"So, uh, ancestor, what would you like to drink? Or eat?"
Rocks hovered around Joy Boy, exuding an almost sycophantic air.
It was impossible to tell this was the once-feared and mighty pirate Rocks.
If Whitebeard and the others saw him like this, they'd be utterly dumbfounded.
However, the truth was, not only did Whitebeard and the other former members of Rocks' crew feel uncomfortable seeing Rocks in this state, even Michael found it hard to reconcile.
After all, Rocks was once the strongest of the strong.
Even if he had lost all his power, he shouldn't have just given up like this… But now, no matter how you looked at him, he had a certain resemblance to an older Luffy…
"Could it be that all pirates who once stood at the pinnacle of strength share a personality similar to Luffy's?" Michael's lips twitched. "No, wait—even more extreme than Luffy… Truly, shamelessness is the path to invincibility."
"What are you muttering about?" Rocks rolled his eyes. "First of all, I'm not deaf… Second, you don't actually think you're being subtle, do you?"
"Or maybe I was saying it for you to hear?"
Michael didn't even feel any pressure when teasing Rocks now.
"Tch, I'm just a little excited, that's all." Rocks leaned on his cane and turned his gaze toward the enormous tree laden with Devil Fruits.
"So? Are you ready?"
"Ready? For what?" Michael blinked. "You're simping for Joy Boy, and you're asking if I'm ready?"
"Pah! Is this simping? This is genuine admiration!" Rocks sighed, then pointed ahead. "I meant, are you ready to bring the power of devils fully into this world?"
"I should correct you on that… Devils are devils, Devil Fruits are Devil Fruits—don't conflate the two," Joy Boy interjected. "If this giant tree is indeed the source of Devil Fruits… then how did they leave this abyss and spread across the world?"
"This is just an abyss, not a place completely cut off from the world." Michael gestured toward the river flowing through the chasm.
"They probably drifted into the sea through underground waterways and spread from there…"
Michael wasn't wrong.
The only path leading out of this abyss was through the river and its subterranean connections…
Those massive avian beasts weren't about to carry Devil Fruits to the outside world.
They might have eaten Devil Fruits, but their intelligence remained that of wild animals.
"Whether it's devils or Devil Fruits… from now on, this world will shift from an era where racial abilities reign supreme to one where Devil Fruits and Haki stand side by side." Rocks' eyes seemed to gaze into the ceaseless flow of history.
"And races like the Lunarians, who relied entirely on their innate gifts to dominate… are already on the path to ruin."
Though Rocks hadn't been here long, Michael's explanations had given him a thorough understanding of the world from over 800 years ago.
And that was precisely why he had firmly aligned himself with Michael.
Rocks had no fondness for the Lunarians—their behavior wasn't much different from the Celestial Dragons.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have led his crew to storm God Valley back then.
Aside from snatching those so-called "prizes," it was also because they looked down on the Celestial Dragons.
They were just making the most of the situation.
"So, you're saying we need to pick all the Devil Fruits from this tree, right?" Toki's lips twitched. "I've been down here for days and only managed to pick up two Devil Fruits from the ground... and you guys are planning to take the whole tree?"
"Well, if they're left hanging, they'll just be eaten by the next batch of giant beasts anyway."
Michael shrugged.
Even if he didn't pick them, once the Great Kingdom was overthrown and this abyss sank into the sea, the Devil Fruits would still scatter across the world...
So why not speed up the process himself?
In the end, the result would be the same.
Create an invincible army of Devil Fruit users, and after they died, the power of the Devil Fruits would truly integrate into the existing power system, becoming mainstream.
After all, eight hundred years later, when people saw Michael's six wings, their first reaction would be... "Holy crap, a Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit?!"
But in this era over eight hundred years ago, those who saw Michael's six wings would either kneel and pray to the angel or assume he was a mutated member of the Lunarian Race... and kneel all the same.
Over the years, Michael had spent a long time breaking this habit within the rebel forces.
"You... can take the Devil Fruits... but... leave the tree here."
At that moment, Zunesha's deep, muffled voice rang out again.
Michael and Joy Boy exchanged a glance, then nodded.
They never intended to take the tree with them anyway... a tree several thousand meters tall! Were they insane?
"So, besides constantly walking, Zunesha is also guarding this Devil Fruit tree?" Rocks looked up at the towering Zunesha.
"Seems like... even Zunesha can grow weary of guarding the same thing for so long."
"Huh? You can hear Zunesha too?" Joy Boy was stunned. He had assumed only he and Michael could communicate with Zunesha through the Voice of All Things.
"If he could hear it before, I wouldn't be surprised... but I didn't expect him to still hear it now." Michael frowned.
"Didn't you lose all your powers?"
"Maybe this ability doesn't count as a 'power'?"
Rocks shrugged, indifferent to it all.
But Michael kept it in mind...
As the strongest being on the seas at the time, it wasn't strange for Rocks to possess the Voice of All Things.
But after his powers were erased by Lunar Technology, the Voice of All Things remained... Did that mean Rocks' powers could still be restored?
Michael hesitated, unsure how likely that was.
Moreover, Michael didn't fully trust the current Rocks. Letting him regain his full strength now might not be a good thing.
At this thought, Michael suddenly paused.
Could this... be the reason he hadn't helped Rocks regenerate his limbs in this era?