Pirates: A Family Slaughtered, Every Celestial Dragon Must Die!

Besides the Devil Fruits, the room held plenty of other treasures.

There were Famous Swords and weapons of every kind, apparently bound for the holy land as offerings to the Celestial Dragons.

But they would never reach the Celestial Dragons now. Rono was taking them all.

Logia Flame-Flame Fruit! Absorption

Rono packed everything in the room into his system space and left, thoroughly satisfied.

The slaves in the other two rooms had already gone. Only Roger remained, sprawled across the gold with a look of pure bliss.

"Time to split the haul."

Rono laid the Devil Fruits, swords, guns, and cannons he had just found in front of Roger.

"Oh? Where did you find all this good stuff?" Roger stared at the glittering treasures, intrigued.

"I disappeared for a while, and you didn't even notice?" Rono was speechless. The man was unbelievably oblivious.

"Are those Devil Fruits? And look at all these treasures!"

Roger jumped down from the gold and examined the haul like a country bumpkin seeing a city for the first time.

If Rono hadn't read the original story, he would have struggled to believe this man would one day become the Pirate King, revered by countless people.

"To keep things fair, we'll split the gold, treasure, Devil Fruits, and swords evenly. You pick first," Rono said.

Roger had taught him the Three Types of Haki, after all. Letting his "teacher" choose first was one way to repay him.

"Nah. I'm not interested in Devil Fruits, and I've already got a sword. You can have all those."

Roger waved the offer away. He genuinely had no interest in Devil Fruits.

He did like swords, but the one he had felt right in his hand. He saw no reason to replace it.

"Are you sure? This is the Flame-Flame Fruit. It's a Logia."

Rono picked up a familiar-looking fruit and held it out to Roger.

He had never read the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia, but he had read the original story. He knew what the Flame-Flame Fruit looked like.

And there it was: the Logia Flame-Flame Fruit!

Also known as the fruit even a dog wouldn't eat.

Other fruits could produce flames too, including some Mythical Zoans with far greater potential than the Flame-Flame Fruit.

Even Kin'emon's sword could produce fire. What more was there to say?

"Oh, so it's a Logia Devil Fruit. What does it do?" Roger looked utterly confused. Apparently, he had no idea what a Logia was.

"Fine. If you don't want them, I'll take them. To keep it fair, I'll only take a tenth of the treasure."

Rono couldn't be bothered to explain Logia Devil Fruits to Roger.

Besides, the future Pirate King would hardly care about a Logia Devil Fruit. Roger would become Pirate King through Haki and physical prowess alone.

And he certainly didn't need another sword. The one in his hand was Ace, destined to be one of the only twelve Supreme Grade Swords.

"Ahahaha! You said it! What a deal!" Roger danced with delight.

With that much money, he could buy plenty of fine wine.

Rono wasn't losing out either. Dogs might turn their noses up at the Flame-Flame Fruit, but it would fetch at least 500 million Beli on the black market.

A Logia Devil Fruit still guaranteed a certain level of power. Against an opponent who couldn't use Haki, a Logia user was practically invincible.

There were several other assorted Devil Fruits too, each worth at least a hundred million. All told, their shares were roughly even.

They carried the treasure aboard the Revenge, piling it up until the ship was full.

"We may have just stolen the Heavenly Tribute from more than half the countries in the East Blue."

Roger looked at the near-mountain of treasure and sighed in amazement again.

The haul was enormous. He could buy himself a decent pirate ship and stock it with a mountain of wine.

"The Celestial Dragons in Mary Geoise must be hurting right now," Rono said quietly, gazing into the distance.

For every gain, someone else suffered a loss.

The World Government's Celestial Dragons had lost so much Heavenly Tribute in one blow. They were bound to fly into a rage.

Imagining the pain on those piglike faces sent a rush of satisfaction through Rono.

He wished he could see those wretched Celestial Dragons seething with anger.

"After this, we'll be famous across the seas!"

Roger leaned against the deck, looked into the distance, and threw both arms up with a shout.

They had robbed the Heavenly Tribute, freed so many slaves, and taken so many treasures. It was an incident sure to shake the World Government and the Marines.

They might even see their bounties in a couple of days.

Rono looked forward to it too.

He wondered how high his bounty would be after this.

A bounty didn't measure strength, but it did say something.

The higher his bounty, the more seriously the Rocks Pirates would take him when he joined them.

"I'm tired. I'm going to rest." With that excuse, Rono returned to his room to inspect his spoils.

First came the swords. From a large pile of fine blades, he chose the one that felt best in his hand.

He now had advanced Swordsmanship. A suitable blade would make him even stronger.

"Famous Sword Kotetsu. It's one of the Twenty-One Great Grade Swords."

Rono read the name on the blade, pleasantly surprised.

He hadn't expected to find one of the Twenty-One Great Grade Swords here. It wasn't a Supreme Grade Sword, but a Great Grade Sword was still a top-tier blade.

Rono picked up Kotetsu and resisted the urge to swing it. One slash might cut the Revenge in half.

Next came the real prize: the Devil Fruits.

The system offered two ways to use Devil Fruits. Once he had a Devil Fruit ability, he could absorb other Devil Fruits to rapidly improve his mastery of it and bring it closer to Awakening.

But Rono hadn't found an ability he wanted yet. The Flame-Flame Fruit's potential was too limited. Even dogs turned their noses up at it, and he wasn't about to eat it.

He might consider a top-tier Logia like the Rumble-Rumble Fruit or the Magma-Magma Fruit.

He would also consider a dragon-type Mythical Zoan.

But he didn't have a Devil Fruit ability yet, so that option was out.

That left one use: strengthening one of his existing abilities.

Five Devil Fruits weren't enough to raise all Three Types of Haki from advanced to the highest level, and Rono didn't intend to use them that way.

Once he joined the Rocks Pirates, picking up abilities would raise his Haki levels much faster than absorbing Devil Fruits.

"I'll save them until I have a Devil Fruit ability. Maybe they'll even let me Awaken it directly."

With that in mind, Rono was ready to leave the Devil Fruits gathering dust in his system space.

He would absorb them once he found the right ability.

[Ding! Nature Power detected near the host. Absorb it?]

"Nature Power? Does it mean the Flame-Flame Fruit?" Rono understood at once. That had to be what the system meant.

[Absorb Nature Power?] It was the first time Rono had seen that function.

He checked the system's description carefully.

What he found stunned him!

A Seventeen-Year-Old Monster Shocks the Five Elders

Absorbing Nature Power was, in simple terms, a way to absorb the abilities of Logia Devil Fruits.

The crucial difference was that absorbing one wasn't the same as eating it. He couldn't transform into an element like a Logia user, but he could use the fruit's powers!

For example, if he absorbed the Flame-Flame Fruit, he could add flames to any of his attacks. Apart from his inability to transform into fire, the effect was almost the same as eating it!

And absorbing it wouldn't leave him vulnerable to seawater.

More importantly, he could absorb every kind of Nature Power!

Fire, lightning, magma, ice—he could absorb the powers of any Logia Devil Fruit!

"Flames on every attack? What am I waiting for?"

Rono's eyes lit up. He began absorbing it immediately.

The Flame-Flame Fruit vanished from his hand. Scalding energy surged into his body, as though it might burst out of him!

Whoosh!

He extended his right hand. At the slightest thought, a blazing flame appeared above it, hot enough to seem capable of burning anything to ash!

Adding fire to his attacks alongside Haki would boost their destructive power enormously!

Best of all, he could wield power comparable to a Devil Fruit user without becoming one. This function was incredible!

If he faced someone whose Haki matched his, the flames could decide the fight!

Rono even felt that if he fought Roger again now, he might win.

"I'm looking forward to this more and more..."

Excitement surged through Rono. Celestial Dragons, your time is coming!

Meanwhile, word reached the holy land of Mary Geoise almost immediately.

In the lavishly furnished Hall of Power, a symbol of supreme authority, five old men sat with grim faces.

They were not the Five Elders from the original story. Every one of these faces was unfamiliar.

But each man carried the unmistakable bearing of someone accustomed to command. There was no doubt: these were the current Five Elders!

They were the World Government's highest authority in the public eye!

"Damn CP0! A pack of incompetents!"

"They hadn't even entered the Grand Line, and this happened in the East Blue, the weakest sea!"

"Which CP0 team was transporting the Heavenly Tribute? Throw them into Impel Down to await punishment!"

One elder spoke through clenched teeth, so furious his face had nearly twisted out of shape.

The entire East Blue's Heavenly Tribute had been stolen. That meant a massive cut to the Celestial Dragons' spending!

Those idle gluttons would surely storm into this hall and raise hell.

Just thinking about it made the elder's head throb.

"Hmph. That won't help. I've already sent people to contact them. There's still no word from the CP0 team assigned to the transport. I'm afraid they've all been killed," another elder said gravely.

"Damn it! I also heard they found the Logia Flame-Flame Fruit in the East Blue!"

"With the Flame-Flame Fruit, the World Government could have gained another powerful fighter!"

A third elder clenched his fists and smashed a table made of expensive wood to splinters!

The Logia Flame-Flame Fruit had fallen into pirate hands.

Their loss was the pirates' gain. Another powerful pirate would surely emerge to throw the seas into chaos.

"And the slaves! Without them, those Celestial Dragons will be even more dissatisfied."

"Damn it!" An elder couldn't stop himself from swearing. He was that upset.

"What matters most now is finding out who did this!"

"Was it the Rocks Pirates, or some other long-established pirate crew? Either way, this is a major incident!"