Noyer held the still-warm Ryū Ryū no Mi, feeling incredibly pleased with himself.
Spandam had come looking for the fruit — most likely for Lucci. But since Lucci's original Devil Fruit was the Neko Neko no Mi, Model: Leopard, this didn't really count as stealing, right?
The group waited at the station for a long time. When the Sea Train finally arrived, they boarded it back to Water 7.
Noyer handed the Ryū Ryū no Mi to Wyper, "It's yours."
Wyper was stunned, "For me?"
"The Ryū Ryū no Mi's combat style suits you perfectly. You should try eating it." Noyer advised earnestly.
He'd considered eating the fruit himself — gaining two talents, then swapping out the Sea Curse side effect. But he wasn't sure about the difference between gaining talents by eating the fruit versus copying them through the system.
What if eating the fruit made those two talents fixed? Then there'd be no use crying about it.
Besides, for Zoan-type fruits, Noyer wanted to find two Mythical Zoan fruits to copy and fuse, since Mythical types had special abilities.
Wyper took the Ryū Ryū no Mi and hesitated, "But what about you…"
"I've already eaten one." Noyer lied without changing his expression, "Besides, I can copy your ability, so don't feel burdened."
Wyper thought for a moment, then nodded.
Since he'd already chosen to pledge loyalty to Noyer, he had to kill enemies for him. He had to gain the strength to help this man!
Wyper bit into the fruit flesh in front of everyone with a crunch. Noyer watched his scrunched-up features and felt his mood lift.
That familiar twisted expression… Watching people eat Devil Fruits is so satisfying!
Enel looked at Wyper with schadenfreude. As an ability user, he knew how terrible this thing tasted. When he'd eaten the Goro Goro no Mi, the taste was so bad he'd almost swallowed his tongue.
Wyper swallowed the fruit flesh with difficulty, "This taste is too horrible! It's like a filthy sow blew up a cesspit in my mouth!"
Franky stared blankly at him. What a colorful description!
Noyer looked at him expectantly, "How is it? What does it feel like?"
Wyper tensed his muscles and said with delight, "My body feels so hot! My strength is incredible… I feel like I could flip this entire Sea Train right now!"
He tried changing his body, and his skin immediately became covered with a layer of brown hard scales. Noyer quickly stopped him.
"Don't transform here — wait until we're ashore!"
Wyper suppressed his impulse and held it in until they got off the train.
As soon as the train docked, he rushed out and activated his transformation ability, turning into a Quetzalcoatlus. His body swelled, his arms transforming into massive dragon wings, his dark skin hardening, his mouth elongating.
The terrifying wingspan and body length — this was the Wind God Quetzalcoatlus.
If he had a phone, Noyer would definitely take a picture.
Mom! I saw a living dinosaur!
Enel looked at the Quetzalcoatlus blocking out a large shadow and couldn't help but praise, "It does have quite an impact. Barely acceptable as this god's mount!"
Wyper's dragon head twisted around, looking at him with an unfriendly expression, strong fighting spirit appearing in his eyes.
Enel provocatively raised his eyelids, "What, got this ability and now you want to fight me? Come at me if you dare!"
The massive Quetzalcoatlus and the lightning-covered Enel faced off, looking ready to fight.
Noyer quickly jumped between them, "Don't be reckless. First master your Haki. Then you can fight however you want!"
"Yes!" Wyper obediently nodded and glared at Enel.
Oh?
Enel wanted to provoke him further, but Noyer pushed him aside, "If you don't train, Wyper's going to surpass you."
Enel held his head high, "Impossible!"
Seeing he didn't believe it, Noyer could only sigh.
In reality, Wyper already had the strength to battle Enel. In the original story, he nearly killed this false god without a fruit — let alone now. As long as he had Haki, defeating Enel was only a matter of time.
And Enel… This arrogant fool, obsessed with his current strength, was standing still. His "Arrogant False God" persona would only disappear after a major blow.
Maybe… arrange for some people to beat him up?
"SUPER — " Franky struck his signature arms-colliding pose and laughed, "I'm so glad to have met you, Noyer! You'll definitely have your place on the sea!"
Noyer said confidently, "Of course!"
After saying goodbye to Franky, the three returned to Dock 1 with their "luggage" Blueno. Iceberg had already brought the Celestial Drake there.
Robin and Conis were waiting at the entrance. When they saw the three return, Robin asked curiously, "Where did you go?"
Noyer smiled, "Got into a fight. Also gave Wyper an Ancient Zoan Devil Fruit!"
"Ancient Zoan?" Robin looked at Wyper in surprise, "That's quite rare."
Noyer noticed her tense expression, "What's wrong with you two?"
Robin sighed and pulled out a piece of paper, "We just found this while shopping — the latest wanted poster."
Noyer's eyes lit up. He took the wanted poster and examined it. Enel and Wyper leaned in curiously.
The photo showed Noyer holding Rasetsuō with a tense expression. The background was a battleship — it must have been taken during their conversation with Aokiji in the Calm Belt.
Noyer nodded with satisfaction. Not bad — handsome and distinguished. Then a string of numbers caught his eye. He carefully counted the zeros.
฿90,000,000?!
Noyer felt both delighted and disappointed.
The good news: for a first bounty, ฿90,000,000 was excellent.
The disappointment: the insatiably greedy Noyer thought it unreasonable not to break ฿100,000,000. He had beaten up Crocodile and killed Wapol — how could his bounty not reach one hundred million?
Robin crossed her arms and shared what she knew, "Noyer, alias Devil Man, provoked a Warlord of the Sea, killed Wapol, and damaged the government's dignity. Bounty of ฿90,000,000, dead or alive."
Noyer's expression darkened. What kind of awful epithet was "Devil Man"?
If the Marines and government couldn't come up with a name, couldn't they at least ask for his opinion?
Seeing his angry expression, Robin explained, "Because of your copying ability, the government believes you can copy all Devil Fruit abilities. Hence the name Devil Man."
Noyer stared at his wanted poster, deflated. This epithet was awful.
Those Marines had no artistic sense!
I'll make some big moves and force them to change it!
When the Marines issue a bounty, they typically publish the epithet and deeds in newspaper reports.
When assigning epithets, the Marines don't care about their subjects' opinions. Epithets generally summarize a criminal's appearance, abilities, status, or prominent personality traits.
Noyer had fantasized countless times about his own epithet — Demon King, Emperor, and other grandiose titles…
But reality had slapped him in the face. Why would the Marines give a criminal such an imposing title? That would only frighten civilians and elevate pirates while diminishing themselves.
The more impressive titles belonged to those who couldn't be hidden from public knowledge — Pirate King, Evil Spirit, Soul King, Pirate Empress.
And the most extreme one — GOD Usopp…
This "Devil Man" epithet had no class whatsoever.
He didn't want to be just a "man"! He wanted a "God" title too…
Enel examined the wanted poster with envy, "This wanted poster is pretty well done."
Wyper nodded and sighed, "I heard bounties are the first step to fame in the Blue Sea. Looks like the captain is about to become famous!"
Conis held the sleeping cloud fox and asked curiously, "Really? Will our photos become famous too?"
Enel and Wyper exchanged an awkward glance and fell silent.
Become famous? Since coming down from Skypiea, they hadn't even fought a real battle yet.
The only time they'd opposed the government, Enel got beaten down. The memory made him angry, and he spat repeatedly on the unconscious Blueno.
◇◆◈◆◇
In the days that followed, both Noyer and Robin became wanted criminals, so shopping duties fell to Wyper and the others.
Worth mentioning: after bringing Enel out this time, his temper gradually improved. At least he listened to Noyer and wouldn't attack his own people anymore.
The reason was unclear, but it was a good change, so Noyer didn't question it.
Enel didn't want to compromise, but during his time in the Blue Sea, he'd come to understand something.
People stronger than him existed here, with better means too. Rather than running away in an unfamiliar place, it was better to stick with Noyer for now.
After some time, Water 7's excellent shipwrights modified the Celestial Drake once again.
At first, they were stunned by the golden room inside the ship. However, out of professional integrity, the shipwrights restrained their greed and returned the new ship to Noyer in perfect condition.
Bidding farewell to Water 7, the crew set sail. Mayor Iceburg was still somewhat dazed.
Had he really just met Franky once without making a move to seize the Pluton blueprints?
Ever since learning of his secretary's and two foremen's disappearance, Iceburg knew what Noyer said might be true. Government agents really had been lurking around him — he hadn't lied.
Noyer, truly a mysterious person…
◇◆◈◆◇
On the Celestial Drake, Enel finally had his own room and no longer had to live in the power supply chamber. He contentedly settled in, lying comfortably on the bed.
With Noyer's permission, Wyper transformed into a Quetzalcoatlus to experience high-speed flight in the sky.
Noyer checked the Log Pose — it pointed toward Fish-Man Island.
To reach Fish-Man Island, they had to go to Sabaody Archipelago for coating first. And to reach Sabaody, they had to pass through the Florian Triangle.
Time to meet another Warlord of the Sea.
Noyer gazed at the sea with anticipation. Gecko Moria's Kage Kage no Mi was very much to his taste, and this ability was crucial to his plan.
He wanted to fuse three types of Devil Fruits to create a Black Gold Rank Talent. For the Paramecia-type Talent, what he wanted most was Big Mom's Soru Soru no Mi.
Possessing the Soru Soru no Mi would grant access to virtually all elemental attack methods. One of the choices for fusing with it was the Kage Kage no Mi.
One gave shadows to corpses to control them, the other gave souls to any dead object to control them — their functions were quite similar.
There was also the Yomi Yomi no Mi (Brook's Devil Fruit), which was even simpler — both were soul abilities.
In terms of attributes, both fruits were very similar to the Soru Soru no Mi. And coincidentally, both were in the Florian Triangle.
Once business here was finished, they could go to Sabaody and meet up with Ace. Who knew which of them would arrive first…
Just as Noyer was fantasizing about the future, Enel suddenly rushed out, "Wyper's gotten into a fight with someone, on the sea ahead!"
Hm? Noyer's expression darkened. Who was so blind?
"El Thor! Fly me over there!"
On the sea ahead, Wyper transformed into a Quetzalcoatlus and furiously extended his giant claws, grabbing toward the ship before him.
A masked strongman nearly three meters tall, wielding a giant axe, blocked the claw strike.
Behind him, numerous subordinates nervously held their weapons. That mature woman leader who had sent people to track Noyer also stood among them.
The mature woman lowered her hood, revealing silver hair cascading like a waterfall. She looked at Wyper with surprise and uncertainty.
An Ancient Zoan Devil Fruit — Noyer had actually entrusted it to this person.
What tremendous trust!
The silver-haired woman shouted anxiously, "This is a misunderstanding! We're not enemies!"
Wyper's dragon eyes were filled with ferocity, still showing no mercy.
He'd been flying nicely in the sky when he was suddenly attacked — how could his explosive temper possibly tolerate that?
Wyper pressed down on the giant-like strongman, and the entire ship began to tilt, about to capsize. The strongman exerted all his strength, breaking out in a full sweat.
Seeing the ship about to be destroyed, the woman had no choice but to help. Her figure flickered as her graceful body lightly leaped before Wyper, her delicate fist striking toward his dragon claw.
Wyper looked disdainful. But when the fist landed on his claw, his seemingly endless strength vanished.
Between the hard dragon claw and the tender small hand, the one that crumbled was actually Wyper!
Wyper hurriedly withdrew his attack, but even after pulling back, the feeling of weakness in his claw didn't improve — as if his strength couldn't be transmitted there.
He looked at the woman with surprise and suspicion, "You're an ability user?"
The woman withdrew her hand and smiled, "I'm a user of the Paramecia-type Yawa Yawa no Mi, the Soft-Soft Fruit. Anything or any energy I touch becomes soft and powerless."
Wyper was dumbfounded.
This ability seemed impossible to counter.
The woman placed one hand on her chest, the other behind her back, and bowed courteously, "My companion was rude earlier. This is just a misunderstanding. I hope we can have a proper talk."
Having taken a loss, Wyper withdrew his ability and landed on the ship, "What do you want to talk about?"
The woman was about to speak when suddenly another whistling sound came from the sky.
From the Celestial Drake, Enel summoned lightning and charged down, excitedly wielding his thunder.
"How can you have a fight without me! Take this!"
The woman frowned. Her toes lightly tapped as her hand rose gracefully. The violent lightning immediately became gentle, then passed through the electric net as her hand slapped onto Enel's head.
Splat—
Enel fell to the ground like a dead dog.
Wyper looked at him cheerfully — now that's more like it.
◈◈◈
T/N: Comment, give me Power Stones, like and favorite, it all supports me and makes me go foward with this. Appreciate my other stories as well, I guarantee the good work!
If you want 20 chapters ahead of this novel for just $5 or enjoy a large catalog of good novels with excellent translations (free or starting at $1.5): MrBlackWing (you know where to search)
I'm currently translating another project (for $1.5) where the main character travels through various worlds, like Highschool of the Dead, Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress, Darwin's Game, and many more, building a massive harem. It will have smut chapters (+18) and spicy images of the female characters. Check it out if you're interested! :)
That's it and happy reading! (-‿◦)