"Huh?"
"You... you know me?"
Custard looked at the man in front of her in complete bewilderment, her large eyes blinking rapidly.
She looked cute and innocent, but she wasn't stupid. From the moment she'd been brought into this headquarters building, she could already tell—this man was the absolute core of this place. Every woman here orbited around him like planets around a sun. Every guard deferred to him with religious reverence.
"I've seen you online," Elric said with a faint smile, leaning back in his chair. "Didn't you eat quite a few ability fruits? I watched your viral video. You consumed several on camera, gained multiple powers."
His eyes narrowed slightly, studying her more carefully now.
"Then how did you end up like this?"
He looked her over. Although Custard had already washed up since being brought to the shelter, the signs of prolonged suffering were obvious—faded scars criss-crossing her arms, healing wounds on her legs, and a body that had clearly lost too much weight. Her cheeks were hollow, her frame fragile.
It didn't make sense at all.
She was one of the earliest awakened people—someone who had discovered and consumed Devil Fruits before most people even knew they existed. Someone who had eaten multiple ability fruits shouldn't be reduced to this pathetic state, running for her life and nearly dying from exhaustion.
Natasha interjected softly from beside him, her hand resting gently on his shoulder, "when we found her during patrol, she was covered in injuries and running desperately through the ruins. She nearly collapsed the moment we secured her. It took two days of rest and medical attention before she could even speak properly."
Custard's eyes immediately reddened at the memory, tears gathering at the corners.
"I... I was fine at first," she said, voice thick with grievance and barely suppressed trauma. "After the apocalypse started, I stayed at home. I had stockpiled food. I had my abilities. Ordinary awakened creatures couldn't touch me—I was strong enough to protect myself."
She paused, hands trembling as she twisted them together.
"But someone tracked me down through my livestream. They must have recognized landmarks in my videos, figured out my general location, then searched the area systematically."
Her voice dropped to barely a whisper.
"There were more than a dozen awakened people... they joined forces, ambushed me, injured me badly, and took over the ability vine in my backyard."
"Oh?"
He sat up straighter.
"An ability vine?"
One that could produce ability fruits continuously? That was far more valuable than a single fruit or even a handful of them.
He wasn't surprised she had been targeted—broadcasting your exact powers and approximate location online during the apocalypse was basically suicide. What surprised him was the last part of her statement.
A vine.
Not a tree like the massive Devil Fruit Tree he'd encountered—but another sustainable supernatural plant capable of producing fruits.
"Explain clearly," he commanded. "Tell me everything about this vine. Don't leave out any details."
Custard nodded quickly, grateful to have his full attention, and began describing it in careful detail.
"It used to be an ordinary grapevine in my backyard..." she started, her voice gaining steadiness as she focused on the facts. "My grandmother planted it years ago. It was just decorative, growing along the back fence."
"But after the apocalypse started, after those first few days of chaos, I noticed it changing. The leaves turned this strange blue-green color. The trunk thickened. And then... fruits started appearing."
Minutes passed as she explained everything she'd observed.
By the time she finished, the full picture was clear.
Her guess had been absolutely right.
The vine in Custard's yard was indeed a supernatural plant capable of producing ability fruits on a long-term, sustainable basis.
But it was fundamentally different from the ability tree Elric had encountered before in Yang City.
It produced seven to eight ability fruits per day—a consistent, predictable yield.
The fruits didn't scatter or teleport elsewhere—they remained on the vine where they grew, making them easy to harvest.
They hid among the thick vines and leaves—camouflaged naturally, which is why it had taken her grandmother's old property a while to be discovered.
If the fruits weren't picked, no new ones would grow—the vine had a maximum capacity and wouldn't produce more until space was available.
In the early days of the apocalypse, Custard had relied entirely on this vine to survive—carefully harvesting and consuming more than a dozen fruits over the first two weeks.
But just days ago, a group of awakened people had found her location. They'd attacked together, overwhelming her with numbers and coordination.
She lost the fight badly.
Barely escaping with her life, leaving everything behind.
"You've eaten that many ability fruits," Elric said calmly, his tone neutral but with an edge of curiosity, "and you still couldn't beat them? With multiple abilities, you should have been dominant."
Custard lowered her head awkwardly, shame coloring her cheeks.
"I... I ate more than a dozen," she admitted reluctantly. "But I only awakened four distinct abilities total. And each one only strengthened about three times—three levels of enhancement before they stopped improving entirely."
She swallowed hard.
"After that... no matter how many more fruits I ate, nothing changed. Neither new abilities appeared nor did my existing strength increase. The fruits just... stopped working on me."
Elric nodded slowly, his expression thoughtful.
That matched exactly what Elizabeth had once explained to him during one of their research sessions.
Ordinary awakened people had hard biological limits—both in the number of abilities they could manifest and their growth potential ceiling. The human body and mind could only adapt so much.
Some rare individuals—exceptional cases—could consume dozens of fruits and keep improving indefinitely. But most people hit an insurmountable wall early in their development.
Custard had reached hers after just four abilities and moderate enhancement.
She was still far stronger than a normal human, but against organized groups of awakened people, she was vulnerable.
"Which direction is your house?" Elric asked suddenly, his tone shifting to businesslike.
Custard froze for a moment, then quickly pointed toward the west wall.
"That way... about three miles west of here. It's a small villa in a residential area near the old park."
Elric didn't hesitate or ask for more details.
His Clairvoyance activated instantly, eyes glowing faintly.
The world stretched and compressed in his vision simultaneously—buildings, streets, ruined neighborhoods peeling away layer by layer like pages in a book. His sight pierced through walls, through distance, through obstacles that would blind normal humans.
And far in the distance, exactly where she'd indicated—
Something pulsed faintly with supernatural energy.
A cluster of abnormal life force, tangled and concentrated together. Distinctly different from normal plants or even mutated creatures.
A vine.
Hidden behind an ordinary-looking fence.
Alive. Thriving. Producing.
Elric's lips curved into a predatory smile.
"Good," he said with absolute calm and certainty.
"Then let's go get it back."
Soon, Elric located Custard's former home with perfect precision.
It was a modest two-story villa tucked away in a quiet residential area that had once been upper-middle-class. The kind of neighborhood where families raised children and elderly couples retired peacefully.
In the backyard, just as Custard had described, a blue-tinged vine coiled along the back fence and wooden support beams. The vine pulsed faintly with visible energy—a soft glow that shouldn't exist in nature. Several ability fruits were already close to ripening, their surfaces shimmering with an otherworldly light.
Beside the vine stood seven or eight people, all armed with various weapons—pipes, machetes, a few guns. They were clearly waiting for the right moment to harvest the next batch of fruits, standing guard in rotating shifts.
"Let's go," Elric said calmly to Custard, who stood nervously beside him.
"I'll help you take revenge."
He had absolutely no intention of letting this ability vine fall into someone else's permanent possession. Not when it represented such concentrated value.
As soon as he finished speaking, Elric lifted his hand casually.
"Whoosh—"
In the next instant, Custard felt her entire body lighten impossibly.
Before she could even process what was happening, she was already being held securely in Elric's arms, rising rapidly into the air as if gravity had simply stopped applying to them.
The ground dropped away beneath them at dizzying speed. Buildings shrank. The horizon expanded.
"H-Hey—!?"
She widened her eyes in complete shock, her hands instinctively clutching at his coat.
"This... this is way too exaggerated..."
She had heard Natasha and the others speak about how powerful Elric was—had seen the reverence in everyone's eyes when they mentioned him.
But she never imagined it would be this absurd, this impossible.
Flying freely through the sky without wings or visible propulsion—compared to this casual display of power, the so-called "awakened people" who had driven her from her home didn't even deserve the title. They were children playing with toys.
The scene shifted back to the villa below.
In the backyard, the seven or eight awakened individuals continued their boring guard duty, occasionally glancing at the vine to check the fruits' ripeness.
Inside the villa's main room, three or four others were resting—the core members of their raiding group.
Leading them was a scar-faced, middle-aged man with the weathered look of someone who'd seen violence long before the apocalypse. He sat casually at a dining table, one leg propped up arrogantly on a chair, a military-grade rifle leaning within easy reach. Two grenades hung openly from his belt like trophies.
A hardened, cruel expression sat permanently on his face.
At the moment, he was scrolling through information on his phone—one of the few devices still working in the area, powered by a portable generator they'd stolen.
Suddenly, he paused, eyes narrowing.
The screen displayed recruitment information for a nearby shelter.
Star God Sanctuary.
"Plenty of food..." he muttered, reading the posted details. "Medical care. Safety. Protection."
His lips twisted into a predatory grin.
"Looks like this Star God Shelter has serious supplies stockpiled. Good security means good resources."
He looked up at his companions.
"Once we're done harvesting and eating the ability fruits here, we move on that place next. They've got resources—which means they belong to us now."
A cruel smile spread across his face as he spoke.
That was how their group had survived since the apocalypse started—and thrived.
Wherever there was food, they took it. Wherever there were resources, they robbed them. Whoever resisted, they killed.
With over a dozen awakened people working together in coordinated attacks, they had never encountered anyone who could actually stop them. Not once.
By now, they were arrogant—convinced they were unstoppable kings of this new world.
"And besides the supplies," the man added, his tone lowering into something darker, more personal, "there's that woman."
He tapped the screen meaningfully.
"I want her."
The others exchanged knowing looks, then laughed with ugly understanding.
The scar-faced leader lifted his phone again, staring at the image on the screen.
On the Star God Sanctuary's promotional page was a photo of Natasha—elegant, beautiful, radiating authority and strength.
He stared at it, licking his lips slowly.
Since the apocalypse began, he had taken countless women by force—women he could never have touched before civilization collapsed. Now power was the only law, and he had power.
Now, he had set his sights on her specifically. He would enjoy breaking someone that confident.
But just as dark fantasies began forming in his mind—
"PFFT!!"
A sudden violent splash of blood struck the window beside him, painting the glass crimson.
"What the hell!?"
The scar-faced man and the others sprang to their feet instantly, hands going to weapons, rushing to look outside.
What they saw froze them in place with confusion and rising alarm.
In the backyard, their own people—the seven or eight awakened guards carefully watching the vine—were suddenly killing each other with savage brutality.
One man swung a machete wildly, cleaving straight through another's skull with a sickening crunch.
Gunshots rang out in rapid succession.
Blood splattered across the blue vine, staining its leaves.
Bodies began dropping.
"Are you all insane!?" the leader roared through the window, his face contorting with rage and disbelief.
These people were all from the same hometown. They had followed him for years, survived together, killed together.
There was no reason—no conceivable motive—for sudden infighting like this.
"Go out there!" he shouted at his companions. "Find out what the hell is happening! Stop them before they kill each other!"
The four of them rushed out of the villa's back door, weapons raised.
But the moment they stepped into the yard—
Something invisible descended from directly above them.
Thin, transparent threads—almost impossible to see—wrapped instantly around their spines, arms, legs, and necks with the precision of a surgical strike.
Their bodies locked in place.
Unable to move even a finger.
There is 70 chapter Advance, in my patreon. If you are interested can check it out.
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