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Arthur held no interest in abilities that merely amplified power.
What value existed in shattering worlds with a single blow? Such strength remained superficial—it could not fundamentally transform the essence of one's being.
Power without evolution was a dead end.
He dismissed such fruits without hesitation. The More-More Fruit, the Tremor-Tremor Fruit—even if they materialized before him, he would not spare them a glance.
Only two Devil Fruits truly mattered: the Dark-Dark Fruit and the Op-Op Fruit.
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The Dark-Dark Fruit. History's most malevolent power. Blackbeard had squandered decades waiting for this singular fruit, and for good reason.
Despite its Logia classification, it granted no intangibility. It possessed no inherent offensive capabilities. Yet Arthur coveted it nonetheless.
He desired its other properties. The black hole-like gravitational force that pulled in, compressed, and obliterated anything within its grasp. The power to draw Devil Fruit users toward him from distance. The ability to nullify their powers with a single touch.
The ultimate countermeasure against any ability user.
Its drawback proved substantial. Rather than negating damage, the user absorbed it—experiencing twice the pain.
What was pain to someone with an iron will? One could always dodge.
To absorb the attacks of other Devil Fruits, to stand as the natural predator of all abilities—it had earned its title as history's most evil fruit.
Arthur understood why Blackbeard had chosen it. Nullifying abilities was one factor. The power to hunt and steal abilities from others was another—but Vegapunk had already taught him that trick.
The true prize was the gravity. The black hole.
Blackbeard's utilization of the fruit was pathetic, underdeveloped. He could only pull in other ability users. Yet the fruit could consume trees, rocks, entire structures. Were they not all simply matter?
The fruit's essence was a black hole. A black hole consumed everything.
Such power—control over one of the universe's fundamental forces—surpassed Fujitora's gravity a hundredfold.
If he consumed that fruit, Arthur could merge its gravitational power with his electromagnetic abilities. He could enlist Vegapunk's assistance in researching a unified field theory.
The combination would be perfect.
Success would allow him to elevate this pirate world into a new age, a higher civilization. He could become a true cosmic force.
The concept was mad. Exhilarating.
Yet he hesitated.
He could not commit. Something compelled him toward the other option.
The Op-Op Fruit. The "Ultimate" Devil Fruit.
Among all Devil Fruits in existence, only it bore such a designation.
Was the Perennial Youth Operation its ultimate ability? He doubted it.
In his hypothesis—his grand theory—the Op-Op Fruit could perform another, far more audacious surgery. An "ultimate operation" that would trigger genuine evolution within his being. What was mere immortality compared to that?
Anyone who heard this theory would declare him insane.
Arthur intended to become a true god. To that end, he had conceived a three-step plan.
Step one: Become Atypical. Complete.
Step two: Obtain the Op-Op Fruit and develop the ultimate surgery he envisioned.
The fruit's absence mattered little. He had time.
If anyone dared consume the fruit he now considered his property, he would hunt them across the earth and extract it from their corpse.
He wanted to gamble. To wager that he could develop the fruit's power to match his ambition.
An all-or-nothing bet. It meant abandoning the clear path to power the Dark-Dark Fruit offered. Yet he had to pursue his vision.
If his memory served correctly, the Op-Op Fruit would surface in six years on Minion Island in the North Blue. A pirate named Diez Barrels would attempt to sell it to the Marines through Doflamingo's mediation. The Donquixote Family, a Marine task force led by Vice Admiral Tsuru, and Donquixote Rosinante with young Law would converge there.
Anyone who interfered would die.
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"Zzzzzzt..."
Arthur opened his eyes. Purple lightning surged within them. He was a king enthroned above the world, his gaze cold and indifferent, filled with obsessive conviction that what belonged to him would be his.
Anyone who stood in his path, regardless of identity, would be destroyed.
He calmed the tempest within his heart and resumed the electric stimulation, fortifying his new body. With a gesture, he summoned a thick medical textbook from his storage bracelet and, under Shiryu's confused gaze, began to read.
"Captain," Shiryu said, his voice a low rumble. "Your wound has healed. The modification surgery is complete. Is there a need to study medicine? If you become sick or injured in the future, the crew's doctors can treat you."
He drew on his cigar, his expression perplexed.
In his mind, a man like Arthur wasting time studying medicine seemed absurd. With a single word, what doctor in the world would not scramble to serve him?
Even that stubborn old woman Kureha had bent to his will.
"That is the wrong perspective, Shiryu," Arthur said, looking up from his book with a faint smile.
"There is a saying—learning is endless. It rings true. You can never possess too much knowledge. One additional skill you master is one fewer favor you must request from another."
"Besides, do you believe there is no knowledge in the way of the sword? With a single cut, how do you injure without killing? How do you make someone die in agony? How do you leave them suspended between life and death? These are all things you can learn from medicine."
He spoke from conviction.
If he had possessed Vegapunk's knowledge of electromagnetism, he would have achieved invincibility long ago.
Magnetism creates electricity, and electricity creates magnetism. The two were inseparable. Yet in practice, he could only perfectly control lightning; his control over magnetism remained crude.
That was the difference between knowledge and ignorance.
Besides, his true purpose for studying medicine was the Op-Op Fruit.
The fruit could transform someone with no medical knowledge into a renowned doctor overnight.
However, to truly master it, to develop its most powerful abilities—one needed a strong foundation in medical science.
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