Vic searched for ages, knocking on the doors of several clothing stores before finally one opened. He almost grabbed a knife and broke down the door to steal the clothes.
After buying several sets of children's clothes, we went to find a public bathhouse. Luckily, there was one that was still open.
" Rebecca, just wait outside for a bit. I'll go in and wash him and then come right back out."
Vic gave Rebecca some instructions, then grabbed a set of clothes and carried the little one into the men's bathhouse.
But after a short while, Vic came out carrying the little one, his expression somewhat changed.
"What's wrong? Why are you out so quickly? You haven't washed, you haven't changed your clothes, and your face is still all dirty!" Rebecca asked, puzzled.
"Ahem, this isn't a little boy, she's actually a little girl. It's a bit inconvenient for me, why don't you take her to the women's bathhouse? I'll go change her clothes into girls' clothes!" Vic said somewhat awkwardly.
He had always thought it was a little boy, with short boyish hair and a dirty face that made it hard to tell if it was a boy or a girl. But after he took the little guy's clothes off in the bathhouse, he realized it was a little girl!
The little girl was still standing there, smiling at him with a shy look on her face. He immediately went numb and quickly dressed her and carried her out.
The girl was still smiling at him, making him incredibly awkward. "You're a girl, why didn't you say something earlier?" he thought. The girl hadn't uttered a single word.
Vic grabbed his other clothes and ran off as if fleeing. Rebecca watched Vic's departing figure with some suspicion, feeling that there was something she didn't know. She thought about it for a while but couldn't figure it out. Oh well, she shook her head and decided not to think about it anymore. She then led the little girl into the women's bathhouse.
When Vic returned with the girls' clothes, he saw a little girl dressed in a brand-new set of boys' clothes. She had sea-blue hair, a cute little face, and stood prettily next to Rebecca. She no longer let Rebecca hug her.
Vic glanced at it and thought, "Wow, it's so cute!" He looked again and thought, "It's still incredibly cute!" Vic stared at it for a while, feeling a sense of familiarity with the little face.
"Now that you've finished packing, let's go back. It's getting late!" Vic snapped out of his daze, called out to the two of them, and headed towards the hotel. Rebecca wanted to take the little girl's hand and walk forward, but the little girl refused.
"What's wrong? Don't you want to go back with us?" Rebecca crouched down and asked softly, while Vic turned to look at the little girl.
"Hug!" The little girl opened her arms to Vic, her cute little face full of expectation, indicating that she wanted Vic to hug her.
"Oh, you can talk! Why didn't you say anything before?" Vic said, picking up the little girl. Rebecca pouted beside her; the little girl had really stuck to Vic.
"Yes!" the little girl said with a smile.
"Oh, you're still spitting out each word one by one. What's your name?" Vic asked with a smile.
"My name is Vic, hee hee hee!" The little girl giggled, as if she hadn't laughed so easily in a long time. Her innocent smile was heartbreaking.
"Hey, you can speak fluently now! Vic is my name, I'm asking for your name, hahaha!" Vic laughed heartily as well.
"This little girl is so clever at such a young age, so perceptive. What will she be like when she grows up!" Rebecca shook her head beside her, thinking to herself.
"Hehe, my name is Ain!" Ain said with a smile. Rebecca didn't think much of it, but Vic was taken aback when he heard the name.
"Holy crap! Aren't these the only two female disciples who survived from Teacher Zephyr's recruit ship? If Rebecca and I hadn't tripped her on the way, wouldn't she have run to the inn and been rescued by Teacher Zephyr?"
No wonder that in the Z movie I watched in my past life, Ain's feelings for Zephyr didn't seem like those of a teacher and student; they were more like those of a father and daughter, and perhaps even a hint of romantic love.
Could Binz be among them? I'll go to the Marine Base tomorrow and ask. But no, given the traffickers' high standards, Binz's looks wouldn't meet their expectations. He shouldn't be in there, definitely not, it must be!
" Vic? What are you thinking about? You're spacing out as soon as you hear Ain's name?" Rebecca patted Vic's arm, and Ain looked up at Vic with a puzzled expression.
"Oh, nothing, just thinking about something. By the way, Ain, I saw you eat a strange fruit earlier. How did it taste? Did you feel any changes in your body?" Vic remembered that Ain was a user of the Return-Return Fruit in the movie, so the fruit Ain ate earlier must have been that one.
"A strange fruit? Could it be Devil Fruit?" Rebecca's heart skipped a beat.
"Hmm! I saw it fall from the tree when I was running away. It wasn't like that before, it changed after it fell. That fruit tasted awful, I almost threw up. I definitely wouldn't have eaten it if I wasn't so hungry. As for my body? I feel like I can mobilize some kind of power right now," Ain said, tilting her little face up.
Vic couldn't help but marvel at his luck; it was like God was sending him Devil Fruit! He couldn't find what he was looking for, but God himself had delivered something he knew nothing about.
Robin's Flower-Flower Fruit is the same. When she was a child, Robin ate the Flower-Flower Fruit in the same way. At that time, she didn't know what Devil Fruit was and was bullied and isolated by other children who treated her like a monster.
"You ate Devil Fruit, so you can't play in the sea anymore, or you'll drown!" Vic had confirmed that Ain had eaten Devil Fruit and warned Ain.
" Vic, did Ain really eat Devil Fruit?" Rebecca asked curiously.
"That should be it, she ate right at your feet, and didn't leave a single bite!"
"Isn't that just like you back then? You didn't let a single thing go!" Rebecca thought to herself. She didn't say it aloud; this girl was a bit too enigmatic for her to reveal.
"Let's go see what kind of Devil Fruit ability Ain has!" Vic said to Rebecca. Ain looked puzzled and confused, but as long as she could stay in Vic's arms, nothing else mattered.
Vic found a tree as thick as a barrel near the inn, chopped off a branch, and examined the growth rings—fifteen rings in total. That's more than enough. Even in the movie, the older Ain could only rewind time by 12 years, so the current Ain, being so small, definitely doesn't have that ability.
" Ain, unleash the power you sensed on this tree, and let me see what abilities you've gained!" Vic encouraged, placing Ain at the foot of the tree.