Roger swallowed that "Devil Fruit" in one gulp, but he immediately felt something was off.
No, this isn't a Devil Fruit!
Though Roger had never eaten a Devil Fruit, and there were no Devil Fruit users on his ship, that didn't mean he knew nothing about them.
Devil Fruits look like fruit, but they taste awful. Eating one is like eating crap. Most people would vomit right after.
But the strange fruit Roger ate had no taste at all. There was a slight gross feeling, but it wasn't from the flavor. It was the fruit's weird shape that was so creepy.
The moment he swallowed it, Roger felt his whole body heat up. At the same time, his body seemed to be changing in some way.
What he could see was his hand turning faintly black, like it was covered in Armament Haki.
He quickly tore open his already burned clothes and looked at his chest. He found a huge chunk missing from his chest!
There was nothing inside the gap, like an enemy had punched right through him. And the skin was all black, an evil kind of black!
What... is this?!
Roger was totally shocked, but then he felt his emotions growing numb. In that instant, he thought of what happened to Number One and Toguro.
They had both started as humans but turned into half-demons. If Number One used the Ascension Altar for his change, then what did Toguro use?
His pupils shrank as he suddenly thought of something bad.
Toguro was found by Zero and turned into a half-demon by him. That clearly wasn't from the Ascension Altar's power, since Number One was guarding it and wouldn't let it start again.
Yet Toguro still became such a powerful monster. Could it be because of that "fruit" he ate?
That's right. What Roger ate wasn't a Devil Fruit at all. It was a Monster Cell!
"Don't try to control me..."
Roger muttered in a low struggle. He pressed his hand to his face.
His face was changing too. A black, snake-like mysterious symbol appeared on his forehead.
But now, as Roger resisted, the monster features on his body seemed to fade away bit by bit.
Roger wanted to be the freest person in this world—to cry when he wanted, laugh when he wanted. He wouldn't care about anyone else's opinion when doing something, and no one could sway his will. So he absolutely wouldn't allow anyone to control his mind!
Boom!
Under this pressure, Roger's Conqueror's Haki burst out wildly. The massive Conqueror's Haki pierced through the underground and reached the battlefield above. Everyone except Aatrox was hit by this strong Haki.
In theory, on a battlefield like this, even a moment of being affected by that Haki could be deadly. But right now, it meant nothing.
Because up above, Aatrox stood alone on the ground. Around him lay piles of humans. Without Roger, these people weren't his match at all.
"Interesting..."
Even Aatrox praised Roger's Conqueror's Haki at that moment. But really, the main thing was that Genichi picked up Roger's emotion points.
After eating the Monster Cell, Roger got stronger, so he gave more emotion points naturally.
Especially since Roger was the main character of the main storyline. Before Luffy set out to sea, he was the undisputed lead. He already gave Genichi the most emotion points—three times more than others at his level.
And now that he was stronger, the emotion points he gave were even higher.
But this level wasn't enough yet. Aatrox was a character at the million level, which meant he hadn't broken past this world's limit yet. He was at the peak that people in this world could reach with all sorts of methods.
And that's what he wanted to build—a powerhouse like that. Otherwise, getting a hundred million emotion points would be way too hard.
For that, he had already taken the Shikon Jewel shards from Little Demon Dragon. He didn't need them now anyway.
And it wasn't just Monster Cells and Shikon Jewel shards...
Right now, Roger was pressing his face. The monster features on him were slowly fading. He had used his will to hold back the monster change, but that also weakened the power.
In this world, once you got as strong as Roger, it was hard to improve even a little bit. Any small gain was valuable. Roger could feel the power slipping away, but he wouldn't let any demon control him.
His strong Conqueror's Haki gave him extreme self-control. He overcame the Monster Cell's effects better than Barrett ever did. Now he could easily enter the monster state and get even stronger power.
But that power still wasn't enough...
He pulled back from the demon form not because he rejected the power, but because he noticed that while his strength grew in that state, his Observation Haki weakened. That wasn't good for his current goal.
He needed to find the Shikon Jewel shards!
Or maybe other things. This underground world had items that turned people into demons, so were there other things too?
He desperately needed power right now!
Roger moved fast, and at last, his Observation Haki gave him feedback. He finally heard the voice of the Shikon Jewel shards!
Roger slashed with his sword, cutting through all the walls in his path. He rushed forward and found a huge altar, similar to the Ascension Altar he'd seen before, but without the big round disk.
Instead, there was a high platform with a large sword slot—clearly where Aatrox's sword had been.
In front of the sword slot was a mysterious box. Roger was interested in it, but now wasn't the time to check it out. What he cared about most were the three shards and one fruit around the box.
Shikon Jewel shards and a Devil Fruit?
This one couldn't be another of those demon-turning fruits like the one he ate before, right?
Roger was desperate and grabbed it quickly. He took a small bite to test it but didn't swallow, afraid that eating two of the same kind would kill him like with Devil Fruits.
He tasted it first...
Urgh!
It tasted awful!
It made him want to puke, but Roger was thrilled inside. He forced the bit of fruit flesh in his mouth down his throat, grabbed the three Shikon Jewel shards, and ran upward!
Monster Cell, Devil Fruit, three Shikon Jewel shards...
Just how strong could they make Roger?!
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