Watching the page materialize with the record of the Devil Fruit, Chrollo's lips curled into an uncontrollable upward tilt.
It was exactly as he had suspected!
The upgraded [Bandit's Secret] now possessed the ability to plunder the core power system of the One Piece world—the Devil Fruits!
Urouge could be considered a peripheral figure among the Supernovas. Whether in terms of combat records, screen presence, or character charisma, he was at the bottom of the list. Such a person, even if plundered of his fruit by Chrollo, would not cause too massive a shift in the world's progression, nor would it bring immediate annihilation to the Troupe. He was, quite simply, the perfect target.
Looking at the floating settlement screen, Chrollo's excitement was barely hidden behind his calm mask.
"I've made it this far thanks to hard work and sweat..."
Deep Blue, no...
Bandit's Secret, add points!
In the world of One Piece, you can lack a specialization, but you cannot have a glaring weakness. Chrollo distributed his four attribute points evenly across his four main stats.
His final status panel looked like this:
> [Name: Chrollo Lucilfer]
> [Attributes: Strength: 56 (B) / Agility: 62 (B+) / Intelligence: 73 (A) / Constitution: 59 (B)]
> [Awakened Nen Ability: Bandit's Secret (Specialist · Evolved)]
> [Aura Quantity: 380,000 (Royal Guard Level)]
> [Point Shop Progress: 8,000 / 100,000]
> [Current Holdings:
> Nen Abilities: 23 Types (Click for details)
> Devil Fruit Abilities: 1]
> [Current Prestige: 8,000]
Seeing the Devil Fruit count hit 1 and his prestige hit 8,000, even Chrollo, with his years of experience playing a poker-faced leader, almost lost his composure and let out a light hum of satisfaction.
This meant that in this vast ocean, every powerhouse with a strong or peculiar Devil Fruit ability was no longer just an enemy or a rival in Chrollo's eyes... They were now "nutrients" for the Spiders.
The Phantom Troupe was destined to become the most feared entity of this Great Pirate Era—the Devil Fruit Hunters!
Chrollo reached out and firmly grasped the pale blue transparent page. With a thought, the page dissolved into flecks of light and vanished. Almost simultaneously, light converged in his other palm, solidifying into a physical object—the dark-gold, asymmetrical hourglass-shaped Karma-Karma Fruit!
He looked up at Uvogin and tossed the fruit to him.
"It's yours..."
---
Gulp!
Uvogin stared at the fruit with its bizarre patterns and ominous vibrations before tossing his head back and swallowing it whole. The moment the fruit hit his stomach, a strange rhythm, as if originating from the very roots of the world, flashed across his massive body.
Burp— Uvogin let out a thunderous belch, baring his white teeth as an excited light flickered in his eyes. He gave a heavy nod to Phinks, who had been waiting nearby, cracking his neck and rolling his shoulders. After the battle ended, Uvogin had returned the [Ripper Cyclotron] ability to Phinks.
Phinks stepped up with a mischievous grin, popping his joints. "How many rotations should I do? How about ten!"
Hummm—
As if to get back at his loud-mouthed companion for earlier, Phinks maliciously wound his arm ten times. Surging aura gathered in his right fist, turning his arm into a miniature golden sun radiating heart-stopping energy.
"Catch this, Uvogin!"
The golden fist slammed like a cannonball into Uvogin's completely unprotected chest.
BOOM—!
Blinding light swallowed Uvogin. The impact sent him flying like a broken kite, smashing through the reinforced walls of the deck-house behind him and burying him under a mountain of dust and debris.
The rest of the Troupe—Pakunoda, Machi, Nobunaga, Shalnark, Shizuku, Franklin—all turned their eyes toward the ruins. After a brief silence...
"A-HAHAHAHAHA—!!!"
"That's it!! That's the stuff—!!"
CRASH—!
The rubble was violently blasted away by a domineering force. From the dust, Uvogin emerged, but his appearance had changed drastically!
His body had swelled significantly. His rock-like muscles were even more corded and bulging, with veins snaking across his skin like dragons. Most shocking was his height—the already giant two-meter man had exploded to over four meters tall!
Just standing there, he radiated a suffocating pressure. The [Karma-Karma Fruit] was active.
Chrollo, watching the impactful scene, let the corner of his mouth lift slightly. It was as he thought. The Karma-Karma Fruit was a Paramecia type, and Chrollo's theory was that Paramecia fruits corresponded to the Enhancer category of the six Nen types.
The [Bestow] sub-ability of Bandit's Secret had worked perfectly, "planting" the fruit into Uvogin. In Chrollo's view, the fruit's ability to "absorb damage to build power and return it several-fold" was tailor-made for Uvogin.
Uvogin's original Enhancer Nen had already tempered his body to the limit; his defense was unrivaled in the Troupe. This made him the perfect vessel to take a beating, store the energy, and then crush his foes. Besides, if Chrollo gave Uvogin an ability that required complex mental calculations, the big guy wouldn't know what to do with it. His battles always ended the same way: a manic laugh, a charge, and the enemy being torn to shreds.
Now, even in his base state, Uvogin had become a dual-ability user.
"Well, what do you think?!"
Uvogin excitedly flexed his mountain-like new form and muscles that looked capable of crushing steel. With blatant boastfulness, he looked over every combat member of the Troupe. "With this, I am the undisputed strongest in the Troupe—!!"
The Phantom Troupe was a collection of top-tier criminals brought together by Chrollo. They believed in strength above all else and were naturally defiant. Hearing Uvogin's claim, the atmosphere turned tense. Nobunaga, Phinks, and the others looked at him with hostile, narrowed eyes.
Suddenly, a clear, disdainful snort broke the tension.
"Boring." Machi glanced at Uvogin, her gaze drifting past his giant frame to the wrecked ship's cabin behind him. "Since you're the 'strongest,' remember to fix the room you broke."
The air froze for a second.
Pfft— Phinks was the first to fail at holding back a laugh.
"Hahahaha—!" Nobunaga doubled over.
The heavy atmosphere dissolved instantly. The members shook their heads, laughing as they left the deck. As Phinks walked past, carrying the unconscious Urouge, he patted Uvogin's leg and mimicked Machi's tone. "Don't forget to fix it, 'Strongest One'~"
Uvogin stood alone in the wreckage, his expression turning awkward. He scratched his hedgehog-like hair with a palm the size of a dinner plate. "I'll fix it, I'll fix it..."
But looking at the mess that required professional carpentry, his thick eyebrows knitted together. "Then again, I'm not exactly good at this. I'd better leave first..."
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