That night was short.
Leo's "lesson" with Tashigi lasted barely two hours—deliberately brief, a gentle pace chosen to keep her nerves from fraying. He'd tucked the blanket tightly around her shoulders with the same careless tenderness he showed all the girls, smoothed a wayward strand of hair from her forehead, and slipped out of the cabin before she could form a dozen awkward questions.
No sooner had the door closed than the air inside the captain's private interface flickered to life.
A neat line of white text blinked across Leo's vision—cold, official, impossible to ignore.
[SYSTEM NOTICE] Reward obtained: 120 Haki Fruits.
"One-twenty?!" Leo couldn't help the laugh that escaped him. This time he actually grinned like someone who'd just found a treasure map.
He tapped the notification. The system poured out its notes in clean bullets:
Of the 120 Haki Fruits: 50 Observation Haki Fruits, 50 Armament Haki Fruits, 20 Conqueror Haki Fruits.Eating a fruit corresponding to a Haki type awakens that Haki. If the eater has already awakened a type, additional fruits can strengthen it, though with diminishing returns.Devil Fruits distributed by this system have had all side effects removed—safe to consume.
Leo read it twice, then laughed harder.
Of course. It was the Conquest System all over—always calibrated to make his life easier, the rewards tailored to build his little floating family into something formidable. The Going Merry wasn't a parade ship; Leo had ambitions. Most of the beauties he hauled aboard were noncombatants—navigators, cooks, doctors, homemakers—people who didn't need martial prowess to be valuable, but who would be safer, freer, and more useful if they could protect themselves.
Haki fruits meant skipping weeks, months, even years of training. One bite and the girls could wake to a new layer of power: a sharper awareness, an iron will, a body that could take blows that used to crumple them. Even the lowest-grade Haki was survival insurance.
Leo's mind started ticking through the roster. He ran an amused finger along his jaw and began to plan.
There were roughly fifty "plot beauties" scattered across the islands he had visited—give or take—and about a fifth already had some sort of combat capability or prior Haki. The white Observation and black Armament fruits were plentiful enough; fifty apiece covered his immediate needs. The twenty Conqueror fruits, though—that was the coin to be spent carefully. Conqueror Haki didn't thrive in just anyone; it needed presence, an indomitable spirit. It had to go to warriors.
Who fit the bill? Nami? She was a genius navigator, not a battlefield commander—yet Leo chuckled at the mental image of Nami belting out a Conqueror roar and every thief and thug in the plaza dropping their loot and running for their lives. "Nami goes berserk and you hand her your savings—clean sweep, orange tree included," he mused to himself, picturing her scowling, wind whipping her hair, forcing lanes to clear like a typhoon. It was ridiculous, and oddly appealing.
Kaya's gentle heart wouldn't seem a natural candidate, but a doctor with Observation Haki could literally read the flow of life; an Armament-boosted Kaya would be a walking fortress around the sick and injured. Carmen had the appetite for strength and a fire in her chest—she'd make a fine combatant. Makino's steadiness and Nojiko's practical grit had their own merits. And then there was Tashigi—an earnest swordswoman with a newfound place on ship and a love for fine blades. The twenty Conqueror fruits would be decided when the time was right.
For now, Leo stowed the bulk of the reward in the Going Merry's secret hold. He always saved the flashiest surprises for the morning. Girls loved surprises—big or small—and he'd learned how long it kept them smiling.
Breakfast the next morning was bright and raucous. Sunlight painted the deck in warm panels; the scent of Carmen's cooking drifted through the air; the orange trees Nojiko tended nodded in a pleasant breeze.
Leo set twelve fruits in the center of the table like a small altar: six pearly white and six deep, matte black, each stamped with a tiny spiral bloom pattern. They weren't the gaudy, lumpy designs the legends spoke of, but the pattern was unmistakable—a Devil Fruit signature, refined and neat.
"Devil Fruits?!" The table erupted. Nami, Kaya, Nojiko, Tashigi, Carmen, and Makino all leaned forward at once, eyes bright with recognition and the kind of curiosity that had nothing to do with maps or recipes. They weren't exactly novices to the world's rumors anymore; a single look told them these were no ordinary fruits.
Makino moved closer, hand hovering over a black fruit. "Where did you get these, Captain?" she asked, voice threaded with wonder. "Devil Fruits are… rare. One is a blessing from the sea—how did you obtain twelve?"
Leo shrugged and let the mystery sit for a beat—mystery was currency—but then he gave the practical explanation he knew they needed. "You remember the three types of Haki, right? Observation, Armament, and Conqueror? These are Haki Fruits. White ones awaken Observation Haki; black ones awaken Armament Haki."
He lifted his chin and added, the line between mischief and reassurance perfectly measured, "And they're safe. The system has removed all side effects. Anyone can take them—no Devil Fruit curse, no loss of swimming. Nami, Kaya—you two can eat these without worry."
Kaya and Nami's expressions turned from shock to joy so quickly it looked choreographed. If Leo said it was safe, then it was safe. That was the protocol of life aboard the Going Merry: trust the captain's strange miracles until they were proven false—and they never were.
Tashigi, still new and a little dazed by the sudden change in her life, pointed at herself with trembling, pale fingers. "M-me? Are these… for me too?" Her voice was thin with the starstruck sort of disbelief that made her sound younger than she was.
The thought felt almost absurd: she'd come aboard a captive, a Marine taken against her will, and three days in the pirate's care she'd been gifted a great blade, kindness, and now—fruits that could unlock a warrior's edge. Tashigi had never known what "being spoiled" felt like. The sensation rushed her head like vertigo. "This… this is what it's like to be cherished?" she thought, swallowing hard.
"You're my woman now," Leo said, half a joke, half oath. "Everyone gets one."
At that, the table detonated into girlish chaos. Voices rose in a chorus.
"I want one!" Nami dove for a white fruit, fingers already sticky.
"Save one for me!" Carmen lunged for a black one.
"Wait! Don't eat them all at once!" Makino tried to intervene, the practical mother in her flapping.
"No—give me two!" someone added, joking or not. The air smelled of citrus and mischief.
In the end, it was pandemonium with rules: Leo allowed choice with a few constraints—no hoarding, be mindful of which Haki you actually needed, and please, for everyone's sake, don't try to eat two in a row right away without letting him consult the system logs. The girls protested the last clause with theatrical indignation.
Then they bit.
The first impression surprised them all: the fruits were sweet—shockingly so. The fable of disgusting Devil Fruit flesh was a lie, at least here. Nami's eyes widened as the flavor hit: sweet, crisp, a floral note that slid down like honey. "It tastes… good!" she laughed, crumbs of fruit on her lips. Carmen moaned happily. Makino smiled, contented.
Tashigi, having been given not one but two fruits—one white, one black, because in her fluster she'd blurted "just two, please" and Leo had indulged her—held the first piece to her lips with a tiny hand that trembled. She bit. It felt like sunlight through her chest: warm, bright, and then—sharp, clean clarity.
They didn't expect the wake-up.
Observation Haki came like a cool wind. Those who ate white fruit felt their senses stretch and sharpen—the deck's creak suddenly held rhythm, the faraway murmur of gulls turned into a map of distance, the flutter at the edge of the sky read like a weather forecast. Nami inhaled and caught the whisper of the clouds, a tiny spike of joy lighting her eyes. She could already feel patterns in the gusts; the next storm they encountered would be a fraction less dangerous.
Armament Haki wrapped around the body like a second skin for those who bit the black fruit. It felt like metal pressed lightly across the limbs—firm, protective, not hot but full of a slow, iron confidence. Nojiko's fingers, calloused from tending the oranges, felt suddenly unshakable. Carmen grinned and struck her palm into her other hand; it landed with a stoutness she'd never known before.
Tashigi's experience was a strange melding. The white fruit widened her perceptions—she could sense the beat of heart and breath at the edge of the cabin—while the black settled along her arms and the base of her neck, a cool armor that made her shoulders feel dependable and strong. She closed her eyes. The world seemed both nearer and steadier at the same time.
A few girls who had been wary of such power laughed with the kind of relief that comes when fear becomes agency. The room hummed—new power buzzing under the stale, old rules of the sea.
"Devil Fruits that taste like dessert and don't take away your swimming?" Nami teased Leo with a scoff that was all grin. "Captain, you're dangerous."
Leo lounged at the head of the table, chin on folded arms, watching them unwrap a new layer of themselves. He felt a warm satisfaction spread from the center of his chest. This was why he did it: not cruelty, not conquest for its own sake, but to build a family that could stand beside him. Strength kept them alive; strength allowed them choices.
And the best part—he'd discovered—was how easily joy multiplied. A surprise kept someone smiling for days. A better sword made a heart lighten for months. A bit of power could change the angle of a life.
The only unresolved thread was the twenty Conqueror fruits carefully tucked away in his private chest. Leo hadn't yet chosen recipients, and the decision would be political as well as practical. Conqueror Haki changed the tone of a battle; it could turn a crowd's fear into a tide. He wanted to be careful.
For now, however, the deck sang with laughter and the clink of spoons against bowls. Tashigi, cheeks flushed and head dizzy from delight and a rush of new sensations, felt a strange, quiet certainty settle around her like a cloak.
She'd come into this world as a Marine who believed firmly in order. Now she stood amid a band of pirates who laughed like family—and for the first time since Smoker's boots had crushed the cobbles in Loguetown—she felt something like belonging.
Leo watched, indulgent and already planning the next small storm of surprises. The Going Merry rose, steady and bright. Beneath its planks, a small hoard of fruits waited for later—twenty Conqueror seeds like thunder in his chest—while the table above buzzed with new strength, sweet fruit, and the soft, human chaos that only a true crew could bring.
Captain's work, Leo thought with a private, pleased grin—never done, always worth it...
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T/N :
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