Chapter 40 Historical Inscriptions
“Idiot!”
“Dracule, you big idiot!”
At first, when Dracule was toying with that Devil Fruit, Chu Yi, sensing with his Observation Haki, was merely quite nervous—worried that the Devil Fruit on this island might be strange, and that Dracule could get poisoned just by touching it.
But to his surprise!
Dracule turned out to be a glutton. Before Chu Yi could even intervene, he took a big bite out of the Devil Fruit!
Watching the golden-yellow liquid dripping from Dracule’s mouth, Chu Yi scolded him angrily while secretly thinking...
This is the end!
The world’s greatest swordsman in the original pirate story, "Hawkeye," is about to become a landlubber due to mistakenly eating a Devil Fruit!
Yet, while Chu Yi was berating Dracule, the latter remained remarkably calm. Even when Chu Yi called him an “idiot,” Dracule casually glanced at the golden-yellow Devil Fruit with purple veins in his hand and raised an eyebrow, asking, “Chu Yi, do you really think this is a Devil Fruit?”
“Of course!”
Chu Yi replied irritably. “I can clearly feel the aura of a Devil Fruit from this fruit. If it’s not a Devil Fruit, then what else could it be?”
“Hey, Dracule, why did you eat the fruit on this island without asking me first? Don’t you know eating random things is dangerous?”
“Well, I was hungry, so naturally I had to eat something!”
Wiping the residue from the corner of his mouth, Dracule smiled faintly. “I didn’t expect the Devil Fruit to taste pretty good. Hmm... it’s crispy, with a bit of a chicken flavor!”
Alright then...
Chicken flavor, crispy crunch.
Dracule, are you trying to survive on a deserted island or what?
With a helpless sigh in his heart, Chu Yi hadn’t quite processed what had just happened. Then, when he suddenly recalled something and looked back at the fruit in Dracule’s hand, his expression shifted.
“Chicken flavor? Crispy crunch?”
“Devil Fruits shouldn’t taste that delicious, right? It’s said every Devil Fruit tastes awful!”
At that moment, Chu Yi recalled his own experience eating a Devil Fruit.
His fruit wasn’t acquired in the pirate world but was a system reward. Yet, the Devil Fruits from the system were no different from those in the pirate world. At least, when Chu Yi ate his, the taste was downright hellish—like devilish cuisine from the underworld!
Considering that even Luffy found Devil Fruits hard to stomach in the original story, it’s not hard to guess that all Devil Fruits taste revolting.
In contrast, the fruit Dracule ate actually tasted like chicken?
And it didn’t seem all that bad?
For a moment, Chu Yi couldn’t help but doubt whether the fruit in Dracule’s hand, which exuded the aura of a Devil Fruit, was truly one.
Or perhaps...
He had been mistaken from the start?
Maybe this island didn’t have genuine Devil Fruits at all—only fruits that merely emitted a Devil Fruit aura?
With that thought, Chu Yi fixed a serious gaze on Dracule and asked, “Dracule, after eating that fruit, do you feel... any different?”
“Not really.”
No sooner had Dracule’s confident words fallen than—
“Whoosh!”
Chu Yi, dumbfounded, suddenly saw a pair of pure white wings sprout from Dracule’s back!
Dracule...
You truly are an unreliable fellow!
Covering his face with his hand, unable to bear looking at Dracule any longer, Chu Yi silently reprimanded him while waiting for the system’s prompt about completing Dracule’s fruit material collection task.
But after a few seconds of waiting...
Huh?
Why hadn’t the system’s notification appeared?
Curious, Chu Yi looked back at Dracule and noticed the wings on his back had vanished into thin air!
“What’s going on?”
“Dracule’s Devil Fruit ability... seems to have disappeared?”
Since Chu Yi could clearly sense the Devil Fruit aura on this island from a distance, naturally he could sense the aura on a Devil Fruit user as well.
When Dracule’s white wings appeared earlier, Chu Yi had unmistakably felt the Devil Fruit aura emanating from him, confirming he had become an ability user. But that aura came and went so quickly—only lingering for a few seconds before vanishing entirely.
Could it be that the fruit’s power...
Really could disappear into thin air?
“No, that’s not right!”
“The fruit Dracule ate, which emitted the Devil Fruit aura, is definitely a Devil Fruit.”
“But...”
“Perhaps the Devil Fruits on this island are artificial, just as I suspected before—imperfect artificial Devil Fruits!”
“When consuming such incomplete artificial fruits, the Devil Fruit power only lasts for a limited time, possibly varying from person to person. So Dracule’s ability lasted merely a few seconds after eating the fruit.”
After this analysis, Chu Yi saw the Devil Fruit aura completely vanish from Dracule’s body and finally breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Though Dracule becoming a Devil Fruit user didn’t stop him from aspiring to be the world’s greatest swordsman in the future, Chu Yi, accustomed to the original image of “Hawkeye,” really didn’t want to see a non-Devil Fruit user accidentally become one due to carelessness.
Moreover, if Dracule wanted to become a Devil Fruit user, he could have just told Chu Yi!
Chu Yi could have helped him select a top-tier Devil Fruit. Why gamble on a random fruit’s ability?
Now, it was clear that at least eighty percent of the Devil Fruits on this island were likely incomplete artificial ones. After some thought, Chu Yi warned Dracule not to eat anything randomly on the island. Then, the two set off again, following the pervasive Devil Fruit aura to explore further.
But just as Chu Yi and Dracule had barely walked a short distance...
Huh?
About two hundred meters ahead, Chu Yi spotted a tree bearing a Devil Fruit, beneath which stood an ancient stone tablet.
As Chu Yi and Dracule approached slowly and read the inscription on the tablet, Chu Yi said nothing, but even the usually composed Dracule’s eyes suddenly widened in disbelief, his expression utterly incredulous!
“Finally, we have arrived at the legendary island!”
“Adventurer!”
“Cxsley D. Chumo!”