OPSR: Chapter 18 (Patreon)

Now, some may be wondering why Krieg had this devil fruit, as I was, but I could only guess. It was the size of his fleet. A ship was expensive; normal ships the size of the Going Mary ran a few million or so, but a warship like Kriegs could go for over ten million. By those prices, he’d need another four hundred million belly to have the fifty ships he had in canon. My thought process is that no matter how good he was at stealing from other ships, to build a war fleet that big, he’d have to sell the devil fruit.

He probably held onto this devil fruit, pondering what to do with it before selling it to build the rest of his fleet, when he went to the grand line… Probably… I wasn’t sure; this is complete conjecture, and he very well could have never ended up with it in the first timeline. There was no way to know for sure. The hammering in my chest as I rushed it back to my ship, along with the few million belly he had stashed, was real; that was all I knew.

Garp came and took Krieg’s head and the rest of the crew that were left on the main ship or had jumped off onto our own boat. Hopefully, none of Krieg’s men knew about the Devil Fruit. I was pretty sure Garp wouldn’t steal the devil fruit back from me… But I wasn’t positive. He didn’t like me; he very well could take it just to piss me off.

Thankfully, they were too stunned by their defeat to say anything. I couldn’t believe I found two of the three devil fruits I was aware of, and the other was eaten by someone I knew.

…

Everyone was out on the Baratie’s deck as they watched me jump into the water and make my way to my ‘boat’. Climbing to the front, I activated the engine and my ‘ship’ slowly began to move forward… Before flying into the air. I hadn’t given it much thought, but there had to be a reason planes didn’t exist in the world. My thought was that it was the world government doing it.

Being able to fly over the Red Line or Calm Belt would remove their monopoly on who makes it into the New World. It was one thing to use a flying ship; it was a completely different thing to get away with using it. The few people who had the knowledge to create flying machines, Doctor Vegapunk and the Weatheria Wizards, either have close ties to the government or are hiding from them, like Shiki.

I doubted I could just fly straight to Raftel anyway. It was also not nearly as safe flying as you’d think, with constant weather changes. The only reason I was risking it was because of the time crunch I was under and the lack of funds I had. If I could make a good enough ship and hire workers to keep it fully manned, I would have. This would also stop me from needing to ride the knock-up stream to make it to Skypiea, which is by far the most dangerous part.

In a single day, I made it past Reverse Mountain and landed before I’d need to recharge the battery I used as a power source. My plane's wings folded and collapsed before the skis slid in. It resembled a fairly small ship now, with two very small rooms, including the now extended cockpit of the plane. Tying in solar and mechanical (bicycle) power to recharge the battery my plane ran on meant I could only fly between islands, then had to wait while it recharged. The good part was that I could paddle my way to islands, allowing me to go without the sails for now until I redesigned a bigger version.

It also meant that the time I saved travelling by sea would be spent on the island, and my first island was Cactus Island, but more specifically, Whiskey Peak. This was years before Baroque works really had the legs to spread most of the way across the first half of the Grand Line, which meant it was the previous inhabitants… A completely different group of marauders looking to fleece all that came while killing pirates for their bounties.

A few days of avoiding pickpockets and people trying to upsell me, and my plane was ready to fly to the next island. Thankfully, I hadn’t hit any of the rough weather the Grand Line was famous for yet; planes had plenty of small, intricate parts that would bring me down until I fixed them. That was why, before I hit Skypeia, I was headed to this next island.

The Drum Kingdom might still have an uneaten devil fruit, and it was one of the most overpowered devil fruits in existence. Even someone functionally braindead like Wapol could get plenty of use out of it. It was also the only way to make Wapometal, which won't be called that if I can get my hands on the fruit. I wasn’t sure I would eat it myself, but it was useful enough for me to consider it, which is more than I could say for the other two fruits in my possession.

Wapol’s father was still alive at this point, but it appeared he was on his last legs. He was a kind man out making rounds with a smile on his face, even with his back hunched over and his hands shakily holding a cane. Beside him was… A little furry girl with reindeer ears. Chopper was clearly a Mink in this universe… And she just ate something that wasn’t food, like it was!

Shit, she had the munch munch fruit already, what did that mean for the story? I doubted Wapol wasn’t going to be a piece of shit in this timeline, but what about Dr. Hiriluk? She should have been his assistant right now, but she was clearly much higher up in the food chain this time, seeing as she was helping patients at the behest of the current king.

 Wapol slapped kid Vivi at some point, and I wasn’t sure when that happened, but it had to have happened by now in the story. It must be because of Chopper somehow changing things by eating a different devil fruit was why the current king was alive. A doctor with the munch munch fruit could synthesize medicine far more easily, and with her being taught from a much younger age, she was going to be a better doctor than OG Chopper.

Getting her onto my ship later was going to be a whole other problem, though. Killing Wapol now might make her future life easier… But I doubted he’d kill her because of how useful she was, most likely doing the same plan he followed in the first world, where he kept her along with all the other doctors for his own personal use.

She’d fight against it, then end up with either Doctor Hiriluk or Kureha. Either way, I was here for another reason: medical books for Kaya. It might also be worth leaving an impression on Chopper now, so when I went to make a crew, she’d be more likely to join. I went up to greet her, but I noticed something else. Someone was up on the roof, pushing something heavy toward the king.

I could recognize him slightly by his hair color. A skinny Wapol was trying to kill his own father, and the only reason he wasn’t succeeding was his weak and feeble body. The angle I was at meant I was the only one who could see him doing this, so I just ignored him as I moved to greet female Chopper and the king.

[Author's note. I originally planned for Sanji to get this fruit, not be his first, but end up eating it when he was going after his second as a way to get it out of someone who already had it. I read a fanfic where someone had the power and used it in a similar way, but now that I think about it, I'm not sure the fruit could really do that, and I decided once I got to this chapter, to give him something else.

Most of the characters he gets on his crew will have a devil fruit; some won't like Zoro, but I have one planned for Kuina and Alvida already, and I'm not sure if Uchina(Usopp) will end up eating the smooth fruit or if someone else will. If you have any suggested fruits for Sanji or the other crew members, feel free to comment, as I'm going with the flow for this story.

I planned on Sanji having multiple devil fruits, but at this point, with the lineage factor absorption, he might become too OP. Poll to see if people want him to have one or multiple devil fruits.]