The communal room was a strange blend of high-tech Marine metal and rugged wooden furniture. The boys sat in a wide circle, the air humming with the latent energy of a dozen different types of power.
Luffy didn't wait for a formal invitation. He shot his hand straight into the air, his arm elongating like a thick piece of saltwater taffy until it nearly slapped the ceiling.
"Me first!" he announced, his voice echoing. "Ore wa Monkey D. Luffy da!" He flashed that iconic, toothy grin, the small scar beneath his eye crinkling as he laughed. He reached up with his free hand and pinched his own cheek, pulling it out until his face was warped in a way that would have been gruesome if it weren't so cartoonish. "My power is... shishishi... Rubber!"
Ace and Sabo both let out a synchronized sigh, their hands meeting their foreheads. "Luffy... you didn't listen to a single word of Dragon's explanation about your power, did you?" Sabo muttered.
"Whatever!" Ace stepped forward, a confident smirk playing on his lips. He raised his hand, and suddenly, a flickering orange flame danced across his fingertips. "I am Portgas D. Ace. My power is simple: Fire."
"Haha! Look who's talking!" Sabo mimicked the gesture, and a nearly identical flame erupted from his own hand. "I am Portgas D. Sabo. Same power."
The UA students leaned in, eyes wide. Shoto Todoroki, who was used to the hereditary nature of Quirks, looked from one brother to the other, his dual-colored eyes narrowed in confusion. "You're brothers... and you have the exact same power? Is that even possible?"
"Amazing, right?" Luffy chirped, letting his cheek snap back into place with a loud thwack. "They both eat the same thing!"
"Wait," Izuku Midoriya stammered, his green eyes darting between them as he pulled a thick notebook from his belt. "I thought Devil Fruits were passed down through birth connection or luck. If you're siblings, shouldn't the power be diluted?"
Smoker, leaning against the doorway with two cigars firmly clamped in his teeth, exhaled a thick cloud of grey smoke. "It doesn't work like your Quirks, kid," he grunted. "Listen up."
The room went quiet. Even Bakugo stopped scowling for a second to listen to the Marine veteran.
"If a parent's Devil Fruit senses potential in their child, it can split," Smoker explained, his voice gravelly. "It gives half its output to the child. But sometimes... the 'Devil' inside the fruit feels a greater compatibility with the child than the parent. My father told me about it. He said he heard a voice—a strange, echoing whisper in his mind saying: 'This is the one.'"
Smoker looked at his hand, as if seeing the ghost of the fruit. "When that happens, the parent loses everything. The power leaves them entirely and takes the form of a fruit right in their palm. I saw it when I was four years old. My father willingly gave it up because the fruit 'chose' me. Only the chosen owner can physically touch it in that state."
He paused, a shiver running down his spine. "And the taste... it was like... ugh. Worse than actual filth. I've never eaten literal waste, but I imagine it's a delicacy compared to that fruit."
"Don't talk about it," Karasu croaked from behind his crow-like mask, his voice distorted. "I don't want to remember that flavor."
"Shut up, Smokey!" Eustass Kid barked, rubbing his tongue against the roof of his mouth as if he could still taste his own fruit. "Don't bring up the taste. It makes me want to puke just thinking about it."
Luffy blinked, tilting his head. "Did it really taste that bad?"
The entire room turned to look at Luffy in dead silence. Ace rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Ignore him. He has no taste buds."
Izuku was scribbling so fast his pen was practically smoking. "So it's a choice made by the fruit itself? But that doesn't explain Ace and Sabo! Did you both take a bite at the exact same time? If it's not half-output, how did the Devil allow—"
"SHUT UP, DEKU!" Bakugo's roar shattered the academic atmosphere. "Stop your damn mumbling! Nobody cares about your nerd theories! We're here to find out who's the strongest, not write a textbook!"
Bakugo slammed his hand onto the table, a small explosion sending a shockwave through the room. "I don't care if you ate a fruit or grew a tail! If you're in my way, I'm blowing you to hell!"
( BARSS)
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To be continued