Sea Calendar 1512.
West Blue.
Algaro Town was a bustling, mid-sized town, renowned for its handicrafts and flowers. A considerable Marine base was also stationed there, contributing to its relatively safe environment and famous local products, which attracted tourists from far and wide.
It was June, and the afternoon sun at three o'clock was still scorching. Even the cobblestone streets were hot to the touch. However, the town's most popular bakery, "Simon's Cheese Ring," was unusually quiet. Curious passersby noticed several burly men standing rigidly by the entrance. Despite their faces being flushed from the sun, they dared not make even the slightest movement, their gazes fixed intently on the bakery door.
BOOM!!!!
With a violent crash, a tall figure burst through the bakery door and crashed onto the street. A few startled onlookers, emboldened, stepped forward, only to find that the person on the ground was Carterman, the town's infamous thug.
However, his usually arrogant face now bore no trace of its former swagger. Blood seeped from his nose, mouth, eyes, and even ears, indicating extremely severe injuries.
Trembling, he stammered towards the bakery door, "Victor! Even you can't break gang rules! Attacking a fellow gang member arbitrarily is punishable by impalement!!"
Tap... tap... tap...
With slow, unhurried footsteps, a man appeared at the bakery doorway.
Compared to the thug Carterman's massive three-meter tall physique, this man was only about 1.8 meters tall. He wore a well-tailored black suit, his golden hair slicked back.
His age was somewhere between a teenager and a young adult, and his handsome face, carved like a marble sculpture, now appeared utterly cold.
"You say I broke the gang rules?"
The young man, addressed as Victor, slowly rolled up his sleeves as he calmly walked towards Carterman, who lay sprawled on the street. "I don't think so, Mr. Carterman. Because you're no longer a member of 'Coral'."
The young man reached Carterman, looking down at him. A hint of mockery gleamed in his sapphire eyes. "To be clear, the boss ordered you to be expelled from the gang."
Upon hearing this, a look of despair finally crept onto Carterman's face. He roared and lunged at Victor, desperately trying to fight his way out. But in a flash, a lightning-fast whip kick slammed into his chest.
Accompanied by screams and the sound of cracking bones, the thug Carterman flew a full four or five meters through the air before violently smashing through a roadside flowerbed and rolling to the ground. He struggled to lift his eyes, looking at Victor approaching him, and pleaded, "Please, please, Victor... spare me..."
Before he could finish, a black leather shoe landed directly on his head. A cold voice from above stated, "Three days ago, when you harassed my sister, I already told you, you're dead, trash."
Without waiting for Carterman to beg further, Victor directly kicked and crushed his throat. After a long moment, he snapped his fingers. The several burly men who had been standing outside the bakery door scurried over, bowed slightly to Victor in fear, and quickly carried away Carterman's twitching corpse.
Just then, Victor noticed a young girl peeking out from the bakery doorway. She wore a gothic long dress and held a small parasol even indoors. Her pink hair was styled into a side ponytail, and her wide, round eyes gave her a somewhat innocent look.
Behind the girl stood a red-haired female shop assistant, clutching a bag of bread. She paid no attention to the damaged bakery door, her face flushed as she stared intently at Victor's handsome face, like an ecstatic fan seeing a celebrity.
Victor sighed softly, pulled out two 100,000 Berry banknotes, and gently placed them into the shop assistant's hand. He said kindly, "This is for repairing the door and the flowerbed. I apologize for disturbing you, Miss Belle. Let's go home, Perona."
He waved to the pink-haired girl and headed towards the Black Axe Bar in the town center.
The pink-haired girl chuckled mischievously, taking the steaming hot baked bread from the shop assistant. "Horohorohoro... Sister Belle, snap out of it, your drool's almost dripping! I'm off, I'll come back to play later!"
She waved her small hand at the shop assistant and quickly hurried to catch up with Victor.
A middle-aged tourist who had witnessed the entire incident curiously asked a passerby beside him, "That young man's skills are truly impressive. Is he also a gang member?"
The passerby, looking disdainfully at the tourist, replied, "Uncle, you must be new to this town, right? Who around these islands doesn't know of 'Mr. Victor's' name?"
The middle-aged tourist wasn't offended, chuckling as he pressed on, "I am indeed visiting from a distant island. Could you tell me about this Victor?"
Seeing the tourist's pleasant demeanor, the passerby became more talkative: "Mr. Victor, despite his young age, is one of the top experts in the 'Coral' organization. And though he seems cold, he's actually very warm-hearted; many people in town have received his help. That cute pink-haired girl is Victor's sister, Perona, a very lively little one, everyone in town likes her."
"I see... and who was that burly man he killed?"
"That guy was Carterman, a scoundrel and ruffian who committed all sorts of evil. I heard he was also a 'Coral' executive, but I don't know much about his feud with Mr. Victor." The passerby shrugged. "But Mr. Victor's skill is truly amazing; I've never seen him lose. I doubt even the new Marine Base Captain could beat him."
The middle-aged tourist smiled upon hearing this, thanked the passerby, and slowly walked in the direction Victor and his sister had left.
He hadn't expected to encounter such an interesting situation during his leisure time inspecting his new jurisdiction. The fighting techniques the boy used didn't seem to be something an amateur would pick up, and that whip kick even had a hint of the Marine Six Powers' Rankyaku. He hoped it was just a coincidence...
Captain Krone, the newly appointed commander of Marine Branch 91 in Algaro Town, silently noted Victor's name.
Victor and Perona arrived at the entrance of the Black Axe Bar. He pondered for a moment, then turned to Perona and said, "Perona, go home first."
Perona looked at Victor worriedly. "Victor-onii-chan, will you be alright? Maybe I should stay too, I've practiced my Ghost-Ghost Fruit ability a lot!"
Victor gently ruffled the pink-haired girl's head, a faint smile on his face. "Don't worry, it's just a simple awards ceremony. You go home first, be a good girl."
After seeing Perona off, Victor's gaze turned cold. He pushed open the bar door and stepped inside. The bar was deserted. He walked directly to the back of the bar counter and pushed open a partition door, revealing a suddenly wider space.
The Black Axe Bar's interior partition was a room specifically prepared for 'Coral' gang executives. It contained a luxurious round table, bare except for a square box placed squarely in the center.
Several people stood behind the table; all were 'Coral' executives. Another man sat sprawled on a sofa behind the table, tall and imposing, a cigar in his mouth, his purple short hair like steel needles.
Seeing Victor enter, he did not stand, but spoke with a cryptic smile, "My most excellent subordinate, dear Victor, you've finally arrived. That commotion earlier was quite something. How was it? That job must have been a piece of cake for you, eh?"
"You flatter me, Boss. Carterman was unwilling to hand over his duties, so I saw him off as per the rules."
"That good-for-nothing dared to embezzle gang money, he's utterly stupid, good riddance! Speaking of which, that fight in Katsuri Town, you handled it beautifully. All the Brothers are completely convinced. Coupled with your merits from Bell Village and Echo Wharf, as boss, I grant your request." As he spoke, he pushed the box on the table towards Victor, a slight smile on his lips.
"Open it, it's a treasure of the sea worth 100 million Berries!"
Victor ignored the executives' mocking smiles and slowly opened the box. Inside, a blue cantaloupe lay quietly. It wasn't large, and its surface was covered in serrated patterns.
The surrounding executives sneered, as Boss Pippin had already told them what the fruit's ability was. Generally, only a very few people could discern a Devil Fruit's power from its appearance, but this fruit was an exception. It was widely known as a useless fruit – the Zip-Zip Fruit.
The Zip-Zip Fruit, as its name suggested, transformed its eater into a Zipper Human, with the ability to create a zipper on any object they touched.
Six years ago, a Marine Captain, by chance, ate this fruit. Not only did he gain a useless ability with no offensive power, but he also became a "hammer," utterly becoming a laughingstock. Within a month, he was killed in a battle with pirates.
Years later, this fruit reappeared on the sea and was acquired by Boss Pippin of the 'Coral' organization.
Pippin was already a user of the Animal-Animal Fruit, Buffalo model, so he hoped to sell this fruit for a good price.
However, after three months, no one was willing to buy it, not even for 30 million Berries, let alone 100 million. After numerous inquiries, he learned that due to the infamous story of the previous Marine Captain, anyone knowledgeable recognized the fruit's specific appearance.
Why would they spend 100 million Berries on a worthless piece of trash? Pippin, resigned, had no choice but to store the fruit in his vault and gradually forgot about it.
Returning to Victor.
Two years ago, Victor, along with his sister Perona, voluntarily joined 'Coral'. Relying on his unparalleled skills, he completed many incredibly difficult missions. The most astonishing instance was a month ago, when he single-handedly heavily damaged six high-ranking executives of the 'Suleiman Family', another major gang in the West Blue, in Katsuri Town.
This instantly crippled nearly 80% of the 'Suleiman Family's' top combat power, forcing them to concede to 'Coral', allowing 'Coral' to gain immense profits. According to gang rules, Victor's merits were worth 100 million Berries.
However, Victor, usually indifferent to rewards, made a single request this time – he wanted a Devil Fruit.
Boss Pippin was already wary of Victor, fearing he might usurp his leadership position, and would naturally be unwilling to let Victor acquire a Devil Fruit and significantly increase his strength.
However, Victor's achievements this time were simply too brilliant; directly refusing him would be challenging the gang's rules. Just as Pippin was in a dilemma, a subordinate reminded him:
"Boss, don't you still have that useless Devil Fruit? It's perfect for Victor; not only will it shut him up, but it might even reduce his strength instead of increasing it!"
Pippin was overjoyed upon hearing this; it made perfect sense! Even if Victor knew the fruit's ability, he himself had requested a Devil Fruit as a reward, so giving him the Zip-Zip Fruit as a reward was perfectly reasonable.
Thus, he immediately convened an awards ceremony to officially reward Victor at the Black Axe Bar. To prevent Victor from being dissatisfied with the Zip-Zip Fruit's ability and lashing out, Pippin made two preparations:
first, he gathered several other major gang executives to provide backup; second, he specially gave Victor an additional gift – allowing Victor to personally deal with the thug Carterman. Carterman had embezzled gang property, and Pippin already intended to dispose of him.
Coincidentally, Carterman had also harassed Perona earlier, and Victor probably wanted to kill him personally. Victor was his most capable and strongest subordinate, so appeasing him was also very necessary.
In the secret backroom of the Black Axe Bar, under the watchful eyes of everyone, Victor unhesitatingly picked up the fruit and took a bite.
As expected, the Devil Fruit tasted as disgusting as the legends described, but his expression didn't show the slightest change. Because... everything was proceeding according to his plan! He had been plotting and scheming for two years, and one of his goals was this very Devil Fruit.
The Zip-Zip Fruit, a special Paramecia Devil Fruit even rarer than Logia-type Devil Fruits!
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