"Are these… human bones?"
Ross froze at the sight before him. The skeleton lay half-buried in the dirt, its pale bones bleached by time. Behind him, Tess Omic was already trembling, crouched down with his teeth chattering.
"Captain Ross, this place is cursed!" Tess stammered, his face drained of color. "We should leave now! I have a really bad feeling about this!"
The air was heavy and strange, the forest too quiet. The eerie stillness pressed down on them, making the sound of their own breathing seem deafening. For Tess, this was the stuff of nightmares.
"There are bones here… someone actually died on this island! What if it's a man-eater's territory? Or some kind of monster nest?" Tess whispered, his voice shaking. "I've heard of primitive islands where cannibals live… oh, please don't let it be that!"
Ross didn't respond. His gaze was fixed on the skeleton, his thoughts running fast and deep.
When he'd first found the Flame-Flame Fruit, he had wondered why such a powerful Devil Fruit would appear in this remote, drifting island. But now, seeing this skeleton, the pieces began to fit together in his mind.
He remembered the rule of Devil Fruits a rule whispered by sailors across the seas:
When a Devil Fruit user dies, their fruit's power transfers to the nearest ordinary fruit, reborn anew.
Which meant only one thing.
The Flame-Flame Fruit's previous owner was this corpse.
But then… how had a Logia-type user died here?
Ross's pulse quickened. He held the fruit tightly, scanning the shadows of the forest with wary eyes. Sweat ran down his temple.
A Logia user especially one with the power of fire was immune to all physical attacks. Normal weapons or wild beasts couldn't harm them.
So how had this person died?
No matter how he looked at it, nothing made sense. Something about this place was terribly wrong.
"This island… it hides some kind of unknown danger," Ross muttered under his breath. The thought sent a chill through him. The mystery of the fruit was solved, and that was enough he had no intention of pushing his luck.
"Let's move, Tess. We're getting out of here."
Tess didn't need to be told twice. He had already been praying for the chance to leave. The moment Ross gave the word, tears of relief nearly sprang to his eyes. "Yes, Captain! Right away!"
The two of them made their way back the way they came, moving fast through the dense underbrush.
Several times on the return journey, they were ambushed by the island's beasts fangs, claws, and shadows bursting from the foliage. But every time, Ross struck back with precise, brutal efficiency. One blow shattered ribs, another crushed skulls. Two of the creatures fell dead, and the rest finally fled into the jungle, too frightened to continue their assault.
Still, Ross didn't relax. He stayed alert, his senses stretched thin. Every rustle of leaves, every shift in the wind made his hand twitch toward his weapon.
He wasn't afraid of battle he had faced death before. What terrified him was the unknown.
An enemy you could see, you could plan for. You could measure their strength, time your strikes, even die with some understanding of why.
But the unseen… that was the true nightmare.
A hidden threat could strike at any moment, and by the time you noticed, it would already be too late.
Ross's nerves stayed tight the entire walk back, his heart pounding in his chest.
Finally, the forest thinned. The salty breeze returned, and ahead, tied to the trees along the shore, was his ship calm, undisturbed, as if nothing had ever happened.
Tess nearly collapsed with relief. "We made it!"
Ross exhaled, but his eyes stayed sharp. Something about this whole experience still didn't sit right with him. The best move now was simple: leave before fate decided to change its mind.
"On the ship! Hoist the sails!"
Together they boarded. Ross cut the mooring ropes, raised the anchor, and felt the hull shudder as the ship began to drift away from the eerie island.
Only when the vessel had put a safe distance between them and the shore did Ross finally allow himself to breathe freely. No disaster, no mysterious curse just clean sea air and open water again.
But even so, the unease in his chest didn't disappear.
"That island…" he murmured, watching the silhouette shrink behind them. "What in the world was it?"
For all the danger, the trip had been worth it. The mysterious "moving island" had given him more than he could have hoped for: the Flame-Flame Fruit, a power of fire itself.
His so-called "Team Enhancement" system could wait but this fruit, this miracle, was now his.
He couldn't help but wonder, though twenty years from now, when Portgas D. Ace set out on his journey, would he also find this very same fruit here? Maybe. Maybe not. The seas changed constantly; no one could say for sure.
But one thing was certain: from this moment on, the Flame-Flame Fruit belonged to him.
"Never again," Tess muttered bitterly. "I'll never let curiosity drag me somewhere haunted like that again. What was I thinking, opening my big mouth?"
Ross chuckled softly but didn't reply. His eyes, however, remained on the island and then suddenly, they widened.
"Wait… Tess, look."
"Look at what?" Tess followed his gaze and blinked. "Is it just me, or does that island look like it's… sinking?"
Ross narrowed his eyes. "Not just looks like. It really is sinking."
Before their eyes, the island began to dip lower into the sea. The treeline slowly disappeared beneath the waves, as if the entire landmass were melting into the ocean.
"This can't be real," Tess breathed. "Islands don't sink like that not in the East Blue!"
Within minutes, only a small patch of land remained above the surface, rippling the water around it. Ross frowned, staring intently at the strange phenomenon.
Then, as suddenly as it had sunk, the "island" rose again emerging from the sea in a slow, steady motion.
"Hold this," Ross said, handing the Flame-Flame Fruit to Tess. "I'm going to take a look underwater."
"W-wait, Captain, are you crazy?!" Tess shouted, gripping the fruit tightly.
Ross gave him a flat look. "If you even think about taking a bite, Tess… you'd better pray you can outrun me."
That was all he said before diving overboard with a splash.
Tess swallowed hard, staring at the fruit in his trembling hands. For a moment, temptation gnawed at him the fruit's surface shimmered invitingly, as if daring him to taste it. But remembering Ross's glare, he shuddered and quickly looked away.
Beneath the waves, Ross saw something that made his breath catch.
Not far below the surface, a colossal shadow moved. As his eyes adjusted, the truth came into view.
It wasn't an island at all.
It was a giant crab.
Its shell was vast, like a mountain of stone, covered in moss and sand. Enormous claws dragged through the seafloor, stirring clouds of silt. The "island" they had landed on was nothing more than the creature's back.
Ross watched, awestruck. Even at a distance, the crab's size was overwhelming an ancient titan of the deep.
He lingered only a moment longer before surfacing, gasping for air. Pulling himself back onto the ship, he wiped the water from his face and looked once more toward the living island as it drifted slowly away.
Now, at last, he understood.
The island had never been an island at all. It had been alive all along.