Ain's Ability, Listening to All Things

Dimon immediately told Ship Zuizui to continue sailing toward Reverse Mountain. He returned to the captain's cabin and quickly began his research.

"You're a mature Devil Fruit now..."

"Animation!"

The words themselves meant nothing; they were just his own little ritual.

He infused the Den Den Mushi Fruit with the power of Animation. The next moment, the round Devil Fruit began to change shape, transforming in the blink of an eye into a...

"It really is a Den Den Mushi?"

"Master."

"A Den Den Mushi is a Den... Huh? Wait, your voice!"

The voice hadn't reached his ears. It had sounded directly in Dimon's mind.

"Is that your ability?" Dimon looked pleasantly surprised. The fruit didn't seem quite as useless as it looked.

"These are Thought Waves. I transmit my voice into your mind in the form of Thought Waves, Master."

Thought Waves?

Dimon fell into thought.

If he remembered correctly, the Den Den Mushi in the world of pirates weren't mechanical creations invented by humans.

They were creatures that existed in nature, and they relied on Thought Waves to communicate like telephones.

Perhaps they were something like electromagnetic waves.

In any case, Thought Waves could transmit sound and even images.

For example, one type of Den Den Mushi was called a "Visual Den Den Mushi." It could transmit the images it saw in the form of Thought Waves.

When other Visual Den Den Mushi received the Thought Waves, it was as though they had seen the images with their own eyes.

Humans took advantage of this to project the images they saw onto a screen. Thus, there were Visual Den Den Mushi, which could even be used as movie projectors.

The world of pirates couldn't do without Den Den Mushi, just as the West couldn't lose Jerusalem!

"I have a great idea!"

Dimon, brimming with ideas, smiled kindly. "Next, we're going to conduct an experiment. First, change back into your original form."

The Den Den Mushi Fruit was like a newborn baby, its eyes as innocent as a college student's, unaware of the world's dangers.

It obeyed the order and changed back into a Devil Fruit.

Dimon lightly pressed his right index finger against the fruit and gave an order to [A Breath of Fresh Wind] coiled around his fingertip:

"Try taking a bite."

Compared to the things he had animated later, A Breath of Fresh Wind had little intelligence to speak of. It was merely a wisp of breeze from Sleepy Town.

Now, having received its order, [A Breath of Fresh Wind] tried to devour the Den Den Mushi Fruit.

The wind in the captain's cabin gradually grew louder, but the fruit on the table didn't budge.

Just as Dimon thought it would fail, the increasingly violent wind suddenly died down.

Immediately afterward, a voice rang out of thin air.

"Master!"

Along with the voice, A Breath of Fresh Wind swirled merrily around Dimon.

"Did it work?"

Dimon looked at the table. The fruit was still sitting there, but he could clearly tell that the voice just now had been the wind speaking.

"Master, I changed hosts. I'm residing in this breeze now."

The Den Den Mushi Fruit's joyful voice rang directly in Dimon's mind.

It really worked...

Dimon was astonished. Sure enough, he hadn't developed even one percent of Animation's potential.

Things brought to life through Animation could actually eat Devil Fruits!

[Making inanimate objects eat Devil Fruits]

That was a technology mastered only by Vegapunk, a scientist five hundred years ahead of the world.

Now Dimon had accomplished it with ease. The only difference was that Vegapunk used science, while he used his talent for Animation.

What was more, the thing that had gained a Devil Fruit ability was a breeze, not a common sword or gun!

"Wait, something's not quite right."

All of a sudden, Dimon noticed a detail.

By rights, the wind should have eaten the Devil Fruit and become an ability user. But the reality seemed to be the opposite: the Den Den Mushi Fruit had changed hosts, and the consciousness clearly in control of the newly fused creation belonged to the fruit.

"Interesting!"

"Anyway, let's give you a name first. You're the second Devil Fruit to gain sentience after Mammon, so let's just call you..."

"[Ain]!"

Chapter 9: Ain's Ability, Listening to All Things

Dimon named the fusion of [A Breath of Fresh Wind] and the [Den Den Mushi Fruit] Ain, a name that suited its formless, intangible nature, without outline or flesh and blood.

"Yes, Master."

Ain expressed his delight again. He still spoke through Thought Waves rather than vibrating the air to transmit sound.

"Let's call that ability of yours [Telepathy]. Does it have a range limit?"

"I can communicate with you from very, very far away, Master."

"How far is very far?"

"...I don't know either. I'm still a child."

"..."

His intelligence wasn't much to speak of. He really was a bit like a child.

Dimon set aside further investigation for the time being and asked instead, "If you can transmit sound, what about images?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a clear image appeared in Dimon's mind.

It was an image of the captain's cabin, looking down at himself from above, somewhat like the third-person view in a game.

"You can do that too!"

"It's my first time seeing myself from this angle. A third-person perspective?"

Dimon realized the value of this ability.

Ain didn't seem to have much combat ability. At most, he could whip up a strong wind, which would only work against ordinary people, but he would be unbeatable at reconnaissance.

"Can you transmit my voice into other people's minds?"

"I'll try..."

Aside from him, the only other person aboard was Mammon, standing guard on deck.

Ain tried to transmit a Telepathy message into Mammon's mind.

"No, Master. It seems I can only transmit images and sounds into your mind. But if the target is a Den Den Mushi, I can do it as long as I have its specific contact number."

Why was that?

Could it have something to do with Animation?

Dimon looked thoughtful. That was most likely the reason; otherwise, there was no reason it should work for him but not Mammon.

But that was only a minor problem. He could simply have Ain fly over to Mammon and produce sound by disturbing the air.

"Right, there's another experiment."

Dimon turned his attention back to the fruit on the table, only to pause in surprise when he saw it.

The originally pale-red fruit had not only lost its color and become an ordinary orange fruit, but the spiral patterns on its skin had also disappeared.

"Did it... turn back into ordinary fruit?"

Dimon examined it in surprise, then picked it up and peeled it, confirming that it was an ordinary orange.

He had intended to test whether someone taking a bite of the original body of a Devil Fruit that had gained sentience could create another ability user.

It certainly didn't look possible now.

The essence of a Devil Fruit's ability was a special power. That power now resided in [A Breath of Fresh Wind], so its original host had lost the form and effects a Devil Fruit should have.

That, in turn, set him thinking again.

If the Den Den Mushi Fruit could reside in A Breath of Fresh Wind, could it leave of its own accord?

"Can you do that?" Dimon asked seriously. "This is important."

"Yes, Master. I can return to the fruit whenever I want."

"In other words, if I had you reside in a human, you could leave whenever you wanted too?"

"No, no. Humans have a very strong sense of self."

Ain hurriedly explained, afraid that Dimon would have him reside in a human.

After talking it over, Dimon more or less understood.

A human's strong sense of self would suppress Ain's consciousness, making it difficult both to enter a human host and to leave one.

It wasn't impossible, just very risky.

In fact, the same was true not only of humans but of other intelligent beings as well. The stronger a creature's sense of self, the greater the danger.

As he pondered, Dimon lightly tapped his fingers on the table, making a series of clicking sounds.

"In other words, as long as I let you leave, you can leave?"

"So you want me to reside in you, Master?"

Ain's earlier tone changed, and he became eager to try.

Your ability is good, but it isn't suited to combat...

Dimon pondered. If this worked, wouldn't he be able to call upon the power of any devil whenever he wanted in the future?

And he wouldn't have to worry about the side effect of being vulnerable to seastone!

"Sure enough, I haven't developed even one percent of Animation's potential!"

With no one at the helm, the Wave-Breaking Warrior sailed slowly across the sea, against the Grand Line's magnetic route.

"Master."

On deck, Mammon stood straight at his post by the cabin door. Seeing Dimon emerge from the cabin looking excited, he took the initiative to greet him.

"Mammon, I just thought of a faster way. We'll charge into the Calm Belt in a bit!"

Dimon looked eager to try.

During his conversation with Ain, he had suddenly realized something important. Ain's ability could whip up strong winds. Though they couldn't compare to the gales and storms at sea, they were more than enough to propel a ship forward.

And where was the East Blue?

It lay just east of the first half of the Grand Line, separated from it only by a long, narrow stretch of sea called the "Calm Belt"!

As the name suggested, it was a windless stretch of sea where ships could not sail.

Besides that, it was also a nest for gigantic Sea Kings.

As long as they could solve those two major problems, crossing the Calm Belt was not impossible.

"Mammon."

"Yes."

"You deal with the Sea Kings and keep the ship safe."