While an uneasy peace settled over Skypiea, the real excitement was brewing in Ron's lab.
The simmering resentment between the Shandians and the Skypieans was a problem for another day.
Three days later, the quiet of dawn in the laboratory was shattered by a brilliant flash.
Ten blinding beams of light shot up from the experimental table, and a cheer erupted from the pirates who had been waiting outside.
"He did it! Ten Devil Fruits!"
"The Vice-Captain is trully a genius!"
"This time, I'm definitely getting one!"
"Not if you can't afford it, poor bastards!"
The crowd of pirates pushed their way in, their hurried footsteps echoing across the ground.
When they arrived, they found Whitebeard and his commanders already there, their faces lit with anticipation.
On a table lay the ten newly created Devil Fruits.
"Captain," Ron said, gesturing to six of them that were set slightly apart.
"These six are enchanted while the other four is replicated devil fruits."
Just then, two crewmen dragged a half-asleep Enel from his nearby cell.
"What is this?!" he snarled. "You dare disturb the slumber of a—"
He trailed off, his bravado vanishing as he saw the sea of powerful figures surrounding him.
He fell silent, looking like a cornered animal.
"Draw his blood," Ron said simply.
Jozu stepped forward with a grin.
With a quick prick to Enel's finger, he drew a few drops of bright red blood and carefully let them fall onto three of the pure white, enchanted fruits.
"What are you doing?!" Enel demanded, a knot of dread forming in his stomach.
"Quiet," Jozu said, smacking him lightly on the back of the head.
"You're about to see something fun."
Enel fell silent, but his eyes were glued to the fruits.
He watched in horror as they began to transform.
The pure white skin swirled into a deep blue, and intricate, lightning-bolt patterns spread across their surfaces.
They looked exactly like the disgusting fruit he had eaten all those years ago.
"This... this can't..." he stammered, his mind reeling.
Jozu leaned in, his voice a low, mocking chuckle.
"Recognize them? Let me spell it out for you. These are Rumble-Rumble Fruits. Three of them. Anyone who eats one gets your power. Anyone can be a 'god' now." He patted Enel's shoulder with fake pity.
"So, still feeling special?"
Enel's face went blank, his spirit visibly crumbling.
The crew paid him no mind.
"Gurararara! Ron, you are a true blessing to this crew," Whitebeard said, his voice filled with genuine emotion.
He stepped forward and picked up one of the new Rumble-Rumble Fruits.
"Meeting you all was also my good fortune, Captain" Ron replied.
Without another word, Whitebeard placed the fruit in his mouth and swallowed it whole.
The entire crew held its breath, watching the legendary man with tense anticipation.
Nothing happened.
Whitebeard picked up the second fruit and ate it.
Again, nothing.
The air in the lab grew thick with tension.
"Don't worry, Pops! The third one will work!" Ace shouted, trying to break the tension.
"Yeah, third time's the charm!" Jozu added.
Whitebeard just smiled faintly, shaking his head.
"Easy, you brats. Your old man isn't that fragile."
With that, under the watchful eyes of everyone, he unhesitatingly swallowed the third and final Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
The crew watched, their hopes pinned on this last attempt.
An agonizing minute passed.
Still, nothing.
Whitebeard's brow furrowed, his usual confidence replaced by genuine confusion.
He slowly opened his eyes and turned to Ron.
"Ron," he asked, his voice low and puzzled. "What's going on here? Three enchanted Devil Fruits, and all of them failed?"
As Whitebeard's heavy voice echoed in the silent lab, Ron's mind raced.
The situation didn't make sense... unless it was a case of diminishing returns.
The first two abilities had been relatively easy to grant.
"I think I know what the problem is," he said, breaking the silence.
"The probability of success must decrease with each ability a person already has. It's the only logical explanation."
After a moment, the commanders nodded in understanding.
Granting someone even one extra power was a miracle; it was only natural for there to be limits.
"Gurararara! So that's how it is," Whitebeard laughed, a rare joke in his tone.
"And here I thought this old body had developed an immunity to Devil Fruits."
"Then we try again!" Jozu declared.
He grabbed Enel's hand, mercilessly reopening the wound.
Enel screamed, but no one paid him any mind as Jozu let the fresh blood drip onto the next three pure white fruits, transforming them into Rumble-Rumble Fruits.
"This time," Whitebeard roared, his voice firm, "I won't fail!"
He ate the first fruit.
Nothing.
He ate the second.
Still nothing.
A heavy, suffocating silence fell over the lab.
With all eyes locked on him, he swallowed the third and final fruit.
For a moment, there was only silence.
Then—crackles of raw power erupted.
"I can feel it!" Whitebeard bellowed, a wide, triumphant grin splitting his face.
"Gurararara, it worked! This is the power of lightning!"
Thick, blue bolts of raw energy erupted around his body, the sharp snapping sounds forcing everyone to take a step back.
"Now this is speed!" he marveled.
Before the words were even finished, his body vanished from sight.
An instant later, he materialized a hundred meters away in a shower of electric arcs.
"A hundred meters in the blink of an eye! More than enough!" he laughed, reveling in the surging power within him.
The crew stared at him with awestruck expression.
"He's faster than my Phoenix form," Marco breathed, his eyes wide in disbelief.
"Not even close."
"The only person on the seas with three Devil Fruits powers..." another commander whispered, his voice filled with reverence.
The Tremor, Phoenix, and Rumble fruits—offense, recovery, and speed, all in one man.
They couldn't even begin to imagine the limits of their captain's new strength.
A wave of overwhelming emotion washed over the commanders.
For years, they had watched their father grow old, his health failing, and had resigned themselves to simply protecting him in his final years.
But then Ron had arrived.
He had turned back the clock, not just restoring the Old Man's vigor, but making him more powerful than he had ever been in his prime.
All of their complex emotions—their joy, their relief, their shock—condensed into a single, unspoken feeling of profound gratitude.
Thank you, Ron.
Ron, standing nearby, let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.
Thank god that worked, he thought.
Six enchanted fruits for one success.
Six billion Berries to grant a third ability.
The cost was astronomical.
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