"The destructive power of one of the three great pirates of the last era?"
Sitting on the sarcophagus, Karina looked down at the battered archipelago that, though not sunk, lay in ruins, replaying the apocalyptic scenes from monts ago.
Even with absolute defense, she couldn’t suppress a chill.
"Karl actually defeated a monster like that. Are you the strongest in the world now?" Nami asked.
"The strongest? I’m still far from it."
Fresh from the lessons Shiki had dealt him, Karl shook his head. "Senior Shiki’s strength was greatly weakened. That one strike where he took back his power was his strongest—and it cost him his life."
"Without Haki covering it, no matter how wide or destructive, an attack doesn’t work on a Logia."
"The real target of that move was himself."
"The seawater coating was only to raise the odds of dragging down with him."
He patted the black sarcophagus. "He clawed back power lost for nearly twenty years, but he also left both legs in Impel Down. His Haki and swordsmanship could never return to their peak."
"That finisher was purely the Float-Float Fruit’s ultimate."
"You’re kidding—power like that, from a fruit alone?"
Staring again at the archipelago floating on the White Sea, the won were wide-eyed—except Robin, who remained calm. "Like the Quake-Quake Fruit among Paracia, the Float-Float Fruit is said to hold world-ending power. Golden Lion Shiki stood as a legend beside the Pirate King Roger and the world’s strongest man, Whitebeard, with that fruit and unparalleled swordsmanship."
"So aweso."
Karina tapped Nami’s shoulder with a grin. "Hee-hee... Little Cat Burglar, it’s finally your turn."
"Eh... what do you an?"
Blinking in confusion as the topic swerved to her, Nami tilted her head.
"You’re about to beco the next Golden Lion. Aren’t you happy?" Karina teased.
"Eh?! Eh—eh—eh..."
Nami flailed, pointing between Karl and Karina. "Don’t tell —you want to eat the Float-Float Fruit?!"
"What else?"
Karina rolled her eyes, pointing around. "I’ve got the Barrier-Barrier Fruit. Perona has the Ghost-Ghost Fruit. Sister Robin has the Flower-Flower Fruit. Little White and Karl use the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. Besides you, who can take it?"
"Isn’t Karl’s ability because of Little White’s racial talent?"
Nami’s line made the others jolt—and rattled their worldview. "Karl can use the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, but he isn’t actually a fruit user, right? If he ate the Float-Float Fruit, wouldn’t he and Little White beco a double-fruit combo at sea?"
"So you can eat another one?!" Karina’s eyes sparkled like a gar finding a glitch. She stared at Karl. "Your body can ’again’ take a Devil Fruit, can’t it?"
"It could, but I won’t."
Karl spoke patiently. "With my special physique and special weapon, I already hold absolute advantage in this world."
"If I beco a fruit user, that unmatched edge turns into my greatest weakness."
"So before I t Little White, I wouldn’t beco a user."
He paused. "I actually prepared the Rumble-Rumble Fruit for Nami first. Then I guessed Little White’s innate talent could split one invincible power into two without adding weaknesses, so I tried it."
"Turns out I was right."
He grinned. "I don’t fear seawater or Sea Prism Stone. Only Haki and elental counters can hurt . I’m the most ’perfect’ kind of ability user in the world."
"Unless the side effects of Devil Fruits can be erased, I won’t let a flaw stain a perfect body."
"I see."
The won nodded, enlightened.
"Then the Float-Float Fruit is yours, Little Cat Burglar." Karina patted Nami’s shoulder again.
Nami wavered. "Isn’t it a waste to give such a rare, powerful fruit to ?"
Pfft.
Karina finally understood and laughed. "So that’s the hang-up. Since when did the future world’s greatest navigator get so shy?"
"...Actually, Nami has two options," Karl said, offering his original plan. "If the Celestial Dragon incident hadn’t happened, my first target was to take the Paracia Gold-Gold Fruit from the world’s richest man, Gild Tesoro, and make Nami a ’golden woman.’"
"Gold-Gold Fruit? Golden woman?"
Hearts sparkled in Nami’s eyes. "Can that fruit create gold?"
"If it awakens, it can temporarily turn nearby matter into gold—but only briefly."
Karl nodded, then shook his head. "It can’t create gold from nothing. It turns the user’s body to gold and controls and refines existing gold."
"Sounds kind of niche compared to the Float-Float Fruit."
Nami’s excitent deflated.
"Of course. The Float-Float Fruit may be one of the few that could end the world—top tier among Paracia," Karina said.
Karl ruffled Nami’s hair. "Your choice. If you pick the Gold-Gold Fruit, I’ll recruit another non-user for our lineup."
"I’ll take the Float-Float Fruit."
Nami raised her hand. "If ’wasting’ this power on hurts your heart—too bad."
"Don’t worry. I won’t let it go to waste," Karl said, aningful. "Once you’re a user, I’ll put you through hell training."
"Eeh... that sounds awful!"
Inside the sarcophagus, Shiki’s life aura had been gone for minutes.
Karl lifted the lid, took out Shiki’s body, then dug through the pile of fruit for one etched with distinctive spirals.
Maybe Lady Luck smiled again.
Or maybe the old era’s overlord left one last gift for the new.
Tossing out the ordinary fruit one by one, Karl finally found, at the bottom, a Devil Fruit several tis larger than the rest, carved with those special spirals.
The Paracia Float-Float Fruit.
"Great. It reincarnated inside the sarcophagus."
Seeing it in Karl’s hand, the won brightened.
This spared them two or three months of searching. Scouring every island below, even with Karl’s unmatched perception, would have taken far longer than their ti in Skypiea.
"Eat it, Nami."
Karl handed her the fruit.
"One bite is enough. It might taste bad—don’t spit it out," Karina warned.
"Mm!"
Nami nodded hard, took the fruit, and bit down with her eyes squeezed shut.
A second later her pretty, still-youthful face turned green and purple.
Gulp.
"Ha... so gross. The worst thing I’ve ever tasted in my life!"
She forced it down, hurled the fruit aside, and exhaled.
"Is it that dramatic?" Perona tilted her head. "Are Devil Fruits really that bad?"
"You don’t think so?"
Karina and Nami stared at her.
"I don’t. I forgot what it was like," Perona said matter-of-factly. "I beca a user when I was little. I barely rember it."
"What about Sister Robin?"
Karina and Nami turned to her.
"...I thought it tasted fine," Robin said with a gentle smile.
To Karina and Nami, that smile felt like a Demon King’s. Of course she was strong—she was Sister Robin.
"Little White, take us down."
While they chatted, Karl had the Blue-Eyes White Dragon carry them back to the center of STRONG WORLD.
In a patch of untouched grass and trees, he dug a grave and buried Shiki.
Out of respect for a legendary pirate—and gratitude for forcing his Conqueror’s Haki to bloom—Karl raised a modest mound and planted the two nad blades before it.
After the simple burial, they helped the surviving people across the islands.
Karl wouldn’t risk his crew for strangers mid-battle.
Afterward, he didn’t mind making ands.
Most people on the isles were "slaves" Shiki had taken. That world-ending technique and the archipelago’s fall had killed many in a man-made cataclysm.
So weren’t ordinary humans, though.
Enough survived to be saved.
Once they’d freed the trapped and the living, the crew mounted Little White and returned to the Blue Sea.
"Wow—this is flying?"
Back aboard, Nami couldn’t wait to test the Float-Float Fruit. She rose over Karina’s head, then touched objects on deck and made them drift like a telekinetic, orbiting Karl.
"Rare flight—so enviable," Karina said, eyes bright as Nami shrugged off gravity.
"Your Barrier-Barrier, Perona’s Ghost-Ghost—plenty of people envy those too," Robin smiled. "With Karl and Little White’s Rumble-Rumble, the least useful fruit here should be my Flower-Flower."
"Sister Robin’s fruit, useless?"
Karina shot back at once. "Without it, our trio wouldn’t be this unbeatable."
"Alala... thanks for the comfort," Robin said, patting Karina’s head like a big sister.
"Now we’re beyond ’unbeatable.’"
Fresh from a shower and dressed down, Karl stepped out. "Barrier for absolute defense, Ghosts for absolute control, Flowers for special attacks, Float-Float for flight and control over non-living matter... We can fly or burrow—do anything."
"Right now, the only ones who can hurt us are special-ability types or monsters whose Haki is honed to extres."
He caught a floating fruit Nami sent his way, took a huge bite, and spoke around it. "No exaggeration—our lineup isn’t weaker than a billion-berry great pirate’s."
"Really? Are we that strong?"
The won looked unconvinced.
"Of course—so long as we don’t et abilities or fighters who can ignore barriers."
As if rembering, Karl’s face turned stern. "Conqueror’s Haki exists. Our wills can still be shaken by it."
"After fighting Senior Shiki, I’ve awakened and grasped Conqueror’s Haki."
"Starting tomorrow, I’ll train you to build immunity against it."
"Especially you, Nami. No slacking. Hell training starts now."
"Eeeeh—nooo!"
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