Life at sea was often monotonous. Days could pass where nothing appeared on the horizon but waves and sky, the only constant being their own vessel drifting endlessly. To break this tedium, Eli Winters occasionally diverted from established routes to explore uninhabited islands, searching for treasures or rare experiences. Most yielded nothing but new sights and stories, but sometimes… sometimes, the discoveries were far more intriguing.
One such island was infamous: every inch of land was smothered with poisonous plants. At its heart dwelled something stranger still a sentient Poison Tree King.
The moment Eli's group set foot ashore, a dense, toxic mist enveloped them. Felina and Fiona collapsed almost instantly, their eyes rolling back as the poison overwhelmed them. Simon and Dote fared a little better thanks to their sturdier bodies, but even they were left staggering, their strength reduced to a fraction of normal.
Retreating seemed the only option, but the island itself turned against them. The trees lashed out, their branches whipping and tearing, thorned vines snaking toward them. Alone, the vegetation posed little threat but with Eli's companions incapacitated, every scratch brought waves of numbness that left them helpless. Eli had no choice. With a gesture, he wrapped them in the folds of his spatial ability, teleporting them back to the safety of the ship.
Onboard, without a ship's doctor to aid them, Eli turned to the system's marketplace. Five detoxification pills, each costing one hundred prosperity points, materialized into his hand. A single swallow and his crewmates' breathing steadied, their color returning almost immediately. Relief washed over them as they realized how close to death they had come. Eli, however, clenched his jaw at the loss. His balance of 4,000 points had just dropped by five hundred. He'd been saving those for something far more valuable.
Still, the system's creations never failed. His companions sat in stunned silence, shaken but alive.
"Ha, what's the matter? Don't tell me you're scared already," Eli teased with a crooked smile, though his tone carried warmth beneath the mockery.
"That was terrifying," Simon muttered, wiping cold sweat from his brow. "Those plants… you don't even realize you're poisoned until it's too late."
"I tried holding my breath the moment Felina collapsed," Dote added grimly, "but it didn't matter. The toxins just sank straight into my skin."
Eli nodded. "The mist seeps in through the body itself. I was able to block it using my space powers. As for Big Pan, he resisted because he's honed his Armament Haki to a high level. That's your path too. You all need to master Armament Haki as soon as possible. I've already taught you Iron Body from the Navy's Six Styles it's considered the stepping stone to Armament. Train it well, and your foundation will be solid."
His companions nodded in solemn agreement. The Iron Body technique, which Eli had acquired during his travels, had already proven useful. Alongside Finger Gun and Kami-e, he now held four of the legendary Six Styles.
"Stay on the ship and recover," Eli ordered. "I'll handle this island's master myself."
Before they could protest, his figure blurred and vanished, Kamui carrying him directly to the island's center. There, towering above the poisoned landscape, loomed the Poison Tree King a massive trunk crowned with writhing branches, its bark veined with a sickly purple glow.
A grotesque mouth split open across its bark, and a booming voice echoed. "Human. You already fled once. Why return? Do you not fear death?"
Eli's gaze narrowed. "Just as I suspected you are sentient."
The tree sneered, its words laced with malice. "Speak your purpose, human."
Unbeknownst to Eli's companions, the Poison Tree King had already begun releasing invisible toxins into the air, colorless and odorless, but lethally potent. Its goal was simple: stall for time, and let poison do what brute force could not.
"How did you gain intelligence?" Eli asked, voice calm, betraying nothing.
"I was born enlightened," the Poison Tree King snapped, its branches flailing violently. "Do not compare me to the mindless weeds that carpet this land!"
Eli's brow furrowed. So quick to rage. He had dealt with creatures like this before. Calmly, he drew his black blade, Oblivion. Haki surged across the steel, and with a flurry of strikes, he sheared away branch after thrashing branch until the once-mighty tree stood stripped and bare.
"Now," Eli said evenly, lowering his weapon, "can we speak properly?"
The Poison Tree King quivered with something like fear. It had begun pleading long before its branches were gone, but Eli had ignored its cries until silence fell.
"Why is my poison useless against you?" it demanded, more desperate than defiant.
"That's none of your concern. Just answer my question." Eli's voice was cold.
The Poison Tree King hesitated, then relented. "Years ago, a fruit appeared at my roots. At that time, I was no king only an ordinary tree. Instinct drove me to absorb it. Slowly, I changed. Thought emerged. Awareness followed. In time, I spread poison to every plant upon this island. I named myself the Poison Tree King."
Eli's eyes flickered with recognition. A Devil Fruit. Perhaps even the Venom-Venom Fruit the same fruit that in another future would belong to Magellan, the infamous warden of Impel Down. Whether or not Magellan had consumed it in this timeline remained unclear, but this revelation stirred something within Eli: an experiment he'd long pondered.
It was said that when a Devil Fruit user died, their power reincarnated into a nearby fruit. Eli wanted to see it happen with his own eyes.
From his spatial inventory, he retrieved an assortment of fruits, scattering them around the Poison Tree King's roots. The tree watched, bewildered, as Eli sealed the area with spatial barriers, cutting off every possible escape.
"You've lived long enough," Eli said softly. "Your fate was sealed the moment you attacked."
His fist turned obsidian with Armament Haki. Striking the trunk, he unleashed the destructive force of internal rupture. The Poison Tree King convulsed, its lifeforce extinguished in an instant.
Eli stood motionless, waiting. In his awakened perception, a faint thread of energy rose from the corpse, drifting upward. Normally it would vanish into the sky, but his barrier forced it back, bouncing helplessly until it finally sank into one of the waiting fruits.
The chosen fruit resembled a spiked grenade. Its skin darkened, twisting with purple-black swirls. A Devil Fruit reborn.
Eli's lips curved into a grin. "Perfect."
He gathered the remaining fruits and tucked away the new prize before returning to the ship. His companions swarmed him the moment he stepped aboard, their eyes fixed on the strange patterned fruit in his hand.
"Eli, is that… a Devil Fruit?" Felina gasped.
"Oh? You recognize it?" Eli raised an eyebrow.
"I've never seen one in person," she admitted, "but in our kingdom there was a man who claimed to have eaten one. He said Devil Fruits are marked by strange patterns. That looks exactly like what he described."
"You're right. This is a venom-based Devil Fruit, born here on Poison Tree Island," Eli confirmed. He said nothing of his method it wasn't secrecy, just weariness. In time, they'd witness his ability for themselves.
"Any of you want it? I can't say what powers it holds, only that it's poison-related."
Simon and Dote shook their heads immediately. As fish-men, losing the ability to swim would be unbearable. Felina and Fiona exchanged a glance before declining as well. Poison didn't suit their strengths, and Eli never intended to let Big Pan shoulder such a burden.
"Then it stays with me for now," Eli said. "Once we find a Devil Fruit compendium, we'll know exactly what it does. Until then, it waits."
Felina perked up with a thought. "Eli, according to our route, we'll soon pass by a continent locked in eternal ice. Should we stop there?"
Eli's expression sharpened. "An icebound land? Could it be… the very mountain where Don Chinjao of the Happo Navy once hid his treasures?" He remembered the tale Chinjao's conical head, flattened by Garp, leaving him unable to split open the Frozen Jewel Mountain where his riches lay sealed.
A slow grin spread across Eli's face. "If that's the place, then it's my lucky day."
Felina blinked. "Treasure? What treasure?"
"You'll see," Eli said mysteriously, laughter rumbling in his chest. "Our next stop is the Frozen Continent. And if fortune smiles, we won't be leaving empty-handed."
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