Two fruits had escaped, and Imu was furious. Its anger spread across the entire sea like a plague. From then on, the sea had an innate hatred of Devil Fruits. All Devil Fruit Users were rejected by the sea, becoming landlubbers unable to swim in it.
At the same time, Imu could no longer suppress its own power. Countless Devil Fruits poured out of the Devil Fruit Tree, flying to every corner of the world like rain. Some were strong and some were weak. Scattered far and wide, they were eaten by different people, granting them different powers and completely changing the balance of power across the sea.
The massive loss of energy left Imu's soul terribly weak. Unable to hold on, it fell into a deep sleep. The laws of the world under its control were also divided among those newly born Devil Fruits and scattered across the world-this was why Devil Fruit Users could command all sorts of abilities, such as time, space, gravity, and so on.
That sleep lasted tens of thousands of years.
Not until more than eight hundred years ago did Imu finally awaken.
When it woke, it found that its true body-the Devil Fruit Tree-had withered terribly, its energy utterly depleted. Less than a tenth of Imu's own power remained, along with just a tiny measure of control over the laws. It knew that if it stayed inside the Devil Fruit Tree, its soul would soon dissipate completely, and it would lose what little control over the laws it had left.
After some research, Imu made a ruthless decision-to possess another body.
It used what little power over the laws remained to sense the entire world, searching for a suitable vessel. Eventually, it discovered that a little blue-haired princess named Nefertari D. Lily had