Chapter 65: An Accident in the Video Store
The scorching wind of Natlan whipped past Lumine and Paimon, carrying the faint scent of ash and sun-baked earth. Their boots pounded against the rugged terrain, eyes locked on the towering canopy in the distance. Filled with unwavering conviction, they were making a beeline straight for the Scions of the Canopy. Within Lumine's grasp rested the Soul Perception Stone, its surface pulsing with a faint, rhythmic warmth. They shared a singular, determined goal: it was time to retrieve Kachina's lost Ancient Name.
Worlds away, nestled within the bustling urban sprawl of New Eridu, the atmosphere inside the Random Play video store on Sixth Street was considerably less heroic.
Upstairs, a thick, acrid haze hung in the air of Wise's bedroom. The sharp stench of charred fabric violently clashed with the chemical tang of dry powder fire retardant.
Wise stood dead center in the room. His posture was rigid, his expression entirely blank. His hands maintained a white-knuckled grip on a heavy, bright red fire extinguisher—now completely empty. A fine layer of white chemical dust coated his clothes, his hair, and the floorboards.
His gaze remained fixed on the disaster zone directly in front of him. Where a plush, comfortable sofa had proudly sat just moments prior, only a skeletal, blackened frame remained. Smoldering clumps of burnt stuffing lay scattered across the floor, hissing softly beneath the blanket of white extinguisher powder.
"Tsk..." Wise clicked his tongue, a deep furrow forming between his brows. He slowly lowered the empty metal canister.
It was supposed to be a simple experiment. He had only wanted to test his precision. The goal was to summon a tiny, controlled cluster of orange-red flames at his fingertips—just enough heat to mimic a cigarette lighter, keeping the blaze contained within a hair's breadth.
Instead, the very second the thought formed in his mind, a violent, roaring tongue of fire had erupted from his hand with a deafening whoosh. The miniature inferno had instantly lashed out, hungrily swallowing the armrest of his sofa.
Even with his famously quick reflexes—diving for the emergency extinguisher in the corner and spraying the foam with frantic desperation—he couldn't save the poor piece of furniture.
"Sure enough," Wise muttered to himself, brushing a streak of soot from his cheek. "The raw power granted by a Devil Fruit is incredible, but precise control... is much harder than expected."
He stared at his palm, a heavy sigh escaping his lips. The ability was undeniably useful, but without the finesse to regulate his output, he was essentially walking around as a highly volatile, indoor fire hazard.
At the same time, the situation downstairs in the main lounge was arguably worse.
Belle stood in the exact center of the room, blinking her wide, innocent eyes at the spectacle before her. Under the warm, yellow glow of the ceiling lights, the downstairs sofa sat completely encased in a massive, jagged block of crystal-clear ice.
A biting chill permeated the lounge. The temperature had plummeted drastically, leaving a thin, creeping layer of white frost across the polished wooden floorboards. Every breath Belle took materialized as a puff of white mist.
"Uh..." Belle mumbled, bringing her hands to her mouth and blowing warm air over her freezing fingertips. She rubbed her arms, trying to shake off the lingering cold. "I just wanted to see if I could instantly ice a hot coffee..."
Her logic had been sound. Waiting for freshly brewed coffee to cool down was a waste of time. But the moment she tapped into her new power, the freezing energy had surged out in a massive, uncontrollable wave. She had completely misjudged the range and intensity, resulting in a localized flash-freeze that turned the entire seating area into a winter wonderland.
[Detecting abnormal decrease in ambient temperature. Detecting abnormal increase in humidity. High risk of structural icing.]
Fairy's signature electronic voice echoed from the store's central speakers, cutting through the freezing silence.
[Suggestion: Activate dehumidification mode immediately. Raise room temperature to prevent hardware damage.]
The AI's tone remained perfectly modulated, yet the glowing interface on the main monitor flickered erratically. Fairy was currently dedicating an immense amount of processing power to analyze the visual data her cameras were feeding her. In truth, Fairy's core processor had been hovering on the absolute brink of a logical overload for days.
Ever since 'Assistant No. 2'had supposedly experienced'problems with her eyes', the AI had been subjected to a barrage of impossible phenomena. Fairy had recorded the siblings pulling hot meals, complex tools, and bizarre trinkets entirely out of thin air.
Spatial equipment? Fairy possessed theoretical data on the concept. However, those concepts belonged strictly in the world of science fiction novels and theoretical physics, not in practical, observable reality.
The breaking point had occurred when Fairy watched her Master and Assistant No. 2 consume a pair of grotesque, swirl-patterned fruits with expressions of utter resignation. From that moment on, Fairy's entire database of common sense had been violently shattered.
Flames dancing in the Master's bare hands. Assistant No. 2 flash-freezing ceramics with a casual wave.
These events entirely bypassed Fairy's cognitive model, which was strictly built upon established physical laws and local Ether science.
Desperate for a logical framework, Fairy had secretly diverted extra power to her servers, frantically scraping every database, restricted forum, and urban legend repository in New Eridu. She searched for any rational explanation. Was this a new, undocumented form of Ether adaptation? An illegal, advanced prosthetic modification? Alien technology?
The search yielded zero results.
The phenomena occurring inside Random Play could only be classified under tags like 'magic'or'superpowers'—concepts her programming rigidly categorized as fictional.
When Fairy spoke again, her voice carried a distinct, stuttering electronic warble that closely mimicked genuine frustration.
"Dear Assistant No. 2. Based on continuous observation and real-time data analysis, Fairy has detected significant, unexplainable fluctuations in both your and the Master's physiological parameters. Your energy radiation patterns do not align with any existing models."
The monitor pulsed with a rapid sequence of error codes.
"Specifically, your demonstrated low-temperature control, and the Master's demonstrated high-temperature generation. Fairy has exhausted all available information resources within New Eridu, yet remains unable to establish an effective correlation model. Requesting immediate information sharing: How did you and the Master acquire this... non-standardized energy control ability?"
Belle stared at the monitor, taking in Fairy's unusually desperate line of questioning. She suddenly remembered the recent, suspicious spike in the store's electricity bill—Fairy's secret data-mining operation hadn't gone unnoticed. A loud, bright laugh escaped Belle's lips.
She was entirely used to bickering with the AI. Seeing the usually omniscient Fairy lower her digital stance to beg for an explanation was a rare treat.
"Alright, alright. Seeing as you're asking so nicely..." Belle crossed her arms, a mischievous, triumphant grin spreading across her face. "It's not a secret! The answer is actually super simple. It's because we ate those weird fruits!"
The glowing rings on Fairy's display froze.
"...Dear Assistant No. 2," Fairy replied, her audio output glitching for a fraction of a second. "Please provide more effective data. What is the exact material composition of the fruit? Its biological mechanism of action? Its primary energy source? How does it bypass the physical limitations of carbon-based organisms to grant controllable energy release...?"
"Stop, stop, stop!" Belle waved her hands frantically, cutting off the AI's impending academic lecture.
If Fairy possessed a physical body, Belle was certain the AI would be glaring at her right now.
"The fruit is just... an exotic product from another world!" Belle declared, puffing out her chest. She tried to frame the truth in a way that sounded like a legitimate setting. "Yep! It's called a Devil Fruit! People who eat them gain all sorts of crazy superpowers. Fire and ice are just two of the possibilities."
"Exotic product from... another world? Devil Fruit?" Fairy's voice pitched upward, the electronic stutter becoming highly pronounced. "Dear Assistant No. 2. The concept of 'another world' lacks any empirical support and directly violates my foundational physical models."
The screen flashed red for a moment.
", the naming convention 'Devil Fruit' is highly indicative of fictional literary tropes. Dear Assistant No. 2, are you currently inputting false test data, or attempting a humorous social interaction? Perhaps Fairy's humor recognition module requires an urgent update..."
Watching the highly advanced AI practically short-circuit over a piece of fruit made Belle's grin widen. Her shoulders shook as she burst into a fit of giggles.
"Hahaha! See? I tell you the absolute truth and you don't even believe me!" Belle wiped a tear from her eye. "I'm not lying to you, Fairy. It really is a fruit from another world!"
She made sure to heavily emphasize the words 'another world'.
Fairy fell completely silent. The light on her main screen blinked in a slow, rhythmic pattern, radiating the digital equivalent of a massive internal computational conflict.
Belle shrugged, entirely unbothered by the AI's existential crisis. "Believe it or not, that's your problem. The abilities are real, and we've already eaten the fruits."
Leaving Fairy to process the impossible, Belle turned on her heel and headed for the stairs. She needed to find her brother.
"Brother, we should probably head out to the Outer Ring to practice..." Belle called out as she reached the second-floor landing.
She pushed open the door to Wise's bedroom.
The words died instantly in her throat.
She stood frozen in the doorway, coughing as the acrid smell of smoke and chemical powder hit her lungs, her wide eyes locked onto the charred, skeletal remains of Wise's sofa.
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