“Captain Rocks, after a thh examination…

  Both the individuals who failed and those who succeeded in ing the artificial Devil Fruits are dispying pletely normal vital signs!

  It’s not like those special drugs that enhaential but shorten one’s lifespan!”

  Time passed quickly, and within ten days—roughly two weeks…

  On Pirate Isnd, Haosu, ihe massive skull-shaped building, the stists of the Rocks Pirates reported their findings to Rocks.

  These days, Rocks had been closely monit the dition of those who had eateificial Devil Fruits. He was wary of any hidden side effects the Fallen Angel Pirates might not have disclosed, fearing this tempting offer could be a trap. Because of this, he deliberately gathered the stists and doctors of the Rocks Pirates to repeatedly and thhly examihe pirates who had ed the artificial fruits.

  “Is that so?” Rocks, seated in the main chair, tapped his fingers in thought.

  Eventually, he could no longer resist the ce tthen the Rocks Pirates.

  “Shiki, e... what do you think?” he asked, looking at Golden Lion and Whitebeard, the two highest-ranking officers.

  Strictly speaking, even though he was the captain of the Rocks Pirates, his retionship with Golden Lion and Whitebeard was more like an alliahan a strict superior-subordinate dynamien harbored their own ambitions for being part of the Rocks Pirates, aher was entirely obedient to Rocks. Over time, as Golden Lion and Whitebeard grew stroheir flicts with each other intensified, much to Rocks’s frustration. He couldn’t afford to elimihese two powerhouses—that would be like cutting off his own arms—yet he also couldn’t fully trol them.

  Because of this, Rocks envied aed Fallen Angel El. Look at the Fallen Angel Pirates: those powerful, unruly individuals were fiercely loyal airely subservient to El. In trast, Rocks’s crew was filled with ambitious sorts who stantly schemed to overthrow him. They were ruly on the same page.

  “I’m not ied ihings. Decide as you see fit,” Whitebeard said indifferently, arms crossed. “But make sure my share of the treasure isn’t short.”

  He khat both Shiki and Rocks were already tempted and had no iion of talking them out of it. Whitebeard’s only reason for staying with the Rocks Pirates was to provide a home for the crew members entrusted to him by his te captain and to gather treasure to send back to his homend, Sphinx Isnd—nothing more.

  “Ka ka ka, fortune favors the bold! I say we start by five hundred artificial Devil Fruits to test them out!” Golden Lion said, biting his cigar, his gaze intense.

  “Hohohoho, I was thinking the same thing. Better to proceed with caution!” Rocks grinned. “If there are no problems, we’ll keep buying and build a massive army of Devil Fruit users!”

  “I’ve already iated the price with the Hell Trading pany—bargai down to five million Beli per fruit!”

  “Five million per fruit? With only a ten pert success rate, that’s essentially fifty million Beli for each successful user!” Whitebeard’s eyebrows twitched, and he grimaced. “At that price, it’s as expensive as real Devil Fruits!”

  Over the years, due to the Wover and the Hell Trading pany purchasing Devil Fruits at exorbitant prices, the market value of genuine Devil Fruits had skyrocketed. Uified Devil Fruits now sold for anywhere between fifty and a hundred million Beli. Even weaker ones, like the Mouse-Mouse Fruit, could cost tens of millions. The Fallen Angel Pirates were experts at turning a profit—it was daylight robbery.

  “Hohohoho, it ’t be helped,” Rocks said with a shrug. “Real Devil Fruits are rare and hard to e by, while these artificial ones be manufactured in rge quantities… Especially now that the Wover and the Fallen Angel Pirates have basically monopolized the bck market for Devil Fruits.”

  Golden Lion cut straight to the point. “The real question is, how many they produce? If we buy in bulk, how many they actually sell us? If we ’t form a rge army of Devil Fruit users, the deal is meaningless—just an expensive y.”

  “o worry,” Rocks replied with a fident smile. “They cim they produe to two thousand a month. sidering other buyers, they’ll sell us a thousand per month. As long as the fruits are reliable and the supply is steady, we raise an army of at least a thousand Devil Fruit users within a year.”

  A small number of such users might not be hy, but an army of a thousand or more could ge the bance of power.

  “Ka ka ka, how devious—they’re stringing us along on purpose!” Golden Lion growled, exhaling a puff of smoke. “Damn that Fallen Angel El for being so cautious… If only we knew where their research base was!”

  “If we could just seize their entire isnd, along with the stists, and force them to work for us, we’d gain both their advanced f teiques and unlimited artificial Devil Fruits!”

  “Shiki, I’d advise you to think twice before doing anything so reckless,” Whitebeard interjected, raising a brow. “Hohohoho, if you try that, Fallen Angel El himself will e after you. A research base of that scale must have a few Life Cards hidden away. The moment you attack, you’ll be tracked and finished.”

  Over the years, Fallen Angel El had rarely acted personally, yet no one questioned his title of “World’s Stro Creature.” Five years earlier, Wang Zhi, John, and Silver Axe teamed up with two Marine Admirals, plus Bck Arm Zephyr—who had retly risen to prominend obtaihe powers of the Logia-type Ice-Ice Fruit—and all of them were effortlessly crushed by El. He even sank the G-5 fortress into the sea. Rumor had it the monster barely tried and didn’t bother using his hybrid form.

  Such overwhelming power was frightening indeed, especially since El, a natural-born Lunarian monster, hadn’t yet reached thirty. He should still be in his prime, the phase where strength grows expoially. Who kneerful he was now?

  As for Edward e, he didn’t fear any Marine Admiral one-on-one. Yet even he wouldn’t cim he could emerge unscathed from a fight against two Admirals at once. And Golden Lion—someoe didn’t fully trust—certainly couldn’t hope to do better. Frankly, even Rocks, whose strength surpassed both e’s and Golden Lion’s, probably had little fiden beating El by himself. If he tried, he would likely barely escape in one piece—even that was uain.

  “Ka ka ka, you’ve got a point.” Golden Lion ughed loudly, showing no iion uing with Whitebeard’s blunt assessment. “But e, could you cut me a little sck when you talk?”

  “Still, that monster’s strength is undeniably eous,” Rocks muttered, recalling the exaggerated might and near-invulnerability El had shown on Cake Isnd. “He’s got a steel-like body, immerength, and innate damage nullification. If I fought him, I might stall him, but killing him? Uhe three of us team up, it’s impossible.”

  This recisely why Rocks had hesitated for years to break ties with the Fallen Angel Pirates and start a full-scale war. While their influence was intimidating in itself, the real barrier was Fallen Angel El—the living embodiment of a Lunarian powerhouse. Even Rocks’s Dark-Dark Fruit, capable of nullifying Devil Fruit abilities, wouldn’t erase El’s natural Lunarian traits of trolling fmes and possessing incredible toughness. Add to that El’s naturally steel-like body, and it was easy to see why Rocks had little fiden a one-on-one victainst such a monster.

  Bleam