Sweet Island, Caesar's residence, courtyard.
After reviewing all of Blackbeard's memories, Caesar couldn't help but marvel at his patience and diligence.
"Those who achieve great things don't sweat the small stuff. Blackbeard's life is nothing short of legendary. Three souls in one body, capable of eating three Devil Fruits—tsk tsk, truly impressive."
Caesar clicked his tongue in amazement, never expecting such a person to exist in the world.
No wonder Blackbeard was called a freak of nature.
And rightly so—three people sharing one body, three souls taking turns to train, never needing sleep, three hearts granting near-limitless recovery, turning Blackbeard into a perpetual motion machine.
However, Caesar was puzzled by one thing in Blackbeard's memories: his father, Dottore, had once told him that a single soul could only accommodate the power of one Devil Fruit.
Because within each Devil Fruit lay a special soul—or rather, a demon.
A demon can only inhabit either a soulless object or a single soul.
But currently, within Caesar's soul, there dwell two Devil Fruit abilities.
In other words, there are now two demons inside Caesar's body.
"Hmm? Souls?"
Caesar narrowed his eyes, thinking of Linlin.
Wasn't Linlin's Devil Fruit Ability precisely the Soul-Soul Fruit?
When it came to research on souls, who could surpass Linlin, the Goddess of Souls?
Just as he was pondering this, Linlin returned, riding on Prometheus.
"Caesar, what are you thinking about so deeply?"
Linlin landed in the courtyard and asked in surprise.
Caesar looked up, a faint smile appearing on his face as he beckoned to her.
"Linlin, you're here? Perfect, I'm stuck on something—come help me figure it out."
As Linlin approached, Caesar grabbed her hand and pulled her down beside him, gesturing at the still-unconscious Teach lying on the ground.
Shooting a reproachful glance at Caesar, whose hands were wandering along her waist, Linlin teased him.
"Really? Is there anything in this world that could stump my amazing Caesar?"
Caesar's expression darkened—he wasn't oblivious to her teasing.
With a snort, his large hand slid further down her waist.
Linlin shivered, her face flushing red as she glared at him.
"What are you doing? Stop it!"
"Still daring to mock your Caesar?" Caesar smirked, increasing the pressure.
Biting her lower lip, Linlin whispered in a tiny voice, "N-no... I won't... I won't tease you anymore..."
Caesar withdrew his hand with a satisfied hum before pointing at Teach on the ground.
"Here's the thing—I saw something interesting in his mind. There's a question bothering me, and since you're the expert on souls, I wanted to ask you. Teach's father once told him that inside every Devil Fruit, there exists a demon, something akin to a soul. And each demon can only bond with one person, one soul. If that's true, then my current situation is... unusual."
Caesar pressed a hand to his chest, feeling the two distinct energies intertwined within him.
The more robust one was naturally the power of the Kunpeng Fruit.
The other, more ethereal sensation, belonged to the Memory-Memory Fruit.
"I have only one soul—unlike Blackbeard—yet I can harbor two Devil Fruit abilities, there's two demons within me. What's the reason for that?"
Linlin blinked. "Wait, what? How is Teach different? Does he have more than one soul?"
Caesar nodded, holding up three fingers.
"Three souls? Teach has three souls in his body?" Linlin was genuinely shocked now.
As the master of soul manipulation, no one understood souls better than Linlin.
For a single body to produce three souls should, in theory, be impossible.
Souls were independent entities—not some kind of mental disorder like split personalities.
If Teach truly had three souls in his mind, how had he managed to stay conscious without the other two driving him insane?
Under Linlin's eager questioning, Caesar recounted Blackbeard's memories to her, leaving her utterly fascinated.
"Hah, that's simple."Linlin smiled casually and extended her palm.
A dark curtain-like substance emerged from her hand, rapidly expanding, its surface bulging with countless human faces that continuously emitted eerie screams and wails.
"This is...?" Caesar was taken aback, staring curiously at Linlin's palm.
"These are all the souls I've captured over the years. Each face represents one person," Linlin explained lightly, as if it were the most natural thing.
"In other words, I currently have over three thousand souls gathered within me. Mamamama, Caesar, do you think that means I could eat three thousand Devil Fruits?"
Caesar curled his lip. "These are just products of your Soul-Soul Fruit ability. Devil Fruits can't stack. You definitely can't make these souls match with new Devil Fruit abilities."
Linlin laughed and nodded. "Yes, you're absolutely right. Although there are over three thousand souls within my body, they're all under my control without independent consciousness—unless I release them. Without independence, souls naturally can't accept demonic parasites."
"Parasites?" Caesar was puzzled again, looking at Linlin in confusion.
"Hehe, haven't you heard?" Linlin covered her mouth with a giggle.
Caesar remained silent, silently raising his right hand and wiggling his fingers playfully.
Linlin blushed and spat before continuing, "It's what Caesar Clown, Joker's partner, said. He's the creator of artificial Devil Fruits and has done extensive research on them. If you're interested, you could have Joker bring him to Totto Land. He could collaborate with Queen, Judge, and the others on cloning research."
"The demons within the fruits must exist, but in an imperceptible waveform. When a user's ability awakens, the demon manifests and, at a critical moment, seizes control of the host's consciousness. If successful, the host loses their mind and becomes the demon's puppet. But the demon itself has no real consciousness—it acts purely on instinct. Caesar calls this behavior 'parasitism.'"
Linlin's shadowy hand enveloped Blackbeard's head, as if trying to extract something.
"I suspect that the reason you can host two fruit demons with one soul might be related to your first fruit, the Kunpeng Fruit, and your Oni Clan heritage. Your immense Life Force prevents your body from collapsing due to ability conflicts. And doesn't your Oni bloodline seem eerily similar to the image of demons? Perhaps there's some connection there."
"Let me capture Blackbeard's three souls and see what they look like."