Hey everyone. It's Sue.
These days I'm living the writer's life—free and unhurried—while also, apparently, moonlighting as a pirate.
They call me the "Pirate Literary Master," but in my head, writing is the real job. The pirate part is… a side hustle. Or maybe just something I got dragged into. Either way, that's how I see it, so keep that in mind.
Oh, and I just released a new book.
It's called Blade of the Shattered Sea.
It's about a boy whose family is slaughtered by a pirate with Devil Fruit powers.
His only surviving sister is twisted into a monster by that same Ability User—fated to be hunted down and killed like a beast if nothing changes.
To save her, and to stop anyone else from suffering the same fate, the boy vows to bring down the man responsible. He joins the Sea Breaker Corps, an organization that hunts the Ability User and the grotesque creatures under his command, and throws himself into a brutal war against them.
…That's the gist.
So why did I write it?
Because the other day, I rode the Sea Train that just opened.
Honestly, it was incredible. It connects cities so smoothly, and the ride is absurdly comfortable. I was genuinely impressed.
I chose a late-night lull since there were a lot of government officials on board… but even then, it was still crowded.
Still, I think this is about as "uncrowded" as it gets right now.
It only just opened, so people are still in that stage where they're squinting at it and thinking, Is it really safe? Is it secure? I saw plenty of folks at the stations eyeing the Sea Train like it might bite them.
But I hopped on anyway.
And that got me thinking about a film from my past life—the one that made a "forty-billion man"—and the manga it was based on. So I decided to rewrite it for this world, making the setting and concepts easier for readers here to grasp.
I really hope it catches on. I want as many people as possible to read it.
Anyway. Setting that aside…
Today, I had visitors I hadn't seen in ages: Stella and Tesoro.
After the Mary Geoise incident, the two of them started living together. I'd heard Tesoro found work not long after, but we haven't stayed in close contact, so I didn't know the details.
I'm a pirate—unwillingly, but still. If anyone learned they were close to me, it would only bring trouble down on their heads.
So we only exchanged occasional Den Den Mushi calls and letters. The letters went through Morgans' company, so the Marines and the Government couldn't trace them. Overall, it sounded like Tesoro's "business" was going well, so I hadn't worried too much.
It had been over a year since we last met face-to-face… and apparently, he came to consult me about something.
As usual, we met in a private room at a restaurant—somewhere we could talk without anyone overhearing. And when I heard what he said…
"Wait, Tesoro… you became an Ability User?!"
"Yeah. During a deal, I got my hands on a Devil Fruit, so I ate it. If my predictions were right, the power should've given me access to limitless wealth… or at least that's what I thought."
When Tesoro brought it to me, I'd agreed. Having money is never a bad thing. And even if he didn't eat it, just keeping it—let alone trying to move it through the black market—felt far too dangerous. So I told him he might as well take the risk himself.
Limitless wealth.
That was… a claim with teeth.
If even Stella—who normally wants nothing to do with the underworld—felt this fruit was dangerous just to possess, then what kind of power was it?
"What kind of fruit is it? What's it called?"
"The Gold-Gold Fruit. They say it lets you manipulate gold freely… and even create it endlessly. But…"
My stomach sank.
A power like that could destabilize the world's economy all by itself. Every greedy hand on the seas would reach for it, noble or criminal—status wouldn't matter.
No wonder Stella said even possessing it was deadly.
"But the way you're saying it…"
"Yeah. The manipulation part seems real. But creating gold… no matter what I try, there isn't even a hint of it."
"So it was just a fake rumor?"
"No. It's not only in the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia. It's in other old texts too. And… I don't know. I feel like it's there. I can't prove it—just a gut feeling."
But instincts like that aren't something you can brush off. Devil Fruit users, especially, often understand their abilities in ways that don't translate to logic.
He could sense it, but couldn't trigger it.
And he couldn't ask anyone else. A man who might be able to produce endless gold—while unable to control it—was a special-grade liability. If the wrong people caught wind, it would become a nightmare overnight.
So after thinking it through, he came to me—someone he trusted, and someone with years of experience as an Ability User.
I was touched, and I wanted to help… but I'd never even heard of the Gold-Gold Fruit.
Was it in the original story? A film? A spin-off?
My knowledge of the source material stops about halfway through, and I've barely watched any of the movies…
For now, I set aside the specifics and treated it like any other Devil Fruit problem.
The simplest answer is usually the right one: lack of mastery.
When I first became a Paper Human, I couldn't control my ability at all. I only managed to use it once through sheer desperation in a crisis, and after that, it took relentless training to make it mine.
Most Devil Fruits are probably like that.
So… practice.
But then a problem surfaced immediately.
"Tesoro. Right now, the only thing you can do is manipulate gold, right?"
"Yeah. Watch."
He took a gold ingot from his pocket and set it on his palm.
The metal softened, writhing like something alive, then reshaped itself into a bracelet.
In rapid succession it became a necklace, a dagger, a wine goblet—then returned smoothly to an ingot again.
Whoa. That's incredible.
It's like alchemy. Like he's rewriting the shape with his will.
"I've been training whenever I have time," he said. "But the problem is…"
"The training itself is hard," I said.
"Yeah. Obviously, to use this power… I need actual gold."
Right.
If you manipulate gold, you can't train without gold.
And gold is expensive.
Even the ingot he was using now was something he'd bought by dipping into his savings.
I've never looked up the price of gold in Beli, so I couldn't say what it cost—but I didn't need numbers to know it wasn't cheap. Training material wouldn't be easy to gather in bulk.
And if the reason he couldn't "create" gold was simply insufficient mastery… then he'd need even more practice to reach the point where it clicked.
Practice required gold.
"…So the power itself demands an upfront investment," I murmured.
"Looks like it. I've never heard of such a miserable ability."
If a poor person ate this fruit, it would be wasted on them.
"Finding large amounts of gold isn't easy," Tesoro said quietly. "Sure, robbing a vault would be the fastest way. But it would draw the Marines. And more than that… I decided I'm never going to profit by making innocent people suffer. I won't become the kind of man Stella would be ashamed to stand beside."
"Tesoro…"
"That's how it should be," I said. "People should live the way they choose."
He blinked, then gave a small, grateful nod. "Thanks. But… it still leaves the problem unsolved. If only I had something like your ability—something that transforms your own body. That would make practice so much easier."
"So if your body turned to gold…"
"Exactly. I could reshape myself freely. It'd be a lot simpler."
I pictured it without thinking.
Tesoro's dull green hair, his well-fitted suit, the polished shoes, his handsome face—all of it turning into glittering gold.
A golden Tesoro statue.
…No. That felt wrong. Deeply wrong.
"Sue. Sue."
"Hm? What is it, Stella?"
"Your face," she said with a wry smile. "You're thinking something weird."
"Huh?"
When I glanced at Tesoro, he had that strained look—like he was holding back words for the sake of politeness.
Ah. Sorry. I got carried away.
Even if his body were gold, I didn't think mastery would come that easily, anyway.
I'd been an Ability User since I was thirteen. I'd honed my power through bounty hunting, fights, survival—years of real use. I was confident my mastery had improved a lot.
And yet I still hadn't reached…
"…Ah," I said softly. "Maybe that's it."
"Hm?" Stella tilted her head. "What is?"
"I was thinking… Tesoro's 'gold creation' might actually be the Gold-Gold Fruit's Awakening."
"…Awakening?" Tesoro echoed. "What's that?"
Since he clearly didn't know, I explained.
Devil Fruits have a stage beyond ordinary usage—Awakening.
When an Ability User reaches it, their power becomes something else entirely. Depending on the fruit, it can manifest in different ways, but it's always a leap.
For Paramecia-type fruits, it often means affecting the environment around you.
In the original story, Donquixote Doflamingo's Awakened String-String Fruit let him turn his surroundings into string and manipulate them like extensions of his body.
My Paper-Paper Fruit and Tesoro's Gold-Gold Fruit are both Paramecia.
If I ever Awakened, I suspected it would be something like turning surrounding objects into paper.
And if Tesoro's fruit worked the same way…
"The ability to… turn surrounding objects into gold," Tesoro said slowly. "That might be the Awakening…?"
"It's only a possibility," I cautioned.
If the power wasn't "creating gold from nothing," but transforming existing matter into gold… that would make far more sense.
With that thought in mind, Tesoro's eyes sharpened with a new kind of resolve.
…Even so, Awakening isn't something you stroll into.
Not to brag, but I've trained for nearly a decade, used my ability in real combat, pushed it to the edge again and again—and I still haven't reached that realm.
And honestly… what are the conditions, anyway? If I could even identify them, it would make everything easier. But the original work never laid it out clearly.
…Maybe I should ask Rayleigh.
"So in the end, I still have to practice," Tesoro said, exhaling. "This is going to take forever."
"That's fine," Stella said gently. "You were planning to live without these powers anyway, weren't you? Just train when you can."
"Yeah," he admitted. "But now that I've eaten it, I want to master it. Otherwise I'm just… a useless landlubber."
"Ah, yeah," I said. "That would feel like a waste. If you want to improve faster, you need scale—use your power on a larger quantity so you can get a real sense of it."
If only we could.
Gold is too precious.
And then—
Wait.
"…Gold," I murmured. "I might be able to manage a little."
"Huh?"
Tesoro and Stella exchanged a confused glance, startled by my sudden shift.
"Tesoro. Stella," I said, leaning forward slightly. "Are you both free this time next week?"
"I don't think I have anything scheduled," Stella said.
"Then…" I smiled. "How about you two come with me on a little 'research trip'?"
To be continued...