OPSR: Chapter 10 (Patreon)

I was taking a break, enjoying the sights while putting up advertisements in all the bars. Eating the delicious food around, I could tell ours was better, but variety is the spice of life. Asking around for a devil fruit was much harder than I thought it would be. No one was going to tell you if they had a devil fruit, even if there were rumors, many of them were traps to lure in gullible idiots who wouldn’t see through them, perhaps even enslaving those truly unlucky.

Word about my questioning soon spread enough for men to start following me, and I knew even if I heard rumors of where the barrier fruit would be, someone very well could steal it right out from under me before I got it. I’d have to wait and eavesdrop when I had more time, but I got right back to my goal of taking a vacation from work while making my marine/pirate career that much easier when I finally went to sea.

I was already old enough to join the Marines, but people who joined as early as they could would never make anything out of their lives. The youngest someone could join was thirteen, and they’d give you a paltry amount of training, but unless you stood out ever since then, you’d be relegated to fodder most of the time. Only after you’ve gained some power, then joined would you hold a higher position in the Navy.

I tried another ice cream treat, wondering how they managed to keep everything cold enough to make it while I searched for other important people who lived in the town.

…

Dozens of gangsters lay around me, defeated, none dead, but some hurt badly, while most were knocked unconscious. Thankfully, being knocked out here was different than real life, as long as you were still alive, you’d most likely recover. Very rarely did people die from wounds; only those poisoned or wounded so severely they’d have died already but were only alive because of their sheer willpower.

I held the last and strongest with one hand as my fist was cocked back, ready to hit him again, as he finally knew I was the toughest. He cried out. “Ouch, okay, okay. Big bro Sanji. If we find any info on devil fruits, we’ll tell you. Now let me down… Please!” I didn’t like Bartolomeo; he was a thug, but at the same time, he helped the civilians out with protection against pirates.

“Alright. Now, we’ll drink the leader and subordinate sake, then I’ll know you’re serious… And I heard you have a girl member with red hair? Where was she when I beat up all your other members? I’ll have to beat her up so she knows whose boss.”

…

Third Person Point of View

Carmen had been cooking for most of her life. She came from a family that owned the most popular restaurant in all of Loguetown. Ever since she was old enough to walk, she’s helped around the kitchen. At six, she was stirring soup and making sure it didn’t burn. By ten, she was the most experienced chef in the kitchen, only behind her father.

Ever since then, she had felt like it was only a matter of time before she was ranked the best chef in all of the East Blue. She was just about ready to set out and begin challenging the chefs around the East Blue to prove herself when someone walked in and tasted the food. Carmen waited for him to say how delicious it was, that it was the most delicious thing he had ever eaten, but he didn’t. 

He ate in silence, thanked her for the meal, but didn’t compliment it. She was so surprised, she couldn’t help but stop him before he left. “Wait a moment. I noticed you didn’t compliment our food. Most people think it’s the best they’ve ever eaten.” The boy just softly smiled at her before speaking. “It was good, but certainly not the best I’ve ever eaten. That would be food cooked by my teacher on the Baratie.

Before he could leave again, she stopped him. “W-wait… I don’t believe you. If your teacher is so good, then you must be able to make some as good as the dish you just ate, right? Prove you’re not all talk, or I’ll assume you’re lying.” He didn’t speak after that. Taking the same ingredients she used in the dish, the man cooked a similar meal to the one she served.

…At least, she thought it was similar, until she tasted it. How could something made with the same ingredients she uses every day taste so good? Tears formed in her eyes, and the man wiped the tears away before giving her hope. “If you truly want to perfect your cooking. The only place to do it in the East Blue is on the Baratie. With that, he waved over his shoulder as he left.

…

I didn’t expect to see her here… And why is she so muscular? Alvida was drinking in a bar, her head down as she sighed a long, drawn-out sigh. I approached her, sitting at the table, and I asked. “Is everything okay?” Not looking up, she spoke. “Go away, I don’t need some handsome man to make me feel worse.” “Sometimes telling your problems to a stranger is a good way to make yourself feel better.”

Alvida finished her drink before asking. “Buy me another drink… Then I’ll tell you.” I did just that, asking for a shot but grabbing the bottle and paying for the entire thing. It turns out, before Alvida became a pirate, she was a strongwoman for a circus that traveled around the Four Blues. She actually liked her job, but she was just recently replaced with a true strongman who could lift far more than she, and now she wasn’t sure what to do.

If I hadn’t intervened, she’d have gone to sea soon as a pirate, but since I’m here, it would be a waste to let her natural beauty fade. “Miss Alvida. How would you like to be the bodyguard for the Baratie? It’s a floating restaurant; we have plenty of strong chefs, but we could always be safer with a strong protector on board. Good pay, plus we’ll feed you. At least until you get back on your feet and decide what you want to do.”

She smiled, and I was happy to avert her bad ending. She was fit, very muscular, but over the next few years, all that muscle would turn to fat, and she’d become a complete waste compared to this version of her. Only after eating the smooth fruit would she become strong again, but it was a waste for someone as dumb as her to eat it.

The smooth fruit seems somewhat weak, but she could shed the weight off herself with it, meaning it was much stronger than just having attacks slip off her body. Imagine if someone smart ate it and fought much stronger enemies. Most devil fruits were reliant on their users to get the full effect, and she most certainly didn’t. Her fruit went practically unused ever since she used it to lose weight.

The fruit might be the perfect counter to Magellan; the poison just slipping around your body, leaving you unaffected completely. Even if you’re hit with the poison, you could just slip it out of your body. What about light or ice? Both those might slip around you. Haki? We’ve never seen it attempted, but at the very least, it might mitigate the damage.