"It's finished! How is it?"
A deep,booming voice called down from the rooftop.
On the previously undeveloped land now stood a three-story Viking-style longhouse, as large as a castle.
Lamb House
"That is more than enough. I apologize for all the trouble. Without your help, we could never have built a home in this remote place." Sister Carmel, though in her sixties or seventies, replied in her usual high-pitched, carrying tone.
"Don't mention it, Sister! It's the least we could do! Just call on us anytime! Hahaha!" another giant working on the roof responded with a hearty laugh.
"Thank you all so very much!"
"Oh,by the way, where did Oro go? I saw him arrive on the island... but I haven't seen him for days. It's quite worrying."
Sister Carmel maintained her perpetual smile as she asked her casual question.
"Oro? Oh, he said he was worried about his younger siblings' safety here, so he went to scout the surrounding area. Don't fret, Sister! Little Oro is brave and clever. He'll be just fine!" answered a smaller giant with a thick mustache, carrying timber. The nun nodded, her smile unwavering.
---
"Hey, kid."
"Your method of tailing someone so blatantly through the woods isn't just rude—it's incredibly stupid,you know that?"
Streusen turned around, drew the rapier from his waist, and casually slashed a tree trunk. With a deft twirl of his blade, he shaved off a thick piece of wood.
The wood chunk transformed into a juicy, well-marbled steak in mid-air, landing squarely in his hand. Streusen first waved the meat tauntingly at Oro, then lined it up and began taking huge, ravenous bites.
"My, what an incredible Devil Fruit power! I was merely taking a stroll, and fate brought me across your path, mister. How can you accuse me of following you?"
Oro held an apple, looking at the neckless, cylindrical man with a childlike, innocent smile that seemed utterly harmless.
"Hey, what's with that look? You're taller than me and you're giving me that creepy smile? Are you out of your mind?" Streusen made a disgusted face. Oro's smile stiffened, and he waved a hand dismissively.
"Sorry, sorry. I've been in Elbaf so long, I've gotten used to thinking of myself as a child."
"Elbaf?! You little—!"
Streusen froze mid-bite. He suddenly couldn't feel his tongue. He tried to turn and run, his brain screaming commands, but his body refused to respond.
What's happening? An ambush?! When?!
His eyes darted frantically around his frozen form,desperately searching for an escape route.
Then he saw it, and his pupils contracted to pinpricks.
The surrounding trees, the ground—everything had turned to gold. Even the clouds in the sky shimmered with a metallic hue. The entire world seemed forged from gold. In any other circumstance, he would have been ecstatic. Now, he felt only pure, unadulterated terror.
"G-Gold-Gold Fruit?! Impossible! I've been around! The Gold-Gold Fruit can only control gold! This can't be—!"
"Wow, you're quick on the uptake, Mr. Streusen."
!
Oro's leisurely voice sounded in Streusen's ears, and in that moment, Streusen felt his very brain tremble.
It's a ghost!!!
"A ghost? Hmm... You're stirring up memories of a past life."
He died before?!
"Ahem. You guessed correctly. The basic ability of the Gold-Gold Fruit is indeed limited to manipulating gold. However, in this world, there are no useless Devil Fruits, only useless users. Do you understand?"
Oro walked up to Streusen, whose body was now 90% immobilized in gold, and spoke in a flippant tone. After so many years of never using his Devil Fruit powers in public, suppressing them for so long, it felt good to finally cut loose. A little showing off was good for one's mental health, wasn't it?
"Wh-what are you trying to say!?" Streusen stared intently, using only his eyes—the only part of him he could still move.
"Hmm? Seems you're not that smart after all. How should I explain it... As a chef, have you ever cooked brains? Pig brains? Cow brains? Human brains? When preparing or tasting them, did you ever pay attention to the brain's structure?"
"I... I've never eaten brains..."
"Oh.Then when you're thinking, have you ever wondered how your own brain works?"
"No..."
Streusen grew more terrified of the man before him. He forced himself to answer, believing that buying even a sliver of time was better than nothing.
"I see. How to describe it for you... Think of the brain as a network of incredibly fine threads. These threads generate electricity, creating something called electrical signals. These signals are your thoughts, your consciousness. Understand?"
"Very good. Now, let's say we insert a very thin wire—one that also conducts electricity—into the brain. We thread it into those nerves, alter the path of those electrical signals... Then what do you think happens?"
"Drill... inside!?"
"Hmm?"
"I get it,I get it! String! You're actually a String-String Fruit user, aren't you?!"
"Sigh..." Oro let out a disappointed sigh. "You should read more books, uncle. Knowledge changes destiny. Gold is a substance with excellent conductivity that can be drawn to the nanometer scale. Do you know how fine a nanometer is?"
"A human hair is about 50 to 100 micrometers wide. One micrometer equals 1,000 nanometers. The width of a DNA strand is about 2 nanometers. Does that make sense?"
"Huh?What... what kind of 'meter' is a 'micrometer'?"
Oro straightened up, looking utterly speechless, and patted his own hand. "There can't be only a handful of schools in this world, right? Never mind. Let's move on to the next step."
"N-next step!? I'm useful! Very useful! Just describe it, and I can cook you any dish you want!"
Oro pursed his lips and snapped his fingers. The ground around them began to tremble.
The trees and clouds turning to gold had been an illusion, a manipulation of Streusen's senses via gold threads woven into his neural pathways. But the changes happening to the earth were real.
Gold is actually quite common—found in animals, plants, soil, and rock—but it is notoriously scarce and difficult to extract in pure form. This, however, was not a problem for Oro. One gram of gold could be drawn into a thread over three kilometers long. A small amount was all he needed to do remarkable things.
With a gesture, Oro manipulated the gold, dragging a large basket filled with various fruits and plants from the jungle behind him. Then, using a thin film of the metal, he sculpted a spherical shell that enclosed both him and Streusen. A spiraling drill bit, formed from gold at its base, pierced the soil and began burrowing deep into the earth.
Drill bit wear was negligible for Oro, who simply extracted and replenished gold from the surrounding strata. The quantity of gold at his command only increased with depth. If not for the need to breathe, Oro's drill could have plunged straight toward the planet's core.
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