One Piece: The Strongest Trait System novel Chapter 63

Chapter 63 - [63] : [BONUS] - Obtained! The Truth of Devil Fruits!

~ Thank you, This is the Bonus Chapter For Hitting 600 Powerstones~

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"Plunder!"

An exceptionally brilliant purple light, visible only to Rowen, separated from Smoker's body and was absorbed by Rowen.

"Gurgle! Gurgle!"

Under Tashigi's disbelieving gaze, Smoker's powerful physique began to wither strangely.

Moments later, he seemed completely drained of strength.

A Devil Fruit Trait was classified as a Strength-type Trait. It contained not only the Devil Fruit ability itself...

But also all of the user's associated physique, strength, and even the desire developed through training and using the fruit!

Everything—was plundered by Rowen.

Yes—after plundering the Smoke-Smoke Fruit, Rowen's mind, through feedback from the Strongest Trait System, was flooded with deeper knowledge about Devil Fruits.

He now understood why he could plunder Devil Fruit abilities without suffering their side effects.

It was exactly as Vegapunk stated in the original story.

Devil Fruits were the physical manifestation of humanity's desires from a bygone era.

Humans possessed countless desires. Long ago, people wished:

'If only I could become lightning!'

'If only I could split myself apart and be immune to swords!'

'If only I could become a mythical creature from legends!'

These diverse desires gave birth to the various Devil Fruits.

Someone wished to become lightning, and the Rumble-Rumble Fruit appeared, allowing its eater to become a Lightning Human.

Someone wished to be able to split apart, immune to blades, and the Chop-Chop Fruit appeared.

Someone wished to become a creature of myth, and the rarest Zoan type, the Mythical Zoan, came into existence.

As long as people harboring such desires existed in the world, the corresponding Devil Fruits would continue to manifest.

But obviously, this defied the natural laws of evolution; it was profoundly 'unnatural'.

This 'Unnaturalness' naturally incurred the wrath of Mother Nature herself—the Sea.

Thus, anyone who ate a Devil Fruit and became an ability user was cursed by the sea, becoming unable to swim.

Rowen, however, acquired Devil Fruit abilities by plundering them via the Trait System. They existed within him as Traits. The System itself shielded him from the Sea's perception of this 'unnaturalness'.

Meaning, although Rowen could use Devil Fruit powers, Mother Sea didn't recognize him as an ability user and therefore couldn't curse him.

Furthermore, Rowen now fully understood the process of Devil Fruit Awakening.

Devil Fruits were manifestations of desire. For example, the Smoke-Smoke Fruit Rowen just acquired was born from someone's past desire to become smoke.

Eating it allowed one to become a Smoke Human.

By continuously using the Smoke-Smoke Fruit's power, constantly strengthening that inherent desire—to be smoke...

When the user's physique reached a certain threshold, and that specific desire peaked—Devil Fruit Awakening could occur!

This also explained the high risk associated with Zoan fruit Awakenings.

To Awaken a Zoan fruit, the user had to constantly reinforce the desire to become the animal corresponding to their fruit.

When that desire peaked, Awakening could happen.

But the intense desire to become a beast could easily overwhelm the user's human consciousness during the Awakening process.

Lost within that desire, they risked becoming a true, mindless beast.

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Moreover, after obtaining the Smoke-Smoke Fruit, feedback from the System revealed another drawback inherent to Devil Fruits.

The desire embedded within the fruit itself... As the user continuously strengthened that desire, pushing towards Awakening...

It inevitably created a psychological dependence on the Devil Fruit's power.

Desire and dependence went hand-in-hand.

No wonder Zephyr had warned Kizaru not to rely too heavily on his Devil Fruit ability!

Becoming overly fixated on that desire, excessively dependent on the fruit's power, hindered the development of one's Haki.

Haki—whether it was Observation Haki (manifestation of the senses), Armament Haki (allowing harm to ability users), or the supreme Conqueror's Haki—could all be considered manifestations of spiritual strength.

It required absolute self-confidence to wield Haki effectively.

Losing that confidence weakened Haki, or in severe cases, rendered it unusable.

Moria, after his devastating defeat by Kaido and the loss of his crew, was a prime example. He lost all confidence, relying solely on his Shadow-Shadow Fruit to create zombie armies, trying to fill the void of fear and emptiness within him. His Haki, naturally, became useless.

All Devil Fruit users, through the process of strengthening the inherent desire within their fruit, developed some level of dependence, varying only in degree.

Minor dependence had little impact. Kaido, for instance, could still declare "Haki transcends all!" and possessed extremely powerful Haki.

Severe dependence, like Admiral Kizaru's reliance on the Glint-Glint Fruit, made Haki their definitive weak point.

But even Kaido, who uttered those words, didn't possess the absolute strongest Haki on the seas.

The Strongest Haki belonged to the man who hadn't eaten a Devil Fruit, renowned as the world's most powerful Haki user—Red-Haired Shanks!

Of course, this didn't mean eating a Devil Fruit precluded having the strongest Haki.

Joy Boy's Haki, echoing across time, made even Imu tremble and kneel.

But for a Devil Fruit user, achieving supreme Haki was significantly more difficult than for a non-user.

Naturally, powerful Devil Fruits did enhance combat strength. Kaido, while perhaps inferior to Shanks in pure Haki, possessed one of the strongest Mythical Zoan fruits, the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon. This earned him the title 'World's Strongest Creature', unbeatable in a one-on-one fight!

Pros and cons—that was the nature of Devil Fruits!

However...

A smile touched Rowen's lips.

With his Strongest Trait System, he could ignore these drawbacks!

Because the System shielded him from the Sea's rejection of the 'unnatural' Devil Fruit power...

Born of the Sea (Apex Gold) could still function perfectly, continuously enhancing Rowen's Haki!

Rowen could gain Devil Fruit powers without hindering his Haki development in the slightest!

Unlike the original owner of Born of the Sea (Apex Gold), Buggy—who lost the Trait upon eating a fruit and suffered a backlash, crippling his Haki potential—Rowen, with his System, could possess both supreme Devil Fruit abilities and the world's strongest Haki!

It was truly—a BUG-like existence.

And Rowen could acquire more, even stronger, Devil Fruit abilities. The Smoke-Smoke Fruit was merely a stepping stone.

Furthermore, the System also categorized Devil Fruit Awakening itself as a potential upgrade path. Meaning, Rowen could potentially force an Awakening through Trait upgrades!

Naturally, he wouldn't waste such upgrades on a mediocre fruit like Smoke-Smoke.

Use the Smoke-Smoke Fruit as a stepping stone -> Defeat the Warlord Crocodile -> Obtain the Sand-Sand Fruit (a top-tier Logia) -> Plunder Crocodile's 'fortune' via Faction Fortune (Apex Gold) for a massive boost -> Then, aim for that fruit atop the Sky Islands, hailed as one of the most invincible Logia abilities!

The Ultimate Devil Fruit—the Rumble-Rumble Fruit!

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Every Mythical Zoan, besides granting superior physique and recovery compared to normal Zoans, provided a unique special ability. That was their true power.

That's right! The Rumble-Rumble Fruit, and other powerful elemental Logias, could—through the Trait System—perfectly synergize with and enhance the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon!

Even without the boost from powerful Logias like Rumble-Rumble, the element-controlling Azure Dragon fruit was already incredibly strong, earning Kaido the title 'World's Strongest Creature', unbeatable one-on-one!

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—[Physique energy contained within Smoke-Smoke Fruit (Apex Purple) has been digested. Superhuman Demonic Physique (Apex Purple) enhanced!]—

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Eating the Smoke-Smoke Fruit turned Smoker into a Smoke Human. Filling his room with smoke was his way of training the fruit's power, pushing towards Awakening. This process, because he was smoke, naturally enhanced Smoker's physique as well, granting him Apex Purple level physical stats.

——

—[Born of the Sea (Apex Gold) activated. Armament Haki strengthened!]—

——

The Haki training cheat code activated again, further increasing Rowen's Armament Haki intensity!

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