Zoro stood at the edge of the massive scar carved into the earth by Dorry's sword, placing his hand on his blade as he replayed that incredible strike in his mind.
What struck him most was that this was the only flying slash Dorry had released during the entire duel. Not because he couldn't do more, but because their battle had always come down to pure endurance rather than flashy techniques.
For Dorry and Brogy, everything was perfectly matched. Trying to win through raw power or fancy moves alone was basically impossible when your opponent was your exact equal in every way.
So naturally, their battles always dragged on until the very end, sustained purely by willpower.
But did that mean they weren't fighting at full strength? Hell no. They were giving everything they had, every single time.
They just weren't wasting energy on pointless displays of power.
Over this hundred-year war, neither giant had remained stagnant. They'd both grown stronger.
That massive hundred-meter slash had actually been redirected by Brogy's shield, which had deflected and channeled its force.
Looking around, Zoro spotted another sword scar cut into the ground nearby, but this one hadn't created a hundred-meter gash. Hell, it hadn't even damaged the surrounding trees.
"So this is what the old man was talking about," he muttered, touching the unmarked trees. "The ability to cut nothing, and yet still be able to cut through steel."
He looked at the two giants lying on the ground, snoring peacefully in their sleep. Both of them could unleash that same type of slash.
"If I can't even achieve this basic level of control, then I might as well forget about surpassing Mihawk."
He remembered how, even though Dorry's slash had sent him flying, he hadn't been injured at all. That kind of precision went way beyond simple power control, it was complete mastery over the blade.
Drawing Wado Ichimonji, he swung it forward. The trees ahead were sliced clean through, crashing to the ground.
"No... this isn't it at all."
He sheathed the blade and tried again, this time focusing on the feeling rather than the motion.
The giants had shown him something he'd never truly understood before, that true strength wasn't about how much you could destroy, but about how precisely you could control that destruction.
"One more time," he muttered, settling into his stance.
Meanwhile, the rest of the crew was processing what they'd witnessed during the battle.
Luffy sprawled out on the grass, staring up at the sky. "Those giants are seriously strong."
"That's exactly what I want to become!" Usopp's eyes burned with admiration.
"What, you want to become a giant?" Sanji chuckled, lighting up a cigarette.
"No!" Usopp shot back immediately. "I mean their belief in fighting for honor! That conviction!"
Nami looked puzzled. "But they've been fighting for a hundred years over who caught the bigger fish. How is that honorable?"
"You don't get it," Usopp said, surprising everyone with his serious tone. "It's not about the fish. It's about keeping your word, no matter what. They made a promise to settle their dispute through combat, and they've kept that promise for a century. That's... that's the kind of man I want to be."
Vivi nodded slowly. "I think I understand. In Arabasta, we have similar traditions. Once you give your word as a warrior, you're bound by it until death."
"Exactly!" Usopp beamed, then deflated slightly. "Though I'm not sure I have that kind of courage yet."
"You will," Luffy said with absolute certainty, not even bothering to sit up. "When the time comes, you'll do what needs to be done."
Sanji turned to Marcus. "Hey, can you give me some ingredients. If I'm right, we're gonna be feeding some very hungry giants soon."
"What do you need?"
"Cooked beef, the best quality stuff. About twenty pieces should do it."
Marcus raised an eyebrow. "That's it? You sure that's enough? We're talking about feeding giants here."
"Trust me, it'll work. I'll chop up the beef, mix it into other dishes, then cook everything a second time," Sanji explained with a smile. "Plus, after that battle, they're going to need more than just calories. They'll need something to help them recover."
Marcus nodded and accessed his transmutation tablet, purchasing high-quality cooked beef and handing it over.
Sanji immediately got to work, already planning his next culinary masterpiece. He'd learned a lot about Marcus' food and how it interacted with normal ingredients. The key was finding the right ratios and cooking methods to maximize the effects.
Kira sidled up to Marcus. "By the way, why did you fall from the sky earlier?"
"Oh, that..." Marcus scratched his head sheepishly.
"I went to check out the volcano crater, right? I wanted to see if I could convert lava. Turns out I could, but I accidentally converted way too much. When I stopped the process, all that lava surged back at once and the volcano erupted, launching me straight into the sky."
Kira's eyes went wide. "Wait! Doesn't that mean you were surrounded by lava? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Marcus said with an awkward laugh.
The truth was way more complicated than he was letting on. Because of the water buckets he carried, whenever lava started flowing toward him, it instantly solidified into obsidian. For a short while, this worked perfectly, creating a protective barrier and preventing dangerous air pockets from forming.
But as he dug deeper into the crater, the opening kept getting wider and wider. When he finally withdrew all the water and mined out the obsidian he'd created, the sunken lava immediately surged upward to fill the massive void he'd left behind.
It was like bouncing a ball on water, except the ball was him and the water was several thousand tons of molten rock. The rebound force had launched him into the air.
If lava flowed as fast as water, he probably would've been blasted several thousand meters, into the sky, becoming the first person to accidentally visit space in the One Piece world.
He checked his transmutation interface, where the Bomb-Bomb Fruit was slowly being processed.
The progress bar showed ninety-nine percent complete.
He was excited about this. After all, wasn't he working so hard specifically to convert the Bomb-Bomb Fruit into a Minecraft item?
Under his watchful gaze, the transmutation finally finished.
The fruit's appearance remained exactly the same, it hadn't turned blocky like other converted items.
He focused his consciousness on it and saw the price: 1,000,000 EMC. A nice, round number.
That seems way too cheap. Maybe there's a huge difference between selling and buying prices?
With that thought, he sold the Bomb-Bomb Fruit and watched one million EMC get added to his account. Then he checked the purchase interface.
2,000,000 EMC.
Exactly what he'd expected. The transmutation tablet wasn't making any exceptions for Devil Fruits, standard 100% markup.
But still...
This price is ridiculous. It cost eighty million EMC to convert this thing, and now buying and selling is this cheap?
He was baffled by the economics of it all. Either the transmutation process was incredibly inefficient, or there was some hidden value he wasn't seeing yet.
At the exact moment he sold the Bomb-Bomb Fruit, somewhere several islands away, an ordinary apple quietly transformed.
Looking at his remaining ten million EMC, he bought the Bomb-Bomb Fruit back.
It was identical to when he'd sold it, no changes whatsoever. Even the name was the same: Paramecia-type Bomb-Bomb Fruit.
After thinking for a moment, he bought another one.
Same result.
Clearly, he could now mass-produce Bomb-Bomb Fruits infinitely, and the cost was only two million EMC each.
That was expensive, but definitely affordable if he wanted to create an army of exploding people.
Now came the real test: did this fruit work differently from a normal Devil Fruit?
The problem was that he could sense that since he already had Devil Fruit powers, eating another one would have no effect. He was still bound by the fundamental rule: one person, one Devil Fruit.
That meant Luffy, Alvida, and Kira probably couldn't eat another one either.
But he was curious about one thing: what would happen if someone ate two identical Devil Fruits?
Would they become stronger? Would the powers conflict and cancel each other out? Would nothing happen at all?
Or maybe the eighty million EMC he'd spent just gave him the right to mass-produce them, without any additional effects?
Who should I test this on... Marcus pondered, looking around at his crewmates.
Soon enough, he approached Usopp with his fruit.
"Hey, want a Devil Fruit?"
Caught completely off guard, Usopp tilted his head.
"You actually got another Devil Fruit?!" He was surprised. He knew Marcus seemed to have a knack for finding them, but this was still unexpected.
"What kind of power does it have?"
The others quickly gathered around. Even Zoro paused his training to listen.
Marcus pulled out the Devil Fruit.
"Paramecia-type Bomb-Bomb Fruit."
"Isn't that Mr. 5's ability?!" Vivi exclaimed in shock.
"Well, he's been dealt with, and I happened to acquire his power," Marcus said vaguely, shrugging it off.
Alvida remained silent. She hadn't found the bomb guy, but she had captured Miss Valentine instead, who was currently tied up back in Whisky Peak. That's why she'd rushed to find Marcus earlier, but he'd told her not to worry about it.
The others crowded around curiously, examining the bomb-shaped fruit.
Usopp stared at the Bomb-Bomb Fruit, his eyes flickering with interest. He couldn't deny it, he was envious of Luffy and Marcus. Saying otherwise would be a lie.
Back when he'd first learned about Devil Fruits, he hadn't seriously considered eating one because he felt embarrassed about it, and honestly thought it didn't suit his fighting style.
But now, faced with this Bomb-Bomb Fruit... he was tempted.
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