"Ace... is he dead?"
Hina stared blankly at the flatline on the monitor—no heartbeat, just a sharp, glaring line.
She froze. Her mind went blank.
The next second, she stormed forward and grabbed Seras by the collar, eyes flaring with fury.
"What the hell did you do?!"
"Rear Admiral Hina, calm down! Ace isn't dead!"
"Then explain it to me. Now!"
Seras looked helpless.
Didn't Luo Lan explain anything to her beforehand...?
"This is a state of feigned death. The goal is to trick the Devil Fruit into thinking the host has died, so it can detach itself."
"Feigned... death?" Hina blinked in shock.
Then, she remembered what Luo Lan had told her:
Once you've seen it, tell me your decision.
What decision?
Could it be...
"So, Luo Lan's plan is to allow us to freely separate Devil Fruits from users... and even switch to different powers?"
"Exactly. And it seems the Marshal has already mastered the ability to copy Devil Fruits. That means once Ace's Rumble-Rumble Fruit is extracted, we can mass-produce more of them."
Hina's worldview completely shattered.
So that's what Luo Lan meant—was he asking if she wanted to swap her power? Maybe for something like... the Rumble-Rumble Fruit?
Was this real?
While she stood there dumbfounded, a lab tech pulled out a Devil Fruit with lightning-like markings from beneath a black cloth.
"Director, the Rumble-Rumble Fruit has been successfully extracted!"
"Good. Begin the revival process immediately."
"Yes, sir!"
The lab team sprang into action, injecting a different solution into Ace's IV.
One minute later...
The flatline on the monitor flickered.
Three minutes after that, Ace's eyes slowly opened.
"Where... am I?"
He looked confused, totally disoriented.
But soon, memories began piecing themselves together.
He remembered entering the lab, lying down on the operating table as Seras instructed... then that bastard placed a chunk of Seastone on his chest and injected some weird liquid into him.
After that—
Did I... die? But I'm still here...?
Ace looked at his right hand, clenched it into a fist—no issues. Then raised a finger...
But no electricity.
Huh? What's going on?
He turned and saw Hina staring at a Devil Fruit in her hands with a dazed expression.
Wait, that fruit... it looked awfully familiar.
Isn't that... the Rumble-Rumble Fruit I ate?
And... where's my power?
Hey! What did you people do to me?!
---
Thirty minutes later.
Hina and Ace arrived at the Super Clone Factory.
Ace looked on, face full of grievance, as Luo Lan handed the Rumble-Rumble Fruit to a robot.
Even though he now knew the whole story—how his powers had only been temporarily removed, and how he'd get them back after Luo Lan finished analyzing them...
Still, just thinking about eating a Devil Fruit again made his stomach turn.
That disgusting texture... like chewing on literal garbage—hell no.
The analysis still cost 50,000 points and took an hour.
Soon, it was done.
> [Ding! Analysis complete. The item is a Tier-5 genetic technology product.]
[Ding! One Grade-3 defect detected. Gene modification possible. Current flaw: vulnerability to certain special substances, including the unique particles in Seastone. Fixing this requires 300,000 points. Proceed?]
Another defect?
Luo Lan raised an eyebrow. The rate of defects was surprisingly high.
But when he read the detailed report, he was stunned.
Vulnerability to Seastone... can be fixed?
Was 300,000 points expensive? Yes. That was about 3 billion Berries.
But turning the Rumble-Rumble Fruit into a version immune to Seastone?
Totally worth it.
"Do it. Of course, do it."
> [Ding! 300,000 points deducted. Current balance: 2,932,000 points.]
[Ding! Rumble-Rumble Fruit has been successfully upgraded. Sample ready for retrieval.]
[Ding! Improved Rumble-Rumble Fruit is now available for cloning. Single clone costs 500,000 points, production time 5 days.]
[Note: Due to Super Clone Factory optimizations, clone cost adjusted to 150,000 points. Time reduced to 60 hours.]
Damn. More expensive and time-consuming than the Sand-Sand Fruit.
But worth every point.
A fruit every 2.5 days.
Luo Lan immediately queued three improved Rumble-Rumble Fruits for cloning.
That cost him 450,000 points, leaving 2.482 million.
He'd spent a ton today—but once that batch of Berries from the South Sea came in, he'd shoot back up to 5 million points.
With tons of gold and Karina managing the finances, his point balance would only keep growing.
At least until he hit A-rank Fortress Builder level, money was no issue.
Next step for Jun Lin (his naval faction) was entering the mass-production phase of new warships and various Devil Fruits.
And once Hodis arrived in a few days...
They'd start advancing into aviation.
Navy was still Navy—but Jun Lin's forces would soon include a brand-new division:
Naval Air Corps.
The thought got Luo Lan very excited.
---
Just then, a robot delivered the original Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
Luo Lan grinned slyly.
"Ace, you sure you want this one?"
"What else am I gonna do?" Ace snatched it quickly, glaring at him in suspicion. "Don't try any funny stuff."
He was just about to take a bite—
"Ah, such a shame. The improved version from the Super Clone Factory isn't affected by Seastone."
"I was going to give it to you, but... if you really love the original that much, I won't stop you."
His tone dripped with sarcasm.
Ace froze.
Wait—did he just say the clone was better than the original? It's immune to Seastone?!
No way...
He looked down at the original Rumble-Rumble Fruit in his hand.
Suddenly, it didn't look so appetizing.
"Bro... you're my big bro, right?"
"You wouldn't let your little brother eat some second-rate garbage, would you?"
Ace's sudden shift left Hina speechless.
Even Luo Lan, who just wanted to tease him a bit, was shocked.
Damn, I didn't expect Ace to be this shameless!
Meanwhile, the original Rumble-Rumble Fruit, tossed to the side...
...felt utterly insulted.
When did I become second-rate?! Uncalled for!!
---
https:// ko-fi.com/sami27
(COMPLETED)