Chapter 306: Devil Fruits? The World Government's backyard!

"Float-Float Fruit—"

"Tremor-Tremor Fruit—"

Locke muttered under his breath.

If one were to talk about the most conspicuous fruits on the canopy, and the ones he was most familiar with, they were none other than those few at the very top.

Familiar patterns.

Interwoven mysteries.

They were none other than Shiki's Float-Float Fruit and Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit. These two fruits were indeed top-tier existences among the Paramecia class, all located at the very top of the canopy, looking down upon everything else.

However.

Locke could feel the thoroughly illusory aura within these two fruits, like moonlight that was a dreamlike bubble, completely untouchable; even their fruit shapes were somewhat unfixed, constantly changing in subtle ways.

However.

This actually perfectly matched Najenda's speculation.

The fruits on the tree were all just phantoms. Only by accumulating enough time or energy could the fruits that had not been used be summoned from the void and appear on the canopy.

Shiki and Whitebeard were both alive and well.

In the original work, they were both old men who had lasted until after the main storyline began. Since the ability users had not died, the Devil Fruits could not possibly be reset, nor could they appear on the canopy to begin a cooldown countdown.

No wonder the world had been running for so long.

The number of Devil Fruits had not changed much, and there had never been any reports of a massive decrease in the number of fruits.

If the Devil Fruits were truly left to reset randomly on nearby fruits, not to mention the situation where such reset Devil Fruits fell into the water or the sea, just the possibility of them resetting on wild fruits by the roadside, or being discarded by someone who didn't know their value, or being artificially hidden and then lost due to accidents for future generations...

With such high randomness, and accidents happening one after another, the probability would not be small.

And then, add the accumulation of time.

The World Government alone had ruled for eight hundred years. Over such a long span of time, enough accidents could have occurred. If it were purely random distribution, it wouldn't be surprising if the number of these Devil Fruits were halved.

After all!

Humans love to hoard, accumulate, and store treasures. Without special means to retrieve them, they would have long since been buried deep in the treasures of various great pirates; how could there still be so many fruit ability users?

"So the World Government has always been looking for the Nika Fruit, but this fruit seems to possess autonomous consciousness and has been avoiding the World Government, which is why they have never been able to get their hands on it, and even deliberately renamed it the Gum-Gum Fruit..."

"From beginning to end, so that's what it meant!"

Locke looked enlightened.

They used the summoning power of the canopy to condense it, but the Nika Fruit refused based on its own will, unwilling to be found by them, which is why it was said to have been avoiding their power all along.

If one were truly looking across the vast sea, relying on manpower to search, even if the number of people in the World Government were a hundred times greater than it is now, they shouldn't be able to do it...

Even the thought of searching shouldn't have arisen.

The sea!

It is simply too vast!

Even without counting the most expansive oceans, just the islands on the sea, as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, were enough to make one feel despair. Searching by manpower? That is absolutely, absolutely, absolutely impossible.

If one just hid it on an uninhabited island, even if one had the power to destroy the world, it would be impossible to find it in the vast sea. Anyone who has such a thought is purely a fool, but the World Government has done exactly that. How could those who control the power of the world and suppress heroes for hundreds of years be fools? It can only be said that they must have special means.

And this!

Is right before our eyes!

"No wonder those Celestial Dragons are so extravagant; they can even use Devil Fruits as casual rewards, or even as props to make watching a show more interesting..."

Locke looked at the spectacle before him and couldn't help but click his tongue in wonder.

Turns out.

In their eyes, Devil Fruits.

Are just like real fruits, grown batch after batch on the tree, just with a longer 'maturation period.' But no matter how rare, to them, they are nothing more than fruit...

At least!

The lower-tier fruits on the lower levels of the canopy must be exactly like this.

"That really is... a grand gesture..."

Locke sighed slightly.

The foundation revealed by the World Government, even if it is just the tip of the iceberg, is still shocking.

The exaggerated power makes one tremble. Not only is the power revealed on the outside irresistible, but the power buried and hidden is also just as vast and cannot be underestimated at all.

"What a pity..."

Locke sighed slightly.

During the time he spent figuring out the ins and outs, Locke hadn't been idle.

Look up!

Observe!

The canopy, which appeared incredibly dense, layered, with hundreds or thousands of Devil Fruits, was in reality more than half completely illusory, without a shred of real substance. The feeling they gave him was exactly the same as the Float-Float Fruit and the Tremor-Tremor Fruit; clearly, they all had owners and had been consumed and used by people.

The other half, although not pure phantoms, also gave one a sense of indescribable floating; clearly, they were still in cooldown and needed time or energy accumulation before they could be summoned from the void.

For Locke, there was no difference from the former.

After all!

He couldn't stay here waiting forever. In fact, he couldn't even wait for long. If he didn't resolve this and get out quickly, once the chaotic battle outside ended, the one being surrounded would be himself!

Like a turtle in a jar!

At that point, there would be no way to run!

Being caught in a pincer attack in a place like this, even if the Teigu under his command were powerful, they couldn't withstand the World Government's tidal, endless offensive. Even Captain Rocks would have to kneel; Locke would not be arrogant to that degree.

Unless he could truly dig out hundreds of fruits from inside, eat them all at once to become a big fatty, and bring along a bunch of Teigu users strengthened to the limit, maybe he could really reverse the situation, but that is clearly impossible.

The long cooldown time is definitely not a matter of a single day's work. This is something one can easily know just by thinking about it; there is no need to say anything more. Even if one had no brain, it would be impossible to harbor such delusions.

"I knew it, it wouldn't be that easy to pick up scraps."

Locke curled his lips in annoyance.

Looking at the tree full of Devil Fruits above his head, only to be able to look at them, was truly frustrating.

Isn't this like putting dried fish in a glass box in front of a cat to tempt it! And it's not just one or two, but piles upon piles of small hills. Which cadre could withstand such temptation!!

How can one test cadres like this!!

Damn it!!! ===== CHAPTER 308 =====