"It's not a dumpling wrapping!"
Perona huffed angrily, hands on her hips as she pointed at the bow on her chest in protest. "This is a special 'won't touch the wound' tying method I came up with. Look how pretty this heart-shaped knot is!"
"Take it off and redo it properly." Bahr's temple twitched violently as he growled, "Keep messing around and I'll whip you a few times!"
"Fine, I'll redo it... no need to be so mean." Perona's defiant energy instantly deflated, shoulders slumping as she began undoing the ribbon, muttering under her breath, "It was pretty though..."
Watching her fumble with the bandages, Bahr sighed inwardly.
The ship was truly lacking a proper doctor. They needed someone medically trained—not just for emergency treatments, but even for common illnesses like colds or fevers, so they wouldn't have to resort to such haphazard care.
Preferably a beautiful woman... Not for any particular reason, just that women tended to be more meticulous.
As he pondered this, the door creaked open.
Paula walked in on stiletto heels, her curly hair swaying gently beneath her wine-red headscarf. The fitted short-sleeved top accentuated her well-proportioned shoulders and back, while the slightly tapered dark pants highlighted her slender, straight legs. The sway of her hips carried an air of mature charm.
"Paula?" Miss. Valentine bent to pick up the roll of bandages and looked up. "Didn't we agree we'd take care of the boss? Why are you here?"
Paula tilted the silver tray in her hand, revealing a melon-like fruit with a white mesh-patterned rind. "I was going to cut some mangoes for shaved ice, but I found this buried at the bottom of the storage room."
"A Devil Fruit?" Miss. Valentine's voice shot up an octave, nearly dropping the bandages again.
"Boss, what should we do with this?" Paula sat on the edge of the bed, crossing her legs to reveal delicate ankles, her dark red nail polish glinting as she nudged the tray forward.
Bahr lowered his gaze to the fruit, brow quirking slightly.
Under the light, the white mesh pattern gave off an eerie sheen, its lines finer and more intricate than those of typical Devil Fruits. A faint silver-white halo traced its edges, like the sky wrapped in clouds.
Devil Fruits were rare enough as it was—for Paula to stumble upon one in storage was sheer luck.
"You handle..." Bahr began, but then a thought struck him.
Devil Fruits had a peculiar trait: when a user died, their power would seek out the nearest fruit to inhabit, never straying too far. In the original story, Doflamingo had located Ace's Flame-Flame Fruit precisely because of this trait.
The Golden Lion had just died... and now this fruit appeared. Too much of a coincidence.
He studied the fruit again. Though densely patterned, the lines seemed to ripple like wind over waves.
Could this really be the Float-Float Fruit?
Perona, halfway through unwrapping her bandages, noticed Bahr's intense stare and asked curiously, "Boss, do you know what Devil Fruit this is?"
"Hard to say." Bahr kept his eyes on the silver-white halo as he answered slowly, "I suspect... this might be the Golden Lion's Float-Float Fruit."
"The Float-Float Fruit?!" Paula's hand jerked, nearly tipping the tray, her face a picture of shock. She never imagined that a casual search would lead her to the Golden Lion's power.
"Just a suspicion, not a hundred percent certain." Bahr added.
He had never seen the Float-Float Fruit before, nor had he read its entry in the Devil Fruit encyclopedia. He could only rely on intuition, but judging by its "misshapen and lumpy" appearance, it seemed like a common Paramecia-type. Combined with the correlation between the flowing patterns and its abilities, he was about seventy percent certain.
"Wanting to know is simple!" Perona's eyes lit up, forgetting to remove her bandages. "Just find someone without abilities to eat it and find out!"
That made sense.
Bahr's gaze shifted to Porche, who was holding the medical kit, a smile curling at his lips. "I remember you haven't eaten a Devil Fruit yet. Want to give it a try?"
"Eww, boss~" Porche shrank back, stomping her foot lightly in an exaggeratedly sweet voice. "This is a Devil Fruit! It's worth at least several hundred million Berries! You can't just ask me to eat it so casually~"
"A few hundred million is nothing," Bahr said dismissively. "Your boss has plenty in stock. If you want to eat one, I'll let you gorge until you're stuffed."
Porche's eyes suddenly sparkled, her watery gaze blinking rapidly as all her earlier hesitation vanished. "Boss is so generous~ Then I won't hold back~"
The Golden Lion's Float-Float Fruit—a power that lets you fly. Who wouldn't be tempted?
Seeing this, Paula immediately handed over the tray. She already had her own abilities, so keeping it would be a waste. Better to do someone a favor—otherwise, she wouldn't have brought it over in the first place.
Porche took the tray with both hands, staring at the silver-white halo around the fruit. Carefully peeling the skin, she revealed the snow-white flesh inside.
"It shouldn't… taste too bad, right?" She took a small bite.
The next second, Porche's face twisted violently. A sour, bitter, and rotten flavor exploded in her mouth, like swallowing a mouthful of rusty, spoiled water. The stench even seeped into her nostrils.
She clapped a hand over her mouth, nearly vomiting on the spot.
"Ugh, so gross!" Porche forced herself to swallow, sticking out her tongue repeatedly. "What kind of monstrosity is this?! It's disgusting!"
She'd heard Devil Fruits tasted awful, but she never imagined it would be this bad.
"Everyone reacts like that on their first bite," Miss. Valentine sneered, her tone teasing. "Suck it up. You can't just spit it out."
Porche gulped down half a glass of water, her face scrunched in misery, but the foul taste clung stubbornly. She pouted pitifully. "Ugh… If I'd known it'd taste this bad, I wouldn't have eaten it."
"What ability did you get?" Bahr was far more interested in that.
"It's the Float-Float Fruit!" Porche's eyes suddenly gleamed again, all traces of her earlier distress gone as she cheered excitedly.
No sooner had she spoken than her body slowly levitated into the air, her skirt fluttering gently with the movement.
Miss. Valentine watched with envy, muttering sourly, "What luck."
Her own Kilo Kilo Fruit required wind to lift her, yet this annoying, coquettish girl could just float effortlessly. The boss was way too biased!
Even Bahr couldn't help but marvel. He hadn't expected Porche to be so lucky. The Float-Float Fruit not only allowed the user to levitate and fly but also granted control over any non-living object they touched. It was widely regarded as one of the top-tier strategic abilities.
This worked out well. Porche was already one of his own, and as the crew's Navigator, this ability would make her even more formidable. Once she mastered it, if anyone dared to cross him, he could just have her lift a few islands and drop them from the sky.
The mere thought of that scene was enough to send chills down anyone's spine.
He'd thought he'd missed out on the Float-Float Fruit, but now… it really was a stroke of luck.
At this moment, Perona had already rebandaged her wounds. Though her technique wasn't particularly deft, it was passable enough.
Bahr watched Porche floating mid-air, playfully experimenting with her newfound abilities, his voice laced with unconcealed exhaustion: "Alright, all of you should leave now. I need to rest."
After all, he'd fought a fierce battle for three days and nights straight and was covered in wounds - it was high time he got proper rest.
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