"Are all of those… Devil Fruits!?"
Redfield cried out in shock.
Devil Fruits?!
A tree that grew Devil Fruits?!
Could what had appeared before their eyes really be the legendary Devil Fruit Tree?!
During his ti with the Straw Hat Pirates, Redfield had already witnessed more than enough miracles. He had even heard a little about the artificial customization of Devil Fruits.
But when he saw such a magnificent, wondrous sight before him, even an old man like him, already deep in the twilight of his years, could not help screaming in disbelief.
Zoro and the others, who were equally stunned by the scene, also stared dumbfounded at the fruits ahead of them.
"So this is the place where the legendary Devil Fruits are born?" Franky muttered softly, as if asking everyone else, yet also as if talking to himself.
Nami's eyes, anwhile, lit up with golden gleams. "If this really is the place where Devil Fruits are born, then once Dr. Vegapunk finishes researching the situation here, doesn't that an the output of our artificial Devil Fruits could multiply several tis over?!"
Just how vast the market for artificial Devil Fruits was—those who did not participate in that field of work could not even begin to imagine it.
At this very mont, Nami's mind had already begun picturing a scene where the Straw Hat Pirates controlled every Devil Fruit under the heavens and sold them wholesale.
At that ti, perhaps everything really would be just like the sweet dream she had once had—all the wealth in the world gathered into her hands alone. No, gathered into the hands of their entire crew.
"Devil Fruits!?"
Hearing his companions' conversation, Luffy, who had originally been excited, suddenly stopped in his tracks.
"What? I thought they were sothing tasty."
"So they're just Devil Fruits!"
Completely unlike his delighted companions behind him, the instant Luffy learned that the fruits he was looking at were Devil Fruits, his expression collapsed into one of utter disappointnt.
After all, he could not eat Devil Fruits. What was the point of growing so many of them?!
"You idiot!"
At that mont, Zoro strode forward and could not hold back from smacking Luffy on the back of the head.
Then he turned to Nami and Robin.
"Could this tree be the very top of the World Tree?"
"So Devil Fruits are actually born from Elbaf's World Tree?"
"And since the World Tree is here, does that prove this place is already the central area of the Heaven World?"
"Probably close enough," Nami said with a nod before looking overhead.
Unfortunately, because the World Tree's branches were far too lush, she could no longer determine their direction by the angle of the sun.
Smack!
Luffy suddenly struck one fist into his palm and grinned.
"In any case, let's go over and take a look first!"
"The sooner we find the Poneglyph, the sooner we can leave this place."
"Yeah."
Everyone nodded. For once, all of them agreed with Luffy's proposal.
After recovering from their shock, the group did not linger for long and imdiately set off again.
However, as the saying went, a distant mountain could run a horse to death.
Luffy and the others had never imagined that the World Tree, which had clearly looked close enough to be right before their eyes, would still take them a full three days before they finally saw the full form of this towering ancient tree in the Heaven World.
"We… finally made it…"
Directly beneath the World Tree, Luffy supported himself with one hand against the thick, wrinkled bark, looking utterly exhausted.
In truth, with their current stamina, as long as they had sufficient nutrition, forget walking nonstop for ten days—walking for several months would not be much of a problem.
However, the overly dull and tedious days had still delivered a heavy blow to Luffy's restless brain.
Fortunately, there were no Cthulhu-esque beings in the pirate world. Otherwise, with Luffy's personality, he would have beco the plaything of the Old Gods in minutes.
"Wait. These Devil Fruits… seem a little off?"
At that mont, Redfield suddenly spoke, his brows furrowed as he looked toward the top of the World Tree.
"These Devil Fruits are far too small, aren't they?"
Over the many years of his life, Redfield could be considered soone who had seen quite a few Devil Fruits, large and small.
Although Devil Fruits had no standard size, they always gave people the feeling at a glance that they were mature fruits.
Yet the Devil Fruits now hanging above the Straw Hats' heads, while not very different in appearance from Devil Fruits on the sea, sohow gave off the impression that they had not fully ripened yet.
"Could these be… Devil Fruits that haven't finished growing yet?" Franky guessed.
"That is very possible," Robin said from the side with a nod. "Dr. Vegapunk once said that the power of Devil Fruits is transford from the power of people's wishes."
"Through the efforts of Red and Usopp, this has already been proven. The power of wishes born from people's hearts truly does possess the potential to create miracles."
"If that is the case, then there must be so kind of existence in this world capable of gathering and absorbing that wish power, then transforming it into Devil Fruits."
Nami's eyes flashed. "In other words, the World Tree in front of us should be the thing you're talking about, right, Robin?"
"Hey, hey, what exactly are you all doing?!"
Just as everyone was sighing over the wonders of the world, Luffy, who had already grown impatient, suddenly made a strange noise and interrupted their thoughts.
"We ca here to find the Road Poneglyph, didn't we?! Why are you all staring blankly at a tree?!"
"Idiot!"
Bam!!!
Although there was a layer of hard protective suit between them, Nami's punch still left an obvious lump on Luffy's head.
"Do you even know what these Devil Fruits an?! This is one of the greatest secrets hidden in this world!"
"Ow, that hurts!"
He clearly had a protective barrier. He was clearly a rubber man. His strength was clearly far beyond Nami's by who knew how much. Yet after that one punch, Luffy instantly clutched his head and cried out, as if he had suffered so enormous grievance.
But after hearing Nami's shout, Luffy's expression did not change in the slightest.
"What? Aren't they just a bunch of Devil Fruits? Don't we already have as many of that kind of thing as we want?"
"Uh…"
Faced with Luffy's utterly shortsighted and thoughtless statent, Nami was suddenly left speechless.
What he said was not wrong.
With the Straw Hat Pirates' current control over fruit abilities, they had practically reached a point where they no longer had to worry about lacking abilities.
Even identical fruit powers could be replicated in large numbers.
But still…
This was the legendary Devil Fruit Tree!
Shouldn't he at least be a little surprised?!
"All right, Nami."
At that mont, Franky also laughed and stepped forward.
"Luffy's right. We really do already have as many of those things as we want."
"And didn't Redfield say it too? These fruits haven't matured yet. If we picked them all now, it might not necessarily be a good thing."
"Let's record the situation here first, then hand it over to Red and the others to study later!"
"Exactly, exactly!"
Luffy, who had long since grown used to handing troubleso matters over to Red, nodded repeatedly.
This was the vice captain he had dragged onto the ship with his own ability. What was wrong with using him a little more?
"You people…"
Seeing Luffy's habit of leaving everything to Red, Nami's first instinct was to give him a lecture.
But when she thought about how she herself also went to Red whenever sothing happened, her face instantly reddened, and she sighed with slight sha.
"You bunch of guys!"
Zoro also spoke. "According to what the giants said, the Poneglyph should be sowhere nearby. From the look of things, there shouldn't be any danger in the Heaven World that can threaten us, so let's split up and search."
"Split up?!"
The mont Zoro made that suggestion, everyone imdiately shifted their gazes away from the Devil Fruits and the World Tree and onto him.
"Are you sure?" Nami asked doubtfully.
Franky scratched his head awkwardly. "I think we're unfamiliar with this place, so it'd be better not to separate. Even splitting into teams feels unreliable. We should just move together."
Redfield imdiately raised his hand. "I agree!"
Although he had not joined the Straw Hat crew for very long, Redfield had already witnessed just how terrifying Zoro's poor sense of direction was.
Had you ever seen soone who, after eating in his own ship's cabin, could not find the way back to his own room?
Redfield could say that there was one such person standing right in front of him!
After the Going rry's expansion, there were at least eighty rooms in the cabin, if not a hundred, and that had been absolute torture for Zoro, the directionally challenged swordsman.
Almost every ti, Little rry had to appear and help guide him in the correct direction and along the proper route.
Not to ntion the past—just during the recent ten-day journey, Zoro had nearly led everyone off course more than once.
Luckily, Nami was highly sensitive to direction. Otherwise, who knew how long it would have taken them to get here?
The key point was that this guy was terribly directionally challenged, yet he loved walking in front to lead everyone.
Thinking about it was honestly rather helpless.
Under everyone's firm opposition, Zoro's proposed split-up plan did not pass.
In the end, the six of them still moved together and began searching around the massive World Tree for traces of the Road Poneglyph.
Fortunately, the Heaven World was not completely isolated from the outside. With the guidance from the giants, the area where Luffy and the others had landed was already relatively close to the Poneglyph.
After only half a day, they successfully found the final Road Poneglyph.
...
...
"With this, Luffy, you'll soon be able to beco the Pirate King!"
High in the sky, Nami and Franky slowly lifted the rubbing device, preserving all the content on the Road Poneglyph.
On the other side, Robin had already begun translating the Poneglyph directly.
Not only that, Zoro and Redfield beside them had also picked up specially made cara devices and began filming the Poneglyph.
Although with Luffy and the others' strength, a re Poneglyph could be lifted with one hand, even if their bodies could withstand it, their protective suits might not be able to.
So, to be safe, Luffy and the others decided to use electronic, physical, and on-site recording thods, photographing it from every possible angle.
Watching his companions work so seriously and diligently to help him beco the Pirate King, Luffy, who could not help with any of it, stood proudly far behind them with his hands on his hips, his mouth brimming with an irrepressible smile.
After a burst of busy work, everyone finally finished recording the Poneglyph in full.
Robin had also finished translating the coordinates of the final road marker.
At this point, Luffy's throne as Pirate King was already within reach.
"If there's no problem, let's hurry back!"
Luffy, already impatient to complete his first small goal, laughed and made the suggestion.
Naturally, everyone agreed one after another.
Although it had taken them a full ten days to get here, on the way back, everyone simply spread out in a line and suddenly pressed a button on their protective suits.
In an instant, the safety ropes lying on the ground suddenly retracted.
Luffy and the others' bodies shot out at high speed like cannonballs.
...
...
"They're coming!"
At the sa ti, in the temporary island cloud area outside the Heaven World.
Seeing the safety rope device suddenly begin operating, the rest of the Straw Hats, who had been waiting for a long ti, imdiately perked up.
"Red! Red!!!"
Usopp and Chopper, the two living treasures, directly shouted at the top of their lungs, calling for Red, who was busy researching who knew what with Vegapunk.
"Hm? What is it?"
Hearing the two of them shouting as if they were trying to summon his soul, Red imdiately put down the work in his hands and asked.
"The safety rope! The thing controlling the safety rope suddenly moved!!!"
The two living treasures crouched down halfway with exaggerated expressions, stretching both hands out toward the direction of the Heaven World.
"What?! Luffy and the others are coming back?!"
Upon learning the news, Red was delighted. Psychic Power instantly surged out, sending an assembly command to all his companions, and he imdiately walked toward the safety rope area.
The safety rope device specially made by Vegapunk had to be described as astonishingly effective.
From entering the Heaven World to finding the Road Poneglyph, Luffy and the others had spent nearly eleven days. Yet in only three hours, their figures had already appeared at the edge of the Heaven World.
"It's Luffy!"
"Luffy and the others are back!!!"
Little Chopper excitedly waved his arms and danced.
Although he was not the one who would beco Pirate King, as a crewmate of the Pirate King, he felt as proud as if he shared in the glory.
Just like Luffy often said to everyone, without all of them, there was no way he could beco the Pirate King!!!
Bang, bang, bang…
Six heavy protective suits suddenly fell from the sky, yet landed precisely in an open space.
Without needing Luffy and the others to speak, Vegapunk, who had already prepared, pressed a button.
Hiss…
As a cloud of steam-like white mist surged out, the protective suits on Luffy and the others instantly retracted and fell away, revealing their original figures.
"Whoa! It slls like air!"
Suddenly breathing the fresh air of the upper world, Luffy imdiately spread both arms wide and shouted.
Even though the oxygen was thin because this was a sky island, Luffy breathed greedily as if he had arrived on a fresh-air prairie.
However, his action did not last long. Usopp and the enlarged Chopper, who had long since been unable to wait, imdiately rushed forward. Each grabbed one of Luffy's arms and shook him violently.
"How was it?! How was it?!"
"Luffy, did you find the Poneglyph?!"
"Do you even need to ask?!"
Clang!
Without needing Luffy to say anything, Franky walked out from behind him, then looked at Red with a proud grin.
"Red, isn't it about ti to let the rry set sail and help Luffy beco the king of this era?!"
"The king of this era?"
Red raised an eyebrow and looked amusedly at Luffy, who had been stretched into a lump by Usopp and Chopper. Then he said softly,
"Wasn't he already that long ago?"
(End of Chapter)
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