As they were talking, Ain came over with a tray of tea.
White Ghost took a sip and asked casually,
"Have you all finished writing your resignation letters?"
Kuro nodded. Jango pulled his out on the spot.
"Mine's in my room, I'll go—" Ain started, but White Ghost waved her down.
"I was just asking. If they're written, I'll head to Headquarters first thing tomorrow and talk to Sengoku."
He rubbed his brow helplessly.
"Sigh… another round of tug-of-war with the old man."
Kuro chuckled.
"Well, it can't be helped. Look at our lineup. Forget you beating one of the Three Emperors—Kaido of all people. Ain and Jango are both at vice admiral level, and as for me…"
He smiled thinly.
White Ghost snorted.
"Yeah, they're going to bleed for this one."
Then he shrugged, lips curling up.
"Still, it's not all bad news. My trip to Fishman Island paid off nicely."
"Oh?" Everyone looked over.
White Ghost didn't drag it out. He simply put the goods on the table.
"Zoan, Cat-Cat Fruit, Leopard Model.
Zoan, Ox-Ox Fruit: Old Yellow Ox model.
Ancient Zoan: Tarbosaurus.
Ancient Zoan: Carcharodontosaurus.
Paramecia: Medical-Medical Fruit."
He paused, then took out the last fruit.
"And the biggest prize… this."
Kuro adjusted his glasses, eyes narrowing at the familiar swirl.
"That one is…"
His expression turned serious.
"Paramecia: Float-Float Fruit.
How did you get this? The value of that thing is enough to make the Marines lose their minds."
"Fishman Island gave it to me," White Ghost said, taking another sip of tea. "They want to tie their future to mine."
Kuro thought for a moment.
"So in the New World, once you carve out territory, you'll put aside a piece of land for them?"
White Ghost nodded.
"Pretty much."
Having a smart subordinate really was convenient, he thought. Good thing I picked Kuro up back then.
"Boss," Jango said, staring at the fruits arrayed on the table, "you're not planning to hand those two Ancient Zoans over to Marineford, are you?"
White Ghost shook his head and, instead of answering, simply emptied out the rest of his stock onto the table.
"You all pick," he said. "Which ones do we use to trade for our freedom?"
He still kept the artificial Azure Dragon and the Vampire Bat to himself.
Everyone stared at the growing collection of Devil Fruits, swallowing hard. Just putting them on the black market would cause a global uproar.
Uta and Hiyori now understood very well how valuable Devil Fruits were. Seeing White Ghost casually pile up so many of them, both girls could only gape.
Kuro thought carefully, then said:
"Buffalo, Old Yellow Bull, Hawk, and Scythe. Start with those four. If Sengoku still refuses, we can add one Ancient Zoan as a sweetener."
"That's what I was thinking too," White Ghost agreed.
Ain eyed the Leopard Fruit.
"Then why not throw in the Leopard as well?" she asked.
Kuro didn't answer immediately. He glanced at White Ghost.
White Ghost's gaze slid over to Pedro.
"…Why are you looking at me?" Pedro scratched his furry head.
"I've got a hypothesis," White Ghost said. "You're a mink—specifically a feline, a leopard. If you eat the Leopard Zoan on top of that… will you 'revert to your origins'?"
Everyone blinked.
"'Revert to origins'?" Pedro repeated. "You mean…?"
"I mean, what if the two bloodlines stack?" White Ghost said. "One plus one greater than two."
He picked up the fruit and held it out.
"So. Want to test it?"
Pedro hesitated.
He knew this man's track record—White Ghost's 'guesses' had a nasty habit of being correct.
He hadn't yet seen the medicine that would let minks enter Sulong form in broad daylight… but he'd already seen what the intense physical training had done for him and Wanda. The benefits were obvious.
Do I dare?
Wanda didn't speak up. As minks, they weren't particularly fond of the sea to begin with. Losing the ability to swim wasn't nearly as big a deal for them as it was for humans.
Pedro looked down at the fruit, then up at White Ghost.
He made up his mind, took a breath… and grabbed it.
The others watched him silently.
Then the big leopard mink tilted his head back, opened his jaws wide, and chomped down on the pineapple-patterned Devil Fruit in one bite.
"Savage," Jango muttered, half in awe. "I never want to taste that sludge a second time in my life."
Pedro forced himself to chew and swallow, muscles standing out on his neck.
"Gulp."
He grabbed a teacup and downed the whole thing to wash away the taste.
He'd barely set it down when he realized everyone was looking at him.
"…What?" he asked. "Why are you all staring?"
"Pedro, you…" Wanda breathed, staring at his body.
"What about me?" Pedro dropped his gaze to his hands.
His eyes widened.
"…My strength," he murmured. "It's pouring out of me…"
White Ghost watched him critically. Pedro had been around 2.3 meters tall before. Now he was a solid three meters, muscles thicker, frame broader, his entire aura turning feral.
"Let's head outside," White Ghost said. "Try it where we won't wreck the furniture."
Everyone followed them into the courtyard, curious to see how close reality came to White Ghost's hunch.
Pedro stood in the center of the yard, closed his eyes, and felt his new body.
After a few seconds, he let out a roar.
His frame swelled—three meters, four, five—until he settled at around five meters tall.
His muscles bulged like boulders. Claws slid from his fingers with a metallic scrape.
He had always been a leopard.
Now he was a towering war beast.
"Hrraaah!" Pedro gritted his teeth, then punched out at empty air.
"Boom!"
The punch tore a shockwave through the courtyard, wind curling off his fist like a small cannon blast.
"Amazing…" Uta and Hiyori both gasped. The pressure rolling off him was completely different from before.
White Ghost flickered forward in a blur.
"Hit me," he said. "No Haki. Just raw strength."
"Alright," Pedro replied. He didn't hesitate—not with White Ghost.
First, because he knew he couldn't really hurt this man.
Second, because he wanted to know the gap between them.
"I'm coming."
He pulled his claws in, clenched his fist, and swung with everything he had at White Ghost.
White Ghost reached out with an open hand to meet the blow.
"Don't look down on me too much!" Pedro roared.
"Boom!"
His fist slammed into White Ghost's palm.
White Ghost didn't shift half a step.
The ground around them, however, cracked like a shattered plate, spiderweb fissures racing out in all directions.
"Not bad," White Ghost commented. "Just from eating it, your base physical strength jumped by about thirty percent."
Pedro stared at his hand… then at White Ghost's.
The man's palm was only wreathed in faint white steam.
Not even a bruise.
White Ghost moved again.
He appeared in front of Pedro and drove his right leg into the mink's guard.
Pedro crossed his arms on instinct.
"Bang!"
He shot backward like a fired shell and crashed into the ground, leaving a crater in the center of the courtyard.
"Guh—!" Pedro spat blood, limbs trembling.
He struggled up and stared at the man standing above him.
"H-how are you this strong…?"
White Ghost only laughed.
"Promising, though. If you keep pushing your body to the limit and properly develop that fruit, you might not even need the medicine. You might be able to enter Sulong at will someday."
Jango swallowed audibly.
"If I didn't use Haki," he muttered, "I think just that one kick would knock me out cold…"
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