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Chomp, chomp~
"Mmhmm, it doesn't taste as bad as I imagined?"
Luca was holding a strange purple apple covered in spots, taking big bites out of it.
Originally, due to the stereotype of "Devil Fruits," Luca had braced himself to experience the taste of "shit."
But after taking the first cautious bite, it didn't seem...
"URGH~~"
Just as Luca was thinking that maybe the [Pink Dragon Fruit] didn't taste bad because it was an artificial Devil Fruit, his stomach churned violently, and a wave of sour, disgusting nausea rushed straight to his head.
He nearly dropped the half-eaten fruit in his hand. Even the bits he had already swallowed threatened to erupt from his mouth.
No time to think!
Suppressing the urge to vomit, Luca shoved the remaining half of the apple, core and all, into his mouth.
Then, he clamped both hands tightly over his mouth, forcing himself to swallow every last bit of the [Pink Dragon Fruit].
"Urgh~~ Baymax! Quick!"
Snatching the pre-prepared milk from Baymax's hands, Luca hurriedly gulped it down. Gulp, gulp.
Although according to Devil Fruit lore, taking just one bite was enough to gain the ability...
Luca was afraid that not eating the whole thing might result in a weaker or incomplete ability. So even though the disgusting taste was exploding in his mouth, he forced himself to swallow the rest.
There was no need to gamble with his potential power just to avoid a little discomfort.
"Phew~~~ I'm alive~~~"
After downing several glasses of milk in a row, Luca finally felt the weird taste in his mouth fade significantly.
At this point, Baymax chimed in timely.
"Based on the analysis just now, it is possible that the taste exceeded the limit of palatability, so your brain temporarily blocked your sense of taste as a protective mechanism..."
Baymax stopped halfway through his sentence.
He raised his chubby hand and pointed at the top of Luca's head.
"Luca, you're growing horns!"
If Baymax hadn't said anything, it would have been fine. But as soon as he spoke, Luca immediately felt an itch on his forehead.
And with that momentary distraction...
He immediately felt his body begin to change rapidly and uncontrollably.
First, pop-pop, two dragon horns sprouted from his head.
Then, his entire body began to heat up. Scales emerged from under his skin, and with a rip, a long pink dragon tail shot out from his tailbone.
That wasn't all. Snap.
The shoes on his feet burst open. His feet and legs transformed into thick, muscular dragon claws.
"Crap! My shoes!"
However, before he could mourn his [Kick-Enhancement Shoes]...
He looked down and discovered that his right hand—which should have been a mechanical arm—was now turning pink as well. Moreover, under the influence of some unknown force, the mechanical arm began to deform with click-clack-click sounds.
It actually twisted and stretched directly into a Mechanical Dragon Claw!
Just when Luca thought the transformation was over—assuming he was stuck in a "Half-Dragon Form" due to lack of control after just eating the fruit...
The next moment, the transformation, which had nearly stabilized, suddenly accelerated.
BOOM.
The original Luca "disappeared" completely. In his place was a pink Chinese dragon, nearly 5 meters long, with a golden-red mane like fire rising from its head and back.
Fortunately, the underground secret room Luca was in was spacious enough. Aside from Baymax being bounced away onto his butt because he was too close, no damage was caused.
Luca, now a dragon, stretched his body on the ground, twisting his long neck to examine himself. Finally, his gaze landed on his right hand... right claw.
"Is... is it this unreasonable?"
Yes. Luca, having eaten the [Pink Dragon Fruit], looked 70-80% similar to Kaido's Azure Dragon form from the original work, aside from the color and somewhat shorter length.
However, instead of falling off or being ejected like when he took APTX4869, Luca's right mechanical arm had grown and transformed along with him, becoming a metallic dragon claw with a mechanical aesthetic.
Luca could even clearly perceive that he could still use the [Ragtime] time deceleration field of his mechanical arm normally.
In fact, it wasn't just that.
Even though his [Kick-Enhancement Shoes] and [Tracking Glasses] seemed to have burst during the "transformation animation," and his [Tuxedo] was nowhere to be seen on his dragon body...
Luca could sense that they hadn't been destroyed or lost.
It was just that since these items required manual switches or active activation—unlike the mechanical arm which was purely thought-controlled—he couldn't use them normally right now.
"This is truly... a magical experience..."
Although Zoan Devil Fruits seemed to be just physical or genetic changes, experiencing it firsthand...
"This is clearly closer to a concept-level transformation."
Just as Luca was thinking this, his limbs and tail moved slightly unconsciously.
The next moment, a large patch of pale yellow smoke clouds appeared out of nowhere beneath him.
Then, Luca's entire dragon body floated up uncontrollably.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa~"
Seeing that he was about to be carried by the auspicious clouds into the ceiling, Luca hurriedly focused his mind to disperse the clouds. Only then did he fall back to the ground with a splat.
"Looks like I need to practice controlling the Devil Fruit more!"
But clearly, although this secret room was spacious, it wasn't suitable for testing abilities.
Suppressing the urge to "breathe fire" and "spit lightning," Luca focused his mind on trying to revert to human form.
Fortunately, he seemed to have some talent in this area. As soon as he had the thought, his dragon body began to shrink.
In the blink of an eye, he turned back into a human.
And just as he had sensed earlier... although the "cutscene" showed his shoes and glasses exploding and his coat stretching...
Once he reverted to human form, all these items returned intact, showing no signs of having been blown to pieces.
Even the arm that had completely turned into a mechanical dragon claw reverted to its original mechanical appearance.
At the same time, it was only after returning to human form that Luca finally felt how much change eating this "Artificial Mythical Zoan Fruit" had brought to his original body.
Even without entering "Beast Form" or "Human-Beast Form," Luca could feel the power surging within him.
Clenching his left fist, he looked at the slightly bulging muscles on his forearm.
"This... is what I call power!"
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