The moment Perona's life force was cut off, she died on the spot.
The power of the Ghost-Ghost Fruit that had been residing inside her immediately reformed and left her body, intending to find a nearby fruit and reincarnate.
But just then, the phantom of the Shinigami grabbed the power of the Ghost-Ghost Fruit and refined it in an instant.
The Shinigami's power existed on a level far above that of Devil Fruits. It was genuine divine power.
Grabbing and refining a Devil Fruit's power wasn't difficult for it at all.
And unlike ordinary people in the world of One Piece, the Shinigami didn't need to obey the iron rule that one person could only eat one Devil Fruit.
As a god, having a few extra Devil Fruits was perfectly reasonable, wasn't it?
So as long as Rowan wanted to, he could absolutely use the power of the Shinigami to refine multiple Devil Fruits.
But he wasn't going to do that.
Because in his view, Devil Fruits weren't better the more you had.
They were better the more compatible they were.
Both the Revive-Revive Fruit and the Ghost-Ghost Fruit were, in a sense, forms of authority the Shinigami could naturally wield. They matched the Shinigami perfectly.
By refining those fruits with the Shinigami's power, Rowan could both complete the Shinigami further and strengthen himself.
Besides those, the Soul-Soul Fruit would also be extremely compatible with the Shinigami.
But Tobirama had already made it clear earlier that he wanted that fruit, so Rowan planned to give it to him.
As long as Tobirama could unravel the secrets of Devil Fruits, he could just obtain a second Soul-Soul Fruit later.
There was no need to fight him over it.
And compared to the Soul-Soul Fruit, what Rowan actually wanted most was the Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Model: Anubis—or the Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Model: Hades.
Since this world already had the Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Model: Nika, and the Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Model: Daibutsu,
there was no reason death-god-type Devil Fruits couldn't exist too.
Sure, they had never appeared in the original story, but that didn't mean they weren't out there.
The One Piece world was far too vast. All kinds of bizarre Devil Fruits could exist.
If those fruits really did exist, Rowan would devour them without hesitation.
On the other hand, even if a Nika-type fruit, a Daibutsu-type fruit, or some angel-type fruit were placed right in front of him, Rowan wouldn't eat them.
Because those fruits clashed completely with the power of the Shinigami. Eating them would probably lead to indigestion—or even weaken the Shinigami's power.
Rowan wasn't that stupid.
After using the power of the Shinigami to refine the Ghost-Ghost Fruit, Rowan gained the ability to freely create ghosts.
That power really did match the Shinigami perfectly.
Rowan snapped his fingers, and a ghost instantly shot into Perona's corpse and took over her body.
Perona opened her eyes and respectfully bowed to Rowan.
"My lord."
Rowan could tell that at this moment, Perona was still dead.
It was only because one of the ghosts he had created had taken over the corpse that Perona could move freely.
But she couldn't bring out Perona's real strength that way.
"Come back."
Rowan beckoned with one hand, and the ghost he had created immediately returned to his body.
Perona's corpse dropped to the ground with a thud.
Then Rowan crouched down and patted Perona on the cheek.
"Wake up."
In the next instant, the power of Yomi erupted and flowed through Perona's body.
Yin and Yang reversed. Death turned into life.
The dead Perona opened her eyes, saw Rowan's face, and immediately let out a piercing scream. Using both hands and feet, she scrambled all the way into a corner and started trembling violently.
"Don't kill me, don't kill me…"
When Perona died just now, her soul had been standing beside Rowan the whole time, watching everything he did.
She had been terrified out of her mind.
She had never seen anyone this outrageous in her entire life.
Playing with souls. Manipulating life and death.
Was this even human?
Was this some death god that had crawled out of the underworld?
Perona buried her head between her knees and didn't dare look at Rowan, afraid that if she met his eyes, her soul would get dragged away.
It was just too terrifying.
Way too terrifying.
Rowan rubbed his nose. He admitted that what he had just done was a little extreme. Looks like he really had frightened the poor girl.
Forget it. Better to leave.
He was worried that staying any longer would only put more pressure on Perona.
So he simply opened an air door and left.
When he got back to the others, Nami quietly came over, pulled him aside, and asked in a trembling voice,
"You… you really can bring dead people back to life?"
Her face was full of excitement, longing, and shock.
Rowan immediately understood.
"You have a dead loved one you want to bring back?"
Nami nodded at once. This wasn't the time to be shy.
"It's Bellemere. She was my mother. When I was little, she was killed by the Arlong Pirates. Right before she died, I had a huge fight with her, and I said something I've regretted for the rest of my life."
Rowan knew exactly what she meant. It wasn't as if he hadn't read One Piece.
Back then, Nami had gotten into a fight with Bellemere because she could only wear Nojiko's hand-me-down clothes, and in the heat of the argument, she shouted something like, "I hate Bellemere the most!"
But before the two of them could ever make up, the Arlong Pirates arrived and killed Bellemere.
Because of that, Nami never got the chance to reconcile with her, and never got the chance to say she was sorry.
That became a knot in her heart, one that still hadn't come undone even now.
And now, the fact that Rowan could revive the dead gave Nami hope.
She wanted to see Bellemere again more than anything.
She wanted more than anything to tell Bellemere she was sorry.
As long as Rowan could help her see Bellemere again, Nami felt like she would do anything.
Rowan reached out and gently patted her hair.
"Don't rush. I'll find a chance to let you see Bellemere again."
The moment Nami heard that, she couldn't hold back anymore. Tears burst out like a broken dam, and she started crying so hard her face was a total mess.
"Thank you. Thank you…"
"Oh? What happened? Why is Nami crying like that? Don't tell me you bullied her, Rowan."
At that moment, Robin's voice came from nearby, carrying a teasing, amused tone.
Nami hurriedly wiped away the tears on her face and waved her hands.
"No, it's not that, I—"
"Stop explaining. Can't you tell she's messing with you?"
Rowan shot Robin an exasperated look and cut Nami off.
"Something you need?" he asked. If Robin had come over now, there was definitely a reason.
Sure enough, Robin said,
"Yes. There is something."
"I want you to revive someone for me, Rowan."
"Who? Don't tell me it's Nico Olvia."
~~~
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