Teacher, if you want to try refining a Devil Fruit, we can ask Cousin Xiao Mei to exchange for another one later. For now, this one should be used to strengthen me!"

Xiao Yan firmly rejected Yao Lao's suggestion.

He was only a first-tier alchemist. Even with Yao Lao's guidance, refining the fruit into a pill would never surpass the effect of eating it directly.

Though he was destined to walk the path of Dou Qi cultivation, until he grew strong enough, eating a Devil Fruit to bolster his self-preservation was a wise choice.

After all, he was about to journey with Xiao Mei into that familiar yet foreign world of pirates. With his current strength, he likely couldn't even handle some of the stronger underlings there.

"Your luck makes even me envious. To travel to another world before even becoming a Dou Fighter… this will greatly aid your mastery of spatial powers in the future, when you reach Dou Venerate."

Yao Lao couldn't help but remark. He understood that strength was Xiao Yan's top priority, so he didn't press further about refining the fruit.

"Dou Venerate? A Dou Venerate can control spatial powers?"

Xiao Yan asked curiously, though inwardly he was shaken. He had already estimated Yao Lao's strength as highly as possible, but it seemed he had still underestimated him.

From the way Yao Lao spoke so familiarly of a Dou Venerate's abilities, it was clear that in his prime, Yao Lao had either been one himself or at least a Dou Saint just beneath that level.

Yet even someone that powerful had fallen to such a state. The realization filled Xiao Yan with an urgent drive.

He had to work harder to grow stronger!

"Don't aim too high. A Dou Zun is still a long way off for you. First, eat this so-called Devil Fruit and let your teacher see what kind of transformation it brings."

Yao Lao seemed to have guessed Xiao Yan's thoughts, but he didn't say much more—just urged him to hurry up and eat the Devil Fruit to test its powers.

Off to the side, Xiao Mei giggled as she watched her cousin. She had already learned from the chat group just how extraordinary Xiao Yan's future would be, so of course she wouldn't look down on him just because of his recent "fall."

"Alright, I'll eat it now… ugh!"

Just like most Devil Fruit users before him, the moment Xiao Yan bit into it, he nearly threw up on the spot.

No wonder even someone as unfussy as Luffy could hardly handle the taste—this fruit really lived up to its name. Xiao Yan almost suspected the reason it was called a Devil Fruit was because its flavor could only be compared to that of an actual demon.

"Keep eating! Just one bite is far too wasteful!"

As an alchemist, Yao Lao could not stand to see rare 'ingredients' wasted—especially something as mysterious as this fruit he'd never even heard of before.

If not for the fact that Xiao Yan was about to set off into another world and needed some kind of power for self-protection, Yao Lao would have definitely persuaded him to store the fruit away until his alchemy had advanced enough to refine it into a pill.

"Ugh… why don't you try it, old man! One bite of this stuff is more than enough—eating more doesn't make you stronger anyway."

Xiao Yan gagged and grumbled between retches.

Whether in his previous life or this one, he had always grown up well-off and pampered—never once had he suffered something like this. A single bite of the Devil Fruit was enough to make him feel like ascending straight to heaven. Eating it was torture worse than any cruel punishment.

"Fine then, can you transform now?"

Yao Lao looked doubtful, but still trusted Xiao Yan's claim and mentally noted down the fruit's properties.

"I'll give it a try…"

Xiao Yan replied automatically, but before he even finished speaking, his body swelled uncontrollably—arms lengthening, legs shrinking, head reshaping, and two massive fangs pushing out from his upper jaw.

Even without a mirror, the sight of those huge saber-like fangs made it clear what he had eaten.

Zoan-type, Cat-Cat Fruit, Ancient Model: Saber-toothed Tiger Form!

The moment he transformed, Xiao Yan felt raw power coursing through him. His sharp claws and teeth seemed as if they could tear through steel itself. With this power, he could go toe-to-toe with a Nine-Star Dou Shi!

What he didn't know was that, hidden nearby in the underbrush, a pair of beautiful eyes was staring at him in stunned disbelief.

Xiao Xun'er could hardly believe it—she had only taken her eyes off him for a few days, and now her Xiao Yan-gege had turned into this.

From everything she knew, no fighting techniques, no bloodline secret arts—nothing—could turn a human into such a monstrous beast!

Luckily, the "monster tiger" still seemed in full control of his mind, even pausing to observe his own changes. That alone proved the transformation was under his conscious control.

"Rooaaar! Well? Do I look scary?"

Already knowing what Devil Fruits were, Xiao Yan wasn't alarmed by his new form. Instead, he playfully let out a roar to startle Xiao Mei.

Though Xiao Mei had once seemed to drift away after his "fall," she had come back on her own, even sharing the secret of the dimensional chat group with him.

On top of that, she always behaved like a sweet, obedient little sister, trying so hard to win his favor. Having experienced both warmth and coldness from people, Xiao Yan didn't quite see her as a 'close little cotton-padded jacket,' but he didn't mind joking around with his cousin either.

"So cute, Cousin Xiao Yan! So fluffy!"

Xiao Mei wasn't scared by the saber-toothed tiger at all. Instead, she hugged Xiao Yan's head and rubbed against him, which left Xiao Yan completely flustered.

From within the bushes, Xiao Xun'er's eyes burned with jealousy. She wished she could storm out and make Xiao Mei scram—after all, the person Xiao Yan liked was clearly her, Xiao Xun'er!

After a bit of playful scuffling between the siblings, Xiao Mei used the dimensional chat group's screenshot function to snap a photo of Xiao Yan's transformed state and sent it to the group. It almost made Lu, the random guy, roll on the ground in frustration.

[Xiao Mei: saber_tooth.jpg — Brother Xiao Yan successfully transformed!]

[Random Guy Who Wants to Cling to Luo Feng's Thigh: Holy crap! That's way too cool! Damn it, is there no justice? We're all ancient species, so why is he a saber-tooth tiger while I'm a gorilla???]

[Ai Haibara: Hm? So you finally admit you're a gorilla?]

[Random Guy Who Wants to Cling to Luo Feng's Thigh: Damn you, sharp-tongued girl! So what if I'm a gorilla? Look at my strong muscles! My thick fur! My mighty physique! Isn't that manly and cool?]

[Ai Haibara: Not cool!]

[Kobayashi: Um, Random-san, I think King Kong from the movies looks better than you…]

[Random Guy Who Wants to Cling to Luo Feng's Thigh: Pffft! I'm broken! You're saying I can't even compare to an actual gorilla?!]

[Ai Haibara: Someone really has no self-awareness… Hm, from the photo, it looks like your cousin transformed into a Destruction Saber-Tooth Tiger. But I'm not sure about the classification of Devil Fruits—maybe it's just called Saber-Tooth Tiger?]

[Xiao Mei: That name sounds kind of scary. I'll tell Cousin Xiao Yan about it later.]

[Blizzard: My sister also managed to transform, but she was flying too fast for me to capture it. Only the Hero Association got photos.]

[Blizzard: garuda.jpg]

In the photo was a majestic crimson-gold Garuda bird, its whole body wrapped in roaring gales, with countless streaks of lightning crackling across its feathers.

[Random Guy Who Wants to Cling to Luo Feng's Thigh: Holy sh*t! What the hell! Why?! Is this what a Mythical Zoan looks like? It's way too glamorous!]

[Ai Haibara: Impressive… If it means I could fly freely, I'd kind of want to eat a Zoan Devil Fruit too…]

[Random Guy Who Wants to Cling to Luo Feng's Thigh: Hahaha! Sharp-tongued girl, don't even think about it. Devil Fruit users rely on physical strength. With your body, even if you ate a Mythical Zoan, you probably couldn't handle it!]

[Random Guy Who Wants to Cling to Luo Feng's Thigh: Wouldn't it be hilarious if you couldn't even fly after eating it? Being embarrassed is one thing, but wasting a Devil Fruit would be unforgivable!]

[Ai Haibara: Shut up! You bald gorilla!]

[Random Guy Who Wants to Cling to Luo Feng's Thigh: ??? Since when am I bald?! Bastard! King Kong-type apes don't grow hair on their heads in the first place! That's the hardest part of a King Kong Ape's body—it's not supposed to have hair!]

[Ai Haibara: Heh, bald gorilla!]

[Random passerby trying to cling to Luo Feng's thigh: Sharp-tongued woman!]

[Fubuki: My sister seems addicted to flying now. I honestly don't know how to get her to come back down…]

[Kobayashi: Well, just wait until she gets bored of it. Tohru said when she first learned how to fly, it was the same—she wouldn't come down for several days.]

[Kizaru: Oh, so she's already mastered transformation, huh? The Garuda form of the Bird-Bird Fruit? Not bad at all. But with Tornado's physique, I doubt she'll be able to fly for very long…]

[Kizaru: Is that training camp I set up still running? If it is, let Tornado do some training there afterward. Using Devil Fruit powers consumes a lot of stamina, after all.]

[Fubuki: It's still running. Once my sister and I get back from your place, I'll send her there for training～]

[Ai Haibara: To torment her sister like this… how cruel… Please make sure to step it up even more～]

[Random passerby trying to cling to Luo Feng's thigh: Uuuu, Admiral Kizaru, didn't you say you know Vegapunk?]

[Kizaru: I do know him, what about it?]

[Random passerby trying to cling to Luo Feng's thigh: Could you ask Vegapunk to figure out how to make someone who's eaten a Devil Fruit spit it back out?]

[Random passerby trying to cling to Luo Feng's thigh: I want to eat a Mythical Zoan! Or if not that, then at least an Ancient Zoan!]

[Ai Haibara: Give it up, the bald gorilla is the best you'll ever get!]

[Kobayashi: Well, didn't you really like that Diamond Ape form before?]

[Random passerby trying to cling to Luo Feng's thigh: It's the Diamond Giant Ape form! Times change, you know. If something better comes along, of course I'll go after it! If I had eaten a Mythical Zoan, I could probably beat three of myself right now!]

[Kizaru: Unfortunately, Vegapunk can only make beings that haven't eaten a Devil Fruit consume one. He's never researched how to revert someone who's already eaten one back to normal…]

While Kizaru was busy chatting idly with the group members in the chat, three masked CP0 agents were riding a sky-island-like vehicle similar to a Waiba, speeding away from Mary Geoise at an astonishing pace, heading straight toward Marineford.

"Captain, if we can't come to terms with the Fleet Admiral… are we really supposed to seize the opportunity to take over Marine Headquarters?"

One of the towering CP0 members asked, shaking his head.

When he mentioned taking control of Marine HQ, his voice trembled with excitement. After all, that was the largest and most powerful military force under the World Government's command!

°°°

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