Half a month ter.

  Pirate Isnd – Haosu.

  Ihe massive skull-shaped building, the increasingly imposing Rocks D. Xebec was in discussion with Shiki the Golden Lion and Edward e (Whitebeard).

  “Captain—”

  Suddenly, a crew member rushed in, carrying a briefcase in his hand.

  “What’s the rush? Calm down,” Rocks said with a frown. Shiki and Whitebeard, the two highest-ranking officers, also turned curious gazes toward the intruding crew member.

  “This… this was delivered by the Fallen Angel Pirates,” the crew member stammered, pg the briefcase oable. “They said it tains samples of their newly developed artificial Devil Fruits, sent for us to examine.”

  “I’ve already checked. The case indeed tains some unusual-looking apples, all identical. There’s also a letter from El addressed to you, Captain.”

  “Hmm?”

  “What did you say?”

  “Artificial Devil Fruits?”

  Hearing this, both Rocks and his officers twitched in surprise. They rose to their feet in astonishment.

  “Click—” Without hesitation, Rocks opehe briefcase. Inside were ten apples marked by strange swirling patterns, emanating a mysterious aura.

  Rocks grabbed the enclosed letter and skimmed it quickly. His pupils stricted sharply as he read.

  “Gurararara, this is extraordinary!” Whitebeard chuckled, his sharp eyes glinting with curiosity. “Did he send this just to funt his achievements?”

  “Heh, is this a joke?” Shiki asked, chewing on a cigar, clearly stunned. “Even something like this… they’ve mao create it?”

  “Huahaha, he’s one audacious guy. Read it yourselves,” Rocks said with a grin, handing the letter to Shiki and Whitebeard.

  “Artificial Zoan-type fruits? Eae has only a 10% ce of granting a Devil Fruit ability?” Whitebeard narrowed his eyes at the letter. “And the side effects… besides being a hammer, you lose all expressions except ughter? No matter how angry or sad, you only ugh? Is this real or fake?”

  Both Whitebeard and Shiki sighed in relief ohey finished reading, although skepticism lingered in their expressions.

  “Yahahaha, let’s find a few pawns to test it out,” Rocks said with a hearty ugh, waving his hand. “Bring ten men here. Make sure none of them have Devil Fruit abilities.”

  “Yes, Captain!”

  Before long, ten pirates were summoned. Nervous and uain, they shuffled in, weariant expressions.

  “These are artificial Devil Fruits,” Rocks said, gesturing toward the fruits oable. “Each of you, take one a it.”

  “Artificial Devil Fruits?”

  “Wait, is it even possible to create Devil Fruits?”

  “Enough questio!”

  “This is your ce!”

  “Would the captain ever harm you?”

  Uhe officers’ orders, the pirates stepped forward, each grabbing oificial Devil Fruit and quickly ing it.

  “Hahaha…”

  “ow…”

  “Keh-hehehe, is this really a Devil Fruit?”

  “Why ’t I stop ughing? Hahaha…”

  Soon, uhe stunned gazes of Rocks, Shiki, Whitebeard, and the others, several pirates burst into untrolble ughter, tears streaming down their faces. However, a few showed ion at all.

  “You idiots…”

  A high-ranking crew member, his face dark with anger, shouted, “What’s so funny? Stop ughing and be serious!”

  Some pirates mao suppress their ughter, while others simply could not.

  “S-Sorry, Captain… I ’t help it,” one pirate said, ughing so hard he had tears running down his cheeks. Despite his mirth, his trembling body hi genuine fear.

  Seeing this, Whitebeard and Shiki frowned.

  “Roar…”

  Suddenly, two pirates who weren’t ughi out low growls as their bodies began to transform visibly.

  One became a monstrous creature—human from the torso up, but with the body and trunk of an elephant. The other sprouted enormous bat wings, half of his body taking on bat-like features as he soared into the air.

  “They actually transformed?”

  “So this is the artificial Devil Fruit?”

  “But what’s with these odd forms?”

  The bat-like transformation seemed somewhat normal, but the human-torso-elephant hybrid left Rocks, Shiki, Whitebeard, and the others dumbfounded.

  “I’ve never seen a Zoan form like this before.”

  “Yahahaha, so these are artificial Zoan abilities?” Rocks murmured in awe as he moved closer to the two transformed pirates. “Unbelievable.”

  “Kehahahaha, a 10% success rate, a two ability users out of ten? That’s pretty lucky,” Shiki said, grinning.

  “But the cost is too high.”

  Whitebeard frow the failed users who were still ughing untrolbly. “They lose all expressions except ughter. No matter how angry or sad they might be, they only ugh. And, like real Devil Fruit users, they bee hammers—uo swim.”

  “True, but pared to that cost, the bes might be worth it…”

  Shiki’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “If we could get these artificial Devil Fruits in rge quantities, we could train a formidable army of ability users!”

  As for the side effects, he didn’t seem to mind. Laughing untrolbly wasn’t such a big deal—at least they weren’t dying or turning into mindless monsters.

  “Don’t get too excited yet. The letter says they be mass-produced, but the cost is 20 million berries each. That’s insanely expensive…” Whitebeard reminded him coldly.

  “Yahahaha, it’s just a matter of iation,” Rocks said with a sly grin. “We’ll observe for now. If there aren’t any hidden side effects, we’ll bargain.”

  “If the Fallen Angel Pirates are willing to sell in bulk and lower the price, it might be worth sidering.”

  After all, the Rocks Pirates had been weakening since Silver Axe, Wang Zhi, and Joh with their crews. Their strength had dropped signifitly.

  It was frustrating, especially since even the Roger Pirates were now catg up in power. Several ret cshes had ended in stalemates, with the Rocks Pirates uo deliver a decisive blow.

  Meanwhile, the Fallen Angel Pirates kept growing, dominating the New World and expandilessly. Rocks, as ambitious as ever, felt bitter about being overshadowed by El, a seemingly uable monster.

  Even if the artificial Devil Fruits had fws, if they didn’t severely harm the user’s health, turning failures into ughing idiots rice Rocks could accept.

  “The real question is,” Whitebeard said with a frown, “if these fruits are so incredible, why aren’t they using them themselves? Why sell them to us?”

  “Maybe they’ve developed something eveer,” Rocks specuted. “Or maybe El just doesn’t like them—he’s always had that self-righteous streak.”

  “Yahahaha, that guy ops ag like a saint,” Shiki sneered. “Always talking about peace, freedom, and equality. It’s no wohe oppressed races worship him like a messiah.”

  “They even raised their fg over Fishman Isnd, driving off svers and warning off ah ill iions.”

  “sidering how much they champion minority rights, it makes sense he wouldn’t like a fruit with such severe side effects. Or maybe he’s found a way to make an eveer artificial Devil Fruit.”

  “Still, with all the mootto Land burns on public projects, it’s no surprise they’re selling these to recoup some losses.”

  “For now, let’s keep an eye on things and make sure there aren’t any hidden side effects. We also o firm whether they’ve already developed a superior version of these fruits.”

  “Damn that El,” Rocks growled, his voice tinged with jealousy. “He’s too damn good at staying oep ahead!”

  Bleam