Chapter 134: A Feast and Unexpected Devil Fruit Treasures
by xennovel“How is it? Pretty good, right?”
Kozuki Oden looked at everyone with eager anticipation from ear to ear.
He was certain they’d be won over by the flavor of his oden.
“Your local specialties really are something else.”
Notty gave a thumbs up in approval. It was his first time tasting such food.
Who would’ve thought a guy like Oden, all brawn and not much brain, could make oden this delicious?
When it comes to good food, the more the better.
Outside the Tsuki Clan estate, Kozuki Oden was busy cooking up some oden for Notty and the others—Wano style.
To him, oden was a staple for any gathering.
“Ahahaha!”
“Oden’s one of the most famous snacks in Wano, you know.”
“Of course the taste wouldn’t disappoint.”
Hearing everyone praise him, a slight blush crept up his face. He looked almost shy.
But he wasn’t about to get stage fright.
“Lord Karl.”
Davis saw Karl flying in from afar and stood up at once.
Karl had told Davis his plans when he left in the morning.
That way, if anything unexpected happened, they’d know where to find him.
Seeing Karl return now meant they were another step closer to setting sail.
“Lord Karl, want to try some oden?”
Oden did his best to sell Karl on Wano’s famous oden.
Who knew if Karl could resist the temptation?
“Does your clan maybe have one of these?”
After touching down, Karl came up to Oden and held out a Devil Fruit for him to see.
At the same time, he took a skewer of oden from Oden’s hands.
Most of the clans on this island probably had at least one Devil Fruit tucked away somewhere.
“Not bad at all.”
It had been a long time since Karl had tasted oden himself.
And oden in the One Piece world had a whole different flavor—something special.
Honestly, it tasted even better than anything he remembered from Blue Star.
Everything here was pure and natural, no additives. No wonder it beat out anything from Blue Star.
“You mean a yokai fruit?”
“Sure, our clan has a few of those.”
“But, Lord Karl—do you really want one of these things?”
Oden looked at the Devil Fruit in Karl’s hand, puzzled. In Wano, these fruits were always rumored to be yokai fruits.
Rumor had it anyone who ate one would be cursed, so every clan just hoarded them instead.
Very few actually dared to eat a Devil Fruit.
As Wano’s rulers, the Kozuki Clan had naturally gathered some of their own.
Once Oden heard Karl was interested, he quickly passed the word to the other clans.
One by one, the clans brought out their Devil Fruits and set them before Karl.
They’d just been keeping them to let the curses fester, so now Karl was reaping the rewards.
“Who knew Wano had so many Devil Fruits?”
Krell was honestly stunned. Back when he was mapping out Cake Island’s seas, he’d only managed to gather a dozen Devil Fruits or so.
Even with Sweets Sea’s 56 unexplored islands, they’d only found a handful.
He knew better than anyone how tough it was to find these fruits—yet here tiny Wano was, stacked with them.
After his shock faded, Krell’s expression turned serious.
He understood that Devil Fruits only reappeared in a region when the previous user died.
Which meant Wano was holding onto quite a few secrets.
“Yeah, this trip’s already paid off.”
Karl agreed. He never expected to see this many Devil Fruits here.
He’d thought finding three in a temple was already a win.
But these clans still had surprises up their sleeve.
And if he counted the three from the Kurozumi Family, that was already over ten.
“System, identify them.”
Looking at the six fruits before him, Karl felt pretty lucky.
Good thing he’d come to Wano first. If Kaido showed up before him, there might not have been any left.
“Points deducted…”
“Identification complete. The fruits are: Logia—Forest-Forest Fruit; Paramecia—Dango Fruit; Paramecia—Ripe-Ripe Fruit; Paramecia—Painting-Painting Fruit; Zoan, Mythical Type—Nue; Paramecia—Puppet Fruit.”
Karl never imagined that the Forest-Forest Fruit, which belonged to Green Bull in the original, would turn up in Wano.
But thinking it over, it made sense. When Green Bull first appeared, his clothes matched Wano’s traditional style.
That meant he probably lived in Wano before joining the Navy.
Plus, in one of the mini-arcs, it even hinted that Issho and Green Bull were friends.
“Anyone interested in trying one?”
Karl looked at Davis, Krell and the rest.
For them, this was a rare chance.
Among these fruits was a Logia and three Mythical Zoans. Each one packed serious power.
Trained properly, you’d be on the level of a Yonko’s right-hand man.
“I’ll pass.”
“Same here.”
Krell and Halil both shook their heads. As Fishmen, no way would they touch a Devil Fruit.
Just the side effects alone were already too much.
If a Fishman can’t swim, are they even a Fishman anymore?
“I’ll sit this one out too, not my thing.”
Oden scratched his head.
He really didn’t get why everyone wanted what he called yokai fruits.
Weren’t they scared of the curse?
He had no desire to find out how a curse felt firsthand.
Besides, the Kozuki family had a rule against eating Devil Fruits.
“We need a few people aboard who haven’t eaten Devil Fruits.”
“A swordsman should keep it pure.”
“If the ship starts leaking in the middle of our journey, I’m the one fixing it!”
As the ship’s de facto vice-captain, Davis wasn’t planning to eat a Devil Fruit either.
His strength had already reached near-Admiral level after training.
Same story for Brown and Hunter.
Brown worried he’d rely too much on Devil Fruits and waste his sword skills.
Hunter sometimes needed to patch up the ship’s bottom—so eating a Devil Fruit was off the table.
Karl could only shake his head with a helpless smile. Devil Fruits that the world considered priceless were gathering dust in his hands.
Notty and Fields back on Cake Island? No way they’d take one. Both were obsessed with martial arts, not Devil Fruits.
“What about you, Thompson?”
If anyone in this group wanted a Devil Fruit, Thompson was definitely top of the list.
Even he knew he’d fallen way behind the others in terms of strength.
And he’d worried about it for a while now.
“I honestly do want one.”
“I just, well… haven’t really contributed much.”
Truth was, Thompson felt a bit inferior. He hadn’t exactly been much help to Karl.
So even though he wanted a Devil Fruit, he never had the nerve to ask.
……