One Piece: Starting as a Celestial Dragon, Building Amazon Lily

His body glided through the water, narrowly avoiding the tentacle's sweep.

The tentacle skimmed past his bubble coating and slammed into the nearby cabin wall, smashing an entire wall of wooden planks to pieces.

Following close behind, Arlong whipped his tail and barely dodged another tentacle striking from the side, a sheen of cold sweat forming on his forehead.

More tentacles surged out from beneath the shattered deck, thrashing like a swarm of snakes as they destroyed everything around them.

Rotten planks, broken sections of keel, and scattered debris flew everywhere, leaving the entire cabin interior in ruins.

As the last obstruction was flung aside, the enormous creature finally revealed itself in full.

It was an incomprehensibly huge octopus.

Its body was as large as two standard pirate ships combined. Fist-sized suckers covered its dark purple skin, and its yellow-green eyes resembled two enormous lanterns, each as big as Saint Dio himself.

Its tentacles writhed slowly through the water, each so thick that several people would have needed to join arms to encircle it. Remnants of seaweed and barnacles clung to them, making it clear that it had been living in this wreck for quite some time.

Saint Dio floated in the water, looking up at the enormous creature with a hint of surprise.

He had not expected a creature like this to be lurking inside Noah.

But on second thought, octopuses were soft-bodied animals. As long as there was a fist-sized gap, they could squeeze their bodies through it.

This wreck had lain on the seabed for hundreds of years, and cracks and holes had long since spread throughout its hull. It was hardly strange for a large cephalopod to crawl inside and make it a nest.

At that moment, the giant octopus clearly regarded Saint Dio and Arlong as food that had delivered itself to its doorstep.

Its yellow-green eyes locked onto Saint Dio, and several tentacles moved at once, closing in on him from different directions and cutting off every escape route.

Using Geppo, Saint Dio darted and twisted nimbly through the water, dodging several successive tentacle attacks.

At the same time, he flicked his wrist, twirling Jörmungandr in a silvery-white flourish before pointing its tip at the giant octopus. "Go, Jörmungandr."

As his words fell, Jörmungandr suddenly expanded, twisted, and transformed in his hand. In an instant, its silvery-white blade became an equally enormous serpent.

It held its head high, its golden slit pupils meeting the giant octopus's yellow-green eyes from a distance. Its flickering tongue traced tiny ripples through the water.

Although Jörmungandr was a weapon transformed by a Devil Fruit User's power, seawater's effect on Devil Fruit Users was limited to draining their strength and preventing them from actively maintaining their abilities. It did not directly nullify the Devil Fruit itself.

It was just like Luffy falling into the sea. Although his lack of strength would prevent him from actively fighting, his rubber constitution would not disappear.

Thus, even deep beneath the sea, Saint Dio could still freely control Jörmungandr's transformations.

Serpent and octopus faced each other in the dim depths.

The next second, Jörmungandr attacked first.

It shot forward like a bolt of green lightning, opening its enormous, fang-filled maw and biting down hard on one of the giant octopus's tentacles.

The giant octopus's remaining tentacles immediately lashed out like whips, wrapping tightly around Jörmungandr's body. Their suckers clamped onto its scales as they began to squeeze with all their strength.

Not to be outdone, Jörmungandr coiled its long body around the giant octopus in turn, looping around it again and again and tightening its grip, its scales grinding against the suckers.

The two deep-sea behemoths fought fiercely above Noah's wreckage, churning the surrounding seawater and stirring up surging undercurrents.

Arlong hid behind a broken piece of hull, staring dumbfounded at this battle between monsters that defied everything he knew, his heart pounding wildly in his chest.

In all his years, he had never seen anything so stunning.

A serpent and an octopus were fighting to the death deep beneath the sea, and the one responsible for it all was a human boy who looked no older than his teens.

Relying on its enormous size and astonishing strength, Jörmungandr tightened coil after coil around the giant octopus.

Had it been any other creature, its bones would already have shattered and its organs burst under the pressure.

This time, however, its opponent was a soft-bodied animal.

The octopus had no bones at all. Aside from squeezing it flatter and flatter, Jörmungandr's constriction could do it no real harm.

But the giant octopus was not faring well either.

Its eight thick tentacles lashed wildly at Jörmungandr's body, their suckers clinging desperately to the silvery-white scales as it tried to tear them off.

Yet Jörmungandr's scales were incredibly hard. Despite the immense strength of the giant octopus's suckers and tentacles, it could not pry off even a single scale, leaving only a few faint white marks on their surfaces.

The two sides reached a stalemate.

Saint Dio hovered nearby, calmly observing the battle.

At a thought from him, dark green venom suddenly surged from Jörmungandr's mouth, spraying out like a fountain and rapidly spreading through the deep water.

The moment the venom touched the giant octopus's tentacles, it began corroding their skin, giving off sizzling sounds and wisps of white smoke.

Wracked with pain, the giant octopus abruptly released the tentacles wrapped around Jörmungandr and began flailing them wildly.

At the same time, it opened its enormous mouth and blasted out a great cloud of thick black ink.

The ink spread rapidly through the seawater like a dark cloud, instantly turning the water within several dozen meters pitch-black, so dark that an outstretched hand could not be seen.

It wanted to escape under cover of the ink.

But Jörmungandr would not give it that chance.

Ignoring the ink obscuring its vision, it followed its battle instincts, opened its enormous maw, and bit viciously toward the giant octopus's head where it remembered it to be.

Its jaws clamped precisely onto one yellow-green eyeball, and its head jerked backward.

Squelch!

The eyeball was torn bodily from its socket, the attached nerves and blood vessels spurting murky fluid as they snapped.

The giant octopus's body suddenly stiffened. Its eight tentacles convulsed wildly a few times before drooping limply, and it slowly stopped struggling.

Sure enough, against this kind of creature, crushing an eyeball with a bite was enough to finish it.

Saint Dio frowned as he looked at the murky stretch of water stained black by the ink.

The ink was highly concentrated. There was no telling how long it would take to disperse naturally.

He waited a while, but when the ink remained just as black, he stopped waiting and plunged straight into the darkness.

He felt his way through the murky water, following the direction he remembered, until his feet finally touched the soft corpse that had stopped struggling.

He crouched and pressed his palm against the giant octopus's cold skin.

Saint Dio wanted to test whether he could extract a Devil Fruit from an aquatic creature.

A moment later, a purple ball of light slowly rose from the corpse and drifted into his palm.

The light dispersed, revealing an oddly shaped Devil Fruit in his hand.

It was a dark purple fruit shaped like a miniature octopus, its surface covered in tiny sucker-like bumps. Eight curved, tentacle-like patterns extended from its top, making it look like a little octopus curled up on itself.

Saint Dio studied the fruit in his hand, the corners of his mouth slowly rising as undisguisable delight flashed in his eyes.

Octopus-Octopus Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Kraken Form.

This was a huge windfall.

Chapter 61: A Dual Devil Fruit User-The Pocket-Pocket Fruit and the Mark-Mark Fruit

The Mark-Mark Fruit had been Saint Dio's original objective for this trip, while the Octopus-Octopus Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Kraken Form was an entirely unexpected bonus.

What mattered even more to him was that successfully extracting this fruit had proved one thing-aquatic creatures could also be refined into Devil Fruits.

This meant that, in theory, those enormous Sea Kings could potentially become sources of Devil Fruits as well.

However, Saint Dio dismissed the idea after only a moment's thought.

Although Sea Kings were astonishingly large and stood near the top of the ocean's food chain, they were ultimately nothing more than enormous ordinary creatures, without any special abilities.

As for an advantage in size, he already had Jörmungandr. There was absolutely no need to expend more time and effort hunting Sea Kings to extract fruits.

Besides, Sea Kings could only display their true advantages underwater. Once on land, their enormous size would become a burden instead.

By comparison, the Octopus-Octopus Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Kraken Form in his hand was far more powerful than ordinary Sea Kings, whether underwater or on land.

On the way back to Ryugu Palace, Saint Dio toyed with the two Devil Fruits in his hands, considering his next arrangements.

Although he had obtained the Mark-Mark Fruit, his stockpile of Devil Fruits was still at his mansion in Mary Geoise. If he wanted to combine this fruit with others to enhance it, he would have to return there first.

Finding that somewhat troublesome, Saint Dio set the idea aside for the time being.

The Mark-Mark Fruit was sufficient in its current form anyway. He could enhance everything together once he returned to Mary Geoise.

So he took out a spare silver ring and placed the Mark-Mark Fruit on it.

The fruit turned into brown motes of light that flowed into the ring like water, leaving a faint bull's-eye pattern on its face.

With that, the ring possessed the Mark-Mark Fruit's power.

Saint Dio promptly tossed the ring to Mumei.

"Take it. This suits you."

Mumei fumbled as she caught the ring, turning it over curiously a few times before happily slipping it onto her finger. She waved it under the light, her eyes curving with her smile.

Although she did not yet fully understand exactly how this fruit worked, anything Saint Dio gave her had to be something good.

Now, Mumei possessed two Devil Fruit powers.

The Pocket-Pocket Fruit gave her a nearly limitless portable storage space, allowing her to store and retrieve all kinds of weapons and tools at will; the Mark-Mark Fruit granted her precise tracking abilities. Once she touched a target, no matter where they fled, the weapons she threw would automatically pursue them until death.

Combined with her own nimble, agile footwork, Saint Dio could almost imagine what a headache Mumei would become on the battlefield once she matured.

She would not need to clash head-on with her enemies. She would only need to weave nimbly through the battlefield, touch and mark them, then pull all kinds of weapons from her pockets and throw them at will. Those weapons would automatically track their targets, attacking from all manner of tricky angles.

Her opponents would not only have to deal with her harassment but also constantly watch out for weapons flying in from every direction that could turn corners on their own.

The mere thought was enough to make one's scalp prickle.

Watching Mumei's fighting system gradually take shape under his personal planning, Saint Dio felt an inexplicable sense of satisfaction. It was like cultivating a seedling with his own hands and watching it sprout branches and buds, growing stronger little by little.

Perhaps this was the pleasure of "raising" someone.

After gaining her new ability, Mumei could hardly wait to try it out.

Saint Dio stood beside her and explained how to use the Mark-Mark Fruit and the precautions involved. "Remember, this mark can only be placed on living things, and you have to touch their skin directly with your palm for it to work. Also, you can only maintain one marked target at a time. Once you mark a new target, the mark on the old target will automatically disappear."

Mumei listened attentively and nodded, then excitedly dragged Marigold to an open area outside the palace, saying she wanted to test her new ability.

Marigold shook her head helplessly, but still cooperated, standing in the center of the area and taking a defensive stance.

"Here I come!" Before Mumei had finished speaking, she shot forward like a blur.

Marigold used no weapon. She simply spread her large hands, judged Mumei's approach, and reached out to grab her.

But just as Marigold's hand was about to touch the hem of her clothes, Mumei stamped down hard.

Soru!

Her figure vanished instantly. The next moment, she appeared behind Marigold and swiftly patted her back with her little hand, completing the mark before using the contact to spring backward.

Mark complete!

Still airborne, Mumei reached into the pocket at her waist with her right hand and activated the Pocket-Pocket Fruit's power. Her hand disappeared into the seemingly tiny pocket, and when she pulled it out again, she was holding two gleaming curved blades.

Without even looking, she hurled both curved blades toward Marigold with all her strength.

After leaving her hands, the two curved blades traced bizarre arcs through the air.

They did not fly straight toward Marigold. Instead, guided by the Mark-Mark Fruit's power, they swept around in a wide circle as though they had eyes, converging on her from two different directions, one from the left and one from the right.

Marigold's gaze sharpened slightly. She crossed her arms, and jet-black Armament Haki instantly covered her forearms and the backs of her hands.

Clang!

The two curved blades struck her arms one after the other with two crisp metallic clangs, then bounced away and fell to the ground.

Marigold shook out her arms, completely unharmed, then charged toward Mumei with long strides.

Saint Dio silently observed the test from the side, already forming his assessment.

Mumei's two Devil Fruit powers did indeed complement each other well. The Pocket-Pocket Fruit supplied a stockpile of weapons, while the Mark-Mark Fruit provided precision guidance. Combined with her own advantage in speed, this fighting style was already quite effective against low- and mid-level opponents.

But the problem was equally obvious: her current weapons consisted only of things like curved blades and flintlocks, whose maximum power was far too low.

Against opponents who had mastered Armament Haki, these ordinary weapons could not break through their defenses at all.

If she could not coat her weapons with Armament Haki, she would struggle to deal effective damage in high-level battles.

The most direct solution was to equip her with more advanced weapons.

When it came to high-tech weapons, the first name that came to Saint Dio's mind was Vegapunk, the man hailed as "a genius scientist whose intellect was five hundred years ahead of humanity."

However, Vegapunk was currently under tight World Government supervision. Even with his status as a Celestial Dragon, a request to the Five Elders to meet Vegapunk would probably not be approved.