"Mm, I believe so. The Spring-Spring Fruit's power has already left my body. Right now, it sits inside this apple or rather, we shouldn't call it an apple anymore, we should call it the Spring-Spring Fruit." Nojiko smiled.
Boom!
Diary holders watching the recording felt as if thunder cracked beside their ears. They rubbed their eyes and looked again—but the Spring-Spring Fruit on the table hadn't vanished.
At that moment, the owners of diary copies went wild.
Smoothie: "Nojiko's power can not only rip a Fruit ability out of a living user, it can inject that power into a fruit and make a new Devil Fruit?"
Galette: "I-if I had that power, could I swap for a stronger Fruit?"
Koala: "T-that's way too much!"
Belo Betty: "Even after giving Nojiko a lot of credit, I still underestimated her."
Black Maria: "Arton, you've created a monster~!"
Stussy: "In some ways, what Nojiko just did is even more outrageous than Vegapunk's Devil Fruit replication research."
Kalifa: "Hehe. I wonder how the Marines and certain government ladies with diary copies feel after seeing this."
Kujaku: "That's… downright scary. If Arton ever turns to stripping powers, will I lose my Fruit if we end up enemies?"
Doll: "This breaks the scale! At this rate, Sky Island's Enel and his Rumble-Rumble Fruit are guaranteed to end up in Arton's hands."
Gion: "And many Marine Fruits as well. If you fail against Arton now, your ability could be taken! Arton and the Flameblade Pirates are getting more dangerous by the day."
Hibari: "The three Marine admirals are all top-tier ability users… If they lost their Fruits, could they even stay admirals?"
Whitey Bay: "I want to see the admirals' faces after he strips them—but even more, I want to see Teach's shock when Arton takes the Dark-Dark Fruit!"
The rules of the world would change because of Nojiko—no, because of Arton. In that instant, many diary holders thought the same thing.
…
"To pull a Devil Fruit cleanly out of someone and leave them alive…" Ain breathed. "Nojiko really has mastered something unique and terrifying,"
"As expected of Nojiko!" Nami said, "I'm suddenly a little jealous of what you got from Arton," sliding over with a grin. "What you received doesn't lose to mine at all. I've got the Electro Archon's strength, sure—"
"You're eyeing the Fruit in my hand, aren't you?" Nojiko laughed, dodging Nami's reaching fingers and offering the Fruit to Arton instead. "No can do. Devil Fruits go to the captain."
"Oh, come on. Arton doesn't even need Devil Fruits," Nami pouted. "Hand this one to me, what's the harm? You agree, right, Captain? It's just a common Fruit… and if we sell it, that's pretty good too."
"If we're turning Fruits into money," Carina cut in, "it should come through me. Ship finances are my department."
"Tch, you only met Arton before I did. Don't get cocky," Nami shot back.
"Sorry—not sorry. Meeting him first is exactly why I get to be cocky." Carina straightened her chest, smug.
"Honestly… again?" Uta sighed, then glanced at the Spring-Spring Fruit. "Speaking of which—if Nojiko can do this, can I swap my Devil Fruit too? Or have her pull it out so I'm no longer a user?"
"If so, I could swim again!"
Chapter 406: To Go on a Date With Arton
"Putting it that way isn't wrong but are you really planning to swap Devil Fruits or give up being a Devil Fruit user?" Nojiko said with a laugh.
"Then I'll pass~ I'm pretty satisfied with the Sing-Sing Fruit's ability but if one day I really feel like going for a swim in the sea… I might trouble you for help, Nojiko." Uta said.
She still needed the Sing-Sing Fruit's power to have secret, intimate meetings with Arton in dreams. If she lost the Sing-Sing Fruit's ability, a lot of her fun would disappear, so naturally, she had no intention of throwing the Sing-Sing Fruit away.
"Putting it that way is fine, but using my ability to pull out a Devil Fruit might be pretty painful and it might affect how far you've developed that Devil Fruit. If I accidentally reset your development progress to zero…" an awkward look appeared on Nojiko's face.
"Then I'll pass!" Uta shook her head.
"Miss Uta's ability is very strong. It really would be a shame if all that development got wiped." Robin agreed.
"What about you—interested in switching abilities?" Ain asked.
"I'll pass too. My ability still has its uses~." Robin smiled.
When it came to massage, her ability was basically one of a kind. She still planned to rely on this power to close the distance between herself and Arton.
Naturally, she wasn't going to trade away the Flower-Flower Fruit or erase that power.
"Anyway, once Miss Nojiko's ability is exposed like this, the Marines and the World Government will definitely pay a lot of attention."
"Whether it's to stop you from using it to extract Devil Fruits from Marine and Government personnel or to exploit your power to obtain other strong people's Devil Fruits, they'll all want to capture you."
"Your bounty will definitely keep going up—and by quite a lot." Nico Robin looked at Nojiko and said solemnly.
After speaking, Robin also gave Nojiko a meaningful glance toward the diary panel in front of her chest. It was currently playing back the footage of everything happening here.
Nojiko understood Robin's intention. She smiled and said.
"It's fine. No matter how high my bounty gets, it won't surpass Captain's and with him here, we don't need to worry about danger."
"Lately, Captain Arton has been very dutifully acting as lookout. In the future, surprise Marine raids won't be so easy to pull off."
Gion: "Is this girl talking to us?"
Kujaku: "They know Arton is recording. Of course that's what she's doing."
Hearing Nojiko's words, Robin also smiled and looked over at Arton.
"Putting it that way isn't wrong, but the Marines and the World Government have plenty of talented people as well. For our safety, we still need to work even harder."
"Everyone, don't waste the powers I've given you. Make sure you keep training properly. That said, when I think about your recent progress... I'd say you've all been working hard." Arton laughed.
Hearing this, Nami and the others exchanged glances. Everyone knew very well: the reason they had become so much stronger so quickly was mainly because Arton had repeatedly mentioned their names in the diary and repeatedly posted their photos and videos.
That was what had allowed them to accumulate so many points for opening those super training sessions.
"This Spring-Spring Fruit—no one here plans to eat it and I don't recommend any of you eat it either, so my suggestion is still to trade it for Berries."
Arton tossed the Spring-Spring Fruit lightly in his hand, then turned his head toward the doorway.
"You over there, the one who's been peeking for quite a while—interested in buying this Devil Fruit?"
After Arton finished speaking, he casually shut off the Diary system's recording function.
Gion: "He turned it off just like that? Who was Arton talking to just now?"
Belo Betty: "Don't tell me a diary holder just happened to track Arton down?"
Ulti: "Damn it, I really want to know! And that man actually cut the feed at a time like this!"
After Arton spoke, Nami, Robin, and the others all turned their gazes toward the door.
Under everyone's eyes, the door swung open. A large bird wearing a black top hat on its head strode inside.
"A big bird?" Nami tilted her head and looked at Nojiko.
"Nojiko, you can turn into a big bird too. He's not your kind, is he?" Nami asked.
....
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