After four weeks of intensive training, Pablo returned to the factory.
He had not completely neglected it during the past period, but he would visit it from ti to ti to check on things himself. He trusted Ido, Lorenzo, and Tom, but blind trust was not in his nature.
Today, Lorenzo was expecting a new shipnt of fruit from a remote island. Pablo decided to be present.
He stood beside Lorenzo in the reception section. The carts began arriving one after another. The wooden boxes were opened, and the fruit was sorted.
Lorenzo worked quickly. He distinguished the good from the bad with an expert eye.
Pablo was watching. Not because he needed to help. Because he wanted to see with his own eyes.
Then his eyes stopped on sothing.
In one of the boxes, among the piles of ordinary fruit, there was one different fruit.
Yellow in color. Its shape was strange. Swirling patterns covered its entire surface.
Pablo had never seen anything like it before.
But he knew what it was.
A Devil Fruit.
His heart stopped for a mont.
His hands froze. His mouth opened but no words ca out.
Lorenzo looked at him. He saw Pablo standing like a statue, his eyes fixed on the yellow fruit in his hand.
"Pablo? Are you alright?"
He did not reply.
"Pablo!"
Pablo snapped himself out of the shock. He looked at Lorenzo with eyes that did not see what was in front of him.
"Nothing. I... nothing."
He hid the fruit under his clothes quickly. He placed it inside his shirt.
"I need to go to the headquarters. Finish the work here."
He did not wait for a reply. He walked quickly. He almost ran.
Lorenzo remained standing, watching him walk away. He did not understand what had happened.
---
At the headquarters, Pablo closed the door of his room on the upper floor.
He took the fruit out from under his clothes. He placed it on the table in front of him.
He sat looking at it.
A Devil Fruit.
Sothing he had been thinking about since arriving in this world. Sothing he knew would change everything.
But now, with the fruit in front of him, he felt hesitation for the first ti in a long while.
What if it was a bad fruit? What if its power did not suit him? What if it made him weaker instead of stronger?
And what about the sea? The sea's curse. Whoever eats a Devil Fruit cannot swim. Loses their strength in water.
Was he ready for this?
He looked at the fruit. Then at his hands. Then at the fruit again.
He rembered everything.
He rembered Verona. Poverty. Hunger. Fear.
He rembered Naraka. Working at the factory. Embezzlent. Building the gang.
He rembered Marco. Lorenzo. Ido. Tom.
He rembered every night he spent planning, calculating, afraid to make a mistake.
He had co this far. To this mont.
A Devil Fruit in front of him. For free. By chance. Fate.
He took a deep breath.
"Since it ca to by itself, I will gamble on my luck."
He raised the fruit to his mouth. He bit into it.
The taste was disgusting.
He had never tasted anything like it in his life. Not in this world, nor in his previous world.
The taste of rot. Indescribable bitterness. Tasting like chewing a rotten tree bark mixed with soap and dirt.
He almost vomited. Almost spat it out.
But he swallowed.
He swallowed by force. His eyes watering from the disgust.
He breathed deeply. He waited.
---
Nothing happened.
His body did not change. No power appeared. He did not feel anything different.
He looked at his hand. He raised it. Lowered it.
Nothing happened.
"What?" he whispered.
He tried again. He imagined sothing. He focused. He tried to feel a power inside him.
Nothing.
He sat on the ground. He felt frustrated.
He ate a Devil Fruit... and nothing changed.
"Maybe I need ti. Maybe the power does not appear imdiately." he told himself.
But inside, he doubted.
He stood up. He left the room. He went down the stairs to the ground floor.
He left the headquarters and went outside.
---
The weather was sunny. Very sunny.
The sun was high, scorching. The humidity was high. The air was heavy.
Pablo raised his hands to shield his eyes from the harsh sunlight.
And at that mont...
Everything changed.
Suddenly, for no reason, clouds began to gather above him to hide the sun that had been bothering him.
They were not ordinary clouds. They ford with unnatural speed. They gathered directly above the headquarters. As if an invisible hand was pushing them to that very spot.
Pablo stopped.
He looked at the sky. Then at his hands.
"Is it... is it possible?"
He tried to imagine the sun returning.
The clouds disappeared. The sun returned, scorching.
He thought of the clouds again, and the clouds returned.
He thought of rain.
Rain began to fall. In a small area only. Above the spot where he was standing. The rest of the area remained completely dry.
Pablo stood under the rain. He was smiling. He could not believe it.
But suddenly, he felt tired.
His body beca heavier. His breathing beca difficult. His head began to spin.
The rain stopped. He could not continue.
He sat on the ground. He breathed with difficulty.
"Exhausted... this quickly?"
He had used his power for only monts, yet he felt as if he had run for hours.
He raised his eyes to the sky. It was clear again.
He understood.
Paracia. A weather-control fruit.
Not Logia. Not Zoan. His power was control over the elents.
Rain. Sun. Clouds. Wind. Perhaps storms, snow, and lightning later.
Everything was possible.
But not now. Now, all he had done was change the weather for a few seconds, and he had almost collapsed from exhaustion.
His power was raw. Weak. It needed training. Ti. Patience.
But the possibilities...
The possibilities were terrifying.
Pablo imagined himself controlling the weather as he pleased. It would be a disaster upon this sea.
Everything was possible.
He stood up. He looked at the sky.
Then he began to laugh.
It was not a quiet laugh. It was a long, loud, almost insane laugh.
He laughed until his eyes watered. He laughed until his stomach hurt.
For the first ti since arriving in this world, he felt that luck was truly on his side.
He no longer needed to rely only on intelligence, money, and gangs.
He now had real power.
Power that would make him different.
Power that would change everything.
He stopped laughing suddenly.
He wiped the tears from his eyes.
He looked at the sky again. Then at his hands.
"All my plans... will change from today."
He opened his small notebook. He wrote one line:
"Devil Fruit: weather control ability (Paracia)."
He closed the notebook.
He knew the road was still long.
But for the first ti, he felt he possessed a real weapon.
Not money. Not n. Not just intelligence.
Power in his body. Power that no one could steal.
He turned his back to the headquarters and went back inside.
He had a lot to think about.
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