Chapter Two: Fruit Mutation?

What does the Rumble-Rumble Fruit look like? Chu Yi had no idea; the original Pirate manga never described it! But among the prizes in the “slot machine” list, the Flame-Flame Fruit and the Dark-Dark Fruit were unmistakable to Chu Yi—how could any true fan of the series confuse them? Just seeing the fiery fruit with flame-like stripes and the dark purple fruit with blood-red veins among the choices, Chu Yi could barely contain his excitement.

There was no need to elaborate on the Flame-Flame Fruit—the one Ace consumed in the manga. The memory of Ace’s devastating “Fire Fist,” which obliterated a navy warship, was still vivid in Chu Yi’s mind. And when Ace fought Blackbeard, his move “Emperor of Flame” was the epitome of cool.

Imagining himself wielding the Flame-Flame Fruit’s power, showing off and charming women, Chu Yi couldn’t help but feel a surge of anticipation.

As for the Dark-Dark Fruit, in the original manga, Blackbeard’s use of it exuded a strange and sinister aura. Of course, if Chu Yi could win the Dark-Dark Fruit, he’d be delighted too, since its ability to counter all Logia-type Devil Fruits was truly enviable.

Looking at the rest of the Devil Fruits in the prize list, Chu Yi recognized few. Aside from seeing the Rubber-Rubber Fruit that Luffy, the protagonist, ate—which surprised him a little—there was no sign of Aokiji’s Ice-Ice Fruit, Akainu’s Magma-Magma Fruit, or Kizaru’s Glint-Glint Fruit. Chu Yi silently guessed that perhaps the system’s lottery only offered fruits that hadn’t yet been consumed.

“Merciful Buddha, please, let it be the Flame-Flame Fruit or the Dark-Dark Fruit. If not, Luffy’s Rubber-Rubber Fruit is fine too! Just don’t give me some useless fruit I’ve never seen before!”

“If it’s a Zoan, let it be a Mythical type; if it’s a Paramecia, let it be the Rubber-Rubber Fruit; for Logia, any will do...”

“System! Start the lottery!”

Though he had no idea how the system’s lottery would proceed, as Chu Yi silently prayed, a single point of light appeared on the slot machine and began to flicker across the prize list, sometimes fast, sometimes slow.

Every time the light paused on the Flame-Flame Fruit, the Dark-Dark Fruit, or the Rubber-Rubber Fruit, Chu Yi’s heart pounded violently.

As the light’s movement slowed, coming to rest upon the Flame-Flame Fruit, Chu Yi’s eyes shone with anticipation as he stared at the virtual interface.

But just as Chu Yi silently hoped the light would stop...

“Ding!”

The light, which had nearly settled on the Flame-Flame Fruit, suddenly jumped forward again, as if driven by some mischievous spirit!

Damn it, so close to the Flame-Flame Fruit!

Instead, the light landed on a completely black fruit, streaked with blood-red markings—what on earth was this Devil Fruit?

Not winning the Flame-Flame Fruit left Chu Yi a bit disappointed, but then the system’s emotionless voice echoed in his mind:

“Lottery complete. Congratulations, Host, you have acquired the Zoan-type Devil Fruit: Human-Human Fruit, Variant Type. Your reward has been placed in the system storage—please check to collect.”

It was... it was actually the Human-Human Fruit!

Heavens! How unlucky could one get? Who would have thought that the rather attractive-looking Devil Fruit was actually a Zoan and, worse, the Human-Human Fruit!

At this moment, Chu Yi’s lips twitched involuntarily—he almost wanted to check the almanac to see if today was an unlucky day. But once he calmed down, he remembered the Human-Human Fruit he’d won had the words “variant type” appended. With a sliver of hope, Chu Yi mimicked what he’d read in novels and communicated with the system in his mind: “System, what does ‘variant type’ mean?”

“When using the lottery, items won have a small chance to mutate, improving their quality and tripling the odds of exceptional gains.”

“So after mutating, is it still the Human-Human Fruit?”

“Mutation of lottery rewards is an indeterminate factor. Please discover the specific result yourself, Host.”

How irresponsible...

A few black lines seemed to drip down his forehead as Chu Yi sighed inwardly. Following the system’s guidance, he opened the storage, and sure enough, a virtual warehouse interface appeared. In the first slot lay the Human-Human Fruit, Variant Type, that he had just won.

But the Human-Human Fruit... he really didn’t want to eat it!

In the original manga, the adorable Chopper was the one who ate the Human-Human Fruit, using his own concocted “Rumble Ball” to develop its powers with decent results.

But Chopper was originally a reindeer—he became as he is in the manga only after consuming the Human-Human Fruit.

If a human ate the Human-Human Fruit, could they develop its abilities like Chopper did? Chu Yi wasn’t sure, so even though the one he’d gotten had mutated, he had no intention of eating it for now. After thinking for a while, Chu Yi decided it would be better to understand the system’s functions first, so he asked in his mind, “System, can you explain your functions now?”

“This system serves Devil Fruit users, assisting the Host in endlessly improving their Devil Fruit abilities.”

“Can you be more specific?” Chu Yi asked helplessly.

“For specific functions, please view the system interface.”

Fine, the system was clearly too lazy to explain, and the virtual interface before Chu Yi changed, displaying text he could read, leaving him to study it himself.

As he browsed the information, Chu Yi alternated between shaking his head and smiling with satisfaction. In just a few minutes, he understood the precise function of the “Infinite Awakening System.”

In short, the “Infinite Awakening System” had a single purpose: to enable endless awakenings for Devil Fruit users!

Any fan of the series knows that, at the current stage in the manga, Devil Fruit users are divided into two ranks: those who have not awakened their fruit, and those who have. Any user whose Devil Fruit has awakened has pushed their abilities beyond the fruit’s original limits, reaching a whole new level of power.

Known awakened users in the manga include Doflamingo, the String-String Fruit user, whose awakening allows him to affect everything around him with his strings, massively enhancing his power.

Other awakened users are a handful of Zoan-type minor characters; generally, after awakening, Zoan users experience greatly enhanced recovery, resilience, stamina, and other physical traits.

Whether there are other benefits, the manga doesn’t say, so Chu Yi had no way of knowing.

But seeing that the “Infinite Awakening System” could allow endless awakenings, Chu Yi knew it was undoubtedly a game-breaking system.

Of course,

That depended on having a good Devil Fruit in the first place!

Otherwise, with something like the Calm-Calm Fruit or the Imitation-Imitation Fruit, there didn’t seem to be much hope of getting stronger even with infinite awakenings.

However, according to the system introduction, awakening a Devil Fruit wasn’t unconditional. Except for the first awakening, which was a free gift from the system, subsequent awakenings required materials. The better the materials, the stronger the fruit’s awakened abilities, with the restriction that only one awakening could be performed per day.

How could one obtain these materials?

There were three ways!

First, collecting them oneself; second, purchasing them from the system shop with Berries; and third, after every five awakenings, earning a lottery reward from the system.

Having generally grasped the system’s mechanics, Chu Yi gazed at the variant Human-Human Fruit in his warehouse, hesitating whether to consume it. After all, a person could eat only one Devil Fruit, as the manga firmly established, and Chu Yi didn’t want to make a rash decision he’d regret for life.

Yet, as he hesitated, suddenly—

Bang!

Blood splattered. He watched in shock as Tiger was shot by a pursuer, falling to one knee in pain. A nameless fury ignited in Chu Yi’s chest, making the choice for him.

“System, retrieve the variant Human-Human Fruit from storage!”