Chapter 5
With Vilin's victory, the nobles who had won massive sums of money broke into delighted grins.
Looking at these people who treated human life like a game, Vilin's eyes filled with disgust.
Only someone who had died once, like him, could truly understand how precious and magnificent life truly is.
As the soldiers escorted him back to the dungeon, the other prisoners stared in disbelief when they saw he had defeated Beck.
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
"How could a kid like you beat Beck?!"
Kura's face twisted in rage as he watched his good brother die at the hands of this brat.
"You just wait! I'll make you pay for Beck's death!"
Vilin didn't even glance back.
"I'll be waiting."
He walked straight into his cell without a care.
The moment he stepped inside, a soft little body crashed into his chest.
Annie clung to him tightly, full of dependence.
Feeling her warmth, Vilin realized he finally had someone in this world worth protecting.
"You're doing great!"
"I'll show you what real cruelty is."
Seeing Vilin ignore him completely, Kura glared with murderous intent.
A tray of food was brought in.
Vilin sat down with Annie and began eating.
Just as he picked up a fruit to take a bite, something unbelievable happened.
Strange, swirling patterns suddenly appeared across the fruit's skin.
In front of his eyes, an ordinary fruit transformed into a Devil Fruit.
Vilin's hand trembled with excitement.
He had no idea what kind it was, but he knew—this might be his one and only chance to escape this hell.
Without hesitation, he stuffed the Devil Fruit into his mouth.
An utterly disgusting taste exploded across his tongue.
He immediately grabbed a bowl of water and chugged it down in desperate gulps.
Only then did the nausea subside.
As the power of the Devil Fruit surged through him,
his eyes rapidly changed from black to deep forest-green.
Vilin released the fruit's power.
To his astonishment, his body transformed into wood.
Fresh flowers and saplings sprouted from the ground beneath his feet.
He could feel it: his body was now like a living forest.
This… this is the Mori Mori no Mi!
He immediately recognized it.
A Logia-type Devil Fruit—he had struck gold!
Vilin stared at his transformed body in wild excitement.
He half-joked that he must have saved the world in his last life to get such an incredible fruit.
"Flowers! So many flowers—big brother, look!"
Annie, sitting beside him, pointed at the blooming flowers and squealed with delight.
Snapped out of his daze by her voice, Vilin quickly deactivated the power.
The flowers withered and vanished in an instant, as if they had never existed.
"The flowers are gone…"
Annie's face fell as she watched the beautiful blooms die.
Seeing her disappointment, Vilin gently formed a single perfect flower in his palm and placed it in her small hands.
Annie's eyes lit up with a dazed, happy smile at the lovely gift.
Moments later, Vilin felt his stamina plummet by more than half.
He sighed helplessly at his still-weak body.
With his current reserves, forget massive techniques like the Thousand Hands or the Buddha's ultimate form—he'd probably collapse after creating ten wooden hands.
After riding the high of excitement for a while, Vilin calmed down and began seriously exploring the Mori Mori no Mi's abilities.
He decided on four main directions: utility, survival, defense, and offense.
He was quite pleased with his ideas.
"Hahaha! Finally—I can leave this damn place!"
"Let's test this one first."
"Nature's Grasp!"
He pressed his palm to the ground.
His hand instantly split into five thick, emerald-green vines.
With a thought, the vines slithered silently toward Kura's cell.
Inside the neighboring cell, Kura was already fast asleep.
He didn't notice the arm-thick vines creeping up from the floor like serpents.
The vines coiled around his neck with razor-sharp tips.
As they tightened, Kura's eyes snapped open in terror.
His face quickly turned purple.
He opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out.
Desperately, he thrashed, hoping someone would notice.
But everyone in the dungeon was sound asleep—no one stirred.
Watching Kura's agonized expression, Vilin wore a cold, eerie smile.
"Life Drain!"
At his command, a thin root shot out and pierced Kura's heart.
The root rapidly sucked the life force from his body.
Kura watched in horror as his skin wrinkled and aged before his eyes.
As his life ebbed away, his struggles grew weaker and weaker.
Vilin felt no guilt.
To him, pirates like Kura who treated human lives like dirt deserved no mercy.
He watched Kura's body shrivel and dry into a husk.
With the stolen vitality flowing into him, Vilin's old injuries and malnutrition began to heal.
Once Kura was completely drained, Vilin didn't stop.
Using the absorbed life force, he created even more vines that spread outward in all directions.
Muffled grunts echoed through the dungeon.
In moments, nearly half the prisoners were reduced to withered corpses.
Feeling wave after wave of life energy pouring into his body, Vilin finally stopped.
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