After dealing with the threat posed by the cursed sword.
Everyone turned their attention back to the Devil Fruit inside the small box.
The fruit was blue-green and shaped like an oleander fruit, densely covered in swirling patterns, with two leaves resembling antennae.
Noah had already taken out the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia and turned straight to the Zoan section.
More than ten minutes later, he found a Devil Fruit matching its shape and characteristics.
Zoan: Bug-Bug Fruit, Model: Monarch Butterfly.
"A butterfly?" Anthony was sorely disappointed. This was clearly not the fruit he wanted to eat.
Ray, Tomani, and Vic also lost interest in the fruit.
Mary, Lilith, and Lilian discussed it quietly for a while before Lilith finally spoke. "Big Brother Noah, I want to eat this fruit."
"You want it? Sure, take it!"
In fact, Noah had long anticipated the three women's choices.
As a chef, Lilian would surely want a fruit related to her profession, while Mary's fruit was the Smooth-Smooth Fruit.
Lilith picked up the fruit, looking as though she were ready to face death. Then she opened her little cherry-red mouth and took a fierce bite. Not daring to chew it up, she swallowed it, then gulped down the rest of the flesh without chewing.
The moment she swallowed it, pale purple gas began to emerge from her skin.
"Watch out, it's poisonous." Noah quickly released an air card, forcing the surrounding air away.
Lilith also seemed to wake from a dream. Realizing that she was giving off toxins, she hurriedly brought her body under control and soon stopped releasing them.
Uncle Joseph was somewhat surprised. "This fruit's poison is so potent. Just eating it made you release toxins involuntarily."
Noah reminded her, "Lilith, try using your Observation Haki."
"Observation Haki? All right." Lilith calmed herself and began to activate her Observation Haki. She had awakened it less than a little over four months ago, and it was quite ordinary, with no particular strength worth mentioning.
But when she activated her Observation Haki this time, she sensed something different.
Information about her surroundings seemed almost within reach.
"What's going on?"
Noah explained, "This should be a common talent among insects. They're extremely sensitive to changes in their surroundings. Combined with Observation Haki, it becomes an incredibly powerful ability to sense the environment and the weather."
Lilith suddenly understood. She tried taking on her hybrid form, and as two antennae emerged from her forehead, her ability to sense her surroundings soared. Not only could she detect subtle changes in the environment, but the range of her Observation Haki also rapidly expanded to dozens of kilometers.
That was also why Noah had not objected when he saw her choose this Devil Fruit.
Although Lilith worked very hard as the Noah Family's navigator, her talent for navigation was quite ordinary.
This was another reason Noah had chosen to use a submarine: it could avoid the vast majority of harsh weather at sea, reducing the burden on the navigator.
Now Lilith was like an artificial Nami, having gained the ability to sense the weather by combining her Devil Fruit with Observation Haki.
Of course, the fruit was also excellent in other respects.
Noah continued, "Try taking on your full beast form, then see if you can camouflage yourself against your surroundings. That should be one of the common talents of butterflies."
"Camouflage? I'll give it a try." Lilith immediately took on her full beast form.
After trying for more than ten minutes, the color of her body and clothes began to match her surroundings perfectly, and she vanished from everyone's sight.
However, those who could use Observation Haki could still sense her presence.
Anthony commented, "That ability can only fool people who can't use Observation Haki. It's basically useless against anyone who can."
"Hee-hee, it's still pretty good." Lilith was actually quite satisfied with the fruit.
In fact, among ordinary Zoans, the monarch butterfly was almost comparable to a top-tier Ancient Zoan.
That was because its abilities were exceptionally well-rounded, encompassing five talents: deadly poison, perception, camouflage, endurance, and flight.
The monarch butterfly's deadly poison came from various poisonous plants. By eating them, it stored the poison in its body, which also meant that the fruit had an extremely strong adaptability to toxins.
Perception and camouflage had already been covered, and flight was likewise a common talent among butterflies.
As for endurance, monarch butterflies were among the few butterflies that migrated over long distances. In the pirate world, they migrated back and forth between the South Blue and the East Blue, crossing two Calm Belts and Paradise in the Grand Line. Their endurance was terrifying.
In a sense, this Monarch Butterfly Fruit was almost equivalent to half a Mythical Zoan.
Sure enough, in the strength test that followed.
Lilith's strength increased by about eightfold compared to before she ate the fruit. Combined with the strength she already had, more than ten times that of an ordinary person, she was suddenly nearly a hundred times stronger than one.
Even Uncle Joseph, who had eaten the Silverback Gorilla Fruit, was only a little over seventy times as strong as an ordinary person.
It was indeed an insect-type Devil Fruit.
After resting on the Island of Rare Animals for two days, the Nautilus set sail again.
This time, the Nautilus did not submerge, but traveled on the surface. It chose a relatively deserted route, however, to avoid encountering other ships along the way.
Noah, Joshua, and Lilith all had Observation Haki with a wide range, and could easily detect ships nearby.
Sailing on the surface felt very different from traveling beneath the sea.
Fortunately, Lilith could sense subtle changes in the environment, allowing them to avoid being caught by much of the extreme weather.
On the afternoon of the third day after leaving the Island of Rare Animals, the Nautilus passed underwater through the sea off Orange Town in the Organ Islands.
Eleven days later, the Nautilus entered the waters of the Four-Leaf Clover Islands.
By then, they were very close to Shells Town, only about 122 kilometers away.
"Big Brother Noah, we're approaching the first uninhabited island on our list."
Noah glanced at the chart of the Four-Leaf Clover Islands. Although he felt the chances of the Smooth-Smooth Fruit being on this island were slim, he still ordered a landing. "Anthony, Vic, Joshua, we're going ashore. Everyone else stays on the ship."
"Understood!"
On the uninhabited island designated Four-Leaf Clover No. 08.
Vic led the way, with Anthony behind him, holding a long saber.
Joshua and Noah followed at the rear, one on each side.
The four kept about seven or eight meters apart, a distance that allowed them to look out for one another without getting in the way of their weapons or physical techniques.
The island was small, with a radius of less than five kilometers. At the four men's pace, even searching carefully, it took them only a little over two hours to reach the other side.
Just as Noah was about to split them into two groups to search along the coast, his eyes suddenly narrowed.