With Makoto's gesture, Yu contemptuously tossed the box containing the Devil Fruit to Hayato on stage.
Noticing the clearly disdainful looks from many people below, Hayato couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed.
But since he had already done it, there was no point in regretting it.
And...
"Eat it quickly, eat it quickly!" Haruno urged impatiently.
Yes, seeing his goddess care about him like this for the first time, Hayato felt it was worth it.
Yukino beside him looked at her sister with confusion… since childhood, this was the first time she had seen Haruno act so warmly towards Hayato.
Makoto also said: "You can eat it directly."
Seeing Makoto give the green light, Hayato hesitated no longer. He took out the mushroom-shaped Human-Human Fruit and took a bite.
He felt quite lucky. Having just arrived in a new, different world, he was already getting a new superpower. And, although he didn't know why, his goddess's attitude towards him had noticeably improved.
He remembered that Makoto had clearly stated in the real world that he wasn't interested in Haruno.
At that time, although Hayato had tried hard to hide it, he was actually so excited he nearly jumped for joy.
If he could also gain a powerful ability, maybe he would have a chance.
"Ugh!"
However, with the first bite, Hayato's face turned green. He covered his mouth with a look of wanting to vomit. The partially bitten Human-Human Fruit fell to the ground.
"Wow, it really does look terrible..." Itsuki, who had been craving it, secretly rejoiced that she hadn't eaten it.
Seeing the bitten fruit on the ground, Sonoko asked Makoto curiously: "Hey? Makoto-kun? If everyone shares it, can they all get the power?"
Before Makoto could answer, Gloriosa on the other side explained: "That's impossible. Only the person who takes the first bite gets the power. The rest of the fruit becomes useless."
"How is it?" Yukino temporarily set aside thoughts of her sister and asked Hayato.
She also really wanted to increase her own strength. From the time she returned from the Naruto World to now, counting the time in the Chainsaw Man World, it had been fourteen years.
Although safety was guaranteed in Nishikawa Nation, that didn't mean she was just coasting.
Justice sister Yukino still hoped to gain great power to carry out her ideals.
During this time, Yukino had practiced the abilities she learned in the Naruto World until they were second nature, but she had been stuck at the early Chunin-level for several years.
If she wanted to go further, she could only rely on abilities from other worlds.
Miyuki, crouched in the corner with plasters all over his face, looked resentful, glaring at Hayato with indignation.
'If it weren't for that blonde guy, this ability should have been mine.'
"I-It doesn't feel like anything's changed." Hayato smacked his lips, suppressing the nauseous feeling, and tried to sense any changes in his body.
Makoto asked: "Can you make your body bigger? Like into a seven or eight-meter tall small giant?"
He remembered Chopper could do that, right?
Once was in Water 7 against a Cipher Pol's agent, and once was in the Sabaody Archipelago against Sentomaru. Both times he went berserk, and it wasn't until after two years of training that he fully mastered this power.
Hayato tried to push the power within him like he would push Chakra, then scratched his head: "It doesn't seem like it..."
Makoto thought back carefully.
'Oh, right, right, the reason Chopper could transform was because he developed a drug called the Rumble Ball.'
'It seemed that if an ordinary human ate the Human-Human Fruit, besides becoming unable to swim, their body wouldn't change at all.'
Haruno asked in surprise: "What? No change at all? I thought eating a Devil Fruit always awakened new superpowers?"
Utaha, flipping through the Devil Fruit encyclopedia, had a guess: "That fruit is called the Human-Human Fruit. That means eating it turns you into a human... but this blonde guy is already a human..."
At these words, the atmosphere on the scene became somewhat subtle.
'The superpower of... turning into a human?'
'What kind of superpower is that supposed to be?'
Kotonoha, Ran, and others glanced at Pochita lying on its side on the wine table next to Makoto and roughly understood the fruit's purpose… if an animal ate this fruit, it should gain the ability to turn into a human.
After all, isn't this a common plot point in many literary works?
The protagonist saves an animal, and then that animal turns into a human to repay the kindness.
Asian Countries have a lot of such stories.
For animals, this fruit is somewhat useful, but for a human to eat it... that's just gilding the lily.
After realizing this, Hayato nearly cried… he was already human! Why would he need the ability to turn into one?
Now, not only had he lost the possibility of gaining new superpowers from a Devil Fruit, but he had also become a land-lover afraid of water.
Miyuki, curled up in the corner, let out a long sigh of relief, 'Whew, that was close! I almost ate that useless fruit.'
"HAHAHAHA!" Nayuta couldn't help but laugh out loud.
She had wanted to do this ever since she found out the fruit was called the Human-Human Fruit.
That blonde guy's expression just now was priceless.
Makoto rubbed Nayuta's little head, 'This girl's personality was truly malicious.'
Suddenly, Makoto thought of something: 'Nayuta's current contract subjects were the citizens of the real-world United States. But if she got injured in the One Piece World, would that injury be transferred to the people in reality?'
Remembering this girl's fate of being turned into sushi in the original work, Makoto decided he would catch some pirates for Nayuta to use as blood bags later.
Miyuki, who had been half-wishing he could chop Hayato up, suddenly felt a bit grateful to him.
"It's okay, Hayato-kun. There's more than one way to get stronger in this world anyway." Haruno comforted him.
Through their interactions with the Kuja Pirates over the past few days, everyone had learned that besides Devil Fruits, this world had another mainstream combat method called Haki.
Close-combat players like Ran and Yotsuba had already started learning it.
Hearing his goddess's comfort, Hayato felt a little better.
"Alright, alright. Time to go back and sleep."
Having seen the show, Makoto stood up and announced.
Except for Hayato, everyone else had a relatively happy day.
Even Miyuki, whose face was bruised and swollen, felt he had come out ahead.
"Nee-san, why did you encourage Hayama to eat that fruit?"
On the way back to the inn, Yukino also figured it out.
Makoto must have known from the start that the fruit was garbage. Otherwise, how could he not give it to his own women, but bring it out as a prize?
But what puzzled Yukino even more was why her own sister had encouraged Hayato to eat it?
Although Yukino didn't want to admit it, she knew her sister was much smarter than she was. If she could figure it out, how could Haruno not?
Yet, even so, she still let Hayato eat it. What was she thinking?
"Yukino, Commander doesn't like us," Haruno sighed.
Yukino frowned slightly, 'Did I really need to be reminded of that?'
Haruno continued to explain: "This world is called [Pirate World], right? Just from the name, you can tell it's not a safe world."
"You've seen all the burning, killing, and looting the pirates have been doing these past two days, haven't you? For example, that guy named Quinn today. Yukino, do you think you could beat him?"
Yukino was silent for a moment, then shook her head.
If they were discussing children's theories like what kind of people can be called friends in the Service Club, she could argue using mental victory.
But strength was a physical thing. If you can't win, you can't win.
Haruno sighed and said: "I've already asked around with the Kuja Pirates. A bounty of 170 million, while not low, is far from the level of top-tier pirates."
"Right now, we're living a relatively safe life under the Commander's protection. But if we accidentally do something that upsets him, he could kick us out at any time..."
"So you..." At this point, Yukino roughly guessed the reasoning behind her sister's actions.
Haruno nodded: "Yes, I had Hayama-kun test the Devil Fruit's power. After all, a person can only eat one, right? We can't just eat any random thing. Isn't it good to have someone help us scout the way?"
Good grief, just a moment ago she was calling him 'Hayato' when she was urging him on, and now he's 'Hayama'.
Yukino's eyes widened. Okay, she admitted her sister had a point.
'But you're not treating Hayama like a person at all. By doing this, he's permanently lost the chance to get stronger through a Devil Fruit.'
Haruno saw her sister's thoughts at a glance, waved her hand, and said: "Yukino, sometimes you have to let go of your moral baggage. We can barely protect ourselves, how can we worry about others? Besides, Hayama-kun isn't blaming me, is he?"
Yukino was dumbfounded again.
Although she knew her sister often ruthlessly exploited people she wasn't interested in, Hayato had been her simp for over ten years.
'W-Was it necessary to be so harsh?'