Carina examined Kotatsu's dramatically transformed appearance with obvious fascination and couldn't help asking with genuine curiosity:
"What happened to Kotatsu? Did it evolve or something?"
"Exactly right!" Jerry replied with completely serious expression, as if he were delivering a scientific lecture. "It has successfully passed through its maturation phase and just underwent a complete evolutionary transformation. Now it's Kotatsu Version 2.0."
Ignoring the middle and end portions of Jerry's explanation, Carina focused on the important details and pressed for more information:
"Did you feed it something special to cause this change?"
"Not exactly," Jerry said, deciding that explaining the magical cat biscuit would be too complicated. "It found a Devil Fruit somewhere and ate it on its own."
Jerry thought this explanation made more sense and was technically accurate—Kotatsu's current condition was indeed equivalent to having consumed a Devil Fruit, just not in the traditional way.
He stroked his chin thoughtfully and continued with mock seriousness:
"Now Kotatsu has become significantly more powerful. It could probably defeat you with a single swipe of its paw."
Hearing Jerry's playful boast, Kotatsu opened its now-brighter, more intelligent eyes and nodded in acknowledgment before letting out a soft meow. The lynx then instantly vanished from its original position and reappeared beside Carina, gently rubbing against her leg with obvious affection.
After its evolutionary enhancement, Kotatsu's intelligence had increased dramatically. The lynx had always possessed good comprehension abilities, but now it easily understood the nuances of Jerry's conversation and the playful nature of his comments.
However, since Kotatsu had become inseparable from Carina and Carrot recently, it couldn't bring itself to support Jerry's teasing of Carina, despite understanding that both humans were simply engaging in their usual friendly banter.
"So what if it's stronger?" Carina replied with a defiant smile, slowly crouching down to embrace the even more majestic and powerful Kotatsu. "Kotatsu would never hurt me. Its increased strength will only help it protect me more effectively."
She looked up at Jerry with a challenging expression that suggested she was completely confident in her bond with their feline friend.
"Kotatsu, you can control your size now, can't you?" Jerry asked, shifting his attention to the transformed lynx.
Although this ability hadn't been specifically mentioned in the system's item description, Jerry suspected the cat biscuit contained several hidden capabilities beyond what was explicitly listed. He ignored Carina's smug expression and focused on testing his theory.
Kotatsu nodded in understanding, and its body immediately began changing shape, rapidly shrinking down to the size of an ordinary house kitten while maintaining all its enhanced features and intelligence.
Both Carina and Carrot looked at the miniaturized Kotatsu with expressions of pure delight and amazement, clearly enchanted by this new capability.
Carrot immediately squatted down and gently stroked Kotatsu's tiny head, the corners of her mouth lifting into a genuinely happy smile:
"Aww, Kotatsu! Now that you're so small, you won't be able to chase me around anymore. Next time, I'll be the one chasing you instead!"
Skull and Brook observed the transformation with intense interest, their eye sockets somehow managing to convey strong fascination despite their lack of actual eyes.
"Oh haha! This is absolutely magical," Skull commented with obvious enthusiasm.
"It can actually evolve like this? This is truly eye-opening, though of course my eye sockets are already as wide as they can possibly be! Yohohoho!" Brook added with his characteristic laugh.
Ace's body had returned to its normal proportions after his day-long eating marathon, and he stood casually picking his nose while asking practical questions:
"Pretty impressive. What other abilities does Kotatsu have now?"
Hearing this inquiry, Deuce also remembered to gather important information and asked with similar curiosity:
"Yes, Jerry, do you understand what Kotatsu's specific new capabilities are?"
"Well, before you all came over here, I did conduct some preliminary testing," Jerry replied without any attempt to hide information. "Let me organize my thoughts and explain what Kotatsu can do now."
Jerry took a moment to structure his explanation properly, then began detailing each of Kotatsu's newly acquired abilities in clear, practical terms.
After listening to Jerry's comprehensive explanation, the others didn't display excessive surprise—they'd grown accustomed to unusual developments during their adventures—but everyone expressed genuine happiness about Kotatsu's increased strength and expanded capabilities.
However, when they learned that Kotatsu could now function as a living Den Den Mushi with full communication abilities, their eyes immediately lit up with obvious excitement. Skull was so intrigued that he requested an immediate demonstration, and the results proved excellent.
Kotatsu now possessed all the communication functions of a standard Den Den Mushi, and with the proper supplementary equipment, could achieve seamless connection with existing communication networks across vast distances.
Additionally, the enhanced lynx could control and command any Den Den Mushi within a radius of several dozen meters, which meant it could also perform surveillance and eavesdropping operations when necessary.
Jerry believed that as Kotatsu's power continued developing over time, its sphere of influence would expand significantly, enabling the lynx to accomplish many tasks that had been impossible before its transformation.
While this ability could greatly facilitate Skull's intelligence gathering work, Jerry understood that under normal circumstances, they shouldn't rely too heavily on Kotatsu's new powers unnecessarily.
However, in specific emergency situations or particularly challenging circumstances, Kotatsu's presence would definitely provide their team with additional security options and strategic advantages.
"Alright, it's getting quite late," Deuce observed when their discussion of Kotatsu's changes and abilities seemed to be winding down. "If there's nothing else urgent to discuss, we should all head back to our rooms for some rest."
"Haha, you're absolutely right about the time," Jerry agreed, though his tone suggested he'd noticed something else. "But it looks like we have another visitor approaching."
Just as everyone began turning to walk toward the door, Jerry's voice carried a note of weary familiarity.
Exactly like the previous night, the exterior window was ruthlessly shattered once again, glass fragments scattering across the floor as a blurred figure rushed toward Jerry with astonishing speed and obvious hostile intent.
Deuce and the others could barely track the movement with their eyes as Jerry's figure also seemed to disappear momentarily in response to the lightning-fast attack.
When the motion stopped, the previous night's attacker—Cavendish in his Hakuba form—stood frozen with his characteristic distorted facial expression. Jerry had calmly intercepted the assault, firmly grasping the swordsman's wrist to prevent his blade from moving.
"What's the matter?" Jerry asked with obvious amusement. "Did you forget how much pain you were in after the swelling went down a little? Or do you think your pig-head transformation wasn't quite complete enough?"
Hakuba's rolled-back white eyes suddenly trembled with what appeared to be recognition and genuine fear. After letting out a confused questioning sound, the secondary personality immediately closed its eyes and collapsed unconscious to the floor.
It seemed that after wandering aimlessly around the city looking for random victims to attack, Hakuba had recognized Jerry as an opponent far too dangerous to engage. The alter ego had quickly retreated back into Cavendish's subconscious, leaving the primary personality lying on the ground and snoring peacefully.
Ace scratched his head with obvious confusion. "What's wrong with this guy? Why does he keep passing out?"
Skull and Brook exchanged knowing glances, realizing that Ace and Deuce still didn't fully understand the situation from the previous night's brief encounter. They began explaining the day's events and Cavendish's unusual condition in detail.
After listening to both skeletons' comprehensive account, Deuce pinched the bridge of his nose and offered a thoughtful medical assessment:
"So he's definitely Cavendish, but he manifests two distinct personalities. Based on his behavior patterns, he must have awakened this secondary persona after falling into deep sleep."
Jerry nodded approvingly, thinking that Deuce's experience working with Whitebeard's medical team—where he'd been popular among the nursing staff—had indeed been excellent training for diagnostic work.
Simply by hearing the somewhat vague explanations from Skull and the others, combined with his direct observations, Deuce had managed to provide an analysis that was remarkably accurate.
"Yeah, that's exactly right," Jerry confirmed. "Besides, he's appeared in news reports before, hasn't he? I'm guessing it was his secondary personality that caused most of those infamous incidents."
Jerry glanced down at the pig-faced Cavendish, who continued sleeping peacefully on the floor despite his facial swelling having subsided somewhat since their earlier confrontation.
"Yes, here's the specific incident that made him appear in the newspapers previously," Skull announced.
At some point, Skull had quietly slipped back to his room and retrieved relevant documentation. He carefully unfolded a clipped newspaper article and spread it flat on Jerry's table for everyone to examine.
"Oh my! He doesn't look anything like that at all," Carina observed with barely contained laughter.
"You're absolutely right," Carrot agreed, giggling as she spoke. "Apart from wearing identical clothing, this pig-head on our floor bears almost no resemblance to the handsome man in the newspaper photograph."
Carina and Carrot looked back and forth between the flattering newspaper image and the swollen Cavendish lying unconscious nearby, both struggling to suppress their amusement at the dramatic contrast.
Jerry raised his foot and gently nudged Cavendish with obvious pride, the corners of his mouth lifting into a satisfied smile:
"Of course he looks different. I beat him up thoroughly today and turned him into a proper pig-head. The swelling has actually gone down quite a bit since this afternoon."
He paused for dramatic effect before delivering his final observation with characteristic wit:
"Honestly, if it weren't for his skin color being wrong, I could easily call him George."
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