"Mmph... mmph-gulp!"
With a strained gulp, Nojiko finally broke free of Nami and Carina's "joint assault." She bent over, coughing violently, trying to spit out every scrap of the strangely textured residue in her mouth.
"Urgh! Wh-what is this?! It tastes awful!! Like rotten rubber mixed with swamp mud!" Tears streamed from her eyes as she choked, her tongue numb, her taste buds subjected to an unprecedented assault.
The sudden commotion broke the silent standoff between Bellemere and Boer. No longer able to keep her eyes fixed on the dangerous young man, she hurried to Nojiko's side and gripped her daughter's shoulders.
"Nojiko! What did you eat? Let Mommy see!" Her gaze fell on the scraps of spiral-patterned peel clinging to Nojiko's mouth, then snapped toward the fruit core that had rolled onto the ground-that distinctive, twisted pattern!
As a former Marine, she might never have seen the real thing, but she was certainly familiar with the descriptions and illustrated warnings!
"That pattern... could it be..." Bellemere's breath caught, her heart sinking. A Devil Fruit! She whipped her head around, her gaze shooting toward Boer like an arrow, anger and fear intertwined. He fed my daughter a Devil Fruit?!
Just then-
Clatter-clatter-
A clear, eerie sound of scraping metal came from Nojiko!
Slumped on the ground, Nojiko raised both hands in panic-starting at the tips, all ten of her fingers were rapidly transforming, extending, and dividing!
Slender silver-gray chains "grew" from her fingertips like living venomous snakes, winding down to the ground with metallic clinks! It was not just her fingers; chains also emerged uncontrollably from her ankles!
"Ah!!" Nojiko gave a short scream and tried to shake her hands, but the chains lashed about wildly with her thoughts, scoring marks across the muddy ground. "Mom Mel! What's happening to