Ages stood silently, staring at the devastated village entrance in utter embarrassment. He muttered to himself.
"Looks like Pops was right. When you first eat a Devil Fruit, you shouldn't use its power recklessly before you've mastered it, or you could easily cause massive destruction by accident. Sigh, I'll probably get scolded later."
The main reason Ages had caused such a huge disturbance was that he hadn't had the Gravity Fruit for very long.
To be precise, Ages had only gotten the Gravity Fruit yesterday. Fujitora had given it to him last night.
Fujitora had also solemnly warned Ages not to use it recklessly before he had fully mastered it.
Unfortunately, Ages was exceptionally curious about and fascinated by something known in "One Piece" as a secret treasure of the sea, also called an "incarnation of the sea devil," and worth at least a hundred million Beli on the market.
Now that he had finally gotten a Devil Fruit, Ages naturally wanted to find a chance to use it.
And as luck would have it, Buggy the Clown showed up, unfortunately becoming the test subject for Ages's first use of his Devil Fruit.
A while later.
The dust filling the sky gradually settled.
The villagers who had hidden inside their houses trickled back out.
This time, the villagers were even more shocked. They all stared at the enormous crater at the village entrance, with dozens of cracks splitting the ground around it.
They felt the scorching heat radiating from the meteorite and its blazing flames inside the crater.
Gulp...
The villagers swallowed in unison.
At that moment, the villager from before walked up to Ages again. Pointing a trembling finger at the incredibly shocking crater, he said,
"A... Ages, did... did you do this?"
Utterly embarrassed, Ages scratched his head and said apologetically,
"Uncle Village Chief, sorry about that. I put a little too much force into it. Hehe."
Uncle Village Chief's eyes widened. He looked at the extremely embarrassed ten-year-old boy before him, who had delicate features and only came up to his chest, then looked at the devastated remains of the village entrance. The corners of his eyes twitched violently.
A storm raged in Uncle Village Chief's heart as he thought,
Did a ten-year-old boy really do this? Holy shit, that scared the hell out of me!
After marveling inwardly, the uncle smacked his lips and said,
"Hehe, it's fine, Ages. You helped us defeat the pirates and saved Pasatemu Town from being blown up. We can't thank you enough, so how could we blame you?"
Thinking of that Buggy Ball, Uncle Village Chief still felt a lingering fear. But he happened to glance at the village entrance again and couldn't help thinking oddly,
Good thing Ages isn't a pirate. Otherwise... I'd rather be blown up by a cannonball than run into a pirate like Ages. That's too scary...
Uncle Village Chief told the villagers that the scene at the entrance had been caused by the defeat of the Buggy Pirates, and that Ages was the one who had defeated them.
The villagers all thanked Ages without blaming him in the slightest. At the same time, the same odd thought Uncle Village Chief had entertained arose in each of their minds.
While the villagers were thanking Ages,
Clack... clack... clack...
The sound of wooden sandals striking the ground rang out.
Thwack!
A wooden cane struck Ages hard on the head.
"Ow! Pops, did you have to hit me that hard?" Ages said, rubbing his head.
Fujitora used his Observation Haki to sense the temperature of the meteorite at the nearby village entrance and scolded him.
"You brat, didn't I tell you? Wait until you've mastered your Devil Fruit power before using it. Look at the destruction you've caused..."
Ages grinned and said,
"Hehe, calm down, Pops. I was just curious. You know how it is, ten-year-olds are really curious. Besides, I didn't hurt anyone. I saved the villagers from the pirates!"
Fujitora shook his head helplessly and said, at a loss for words,
"With a mouth like yours, how are you anything like a ten-year-old? You argue your case more fluently than a man in his thirties like me."
(A reminder: Fujitora was only in his thirties at this point, _(:_"∠)_)
Ages shrugged and spread his hands.
"What can I say? I was born exceptionally smart. Oh, right, Pops, hurry up and teach me how to master control of my Devil Fruit faster. Otherwise, who knows? I might use too much force again next time."
Fujitora nodded and said,
"All right, I'll teach you now."
Fujitora turned to the villagers beside him and said,
"Everyone, please go back to what you were doing. I'll take care of the crater at the village entrance later."
Uncle Village Chief nodded. He figured that if Ages was so strong, his pops had to be formidable too, so filling the crater shouldn't be difficult. He led the villagers away, and they each returned to their own tasks.
Fujitora turned to Ages and said,
"Ages, if you want to master your Devil Fruit quickly, you must first understand Devil Fruits."
"First of all, you already know how Devil Fruits are classified, so I won't explain that. What I'm going to talk about next is the principle behind Devil Fruits as I understand it."
"A person doesn't need to eat an entire Devil Fruit to gain its power. All it takes is one bite. Like the lid of Pandora's box being opened, a devil cursed by the sea bursts out of the fruit along with a super disgusting taste and joins with your soul."
"All things have the properties of waves. Musicians believe that every instrument's sound has its own pitch (wavelength), volume (amplitude), and timbre (the way its harmonic waves are combined)."
"Heaven and earth seem to be playing a vast melody. Roger's ability, the Voice of All Things, was the ability to grasp and distinguish the pitch, volume, and timbre of all things."
"When a person eats a Devil Fruit, the three special waves of the person's soul, body, and the devil interfere with one another, forming a new state. The devil envelops the soul, giving it richer means of expression."
"The body is the vessel of the soul and also the devil's dwelling place. The soul issues commands to the body through bioelectricity transmitted by the nervous system. This wave is wrapped by the devil and emitted through the body enveloped by the devil, becoming the fruit's power."
"Every devil has its own nature. For example, when someone eats a Logia Devil Fruit, its devil envelops not only that person's soul but also their body, allowing them to turn into an element."
"Some superpower fruits only envelop the soul. The Revive-Revive Fruit, for example, doesn't envelop the body, only the soul."
"The devil in your Gravity Fruit is relatively active, so it's harder to control."
(The devil in the Flame-Flame Fruit was extremely active. Things around Ace often caught fire, and even the straw hat he was weaving would occasionally burn up. When Sabo got the fruit, he also complained that it was hard to control, as though it wanted to burst out of his body at any moment.)
"But as long as you put your heart into sensing the waves of your Devil Fruit and restrain it, the devil can remain inside your body, and you'll be able to control it well."
"And if you want to develop your Devil Fruit, you need to understand your waves and develop different ones. Understand?"
"I'll demonstrate my Press-Press Fruit for you. After all, your gravity and my pressure achieve similar results through different means."
To be continued
(An explanation here: I think the protagonist's Gravity Fruit is the same fruit Fujitora has in the manga. Although most people are currently saying Fujitora's fruit could be either pressure or gravity, a reader just suggested giving Fujitora pressure and the protagonist gravity. I thought that made a lot of sense and would make the plot easier to write. After all, Fujitora has an important place in the original story, so I gave the stronger Gravity Fruit to the protagonist and the Press-Press Fruit to Fujitora.)
(Also, Blackbeard said in the original that the Dark-Dark Fruit was actually gravity. My understanding is that the Dark-Dark Fruit is really attraction, like a black hole, while the protagonist's gravity includes all kinds of gravity.)
This chapter was a little wordy, sorry about that. But I thought this chapter needed to be written. Oh, and I put together the Devil Fruit theory in this chapter myself after looking through a lot of sources. Please don't flame me if you don't like it.