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"Thank you, Manager!"
The second the real, permanent Tremor-Tremor Fruit was placed into his hands, Steve couldn't hold back the rush of anticipation buzzing through his chest. This wasn't some temporary sample anymore. This wasn't a trial run. This was the real deal. It was his power now.
Skipping any polite formalities or idle small talk, Steve lifted the fruit and took a bite. Then another. And another. Under Rosh's quiet, watchful gaze, the legendary Captain America practically powered through the entire thing, refusing to let the horrific taste slow him down.
The very instant the last bite disappeared, a familiar sensation, but one that felt a hundred times deeper and more intense than before, slammed into his system.
*Boom!*
An invisible, kinetic force erupted from the very center of his being. Steve could actually feel the Tremor-Tremor Fruit melting into his DNA, becoming one with his body. Unlike the sample, which had just felt like electricity passing through him, this power was locking itself down.
It fused into every muscle fiber, wrapped around his bones, laced through his nervous system, and rushed through his blood. It fit perfectly, as if a missing piece of his biology had finally been clicked into place. The vibrations humming right beneath his skin felt alive.
It was like a massive, ancient volcano sleeping soundly right beneath the earth's crust. Silent. Patient. Just waiting for its master to give the word to blow.
"This..." Steve slowly raised his hand, curling his fingers into a tight, solid fist. The overwhelming sensation of pure, unadulterated power returned, sharper and clearer than anything he'd ever experienced.
"This feels incredible!" A genuine, unfiltered smile broke across his face. This wasn't the polite, practiced smile Captain America usually put on for the news cameras. It wasn't the calm, reassuring grin he gave to terrified civilians or his fellow Avengers during a rough mission. This was pure, ecstatic excitement.
At this exact moment, Steve finally felt like he had the raw firepower to back up his title as the leader of Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
In any other timeline, his authority came strictly from his moral compass, his decades of experience, and his brilliant tactical mind. People followed him because they trusted him with their lives. But now? Things were different. His physical strength finally matched his legendary reputation. He had just become their ultimate weapon. Perhaps even the strongest one on the roster.
"Congratulations, Captain," Rosh said, offering an approving nod from across the desk.
Rosh wasn't just being polite; he genuinely saw the vision. The Tremor-Tremor Fruit was a terrifyingly perfect fit for Steve Rogers. When you took his elite combat experience, his peak-human physical conditioning, his stubborn, unbreakable willpower, and threw in a vibranium shield? He was a walking cheat code. He had zero blind spots left.
Steve looked at Rosh, his expression completely sincere. "I owe you more than I can say."
There was deep, genuine gratitude bleeding through his voice. The Tremor-Tremor Fruit hadn't just given him a massive power upgrade, it had completely erased the only real weakness he had left as a frontline fighter.
After saying his peace, Steve turned around, ready to head out and process everything. But after taking a few paces toward the door, a sudden thought struck him. He stopped dead in his tracks, spinning back around to face the manager.
"Manager, there's actually something else I've been meaning to ask you."
Rosh raised an eyebrow, leaning back in his chair. "Go ahead."
Steve hesitated for a fraction of a second, choosing his words carefully. "If Peggy came here..." he began, putting a little extra emphasis on her name so Rosh knew exactly who he was talking about. "Would she also have Origin Points available to use?"
"Of course." Rosh confirmed. "Peggy Carter has her own allotment of Origin Points."
Steve's blue eyes instantly lit up. "She does?"
Rosh nodded. "As the main female lead connected directly to your destiny, she naturally holds her own unique share of the world's Luck. Now, to be fair, it's not going to match a massive pool like yours, Captain. But by ordinary human standards? It's still a substantial amount."
A massive wave of relief washed over Steve's face, and a soft smile appeared. "That's incredible news."
Until today, neither he nor Peggy had ever seriously talked about buying a Devil Fruit for her. The reason was pretty obvious: neither of them wanted to owe Nick Fury or S.H.I.E.L.D. another massive, life-altering favor. A debt like that would mean they'd be under Fury's thumb forever.
But this changed the entire game. If Peggy had her own stash of Origin Points, she wouldn't need a single cent of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s budget.
And honestly, the timing couldn't be better. The world was spinning out of control and getting crazier by the day. Steve knew he couldn't be by her side twenty-four-seven to protect her. If Peggy could get her hands on a Devil Fruit of her own, she'd have the power to protect herself, no matter what kind of crazy sci-fi threat came knocking on her door.
The more he played out the scenario in his head, the more perfect it seemed.
But before Steve could get too ahead of himself, Rosh spoke up again. This time, the easygoing, casual vibe in the room completely vanished, replaced by a heavy, serious tone. "If that's really what you're planning, Captain, there's something you need to understand first."
Steve froze, his protective instincts instantly kicking in. "What is it?"
Rosh met his gaze directly, making absolutely no effort to hide the fact that he knew exactly what Peggy's current job status was.
"If Peggy Carter wants to buy a Devil Fruit from this shop," Rosh said, his voice deadly calm, "she has to formally resign from S.H.I.E.L.D. first."
The air in the office instantly turned to ice, the weight of Rosh's words hanging heavily between them.
Steve was momentarily stunned. What caught him off guard wasn't the fact that Rosh knew about Peggy's position within S.H.I.E.L.D. At this point, Steve had already filed the Manager away into that special category of mysterious people who seemed to know what you had for breakfast before you even woke up. Compared to literal Devil Fruits, cosmic Luck, and reality-bending powers, a basic employment history check was nothing.
No, what truly threw him for a loop was the condition itself.
"Why?" Steve asked, his brow furrowing.
"Because Devil Fruits are handed out according to a strict quota system," Rosh explained smoothly, completely unbothered by the sudden tension in the room. "Certain organizations are only permitted a limited number of active Devil Fruit users at any given time. It's a rule meant to keep the global power balance from completely shattering."
He paused, letting the weight of rule sink in.
"Right now, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s maximum limit is exactly five slots."
Steve's eyes narrowed slightly as the pieces clicked together in his mind. "And by taking this fruit... I'm the fifth."
"Bingo," Rosh said with a nod.
Looking at the situation objectively, asking Peggy to leave S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't actually an unfair demand. Unlike him, she wasn't bound to Nick Fury by some complicated, high-stakes military agreement. Her restored youth had been bought entirely through Steve's own sacrifices and service to the world. In reality, Peggy didn't owe the agency a single thing.
But the real issue wasn't logistical. It was deeply, painfully personal.
S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't just a 9-to-5 job for Peggy Carter. It was her life's work. Her blood, sweat, and tears. She was one of the legendary founding members who had built the entire organization from the ground up when the rest of the world doubted her.
Walking away from your own legacy isn't something you just do over a casual conversation, even if the prize is an incredible superpower.
Ultimately, Steve knew it wasn't his choice to make. "I'll talk to her," he said after a long, heavy silence. "We'll see what she wants to do."
Rosh simply nodded. It was the smartest way to handle it.
As Steve turned to leave for a second time, a sudden memory flashed in his mind. He stopped dead in his tracks and looked back at Rosh.
"Oh, right. There's one more thing."
Rosh looked up from his desk. "What's on your mind, Captain?"
"Fury told me something recently," Steve said, his expression turning entirely sincere. "He mentioned that you were the person responsible for finding me out there in the Arctic."
"With everything that's been going on, I never got the chance to properly thank you for that."
Rosh blinked, a look of genuine surprise crossing his face before he let out a soft laugh. "Actually, Captain, I can't take the credit for that one."
Steve raised an eyebrow. "You can't?"
Rosh shook his head. "The person who actually stumbled onto your exact coordinates was Bruce Banner."
"Bruce Banner?" Steve immediately committed the name to memory.
"Yeah," Rosh continued, leaning forward. "He's the one who figured out exactly where you were trapped under the ice. Unfortunately, Bruce didn't have the heavy machinery, funding, or resources to dig you out himself, so he reached out to me. I passed the message along to Fury, and well... you know the rest."
So it hadn't just been one guy playing the hero. Even so, Steve's gaze softened with gratitude.
"Regardless of who did what," Steve said softly, "Thanks for making that phone call." Without it, he'd still be frozen solid in a block of ice. Rosh smiled, accepting the thanks, and watched as the Captain finally walked out the door.
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Meanwhile, Back at the Triskelion...
Nick Fury's current mood could best be described as a total, unmitigated disaster.
"You're telling me you had your own origin credit account?" Fury's single eye twitched so violently it looked painful. "Just for being... you?"
Across the sleek glass desk, Steve looked incredibly sheepish, rubbing the back of his neck like a kid who had accidentally won a raffle he didn't enter.
Fury, however, felt personally victimized by the universe itself.
It wasn't fair. It wasn't even remotely fair. Every other person on the face of the earth had to scramble, scrape, and hoard mountains of actual gold just to qualify for a single purchase at the Home of the Devil Fruits. Entire global spy networks were losing their minds over resources. World governments were practically emptying their national vaults, throwing treasure at Rosh just to get a piece of the pie.
And then Captain America just strolls into the shop, discovers he has a special "VIP Protagonist" line of credit, and casually walks out with one of the most terrifyingly destructive powers in human history.
For absolutely free.
Fury's face darkened, a heavy scowl settling over his features. Somewhere deep inside his mind, a furious voice was screaming at the top of its lungs: 'What kind of rigged, main-character bullshit is this?! I want to speak to the manager of the universe right fucking now!'
The more he played the scenario over in his head, the more it gave him a pounding headache. Fury had spent decades outsmarting global conspiracies, surviving secret alien invasions, and managing ego-driven humans. But apparently, the real secret to saving the world wasn't strategy, firepower, or funding.
It was just being the universe's absolute favorite person.
Of course, Nick Fury didn't buy a single word of that "Luck" explanation.
Luck? Auras? Main characters? As far as the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. was concerned, all of that was total nonsense. He lived in the real world, a world built on secrets, leverage, and hard data.
What he saw was much simpler, and much more alarming: Rosh had just handed Steve Rogers one of the most terrifyingly destructive powers on the face of the earth, and he hadn't asked for a single ounce of gold in return. To Fury, that was the beginning and the end of the story.
To make matters worse, the Tremor-Tremor Fruit wasn't even listed in any of the public files they'd managed to sneak a peek at. It was a hidden, god-tier power. And it had just been handed over, completely free of charge, to Captain America.
Every single time Fury's brain replayed the logistics of it, his good eye twitched a little harder.
Still, decades of dealing with shady politicians, alien threats, and ego-driven people had taught him one valuable skill: absolute self-control. No matter how wildly unfair the universe felt right now, blowing his top wasn't going to change reality. So, he swallowed his massive list of complaints, forced his face into a flat expression, and squeezed out a professional response.
"Congratulations, Captain." The words sounded so tight they practically creaked under the pressure. Steve, being the polite guy he was, either didn't notice the strain in Fury's voice or just chose to ignore it for the sake of peace. Instead, he immediately shifted the conversation to a much more practical problem.
"So, Nick," Steve said, looking down at his hands.
"What?"
"I need a place to train. A big one." Steve clenched his fists, feeling that strange, volcanic hum vibrating right under his skin. "After what happened during the test run out in the mountains, I'm really not comfortable using this power without a lot of practice. The absolute last thing I want is to go into a fight, try to throw a punch, and accidentally bring down a bridge or level a city block."
That instantly snapped Fury out of his bitter mood. Accidentally vaporizing public infrastructure was exactly the kind of PR nightmare and logistical disaster he got paid to avoid.
"I'll fix it," Fury muttered, already reaching for his communications device. "Give me a few hours."
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Within half a day, S.H.I.E.L.D. had completely cleared out one of its most secure, deeply buried underground testing facilities, locking it down exclusively for Steve's private use. The walls were reinforced with thick layers of specialized alloys, built to withstand heavy artillery.
The moment he got the green light, Steve practically moved into the bunker. He threw himself into mastering the Tremor-Tremor Fruit with the kind of obsessive, laser-focused discipline that made him a legend in the first place.
Day after day, the underground base echoed with the sounds of simulated combat.
Steve approached this power the exact same way he approached everything else in his life, with absolute dedication, routine, and zero shortcuts. And the results? They were honestly terrifying.
Whether it was a side effect of his crazy "protagonist" luck, his Super Soldier physiology adapting to the strain, or just the fact that Steve Rogers refused to fail, his learning curve was absurd. Concepts that should have taken months of meditation and failure to figure out were mastered in a weekend. Techniques that usually required years of trial and error became total second nature within days.
Up in the observation booths, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top tactical analysts were staring at their monitors in absolute shock. His combat readiness scores weren't just going up; they were skyrocketing.
Before he ate the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, elite agents like Hawkeye could at least give Steve a run for his money during training exercises. But now? The gap between Steve and the rest of the team had become an ocean.
During sparring sessions, a single, vibration-infused tap from Steve's fist could completely shatter an opponent's rhythm, sending a shockwave straight through their armor and leaving them breathless. A casual sweep of his arm could unleash an invisible wall of force that forced even the most seasoned combatants to immediately dive for cover. Most training matches were over before they even properly started.
Steve Rogers hadn't just climbed the power rankings. He had built a whole new tier at the top.
Eventually, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s high-tech database ran a full sweep of every known Devil Fruit user on the planet, comparing their power outputs to the new and improved Captain America. They reached a startling, unavoidable conclusion.
Out of everyone on the grid, there was only one person left who could confidently stand across from Steve in a sandbox fight and actually hold their own.
Tony Stark.
With his ever-evolving Iron Man armor, his endless arsenal of lasers and missiles, and his ability to make any weapon possible, Tony was the lone wildcard who still had the tech and the firepower to suppress Cap in a direct collision. At least, for now.
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A few days later, once the dust had settled and the training routine became normal, Steve finally found a quiet moment to sit down with Peggy and lay everything out on the table.
He didn't hold anything back. He told her about the hidden inventory, the concept of Origin Points, and how the universe basically kept score of a person's fate. He explained the mind-blowing potential of getting her hands on a Devil Fruit of her very own, a power that could keep her safe in a world that was getting stranger by the second.
And then, he told her about the catch. The strict quota. The fact that she would have to walk away from S.H.I.E.L.D. for good.
Peggy sat perfectly still, listening to him without interrupting once. When Steve finally stopped talking, the room fell into a long, heavy silence.
The choice pressing down on her shoulders was massive. On one hand, a Devil Fruit meant safety. It meant stepping into the new age of heroes with an incredible gift that guaranteed she could hold her own against anything.
But on the other hand... S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't just a government agency to her. It was her baby. It was her identity. She had spent the best years of her youth fighting in the trenches to build it from scratch, protecting it from politicians and keeping it alive when everyone else doubted her vision.
In the end, Peggy's answer proved exactly why she was the legendary Agent Carter.
She looked up at Steve, her expression soft but incredibly firm, and quietly declined the offer.
It wasn't because she was afraid of the power, and it wasn't because she didn't trust Rosh's shop. It was simply because she refused to turn her back on the legacy she had built with her own two hands. Not yet, anyway.
For Peggy Carter, having a seat at the table where the world's biggest decisions were made was worth more than any superpower in a catalog. And as she looked at Steve, she knew it was a trade she was completely content to live with.
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Next Chapter: The Sovereign Might of the Ancient Zoan
Next Next Chapter: Tremor-Tremor Fruit VS Ancient Dragon Zoan
Next Next Next Chapter: The Mighty Tremor-Tremor Fruit
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