Chapter 3 — Six Sockets!
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The banana-shaped Devil Fruit slowly approached one of the indentations on the Infinity Gauntlet. During that final approach, Jack clearly felt a powerful suction force emanating from the gauntlet!
There's hope!
The moment he widened his eyes and let go, the Devil Fruit—something that would normally need a plate to hold—began shrinking at a speed visible to the naked eye, before bursting forth with a gemstone-like radiance.
Bang!
A crisp sound rang out beside Jack's ear!
He succeeded!
His hypothesis was correct!
Staring at the Infinity Gauntlet on his right hand, now successfully inlaid with a Devil Fruit, Jack fell into the forbidden double state of sheer joy and utter confusion!
Who said the Infinity Gauntlet had to be fitted with Infinity Stones?!
See that?! Devil Fruits work just fine too!
The moment this Zoan-type Devil Fruit fused perfectly with the Infinity Gauntlet, the previously faint, barely perceptible glow suddenly erupted into a boundless brilliance!
The little monkeys were terrified by the sudden change and fled in panic, distancing themselves from Jack, who now looked like a super high-powered light bulb.
And this was in broad daylight—yet it was still dazzlingly bright. At this moment, Jack became even calmer.
This time, it was definitely badass to the extreme!
When the light finally faded, the once lifeless Infinity Gauntlet at last returned to its true splendor. Streams of radiant light flowed across it, exuding an unmistakable aura of treasure.
Though entirely golden, it didn't look gaudy at all—instead, it radiated overwhelming dominance!
The only slight issue was that the remaining five empty sockets made it look a bit plain.
And Jack, having truly activated the Infinity Gauntlet, finally understood its origin and purpose.
It turned out that long before Thanos ever forged his Infinity Gauntlet, someone had already gathered all six Infinity Stones (technically more than six, but the rest came from spin-offs or gag content, so they don't count). Back then, the container used to activate the power of those six Infinity Stones was precisely the Infinity Gauntlet now worn on Jack's hand!
The model in Odin's vault was crafted in imitation of this very gauntlet!
And it was because Thanos knew that the dwarves had once created a vessel capable of housing six Infinity Stones and perfectly unleashing their power that he sought them out.
(Note: The above is purely my own headcanon—don't take it too seriously! But it's definitely not pulled out of thin air! Go rewatch that Easter egg in Thor 3.)
With that, everything made sense!
As for what exactly happened back then—why the very first Infinity Gauntlet born in this universe ended up in his hands, and why it brought him to this world…
The gauntlet gave him no answers, so he didn't know either.
But who cares?!
Jack was completely swept up in excitement now!
Because the power of this Infinity Gauntlet was utterly insane. It didn't need Infinity Stones at all—any energy of the same origin could be embedded into its sockets and would perfectly unleash its original abilities!
In other words, Jack didn't need to taste "poop" at all. As long as he embedded the Devil Fruits he obtained into the gauntlet's sockets, he could gain all the abilities of a normal Devil Fruit user—including development and awakening!
And because the power came from the gauntlet rather than being eaten directly, the curse of the sea, the suppression of Seastone—none of that applied!
And the most important part came next—
The Infinity Gauntlet had six sockets!
A full six!!!
Blackbeard thinks he's hot stuff?
A dual-Devil-Fruit user, so what?!
A suspected three-fruit Cerberus user—big deal?
Seven Warlords, Four Emperors, Marine Admirals, Five Elders, Celestial Dragons!
At this moment, Jack was genuinely getting a little inflated.
Once he gathered six powerful Devil Fruits, wouldn't it be a bit too modest to say he couldn't steamroll this world?
When the time came… should he try snapping his fingers?
Of course, while using Devil Fruit abilities through the Infinity Gauntlet was convenient and side-effect free, stamina and mental energy were still consumed as usual.
With his current weakling physique, whether he could even properly use one Devil Fruit ability was questionable—if he ended up as a three-second man, that'd be downright hilarious.
Fortunately, Jack wasn't too worried about that fundamental issue. A divine artifact like the Infinity Gauntlet couldn't possibly be limited to such simple functions.
Besides a highly practical built-in storage space of one hundred cubic meters, it also possessed a basic absorption-and-conversion function.
Simply put, it could extract the energy from a Devil Fruit, undergo some mysterious transformation, and inject it into Jack's body for strengthening!
The downside was that any Devil Fruit processed this way would permanently disappear from the world, since its fundamental energy would be completely drained.
But would someone like Jack care about such a minor flaw?
Obviously not!
With his excitement reaching a peak, Jack could no longer restrain himself and decided to test the power of the Infinity Gauntlet!
He quickly moved away from where the monkeys lived and went to the outer edge of the forest, then connected with the Infinity Gauntlet through his mind.
The first socket—representing the Zoan-type Devil Fruit—suddenly lit up with black-and-white light, matching the original colors of the fruit.
Then Jack felt his entire body begin to change!
Black, hard fur rapidly grew across his body. His fingers elongated and sharpened—"claws" felt like a more accurate description. Even the Infinity Gauntlet itself transformed into something more like an "Infinity Claw."
They said Zoan-type Devil Fruits provided the greatest enhancement to the user's physical body. Jack felt the surging power continuously flooding out from within him.
That was absolutely true!
The explosive growth of strength sparked an overwhelming urge to charge into the forest and battle those apex beasts head-on!
But when he accidentally caught sight of his current appearance using the gauntlet's reflective surface, that urge vanished instantly—replaced by a completely different one.
"What the hell—this is ugly as hell!"
In his beast-transformed state, Jack examined himself, his mouth twitching uncontrollably.
Ugly would've been one thing—but based on the smooth patch of white fur in the middle of his head, he even deduced what his first Devil Fruit actually was!
Wasn't this fierce look exactly that "no-nonsense, pick-a-fight-with-anyone" flat-headed maniac?!
The honey badger!
Scientific name: Mellivora capensis!
As for how a rich second-generation like Jack recognized such an obscure animal—credit went to a certain beast-girl battle anime…
How the hell was he supposed to introduce his ability to others in the future?!
"Uh, hello everyone, I'm a Honey Badger Fruit user…"
Or—
"I am a Weasel-Weasel Fruit: Honey Badger Model user—surrender now!"
Just thinking about it made his skin crawl!
So what if it was strong?!
So what if it had great defense and poison resistance?!
Once he encountered a stronger, cooler Devil Fruit in the future, he had to switch!
Didn't people know this was a world where looks mattered everywhere?!
Just being ugly alone doomed Zoan-type Devil Fruit users to a hard time finding a partner later in life!