who was already strong even by Swordmaster standards.

Kizaru: Their First Clash

Kuta had just finished telling Kuina about his battle with Golden Lion and what he had gained from it.

Suddenly, loud cries of surprise rose from the deck below.

"Wow!"

"No way!"

"They really are Devil Fruits!"

Ahua and the other two stared at the box in Indigo's hands, their eyes shining with excitement.

The box was open. Inside lay two strange-looking fruits, one black and one white, both covered in spiral patterns.

So these were the treasures of the sea—Devil Fruits?

They looked delicious.

All three stared greedily into the box and swallowed.

The two fruits seemed almost magical, giving off an irresistible allure. They looked like the most delicious food in the world, tempting anyone who saw them to eat them at once.

Yet none of the three reached for them. With tremendous effort, they tore their gazes away and looked up at Kuta as he came down from the bow.

Just a few days ago, Kuta had been telling them about Devil Fruits. Who would have thought he would bring back two so soon?

Kuta walked past them without mocking their loss of composure.

Even he felt a trace of temptation, let alone the three of them.

To an ordinary person, a Devil Fruit's allure was like a devil's temptation.

Greed, longing, the urge to claim it immediately—all of it was only human.

Most Devil Fruits were eaten the moment they were found. Very few remained uneaten.

When one did, either its finder had already eaten a Devil Fruit or they were no ordinary person.

Ordinary people simply could not resist the temptation.

That held true even when they did not know what a Devil Fruit was.

That was why so few Devil Fruits circulated around the world.

For most people, pirates, and organizations in this world, obtaining one took luck and considerable wealth.

But to the lofty Celestial Dragons, they were nothing more than toys.

They even fed Devil Fruits to slaves for amusement.

So Devil Fruits were precious only to ordinary people.

To those at the top, only an exceptionally rare Logia or Mythical Zoan fruit would be considered valuable.

An ordinary Zoan or Paramecia fruit was just another fruit to them.

These two had remained uneaten because they were worthless to Golden Lion.

They would not even fetch a good price toward buying weapons.

Seeing Kuta approach, Indigo stepped forward with a squeak and held the box out to him.

He looked at Kuta curiously and laughed. "Kale! Kale! Captain, you've got three friends here, but only two fruits. How will you divide them?"

Kuta took the black Devil Fruit from the box and casually tossed it to A-Luo.

As A-Luo caught it in a fluster, Kuta explained.

"That's the Ant Devil Fruit. We won't know exactly what it can do until you eat it."

He paused, glanced at Ahua and A-Tao, and smiled. "I'm giving it to A-Luo because I think it suits his character best."

"My character?"

A-Luo looked puzzled.

"Yes. Your character."

Kuta looked at A-Luo with a hint of approval in his eyes.

A-Luo was the sort of person who would carry out any task assigned to him without cutting corners.

He could spend twenty-four hours at the lookout post.

Being able to endure solitude in a cramped space for so long was an admirable quality.

A-Luo was also the only one of the three with experience out in the world. He understood what a crew needed most.

That was why he had taken up a gun.

There were already plenty of swordsmen aboard. For those among them who had yet to become Swordmasters, a gun was the deadliest weapon.

A-Luo also craved strength more than the other two. Otherwise, he would never have put aside his plans to marry and sailed away with Kuta.

Kuta had noticed A-Luo's hidden ambition as soon as he came aboard.

Perhaps two years of hard knocks out in the world had brought it out.

Kuta smiled at him. "People don't just choose Devil Fruits. Devil Fruits choose people, too."

"The better the fit, the easier it is to develop a fruit's powers to a higher level."

He glanced at the Ant Devil Fruit in A-Luo's hand, then continued. "And that fruit fits you. You put the crew first, work tirelessly, do your duty, and face danger without fear."

"Others might think it's weak, but I believe it could be powerful if you develop it far enough."

Kuta gave A-Luo an encouraging look.

He believed in A-Luo and in his own instincts. The Ant Devil Fruit could not be as weak as the books claimed.

After all, ants were among the most abundant insects in nature.

Seeing Kuta's encouragement, A-Luo stopped worrying. If Kuta had given him the fruit, he would take it.

He raised the Ant Devil Fruit, opened his mouth wide, and took a huge bite.

"Urgh!"

The fruit in his mouth tasted nothing like delicious food. It tasted like sea fish left to rot for weeks, moldy and foul.

The indescribably vile flavor surged through his mouth. If he had not clamped his lips shut so quickly, he would have spat it out the instant he bit down.

Fighting his nausea, A-Luo swallowed the mouthful with a fierce glint in his eyes.

He looked at the rest of the fruit in his hand and did not stop. A few quick bites later, he had eaten it all.

The moment he finished, his stomach churned violently, and a revolting taste kept rising in his throat.

He covered his mouth, his face turning red as he fought the urge to vomit up the fruit he had just eaten.

"Hurk!"

He held on for a while, but finally dropped to the floor and began dry-heaving.

Ahua and A-Tao watched him retch, tears and snot streaming down his face, and swallowed hard.

Then they turned toward the remaining white Devil Fruit in Indigo's box.

A flicker of fear crossed their faces.

Was that thing really so awful?

How bad did it have to taste to make A-Luo retch like that?

Kuta and Indigo burst out laughing.

Kuina braced both hands against Kuta's back, bent over, and laughed so hard she sounded like a honking goose.

Devil Fruits were notorious for tasting terrible.

They were supposedly worse than shit. Kuta did not know what expert had tried both and drawn that conclusion, but he had nothing but respect for them.

He knew the fruits tasted bad. He just had not expected them to be that bad.

Judging by A-Luo's face, he probably never wanted to see another Devil Fruit as long as he lived.

The Difference Between a Swordmaster and a Great Swordsman

"Hm?"

Just then, a squad of Marines pushed open the tavern door and came in.

At their head was a bearded man who closely resembled the old man, though this one was powerfully built.

He hurried to the counter and asked the old man anxiously,

"Father, are you all right?"

He was the old man's winemaking son and the commander of the Marine Branch in Town: Colonel Bearded Man.

When Bearded Man heard that Kuta's crew had landed on Prothius Island, he had not been too worried.

According to intelligence from Marine Headquarters, they were not the sort of pirates who caused trouble on a whim.

Besides, he was not strong enough to arrest pirates with bounties that high.

All the branch Marines could do was keep watch on Kuta's crew and avoid conflict with them as much as possible.

Arresting them was a job for the Rear Admirals and Vice Admirals of Marine Headquarters.

But when Bearded Man heard that Kuta had gone to his family's tavern, he could no longer sit still.

He hastily gathered his Marines and rushed over.

Kuta's crew might not harm civilians, but pirates were still pirates. If they went berserk and hurt his father, it would be too late for regrets.

From the moment the Marines entered,

the old man's previously unruffled expression grew tense.

He did not look at Bearded Man. He kept his eyes fixed on Kuta.

As soon as Bearded Man came in, Kuta had more or less figured out what was going on with the old man.

Amused by the scene, he asked him, "Am I really that frightening?"

The Marines who had followed Bearded Man in all stared tensely at Kuta and Kuina.

None of them spoke, leaving the whole tavern tense and stiflingly quiet.

The old man watched Kuta for a moment, then gradually relaxed. He had lived long enough to be a fair judge of character.

"It's not you that's frightening. It's your wanted poster!"