The bright sun shone high above, the sky was a clear blue dotted with white clouds—a rare day of fine weather.
An old-fashioned caravel featuring a dopey-looking sheep figurehead was sailing slowly across the calm surface of the sea.
"Robin-chwaaaan~~~~~"
A blonde, curly-browed chef spun out of the kitchen holding a tray. He placed a steaming cup of coffee on the small table and bowed in a gentlemanly manner. "Here is the sugar-free coffee you requested. Please, enjoy."
"Thank you, Mr. Cook."
Robin was long accustomed to Sanji's antics. She closed her book and took a small sip of coffee with elegant movements. The enchanting charm revealed in her gestures nearly turned a certain lovestruck cook's bones into jelly.
(Ah~~~~ such a mature, sexy lady. It really is wonderful that Robin-chan joined the crew!)
Wriggling his body as if he had no bones for a moment, Sanji loosened his tie. His right eye, unobscured by his blond hair, subconsciously looked toward the empty deck chair beside Robin. He wondered aloud, "Strange, I haven't seen Sherlock these past few days. Didn't he always sit here reading before?"
After sailing for some time, the Straw Hat Pirates had gotten used to the scene of these two people—whose synchronization rates were off the charts—sitting together to read. Now that one was suddenly missing, Sanji actually felt a bit awkward.
"Yes, he's been holed up in the cabin lately. I don't know what he's doing." Robin placed the coffee cup back on the table, her beautiful blue-black eyes glancing toward the cabin.
"Anything that makes him this attentive must be something very important."
Inside the Going Merry's cabin, Sherlock sat squarely on a chair, his face as still as water. On the table in front of him lay an open black leather suitcase containing a large stack of documents and three black-covered books.
[F], [J], and [L]—the one brought out from the Royal Library in Alubarna.
That's right, this black suitcase was the very one Dr. Clover had given him in his dream, containing the results of his grandfather Finil's research over the years.
At the time, Sherlock had merely habitually stored this black box into the Mirror Dimension, but he never expected that after he woke up, the black box would actually stay obediently inside the Mirror Dimension!
Using the Mirror-Mirror Fruit's ability, Sherlock had actually brought something from a dream into reality!
He had turned fantasy into truth!!!
Such an inconceivable event truly shocked the Sorcerer. He suddenly realized that the Mirror-Mirror Fruit's ability was far more bizarre than he had imagined.
"Leaving my grandfather's research aside for the moment, [those things] aren't something I can touch in the short term. Besides, according to Grandpa's speculation, there are several other black books like this. I'll talk to Robin about it when I have the chance; after all, I'm not a professional with Ancient Texts."
Sherlock closed the box and put it back into the Mirror Dimension. Then he extended his hand and focused his mind.
—Mirror Entity!
A glittering gold coin abruptly floated above the Sorcerer's palm, slowly rotating under his mental control.
Looking at this mirror image of the coin, Sherlock pushed up his glasses, falling into deep thought.
After coming to the Grand Line, Sherlock had met several Devil Fruit users. As a result, he had gained a general understanding of fruit abilities: although the abilities varied in thousands of ways, they all possessed a unique essence.
Just like that idiot captain's Paramecia-type Gum-Gum Fruit; its essence is rubber. It allows the body to stretch and deform at will, and like rubber, it is durable and resistant to beatings.
The essence of Zoan and Logia types is even more intuitive. As the names suggest, the essence of the Bird-Bird Fruit is a bird, and the essence of the Sand-Sand Fruit is sand.
So, the question arises: What is the essence of the Mirror-Mirror Fruit?
A mirror? Not accurate enough. The Mirror-Mirror Fruit's ability is far more abstract than a simple mirror.
This was one of the questions Sherlock had been pondering these past few days, and now, he had reached an answer:
Illusion and Reality.
Why say that? Take an example: a person looks in a mirror. The person outside is real, while the person inside is an illusion. The boundary between illusion and reality is that mirror.
And the Mirror-Mirror Fruit's ability is to convert, transmit, alter, and even manipulate illusion and reality!
Sounds like quite a high-end ability, doesn't it?
Once he figured this out, Sherlock felt a sudden sense of enlightenment. He gained a more intuitive understanding of the skills he had previously developed.
Mirror Entity, Mirror Fusion, Mirror Reflection, Phantom Mirror, Shadow Transmission Mirror, Layered Ghostly Shadows... and so on. Although Sherlock had developed a wide variety of skills, they all revolved around these two points.
"It seems my fruit ability still has a lot of room for improvement. Hehe, this is really interesting." Waving his hand to disperse the coin image, Sherlock grinned.
Unlike Luffy, that fellow who perfectly combined his physical arts with his fruit ability, the Sorcerer—who wasn't adept at physical arts—derived almost all his combat power from the Mirror-Mirror Fruit. Therefore, to increase his strength, Sherlock was incredibly passionate about developing his fruit's abilities.
(Since I've recognized the essence of my fruit, the direction for training is clear. When strictly discussing the alternation and change between illusion and reality, the most used application is still the Multiple Mirror Reflection.)
Sherlock hummed for a moment and slowly closed his eyes. Subsequently, the air around him rippled like agitated lake water, becoming more intense, until his own figure became increasingly blurred, looking very eerie...
On the deck, Zoro was lifting a dumbbell for his daily training, while Luffy, Usopp, Nami, and Chopper sat in a circle with legs crossed. Looking at the poker cards in their hands, they were actually playing cards.
Yes, you saw that right. Luffy, that idiot, was playing poker! And looking at the handful of cards he was clutching, he seemed very enthusiastic.
"Nobody wants it? Okay, a 7! Heehee, keep trying, you guys." Throwing the last card onto the deck, Nami giggled and picked up the 'Love Juice' Sanji had prepared. She looked at the stack of bills beside her, her smile becoming even more brilliant.
(If we play a few more rounds, I should be able to win all their pocket money! Pity it's small change. If Sherlock the tycoon were here... No, I might not win against that guy!)
Thinking of a certain scheming, four-eyed man whose intelligence bordered on the supernatural, the navigator let out a helpless, light sigh. She had always been eyeing the Sorcerer's several large chests of treasure.
Brother Long-Nose looked at his terrible hand, sweating profusely, and grumbled in frustration, "Damn it! Nami, why are you always first? You aren't cheating, are you?!"
"Tch, that's slander! It's clearly because your skills are too poor and your luck is too bad." Sticking out her tongue playfully, the orange-haired navigator spread her hands. She really could beat these three noobs with her eyes closed.
"Nami is so amazing." The blue-nosed little reindeer blinked dopey-ly. Then he turned to look at a certain straw-hatted idiot, instantly shocked by the huge handful of cards he was holding. "Luffy, why do you still have so many cards?"
"Come to think of it, you haven't played a card for the last few hands," Nami said, downing the fruit drink in her cup in one gulp. "What were you thinking?"
"Ah...... because I think having more cards makes me more powerful!" The idiot captain said solemnly.
Pfft...
Everyone collapsed, looking defeated. Zoro nearly threw his dumbbell across the deck.
Sigh~~~~ Making Luffy the idiot learn the profound game of poker is truly somewhat difficult.
Would you like me to translate the next chapter or provide a glossary of the terms used in this section?
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