"So, any idea what kind of abilities you'll acquire by eating that devil fruit?" Asked Freyja curiously as she approached Diddy in the air and eyed the white, squared devil fruit.
"Heh, why don't you eat it, and when you figure it out, tell us; we're all interested in knowing." Replied Diddy with a smirk as he tossed the devil fruit to Freyja, who clicked her tongue while catching the devil fruit.
"So I could explode or something? No, thank you; why don't you eat it? You'll definitely get stronger, but on the bright side, it'll give me a major weakness to use against you." Remarked Freyja as she closely observed the devil fruit, smelling it like Diddy before tossing it back to him.
"Hehe, in your dreams, I'm never eating a devil fruit, especially when I don't know its abilities. If you ever wish to kill me, you're going to have to be stronger than me; I'm not giving you the opportunity to use seawater on me." Stated Diddy with a feral grin while shaking his head before glancing at Trenza, Grand, and Scar.
"What about you three? Are you guys willing to risk eating a devil fruit with an unknown ability and forsake your ability to ever touch the water unless you want your strength sapped away?" Questioned Diddy curiously with a smirk as he floated over to them, who were all sitting weakly on his bo-staff.
"Eh, n-no; I-I'm good. Knowing my l-luck, it'll probably g-grant me the ability t-to breath under w-water or something terrible like that." Said Trenza in exhaustion as she shook her head, and although she was tempted, the cons outweighed the possible pros'.
"Y-Yeah; I-I'm also good. M-My strength has been d-doing me just fine so far." Replied Grand with a nod while hanging from Naga-sa, though as it continued to sap his strength, he looked like he would fall soon.
"I-It's a no for me; I-I've just recently started my training, and I-I'm already seeing r-results. I-It would b-be stupid of me to eat a d-devil fruit; besides, d-didn't you say, Captain, d-devil fruits aren't your t-true strength?" Remarked Scar as he looked up at Diddy, feeling just as exhausted as Grand and Trenza despite having wielded Naga-sa plenty of times before.
"No, they aren't; maybe to some people, they might be. But if the water can take your strength, then it's not really yours to begin with, is it? At least not to me." Stated Diddy with a smirk as he glanced at the three with a nod before storing the devil fruit in his pouch attached to his waist.
Shortly after I stored the devil fruit, the living island trembled slightly before a loud eruption was heard, followed by a massive gust of powerful wind shooting upwards from the island's center, right where its mouth was.
"Was that a burp?" Asked Diddy with a raised eyebrow as he looked at the island's mouth, which was now closed.
"Your guess is as good as mine; I've never been on a living island after all." Said Freyja as she shrugged her shoulders.
Following what I could only assume was a burp, the island's flower petals we were standing on slowly started descending back to their previous position; once the island was back to normal, Trenza immediately hopped off my bo-staff and ran to a nearby tree before keeling over, vomiting everything she had eaten.
"Hmm, what's wrong with her?" Asked Diddy curiously as he grabbed Naga-sa from out of the ground while glancing at Trenza before looking at Grand and Scar.
"I-I think she felt disgusted t-that she ate f-food from this island." Replied Scar while leaning against a tree, out of breath and nearly fully exhausted.
I was confused as to why she would feel disgusted about eating food grown on this island, but I quickly ignored it as I grabbed a nearby fruit and started eating it. However, while doing so, I suddenly smirked and looked at Freyja, who also looked at me, both of us sensing the same thing.
"Reveal yourself, or I'll be forced to kill you; Captain's orders." Stated Freyja lightly while looking off into the forest, utterly unbothered by whatever she was speaking to.
Shortly after Freyja spoke, at first, nothing happened, no reaction, though just when Freyja shook her head and sighed, the bush she was looking at shook, and following that, a man appeared wearing what looked to be beetle armor.
"Ahh, excuse me, excuse me; I mean no harm; it's just been a few days since I've gotten residents, and seeing how you were also able to survive the islands feeding, I let my curiosity get the best of me. Allow me to introduce myself; I'm Heracles, the Warrior Botanist!" Exclaimed Heracles proudly with his hands raised to his sides as he slowly approached the Frenzy pirates, and while Scar, Grand, and Trenza, who had just finished vomiting, were prepared to fight, both Diddy and Freyja were rather laid back.
"The hell do you mean by residents? We're pirates; this is merely one of our stops; we'll be leaving once our log pose resets. Speaking of log pose, how long will it take?" Questioned Diddy with a raised eyebrow as he eyed Heracles while eating the last bit of the fruit.
"Eh? Well, these islands are inescapable; the numerous beetles that guard the edge are like a barricade, impossible to get past. Trust me, I've tried countless times, and I've been stuck here for years; a singular beetle isn't too much trouble, but a whole group of them is too much for even the strongest of pirates." Replied Heracles with a sigh of defeat as he lowered his hands, his words causing Trenza, Grand, and Scar to get slightly nervous.
Hearing something approaching from behind, I turned around and spotted a giant beetle, the biggest one we've seen yet; it towered over even Grand, making him look like an average person.
"Uh oh! A King beetle! What are they doing here!? They usually guard the edges! Dammit, this will be difficult; they are much tougher than your normal beetles; if we want to defeat it, we should team-" Exclaimed Heracles with a scowl as he grabbed the spear off his back and got into a fighting position alongside Grand, Scar, and Trenza, while Freyja seemed unbothered.
Seeing the King beetle, as that dude calls it, charge right for me, I outstretched my arm and formed what looked like three claws with my hand before leaping into the air, only to fall on the beetle's back.
"72 Bian, variation 21; Dragons Claw." Said Diddy as he pierced his hand right through the beetle's iron-like carapace, destroying its insides in the process and killing it almost instantly.
Retracting my hand, I leaped before the beetle and stopped its momentum before glancing at the dumbfounded Heracles.
"This is what's supposedly stopping us from leaving? Maybe if they were several times stronger, I could see a whole horde being difficult to deal with, but this is rather pathetic." Remarked Diddy with a slight frown as he shook his hand, flinging off bits of organs, muscle, and other body pieces.
"Hey! Watch where you're fucking flinging; you nearly covered me in it's juices." Said Freyja in slight anger as he glared at Diddy, who ignored Heracles and smirked.
"Heh, I'm sure you'd like that, wouldn't you, Freyja?" Asked Diddy with a mocking grin, causing Freyja to sport a ferocious smile as she approached him, her two horns set ablaze from her anger.
"I don't know; why don't you come and see whether I'll like it!" Remarked Freyja as she, without any hesitation, head-butted Diddy, who gladly returned the favor by doing the same thing, their heads clashing against each other.
"Hehe, would you look at that, Freyja; it seems visiting that kingdom made you decently stronger." Said Diddy with a feral grin as he felt Freyja's powerful strength pushing back against him, forcing him to slide against the ground, at least until he clamped his feet down.
"Still, you'll have to do better than that; you're not the only one who's gotten stronger!" Added Diddy as he started to push Freyja, and despite her exerting all of her strength in her Satan soul form, she couldn't stop him.
"Are you sure about that, Captain? I've still got room to spare!" Replied Freyja as she set herself aflame, which increased her destructive power and not her raw strength; though, it made each flap of her wings more powerful, allowing her to stop Diddy's advances.
"Hehe, now that's more like it; you have to be at least this strong if you wish to be my Vice-captain!" Stated Diddy with a crazy grin as he and Freyja entered a contest of strength while a confused Heracles watched from afar.
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"U-Umm, why are your Captain and Vice-captain seemingly trying to kill each other?" Asked Heracles, rubbing his helmet in confusion as he approached Grand, Trenza, and Scar, who were minding their own business.
"Eh, our Captain is a little crazy, and our Vice-captain wants to kill our Captain." Replied Trenza calmly, sitting on the ground alongside her brothers as they used this chance to regain their strength.
"It's not something you should bother fretting over; it's a normal occurrence aboard our ship; it's just usually never this violent since otherwise the ship wouldn't last." Said Scar lightly as he looked up at Diddy and Freyja clashing.
"Hahaha!" Said Diddy with chaotic laughter as he pushed Freyja back despite her using everything in her arsenal.
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Created a discord server, so if anyone wishes to join, [https://discord.gg/TGc9yymDJP]
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Elven Legacy (Chapter 197: Elif's Cry of Pain) || Hero of Harmony (Chapter 78: Truth Revealed) || One Piece: Chaos Kong (Chapter 131: Frenzy Pirates Attack!) at [patreon.com/Ozonelayer691]