[The Demon of Lust], Sigma

Samael taunted him. "Nice move. It's mine now. Flame Sword!"

He conjured two enormous hands of fire and copied Caesar's movements, condensing the flames into a sword and gripping it with both hands.

The next moment, he raised the crimson flame sword high and brought it down on Caesar's head.

Caesar's face darkened. He raised his sword to block the blow and hurriedly said:

"Who the hell are you...?!"

Before he could finish, the flame sword he had blocked erupted with searing flames and engulfed him.

Boom!

A massive explosion rocked Research Institute No. 1. Flames burst through the roof and lit up the night sky.

At the entrance to the research institute.

Dimon stopped and looked up at the flames filling the sky.

Before he could enjoy the grand spectacle, a figure came at him, swinging a giant axe down at him.

"Is that how you welcome a guest?"

Dimon's voice was calm. Without any visible movement from him, Shusui sprang to its master's defense, drawing itself from its sheath and easily blocking the sneak attack.

As blade and axe clashed, two forces of Armament Haki collided fiercely. Black lightning crackled with thunderous booms.

"What?"

Sentomaru stared in shock. A sword could defend on its own?

While he was distracted, Shusui released more Armament Haki and sent him flying.

Sentomaru flew backward and landed steadily, like a mountain of flesh.

He frowned at Dimon and Shusui, which floated beside him.

"This isn't what I was told. Wasn't the intruder a ball of ghost fire? Who are you?"

After taking a closer look, he started. "I've seen that mask somewhere... You're that bounty criminal from the news!"

Big Eye of the Seven Deadly Sins, the man whose first bounty was 100 million Beli!

Sentomaru immediately recalled the wanted poster he had seen just a few days ago.

"What did you come to this island for?"

As he spoke, he glanced at Research Institute No. 1 out of the corner of his eye. Flames soared into the sky there; a fierce battle was clearly underway.

There was more than one intruder!

"Good evening, Sentomaru," Dimon said in a low voice.

"You know me?"

Sentomaru was startled. Dr. Vegapunk had adopted him when he was little, and he had rarely left this place. Few people even in the Navy knew him, let alone anyone outside it.

"I've known about you since you were very young."

Dimon smiled faintly, his eyes behind the mask fixed calmly on Sentomaru.

"Step aside. After all, it's hard to hold back just enough to avoid squashing an ant underfoot."

"..."

Sentomaru's gaze was resolute as he snorted. "You look strong and weird, but do you think I'm gonna say 'come on in'? Idiot!"

With that, he charged at Dimon with his axe.

"Admirable courage."

Dimon raised a hand and pointed. The paper airplane resting on his shoulder suddenly flapped its wings.

Storyboard Lockdown!

In an instant, a white line appeared on the ground, tracing out a square.

Sentomaru's charge faltered. He snapped his gaze downward, but by the time he saw the white frame on the ground, it was already over.

"What is this?"

Chapter 52: [The Demon of Lust], Sigma

The white square on the ground turned into a cube in the blink of an eye, trapping Sentomaru inside.

He slammed headfirst into the storyboard boundary. Wincing in pain, he swung his giant axe at it. It struck with a thud, and the recoil nearly knocked the weapon from his hands.

"What? My Armament Haki is the best in the world!"

Sentomaru's face was full of shock.

Dimon couldn't help laughing at his self-proclaimed title of world's best.

"You can't break it open. Stay put."

Ignoring Vegapunk's captain of the guard, Dimon walked straight toward Research Institute No. 1.

Refusing to give up, Sentomaru hacked at the boundary three more times. Each blow bounced off, and the recoil made the webbing between his thumb and forefinger ache.

"Hey! Wait! Are you trying to run away? I haven't lost!"

Dimon didn't answer. When he reached the institute's front entrance, Shusui slashed the doors apart.

Before the Black Blade, the thick steel doors were like shoddy construction, easily cut open to make a passage wide enough for a person.

Dimon stepped inside and glanced up at the ceiling.

The automatic guns mounted above had long since been melted into scrap by Samael.

"Ain, where is it?"

[Master, go straight through three gates. At the far end of Building B1, there's a room where experimental specimens are stored. The Artificial Azure Dragon Fruit is inside.]

She knew so much that it didn't seem like the result of a search she had just conducted.

Dimon thought for a moment. "The Den Den Mushi here told you?"

[Yes, Master. I just tried asking them, and they told me right away.]

That's convenient.

Dimon followed Ain's directions deeper into the institute.

Along the way, he came across many unconscious people sprawled haphazardly in the corridors. They were all security personnel Samael had dealt with earlier.

Though this was Vegapunk's research base, its security wasn't particularly strong. They probably hadn't expected anyone to find and infiltrate the place.

Whenever Dimon encountered anyone who had slipped through the net, he had Shusui deal with them too. He didn't kill the scientists, only knocked them out.

He wasn't bloodthirsty; it was enough as long as they didn't interfere with him.

Before long, Dimon reached a room at the far end of Building B1 where experimental specimens were stored.

In the very center of the room stood a cylindrical glass display case, with an unusual Devil Fruit lying quietly inside.

Unlike the common Devil Fruits with spiral patterns, this artificial Mythical Zoan was covered in densely packed circles.

Dimon swung his sword through the glass case and reached in, taking the fruit in his hand.

"That went surprisingly smoothly. I hope you can be just like a real Devil Fruit..."

Animation!

A mysterious power flowed into the Artificial Azure Dragon Fruit, and a faint layer of golden light shone from its skin.

Enveloped in the golden light, the fruit began to change shape. Like a lump of clay, it gradually stretched out and slowly took on the appearance of a dragon.

Within a few breaths, the fruit had become a little pink dragon.

The dragon was about a meter long. Compared with the genuine Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon, it was not only a different color but also a smaller version.

The pink dragon opened his eyes, created flame clouds out of thin air, and reached out with his claws to grasp them. Rising on the clouds, he flew in midair.

"Why are you so small?"

Dimon was somewhat surprised.

By rights, an animated Devil Fruit should immediately grow to 100% after coming to life. Why did this one look like a juvenile?

When Kaido transformed into an azure dragon, his enormous body blotted out the sky. He was at least several hundred meters long, perhaps even over a thousand.

"Master, would you like me to grow bigger?"

As soon as the little pink dragon spoke, his body began to expand. One meter, ten meters...

In the blink of an eye, he was about to burst out of the room and tear the walls apart.

"You can control your size at will?"

"Yes, Master."

"What do you remember?"

"Remember..." The pink dragon looked a little confused. "I don't remember anything. I only know that you gave me life."

Dimon looked thoughtful. This was indeed different from a real Devil Fruit.

Real Devil Fruits had existed for a long time and passed through who knew how many hosts. Even without self-awareness, most of them remembered some things from the past once they were animated and brought to life.

A Logia like Samael could even clearly remember who his previous few users had been.

But the pink dragon before him was different. Strictly speaking, he had never had a host. He had been created in this institute no more than three years ago.

That raised a question!

If the pink dragon died, could he be reborn like Samael and Mammon?

Dimon didn't know the answer.

"In any case, let's give you a name first."

Setting that profound question aside for now, Dimon thought for a moment and smiled. "In my hometown, people often say dragons are lustful by nature. In that case... from now on, you're Sigma, the [Lust] of the Seven Deadly Sins."

Sigma himself couldn't understand the deeper meaning of the name, but he was still very happy to have been given one.

"Thank you for giving me life and a name, Master!"

"The one who truly gave you life was Vegapunk."

As he said that, an idea came to Dimon.

He had transmigrated too late, and many powerful Devil Fruits already had owners.

For example, among the god-tier fruits were "Nika" and "Nidhogg," two Mythical Zoan Fruits that had been eaten by Straw Hat Luffy and the giant prince Loki, respectively.

If he could obtain their Lineage Factors and then use Vegapunk's power to create an artificial fruit...

At that thought, Dimon turned and left at once.

"Looks like I need to pay Vegapunk a visit. Let's go."

Seeing this, Sigma immediately shrank and followed Dimon.

Newly born, he was curious about everything around him, occasionally touching one thing with his claws and scratching another.

Big Eye flew beside him and greeted him warmly. "Hello, new compatriot. I'm Big Eye."

"Big Eye?" Sigma stared at the paper airplane. "Your eyes aren't big at all. No, wait, you don't have any eyes. And why can you talk?"

"This isn't my real body. I'm just inhabiting this paper airplane right now." Big Eye introduced himself. "I'm the Paramecia-type Storyboard Fruit. There are other members of the Seven Deadly Sins; you'll meet them later."

"What are the Seven Deadly Sins?"

"It's an organization founded by Master. All its members are like us. We're going to collect all the Devil Fruits in the world and create a world where devils can be truly free!"

Just then, Ain suddenly spoke, her voice sounding directly in Dimon's mind.

[Master, keep going through the entrance gate to Building B1, and you'll run into Mammon and Zephyr's two students.]

"Huh? Weren't they fighting Samael?"

[Caesar and Samael are both Logia users. Their fight affects too wide an area for Ain and Binz to intervene, so they decided to go back and protect Zephyr and Vegapunk.]

"I see. They've realized Samael isn't the only intruder."