OP: AMP Ch. 204

The second Goatman eventually died. The goal had been research, naturally. But the original plan wasn't to kill it, Indigo had wanted to capture it alive for extended study. Unfortunately, when faced with the capture equipment, the Goatman displayed abnormal ferocity combined with beast-like instincts that made it nearly impossible to contain. Carefully designed traps that should have been foolproof were somehow detected and avoided.

In the end, it took sustained gunfire to bring the creature down.

The Goatman died to modern firearms, plain and simple. No matter how tough its body was, facing an endless barrage of bullets it couldn't fight back against proved too much. Even supernatural creatures had limits when conventional weapons were applied in overwhelming quantity. But this time, its corpse lay intact on the arena floor, blood pooling around it but the body itself undamaged beyond the bullet wounds.

It hadn't turned to ash.

This discovery sent Indigo into a frenzy of excitement. After all, the previous Goatman had completely carbonized upon death. This was simply an incomprehensible life-form with rules he couldn't predict.

At first, he'd expected it to vanish like the strange sheeps did when killed, just disappearing into particles. But clearly that theory was wrong.

"Could it really be because of him? Or maybe..." His curiosity had reached a point where he couldn't restrain it anymore. His eyes gleamed with manic inspiration as he made a decision that would've horrified most people.

He was going to release a Goatman into the general population.

The release point would naturally be the White-White Sea, where countless people lived. Perfect test subjects for gathering more data about how these creatures interacted with larger populations. And technically, Shiki hadn't forbidden it. What wasn't explicitly prohibited was implicitly allowed, right?

By observing how it behaved in a populated area, they might gather insights that could prove invaluable. Maybe even profitable, if they could weaponize the results properly.

But then worry crept in as he considered the logistics. Even though they had plenty of wheat aboard, if he wanted to create an entire synthetic beast army, those supplies would be nowhere near sufficient. He'd need industrial quantities of the stuff. And they still hadn't solved the control problem. How do you command a creature that seems to operate on pure instinct?

These concerns filled his mind, but they didn't slow his research into the Goatman's unique transformation state. Understanding that form was the key to everything.

"Dawn's about to break..." he muttered, glancing at the horizon. "Time to put the plan into motion."

---

Inside the White Cloud House, the Straw Hat crew had gathered for breakfast. But right now, every single pair of eyes was focused on one particular person. Or rather, one particular sword-turned-person.

Being stared at by the entire crew made the Shichiseiken feel incredibly self-conscious.

"Do I... look good?" she asked shyly, fidgeting with her woolly white fur.

Marcus' words from last night had hit her hard, and hearing that an empress had turned into something resembling a Mink was difficult to accept. He had reassured her afterward, though, saying she was not ugly.

Could an empress really be placated by a few complimentary words?

Apparently yes. Yes she could.

And that's how she'd ended up making her grand debut this morning, unable to resist showing off her new form despite her earlier sulking.

The Straw Hats stared in silence, trying to process what they were seeing. Usopp leaned over to Marcus and stage-whispered, "Are you trying to get yourself killed? You brought a woman back!"

Marcus shot him a confused look. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Even though he really didn't want to understand the implication behind Usopp's words, he figured he should probably explain before wild rumors started spreading.

"This is the Shichiseiken."

"HUH?!"

"Wait, seriously?!"

"The sword turned into a girl?!"

"She's so cute..."

"Can I touch your horns?"

Instantly, the entire crew swarmed around the Shichiseiken, examining her from every angle like a bunch of middle schoolers meeting a foreign exchange student for the first time. Curiosity radiated from all of them. Faced with such enthusiastic attention, the Shichiseiken became flustered, her cheeks reddening beneath the white fur. The nervous anxiety she'd been feeling melted away under their interest.

The first person to notice something was off was Robin, naturally.

"Wait a second. Isn't the Human-Human Fruit already eaten by Chopper? Don't tell me you can copy our Devil Fruit abilities?"

Only then did everyone realize the issue. The Shichiseiken's soft, adorable sheep-like appearance had been so distracting that they'd completely forgotten about basic Devil Fruit rules. Even Chopper's eyes widened as that information hit him.

Marcus quickly explained what had happened, how a Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit had suddenly materialized in his hand last night. The expressions on the Straw Hats' faces became incredibly varied as they processed this information. It wasn't that they were shocked he could obtain a Devil Fruit. After all, he'd acquired many Devil Fruits already, and they knew he could somehow detect when fruits appeared nearby. So the appearance of a Mythical Zoan, while impressive, wasn't completely mind-blowing. What truly shocked them was that the Shichiseiken could eat a Devil Fruit at all.

In this timeline, because of Marcus' influence on their journey, they'd never encountered Lassoo. They had no frame of reference for objects consuming Devil Fruits.

"How did you even do that?!" Usopp was vibrating with curiosity.

After all, this involved making an inanimate object eat a Devil Fruit. If this technique could be replicated, the possibilities were endless. His mind immediately went to Nami's Clima-Tact. If they could integrate an Zoan-type Devil Fruit into it, the weapon's power combined with the fruit's abilities... he'd be witnessing the birth of something miraculous.

"You all know the Shichiseiken is sentient and can even transfer souls between bodies. That's why she can 'eat' a Devil Fruit on her own," Marcus explained. "If it were something else, I probably wouldn't be able to make it work. The Shichiseiken is very special, she's basically already alive in a way most objects aren't."

The others' expressions carried hints of disappointment at this limitation. Looked like it wouldn't work for just any object. But then several gazes turned toward Zoro, and the swordsman could feel the weight of their attention.

The Sandai Kitetsu at his hip was a cursed blade. Over the past few days, they'd often seen him meditating, and the Sandai Kitetsu would radiate the same ominous aura that the Shichiseiken once had. If there was going to be a second inanimate object capable of eating a Devil Fruit, it would probably be his cursed sword.

Feeling everyone staring at him, Zoro naturally drew the Sandai Kitetsu and laid it on the table.

"Probably won't work," he said bluntly.

He wasn't opposed to his sword eating a Devil Fruit, hell, it might make him even stronger. But the Sandai Kitetsu wasn't like the Shichiseiken. Though he'd been meditating recently to better attune himself to the blade, actually, "adapt" was the better word, the sword was like a mischievous child. It would "listen" to him, sure, but as time passed and as his understanding of Haki deepened, especially as he'd begun coating the blade with Haki to "nurture" it, the Sandai Kitetsu seemed to have gained a certain degree of awareness. But clearly, it couldn't just "eat" a Devil Fruit on its own like the Shichiseiken had.

"Want to try anyway?" Marcus asked.

He pulled out all the Zoan-type Devil Fruits he currently possessed and laid them on the table in a neat row. The Straw Hat crew looked at the display with calm expressions, they'd already known about his collection. But if anyone else had been present, they would've gone mad with envy at the sight.

Mantis, Giraffe, Tortoise, Vulture, Velociraptor, Goatman.

Those were all of Marcus' Zoan-type Devil Fruits, each one worth a fortune on the black market.

Zoro placed the Sandai Kitetsu beside the fruits and waited. However, just as he'd expected, nothing happened. The cursed blade showed no attraction to any of the Devil Fruits.

"Looks like it won't work," Marcus confirmed.

He turned to the Shichiseiken. "As a sword yourself, can you help somehow? Maybe encourage it to eat one?"

Naturally, the answer was no.

The Shichiseiken shook her head. "The reason I can eat a Devil Fruit is because I have a soul. But they don't have souls, not like I do, anyway."

The others fell into thoughtful silence, processing the implications.

Marcus found himself deep in contemplation.

Right... that made sense.

The reason a person could only have one Devil Fruit was that a person had only one soul and one body. The Shichiseiken being able to eat a Devil Fruit meant that her blade and her soul together were equivalent to everything that comprised a complete "person." But for other swords to achieve the same result, they'd need to possess both a body and a soul in the first place.

Very quickly, he thought he'd figured out how Vegapunk had managed to make guns or swords eat Devil Fruits in the original story.

Zoan-type fruits had the most prominent souls of all Devil Fruit types. By combining the soul within the Devil Fruit with the physical body of a weapon, you'd still have the one-soul-one-body pairing required. But what if you could extract the soul from an Zoan-type Devil Fruit and then attach it to an inanimate object separately...