After Taeyeon took the illustrated encyclopedia, she glanced at it a few times, then said, "I can't make heads or tails of this anyway. You'd better just tell me directly."
Although Taeyeon could recognize every word in the encyclopedia, she still couldn't tell the differences between Devil Fruits, or which ones were strong and which were weak.
"If this encyclopedia is accurate, then you've stumbled onto a real treasure."
Shirakawa said, a hint of delight in his tone.
If Shirakawa wasn't mistaken, this Elf Fruit was probably similar to Sengoku's Great Buddha Fruit—both were Zoan-type fruits of the Human-Human model, possessing unexpected abilities.
"Really?" Taeyeon said, a little excited.
"Stumbled onto a treasure" meant the Devil Fruit she'd picked was pretty amazing, with formidable power.
"Of course. You can come out with me and test it."
Shirakawa brought Taeyeon up to the deck. He didn't let Taeyeon test it in the basement because he was afraid this Devil Fruit, like the Great Buddha Fruit, had the ability to enlarge the user.
He had no desire to see his ship destroyed just two days after taking delivery of it.
"So, did you pick a good fruit?"
After they returned to the deck, Uristine asked Shirakawa and Taeyeon.
"Yeah. Barring any surprises, I'd say we got ourselves a pleasant surprise."
Hearing Shirakawa say this, all the crew members gathered around with keen interest, wanting to see just how big a surprise they were in for.
"Go ahead, Taeyeon."
"Okay." Hearing Shirakawa's words, Taeyeon nodded firmly. She was especially eager to see her own ability too.
But perhaps because she had only just eaten the Devil Fruit, her control over the power was still a little unpolished. Taeyeon closed her eyes and carefully guided the power within her body.
A green glow surfaced on Taeyeon's skin, giving her an especially sacred aura to everyone watching.
Then, visible to the naked eye, Taeyeon's appearance underwent some changes. Her originally jet-black hair turned golden blonde.
Her skin seemed to grow fairer as well, and her height seemed to increase a little too.
"How is it? Do you feel anything?"
Shirakawa asked Taeyeon. They could all see the changes in her appearance, but it was mainly the change in her power that Shirakawa and the others couldn't gauge.
Hearing Shirakawa's voice, Taeyeon opened her eyes, seemingly aware of the changes in her own body too.
Riddle, producing a mirror from who knows where, let Taeyeon clearly see her own appearance.
"I feel strange right now, as if my whole body is brimming with power."
Taeyeon clenched her hands, saying with an excited expression and an extremely thrilled tone.
"Hit me with everything you've got. Give it a try."
"That doesn't seem like a good idea." Although Taeyeon said this, looking at the upturned corners of her mouth, Shirakawa couldn't see any sign of reluctance on her face.
"It's fine. Go ahead."
If Taeyeon could actually injure Shirakawa, then he might as well quit being the captain of the Silver Pirates and just hand over the position.
"Since you're asking for it, then watch yourself."
With that, Taeyeon clenched her fist and attacked Shirakawa. A dazzling green light flared from her fist.
But this green light didn't give off any sense of destruction or violence. Instead, it seemed full of vitality, giving off a very reassuring feeling.
Shirakawa directly reached out and blocked Taeyeon's incoming punch, though a small ring of white shockwave could still be seen at the point where their hands met.
Feeling the force, Shirakawa furrowed his brow. This fruit's attack power seemed rather unimpressive.
It hadn't achieved the effect Shirakawa was hoping for.
"So, not bad, right?"
Taeyeon didn't share that feeling. She only felt as though her strength had grown considerably.
"But I get the sense this fruit isn't meant to be used this way."
"Yeah, I think so too." Moore also nodded in agreement with what Taeyeon had just said.
In his impression, elves were a sacred race. Combat shouldn't be something as crude as trading punches and kicks.
"Then how do you think it's supposed to be used?"
Shirakawa didn't understand this fruit's power either, so he could only slowly guide Taeyeon and let her develop it herself.
Just then, Shirakawa saw Taeyeon's dark pupils suddenly turn green. She extended her arm, and a bow formed from light materialized out of thin air in her hand.
Then Taeyeon's other hand reached forward, and an arrow appeared as well.
Instantly, everyone sensed an extremely dangerous aura emanating from that arrow.
Seeing that the arrow was aimed at him, Shirakawa quickly spoke up. "Shoot it at the sea. Don't aim at me."
Taeyeon didn't reply, but she proved with her actions that she had heard Shirakawa's words.
Taeyeon shifted her gaze to the distant sea, released her right hand, and the arrow on the bow instantly shot out at incredible speed.
It struck the distant horizon and directly triggered a massive explosion.
The sheer power reminded Shirakawa of Kizaru's lightspeed kick—also light, also capable of causing explosions.
But from the looks of it, this explosion was far more powerful than the one Kizaru had caused.
"No way—it's actually this powerful?"
Every crew member on the ship was stunned. With an attack that strong, there were still a few people on this ship who couldn't pull it off.
The thought that such a young girl could wield this much power immediately left a few people feeling unbalanced, Moore among them.
He felt like his five years of hard work had all been for nothing—he couldn't even measure up to a little girl.
"Not bad." Shirakawa praised. The Great Buddha Fruit's ability was shockwaves, while the Elf Fruit's ability was light arrows.
But Shirakawa could see that Taeyeon's expression had already grown extremely weary. One more arrow of the same power would probably knock her out cold.
And the arrow's power could probably be controlled, just like Sengoku's shockwaves—the range could be large or small.
"Alright, Taeyeon. Return to normal."
"Okay." Taeyeon responded in a somewhat weak voice. Then the green glow around her faded, and her golden hair turned back to black.
The moment she returned to normal, Taeyeon staggered and nearly lost her footing. Fortunately, Adara was behind her and caught her in time.
"Thank you, Adara."
Taeyeon said in a faint voice.
"It's no trouble at all. From now on, we're family."
Adara replied with a sweet smile.
"Adara, help her below to rest. Lisa, you go along too."
The captain said to the mother and daughter.
"Yes, Captain."
Once Taeyeon had fully gone inside, the crew members on deck let out a sigh of relief. They had truly felt enormous pressure just now.
Although the visual impact wasn't as stunning as the Great Buddha Fruit, Shirakawa was still quite satisfied with the fruit's power.
Once she grew into it, their ship would have gained another formidable expert.
Though Shirakawa had no intention of letting Taeyeon onto the battlefield in the first place.
/-\
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