OP: AMP Ch. 205

After thinking it over from every angle, Marcus still couldn't come to any solid conclusions about the Devil Fruit mechanics. He wasn't a scientist, after all. If he actually managed to figure something out, it'd probably be some unreplicable experiment that worked once and never again. Just his luck.

Maybe get Goliath's Munch-Munch Fruit involved somehow? If Devil Fruits eaten through that ability didn't make the guy explode, maybe there was a workaround. But that was a big "if."

The Straw Hat crew had tried everything they could think of, every possible combination, theory, and every wild idea Usopp had thrown at the wall. Eventually, they admitted defeat and gave up on making regular swords eat Devil Fruits.

As Marcus started putting away the Devil Fruits, someone tugged at the corner of his shirt. He turned his head and saw it was Nami. Her eyes held an expectant look that he couldn't quite decode.

"Hm?"

What kind of expression was that supposed to be?

He felt confused, but she didn't explain. She just kept staring at him with those expressive eyes, making him feel like he was missing something obvious.

Seeing that Marcus really wasn't getting the hint, Nami said, "You're really terrible at reading girls' expressions, you know that?"

"What?"

Nami thought for a moment, realizing that subtle hints weren't going to work here. Time for a direct approach.

"Can you give me two Devil Fruits?" she asked, looking a bit embarrassed about asking. "Any type is fine, as long as they can boost combat power."

Come to think of it, Marcus had always been the one making the plans and proactively giving Devil Fruits to people he thought were suitable. Nami asking him for them directly was definitely a first.

"Sure. Who are you planning to give them to?"

"Raki and Aisa."

Marcus turned to look at Nami more carefully, feeling like he was seeing a different side of her. Everyone knew that she was extremely money-loving. Even though they were already rich enough that money should be a non-issue, she still couldn't get enough of gold and treasure. It was basically an instinctive hobby at this point. And a single Devil Fruit was worth at least 100 million berries. Zoan-types were even more expensive, sometimes reaching 200 or 300 million on the black market. If she had said she wanted to sell them for treasure, he wouldn't have been surprised at all. Hell, he would've given them to her anyway.

"If it's for those two, and you want combat power..." He didn't choose from the Zoan-type fruits they already had. Instead, he pulled out two Paramecia-types fruits, and held them out.

Seeing two fruits she'd never encountered before, Nami picked them up and examined them curiously. "You bought these in Mock Town?"

"Yeah. This one's the Sickle-Sickle Fruit," Marcus explained, pointing to the first one. "The user can casually swing out wind blades similar to flying slashes. Compared to Zoan-types that require extensive physical training to reach their potential, this provides immediate offensive capability. The Bubble-Bubble Fruit doesn't have strong direct attack power, it's more utility-focused. You can produce bubbles from any part of your body, and anyone who touches them gets their strength washed away. It can even wash away sharp edges from weapons and attacks. It's pretty conceptual. If developed properly, it can match any Zoan user's power."

Nami nodded thoughtfully. Compared to Zoan-types, these two could definitely boost their combat effectiveness in the short term. And giving the Bubble-Bubble Fruit to Aisa meant that even though she was still just a kid, she could make some use of it without needing years of training.

"Then I'll go give these to them right now. Thanks, Marcus."

She left with the two Devil Fruits, already planning how to present them to her Skypiean friends.

After that little interlude, everyone returned to their routines. Those who needed to train went back to training, those who needed to research continued their experiments. Only Sanji remained in the kitchen, washing dishes and humming to himself.

Marcus headed back to his room to catch some more sleep. But just as he'd laid down and started drifting off, he felt someone poking him repeatedly. His drowsiness evaporated under the insistent prodding.

He opened his eyes to find Usopp staring down at him.

"What the hell?"

"Marcus, remember what you mentioned yesterday about what would happen if someone ate two Devil Fruits of the same type? Want to research it?"

Marcus sat up, rubbing his temples. This was an experiment he'd wanted to try for a long time, actually. But the question was how to do it safely? Everyone knew that eating two Devil Fruits would make your body explode. That was common knowledge, drilled into anyone who knew anything about Devil Fruits.

But what would happen if someone ate two Devil Fruits of the exact same type? Would it still cause an explosion? Would the powers stack? Would nothing happen at all?

The biggest problem was finding a test subject.

Use an iron golem or snow golem? He'd actually planned to try that ages ago, but there was a fundamental problem: the first iron golems and snow golems he'd created didn't have mouths at all. Even though snow golems looked like they had mouths, he had personally touched and even inhabited them, the mouth was purely cosmetic.

This proved that neither type of golem had the concept of "eating" built into them.

That was also why he had been so curious about how to make inanimate objects eat Devil Fruits in the first place. If he could figure that out, he might truly be able to mass-produce iron golems or snow golems with Devil Fruit powers. An entire army of them would be unstoppable.

"So you're planning to sacrifice yourself for science?"

Usopp's head shook back and forth so fast it was almost comical. "Hell no! The people from Angel Island caught a wolf. Should be a synthetic beast, but it's badly injured. They were considering whether to just eat it for food, and when we passed by, we grabbed it."

Marcus thought about this for a moment, then stood up and followed Usopp outside.

Goliath was standing there, holding what looked like a wolf that was barely clinging to life. Its breathing was shallow and erratic. Marcus examined the wolf-like creature more closely. Calling it a wolf didn't really fit, it just happened to look somewhat like one.

"This looks more like a fox to me, doesn't it?"

"Does it?" Goliath lifted it up to get a better look, clearly not sure himself.

Usopp waved his hand dismissively. "Who cares? Let's just run the experiment!"

Marcus studied the dying creature thoughtfully. "You haven't considered what happens if it succeeds? What if the fruits stack together and the thing refuses to cooperate? It might become way more dangerous."

Usopp froze. That was definitely an issue he hadn't thought about. He'd been operating under the assumption that it would just fail spectacularly.

He scratched his head. "Eh, screw it. Let's try anyway. We'll deal with that problem if it happens."

Marcus waved his hand, and an obsidian cage materialized out of thin air, appearing with a sound like grinding stone. After all, running this kind of experiment in an open area would be stupid. Plus, he knew that Shiki was watching. They were constantly under surveillance from his Den Den Mushi.

Should they go back and find all the surveillance snails and destroy them? He'd considered it, but that would break the delicate balance they'd established. Right now, both sides were maintaining a weird sort of tacit understanding. If that balance shattered, Shiki would definitely come looking for them, and that confrontation could get ugly fast.

Strong people had powerful control issues. If they couldn't have something, they at least wanted it within their sphere of influence.

As long as they showed they weren't planning anything dangerous, the status quo would hold. Sure, they could just "jump" off the edge of Shiki's floating islands from ten thousand meters up and escape his control entirely, but that wouldn't solve the East Blue problem. The plan to destroy the East Blue couldn't be ignored. That was where they all came from, after all.

He entered the obsidian cage and sealed it off completely, leaving only a two-by-one meter space that was just large enough to install an iron door for observation. He pulled out two Bomb-Bomb Fruits from his inventory, identical in appearance. The main reason for using the Bomb-Bomb Fruit was that he had the original version. He'd gotten it from Mr. 5 back during the Arabasta arc.

Even now, he had no reliable way to confirm whether the Devil Fruits he purchased through his system were originals or replicas. Would replicas conflict with each other? Would replicas conflict with originals? These were questions he desperately wanted answered.

He started by taking out two replica fruits. At this moment, the wolf-fox creature was still alive but just barely, probably only minutes from death. He tossed two pieces of cooked beef inside the cage first, wanting to see if the thing had enough strength to eat.

The moment the meat landed near the creature, small hearts began floating up from its body. But they weren't the hearts associated with breeding animals. These were the healing hearts that appeared when an entity's health was being restored.

Usopp's expression turned weird. "Is it... in heat for you or something?"

The Straw Hat crew members who'd been around Minecraft animals had all seen this before. After all, everyone had fed cattle, sheep, or chickens at some point. Animals produced hearts before breeding.