Parrot didn't flinch under all those stares—after all, he was an old-timer, one of the first to join the crew.
"Ahem! Let's haul out the captives first!"
Parrot popped open a small door on his chest, and the castle troops inside dragged out Navy Admiral Devo and Candidate Admiral Jung, along with Admiral Aokiba and Blood Hand Braille. Hell, they even had the corpses of two God's Knights!
"Speaking of these bodies, I want one of you four to eat the Shadow-Shadow Fruit. Who's up for it?"
Brook asked the four Lunarians—Alber and the others, these fallen angels with their built-in wings. They didn't need flight powers, so a Superhuman-type Devil Fruit would suit them best.
The Shadow-Shadow Fruit let you command a zombie army right off the bat, a key piece for the Hell Pirates. Eating it would lock you in as a core officer.
"I'll take it!"
Alber had seen what the Shadow-Shadow Fruit could do. With all these powerhouse corpses right here, it was his shot at skyrocketing to the top. He didn't mind the dirty, gruesome work of bossing around the dead.
"Perfect!"
Brook tossed him a Devil Fruit with black patterns and green leaves. He'd already offed the Night King Arzuka earlier to reclaim the Shadow-Shadow Fruit.
"Arodan, this Bone Control Fruit is yours. That makes you the [Bone Demon] of the Four Fallen Angels!"
Brook handed over another one with pale white patterns—this was from the Locks Pirates' high-ranking officer, Skeleton Belt Sandy.
"Thanks, Captain Brook!!"
The muscle-bound Arodan dropped to one knee right away, respectfully taking the fruit from Brook's hand. He didn't hesitate, chomping it down in one go.
For a guy over six meters tall like Arodan, a single Devil Fruit barely counted as a bite.
"With this fruit, beyond just manipulating other people's bones, try developing it—see if you can control your own."
Brook was thinking of that bone pulse ability from the Naruto next door, some seriously powerful stuff. But in this world, the Bone Control Fruit might not pack the same punch—depended on how the user pushed it.
"Got it, Captain Brook!"
Arodan nodded seriously, while Alice and Aruyan eyed Brook expectantly, just waiting for their turn to get handed a fruit from the organization.
"Ahem! Let's check out the haul first, then I'll sort you two out!"
Brook didn't have any other fitting fruits on hand right now—he'd have to pick from this batch!
"Sure thing, Captain Brook!"
Parrot had already lined up all the Devil Fruit boxes neatly—38 of them in total.
The sight got even Brook's icy, oversized heart pounding!
Look at that! This is what real wealth looks like! This is the Celestial Dragons!
Damn straight!
Tossing Devil Fruits to slaves like candy? That level of baller status had Brook straight-up envious!
The Pirate Empress Boa Hancock's Celestial Dragon owner had even handed three fruits to the Boa sisters all at once!
That kind of extravagance? Mind-blowing!
Out on the seas, folks would kill for a Devil Fruit, but to the Celestial Dragons? Just playthings for their slaves.
Brook lifted a hand, and Stussy—ever the one who got him best—slipped the latest Devil Fruit Encyclopedia right into it. No wonder he spoiled her rotten!
The locks on these boxes? They didn't stand a chance against Brook's Seven Star Demon Sword.
"Yo ho ho! Nothing beats the thrill of cracking open these Devil Fruit blind boxes! Here's hoping for a killer opener!!!"
Brook burst out laughing, and the rest of the crew joined in, especially Beast Kaido—his dark mug was flushing red with excitement.
Snap~
Brook flipped open the first box and scooped out the fruit inside!
"Holy crap! It's this one!"
Brook stared at the polyhedral fruit in his hand, like some eight-sided die from the gods, radiating temptation.
"Superhuman-type: Door-Door Fruit!"
Brook was floored. Wasn't this the future CP9 Bruno's fruit? How the hell did it end up in God Valley?
Maybe the sharp-eyed readers knew Brook had been itching for a space-type fruit?
"Not bad, not bad at all. Stash it away!"
Brook set the Door-Door Fruit aside. He figured he'd give it to one of his personal guards—make zipping up and down to sky islands a breeze, and damn if it wouldn't look badass rolling up like that!
Beast Kaido clocked that it wasn't the power he was after and immediately started hyping the next one. Man, the wait was killing him!
With the crew egging him on, Brook didn't drag it out. A flash of sword light, lock hits the deck, and he popped open the second box!
He grabbed the fruit and started flipping through the encyclopedia. Bit of a hassle—next time, he'd have the eidetic-memory whiz Tenmoku by his side to ID them, let her speed through the pages!
"Yo ho ho, another winner!! Animal-type: Cat-Cat Fruit, Ancient Species—Saber-Tooth Tiger Form!"
Brook cracked up. Another CP9 special? Had they raided the CP0 nest or what? This one's future owner was Who's-Who.
He was a former CP9 agent, botched the escort on the Gum-Gum Fruit (aka the Nika one), got jacked by Red-Haired Shanks.
Ended up in the slammer for it, broke out, hooked up with the Beasts Pirates, and climbed the ranks to high cadre—even snagged the top spot in the Tobiroppo!
"Je ha ha! Ancient Saber-Tooth Tiger? Solid pick!"
Golden Lion Shiki chuckled. He was gearing up to stock some fruits for his own division crew too!
Brook sliced through three more locks with one swing, booted the lids open, and had Tenmoku step up to call 'em. She'd got the encyclopedia down pat—could spot if it'd shown up in there with one glance!
"Huh~ All three are Animal-types: Dog-Dog Fruit, Dachshund Form; Elephant-Elephant Fruit; and a Mythical Zoan—Tanuki Fruit!"
Tenmoku said, wide-eyed. A Mythical Zoan, no less!
"These three, huh!"
Brook grinned. The Devil Fruit weapon trifecta: Mr. 4's dachshund cannon, Spandam's elephant sword Funkfreed, and Redfield's tanuki pen Pato!
Vegapunk's handiwork, all of 'em. Bet these fruits were Celestial Dragons hand-me-downs for his experiments?
Brook picked up the Mythical Tanuki Fruit. Prime stuff—scribble names from memory on the leaves, and boom, summon fighters with real chops.
Brook unleashed a few more sword waves, slicing open every last neatly lined-up Devil Fruit box. Time to blow through 'em all at once—would his dream top-tier fruits be waiting inside?
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Fanfic is finished 955 chapters in total on p@treon/tambeerg