"Which one do you think it is?" asked Lucien as both of them stared at the large green cylindrical shaped fruit adored by wavy lines all around it. It had been over ten minutes since he pulled it from the hidden compartment. He had lifted it carefully, cleared the captain's desk, and set it down in the middle like it might do something on its own.
"This is the first time I am seeing one. We can't take this to shore, no matter how much we try to hide it, the moment we show it to someone to inquire about it, we will have a huge target on our backs and we can't afford that. So one of us is eating this now."
"So." Lucien looked at him. "Do you want it?"
"It's better if you eat it. Out of the two of us, you are the main fighter, I am your support in most cases. No matter what fruit it turns out to be, it'll only increase your strength, not decrease it." suggested Idris.
"But, the sea will become my number one enemy. Isn't that counter productive for a man who wants to travel the entire world."
"Some of the strongest men in the sea have eaten a devil fruit. Just eat it, if you ever fall into water, I'll just pull you out."
"Then you better start working out." He picked up the fruit and pushed the whole thing into his mouth before he could think about it too carefully.
It didn't even take a second. Every sense he had recoiled at once. He folded to the floor and dry heaved. His eyes started to water. He drove his fingers into his mouth trying to bring it back up.
Idris watched him for a few seconds, then walked back to the dining area and searched for water. There was none. He should have guessed. It seemed these men ran entirely on alcohol. There was nothing else. Grabbing a bottle of wine he found lying around, he walked back.
"Have you ever had alcohol?"
Lucien, still trying his best to vomit, shook his head. Idris held out the bottle.
"Well, it seems like you are having a lot of first times today. Here, drink this."
Lucien couldn't care less at this point. He snatched the bottle and drank the whole thing. The colour came back into his face slowly. The feeling of garbage in his mouth decreased enough that he could lean against the wall without heaving.
"So. How do you feel? Any different?"
"I feel like I am going to be sick."
"Besides that."
Lucien tried to find some clarity. Deep inside he could feel something, some current he couldn't name, but when he tried to push his hand out and force it toward something, nothing happened. No fire, no ice, nothing he could point at. His body hadn't changed either. Not a Zoan then.
He tried again.
Still nothing.
"I think you may have eaten a dud," said Idris.
"Devil Fruits don't come in duds."
"You might be the first."
Lucien kept trying for another hour. At some point, Idris lost interest and went to look at the rest of the ship, which was a reasonable response.
Eventually, he gave up, which he found irritating, and walked back out onto the deck. It was not a matter of whether the fruit had done anything. It was a matter of what. He would find a library in the next city and work it out from there. The fruit tasted terrible, and it owed him something.
He walked to the far end of the deck and looked down at the water. That was his biggest weakness now. Fall in, and he would sink like ballast.
"Don't go jumping now. I don't have the strength to pull you back," said Idris as he came out.
Over the next month, both of them slowly travelled on the barely stable pirate boat. They even removed the pirate flag that had been there because some bounty hunters, just like them, mistook them for the Black Ledger Pirates and tried to attack, but thankfully, Idris, who was alert at the time, sniped them before they reached the boat.
Virex actually woke up once in their journey, but Lucien, who was right beside him to keep an eye, just raised his hand and knocked him out again. Thankfully, because they removed the flag, they were allowed entry into the port at their next stop as they walked right into the navy base with Lucien just dragging Virex by a rope through the streets.
Handing over Virex, Lucien happily took the million berry sack and passed it to Idris, as he promised the bounty money and then asked if there was a big library they could access on the island.
"Yeah, there is one. It's 10 berries for every hour for outsiders," replied the marine as he gave them the directions. Lucien couldn't wait as he took off in a sprint with Idris just following him at his own pace.
He slapped two ten-berry coins on the desk and asked the receptionist, "Are there any books that can help identify devil fruits?"
"There is one, but the number of fruits it has is not many," she replied as she pointed to the rack.
Lucien was already moving before she finished. He found the rack, pulled the book, and stood there rifling through it, not bothering to sit, holding each page up to the light long enough to compare the illustrations.
Idris arrived and leaned over his shoulder without a word.
"Ah," pointed Lucien as he stopped at a fruit he recognised immediately, mostly by the memory of the taste.
"'Paramecia Type. Kyouka-Kyouka no Mi.'" He looked at the illustration.
"Distort-Distort Fruit."
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1 Chapter For Every 50 Power Stones. Please Do Support.