Kizaru had made his selection long before Amon even gave the word. The mont Robin had finished choosing her jar, he had locked onto the yellow one and never looked away. The berries were handed over and the jar was plucked from the display.
This crafty old Admiral had been planning this from the start.
Amon stared at him and felt the slow, sinking realization settle in. He had been maneuvered. The shaving condition, the instant compliance, all of it had been Kizaru executing a plan he had walked in with. The man had simply been waiting for the right mont to present itself.
"Honestly," Amon muttered to no one in particular.
While he was still processing this, Kizaru had already raised the jar and brought it down sharply against his knee. The jar split apart cleanly, and two items tumbled out into his waiting hand.
A book and a pill.
The book made Kizaru's eyes brighten imdiately. His mory of his earlier book was fond, to put it mildly, and the sight of another book coming out of a jar carried a certain pleasant promise. He didn't know what this one was yet, but he felt good about it.
The pill, on the other hand, made him quietly apprehensive. He had just watched Crocodile consu a Gender-Swap Pill not long ago, and the experience of witnessing that had left him cautious about pills in general. He had no interest in waking up a different person. And if it turned out to be a Beauty Elixir, well, that was no use to him either, though he supposed he could sell it to Crocodarny and retire off the profit.
"Hey, Amon. Give a read on these, would you?"
He had already accepted that he couldn't see the item properties himself. He passed both objects to Amon and waited.
"Sure." Amon took them and ran the system's scan across both items in quick succession.
The first entry appeared.
*"Laughing Toad-Leap Affliction"*, A poison of an old shinobi clan's devising, its origins traced to the tales of the Gallant Jiraiya. Upon consumption, the afflicted cannot take a single walking step, or they will die on the spot. Movent is restricted to hopping. Uncontrollable laughter will occur at frequent intervals. Effects last one month before naturally dissolving. Composed alongside its primary compounds of wasabi root, sansho pepper, and yomogi to create a fortifying base. Those who endure the full month of effects will erge with one-tenth of their total power increased as a reward for their suffering.
Amon blinked at it.
Then read it again.
The Laughing Toad-Leap Affliction. He recognized it imdiately from old stories, a legendary poison straight out of the tales of the Gallant Jiraiya. The fact that it had co out of a jar was absurd enough on its own. But the description read less like sothing you'd find in a treasure and more like a punishnt soone had gone to considerable trouble to disguise as a gift. One month of hopping around while laughing uncontrollably, with instant death as the penalty for forgetting the rules, and at the end of all that, a modest cultivation boost as compensation.
He set it aside and moved on to the book.
The cover gave him pause. The first two words he saw were Tiger Magic.
Tiger Magic. As in, the Tiger Magic Divine Art. The legendary peak-tier technique from the great bujutsu classics. The kind of thing martial artists devoted entire lifetis to chasing.
He looked closer.
Then he nearly choked.
The full title, in clear and perfectly legible text, read as follows:
Tiger Magic Bottle Rice Cooker Instruction Manual: A comprehensive guide to the correct operation and maintenance of the Tiger Magic Bottle Rice Cooker.
Amon stood very still for a mont.
The system had a deeply personal sense of humor.
He had seen Tiger Magic and his mind had gone imdiately to ancient sacred scripture, to esoteric bujutsu techniques and the secrets of divine power. And the system had delivered him a kitchen appliance manual. From a real brand. With usage steps.
The laughter that wanted to co out was considerable, and he held it back through sheer professionalism.
"Hoy, looks like my luck held up nicely," Kizaru said brightly, reading Amon's barely-contained expression as a positive sign and drifting closer. Robin, who had been quietly experinting with her new Armant Haki, glanced over as well.
"Not just nicely. Spectacularly. I'm almost envious," Amon said, keeping his face straight.
Kizaru's chest puffed slightly. The last ti Amon had said sothing similar, he had walked away with a great book and a treatise on maximizing Devil Fruit techniques. His expectations were climbing fast.
"Tell about the book first. That's the one I'm really interested in."
"The book. Right." Amon coughed into his fist. "Now, I want you to pay attention to the first two words on the cover."
"Tiger Magic," Kizaru read.
"Tiger Magic," Amon confird, nodding gravely. "A divine art of trendous power. Those who master it can elevate their strength to an entirely new level. The ceiling it offers is... well. It depends on the reader's natural insight. Whether you can draw the full potential out of it is another matter entirely."
Kizaru stared at the book with reverence.
"Hand it over," Amon said solemnly. "And may your insight prove worthy."
The handoff was ceremonial. Kizaru accepted the book with both hands, eyes already scanning the cover with intense focus, and flipped it open.
He read the title.
He read it again.
Then he read the first step.
"Tiger Magic... Rice Cooker Instruction Manual?"
A long pause followed.
"Boss. This doesn't quite match what you described." His voice was impressively level for a man holding a kitchen manual. "This appears to be a guide to operating a rice cooker."
He read aloud:
"Step 1: Before use, unplug the power cord. Rinse the inner pot thoroughly with clean water. Step 2: asure the rice using the provided cup, rinse until the water runs clear, then place it into the inner pot. Step 3..."
He stopped.
Looked up.
Looked back down.
"Amon. You said it was a divine art."
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