East Blue!
"Kill—!"
At this moment, two ships came alongside.
The other was a merchant ship.
He didn't know how long it lasted.
The sounds of slaughter gradually faded.
Clearly, the battle was over.
Victory belonged to the pirates.
With the captain ordering a full plunder, a job dripping with profit, everyone was fired up.
For now, no one wanted to go to the stores. He could only go.
"Huh???"
Lister carefully pushed open the warehouse door, just like the scene when the runaway Koby first appeared.
He looked left and right.
No one was in the warehouse.
Not a sound.
He stepped inside.
Muttering to himself, Lister walked over to a stack of fruit.
He grabbed an apple in each hand and bit in.
As he gnawed, he recalled the miserable week he had just endured.
That day, he had worked hard but the promotion went to someone else. Depressed, he ended up drinking too much.
On the way back he staggered.
In a moment of inattention, he fell into an uncovered manhole.
By rotten luck, he dropped straight onto a supply skiff of the Hammer Pirates. Before he could collect himself, pirates from the Hammer crew returning from a run boarded as well.
Newcomers are easy to bully, and a slave has no rights at all.
Thinking back on the hardships of the week, he could only shed bitter tears.
After a week of never eating his fill, Lister polished off four apples in one go and felt he could eat four more.
He took two more.
Afraid he was seeing things, he rubbed his eyes and looked again.
No mistake—the Devil Fruit!
"Hahaha! As long as a man's alive, there's always a day to turn things around. Lu Xun was right after all!"
After a surge of excitement and tears, Lister tossed the apple in his hand and bit into the Devil Fruit.
He didn't care which Devil Fruit it was.
Any Devil Fruit offered him a sliver of life.
He clamped a hand over his mouth and forced the entire Devil Fruit down, then snatched the two apples nearby and devoured them like mad.
He didn't stop until the Devil Fruit's nauseating taste was completely drowned out.
"Worthy of a Devil Fruit. That choking flavor is the real deal!"
"Let me take a couple of steps and see."
Whoosh—
Bang—
A fleeting afterimage streaked by as he slammed straight into the wall.
Lister bared his teeth in pain, but he was overjoyed.
After a brief test, he had a rough idea of the power he had eaten.
Paramecia—Swift‑Swift Fruit.
"Not bad at all. With an ability in hand, starting today, I, Lister, will defy fate!"
Lister laughed with delight.
At that moment, with a bang, the warehouse door was kicked open.
Two pirates with a low‑life air walked in.
Lister glanced at them.
Should he turn hostile now, or keep his head down a while longer?
Hmm.
One had a five‑million bounty, the other three million.
Together, about the same as the Mountain Bandit King.
Better to play it safe first.
After a beat, Lister gave an awkward smile. "You two big brothers are right. I just think being a slave has no future. I want to be like you and become a pirate."
"Be a pirate under Boss Henry, eat meat by the mouthful, split the loot with gusto—that's changing my fate, isn't it!"
"Hmph. With that scrawny body, a pirate? Not even close. If you don't want a beating, get to work."
One of them snapped without much patience.
Seeing they didn't press the matter, Lister smiled and started working.
...