Fruits (2)

Lots of dialogue in this chapter.

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Marine HQ, Marineford, a few minutes earlier.

*Purupuru-purupuru*

A Den Den Mushi, resembling someone with a stern face and a gray hat, started to ring in the office of the current Fleet Admiral, Sengoku.

Sengoku picked up the Den Den Mushi, as calls that directly goes to him are important. 

"Fleet Admiral speaking" Said Sengoku

The Den Den Mushi began to imitate the caller and said, "Fleet Admiral Sengoku, this is Vice Admiral Bogard."

"Bogard? What is it? Did that bastard Garp get into trouble again?" Responded Sengoku as he furrowed his brows.

"No Fleet Admiral… Garp asked me to call you to send some money to Foosha Village"

"Tsk… Did he spend all his money buying snacks?! How much does he need, and what does he need it for?!" Yelled Sengoku

The Den Den Mushi began to sweat, copying Bogard. 

"There are merchants from an unknown land that's claiming to have 10 devil fruits and unknown items that we have never heard of. They said that they come from the land of Demacia…"

"Bastard! First Garp left without permission to visit his grandson, now he's getting scammed?! Why are you believing random fakes!"

Bogard paused for a moment and continued, "Well you see… The merchants that came had a child as the merchant, while 12 people guarded the child. 10 of the guards seem to be at the level of Commodores to Rear Admirals, specially trained in stealth assassination. What's more, the two other guards seem to be strong, to the point that Garp halted an all-out fight, as we might destroy the island."

Sengoku started to ponder about the merchants, as he knows that his friend might be an idiot sometimes, but he wouldn't fall for simple tricks. Furthermore, Garp is one of the strongest marines, his Observation Haki can detect the strength of his opponents. 

"Hmmm… Well, it would take quite a while to transfer a large amount of money from HQ to the East Blue."

Bogard cut Sengoku off and said, "The thing is, the devil fruit doesn't seem to be as expensive as what's in the market. The normal prices of Devil Fruits in the market is usually around 5 to 10 billion barries. However, they are selling these fruits for 150 million per fruit.

"This is getting more and more unbelievable. Do we at least know what the fruits are?"

Bogard coughed and said, "Um… No we do not… They have said that the Devil Fruits are not known in the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia that the World Government has given us. What's more, the little girl mentioned that they had their own Encyclopedia."

"Hmm… This is hard to believe. But if it is true, then they might not know the actual prices of Devil Fruits, or they're trying to crash the market with it."

"Crash the market?" Asked Bogard

"Yes. If they're selling Devil Fruits at such a low price, and they have their own encyclopedia, then it would probably mean they have more of those unknown fruits. If they do have more of those fruits, then they could crash the market by selling them at low prices, as Devil Fruits have high demand with low supply."

"Wouldn't they be losing so much in the process?"

"Yes. But if they have the fruits to feed those demands, then everyone will be forced to buy from them. They would have control over the price of fruits, as, once the market crashes, they would be the only one selling fruits, aside from the black market."

"I see… So should we still buy from them?" 

"Yes. I will send 1.5 billion barries immediately, I want you to tell Garp to buy 1 Devil Fruit and feed it to one of his men. If the fruits are real, then buy as much as you can."

"Yes sir."

*Catcha*

Sengoku ended the call and immediately called one of the admirals, Kizaru. It only took a couple of minutes until Kizaru entered Sengoku's Office.

A knock could be heard outside of Sengoku's office. The door opened and a lazy voice could be heard as a tall monkey-faced man walked in, "You called, Sengoku~" 

With a serious face, Sengoku went straight to the point and said, "Take 1.5 billion barries and go to the East Blue and head to Goa Kingdom. There should be a village there called Foosha Village. You'll sense Garp and the others in that village. There's currently a merchant selling Devil Fruits there. I want you to get the money and stay with Garp, as I heard there were some strong people there. If a fight breaks out, you know what to do."

"Devil fruits eh~? But why only 1.5 Billion?" Asked Kizaru as he dragged his every words

"The Details doesn't matter. You'll understand once you get there, and you probably can't carry more than that much money."

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Present time, Foosha Village

Bogard explained the situation to Garp, to which Garp nodded and said to Myne, "What's the cheapest fruit you have?"

Myne looked at Garp questionably and asked, "Cheapest? Well I don't know for a certain, but the weakest fruit we have is a paramecia type Devil Fruit called: Kusari Kusari No Mi (Chain)"

"What does it do?" Asked Garp

"Kusari Kusari No Mi (Chain) is a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit that allows its user to create, summon, shape, and manipulate kinds of chains and chain-like weapons. These chains are almost indestructible and can extend far. This fruit is best for abduction, subjecting, and controlling mass crowds."

"That's not bad… How much is it?" Asked Garp

"This fruit is 90 million barries."

"Ok. Let's go inside and wait for someone. Someone is currently heading their way here and bringing some money. I'm broke right now Bhahahahhaha"

As Garp laughed a strange sound suddenly echoed through the sky, and suddenly, a man wearing a yellow outfit with a face that resembled a monkey appeared right next to Garp.

"Yo~" Greeted Kizaru

Garp looked at Kizaru and said, "Borsalino, go give that girl 90 million barries." 

Kizaru looked confused, but he couldn't argue with one of the strongest and well known marines in history. As Kizaru gave Myne the money, Myne gave the Devil Fruit to Garp and said, "Thank you for purchasing from us!"

Kizaru looked dumbfounded as he never thought the thing he was gonna buy was a Devil Fruit, as Devil Fruits usually cost a fortune due to its rarity.

Garp looked at the fruit and looked at his subordinates, "Any of you guys volunteer?"

No one spoke and Garp was tempted to eat the fruit as he would not force anyone to eat something even he is not sure of. 

"I-I'll do it!" 

A man around 38 years old stepped up while trembling. He had sweat all over his body and he looked paler than snow. The man was named Gibbon, a Petty Officer right under Garp. Gibbon was a man that only wanted one thing, and that is to send his daughter to a university and become a doctor like what she always wanted. 

Although he was a marine, he was merely a Petty Officer and wasn't making much. He did not want to see his daughter forever stuck being a bartender where the threat of pirates was always looming.

He took this opportunity to gain strength, even if the Devil Fruit was a fake and ended up killing him, he knew he needed to take this risk and rise through the ranks for his daughter.

Garp looked at Gibbon and said, "Bahahahaha! I like this brat!"

Garp threw the fruit at Gibbon, to which Gibbon nearly dropped the fruit as he was still scared. Gibbon stared at the fruit for a couple of seconds and finally took a bite. The taste was awful but he thugged it out and swallowed it.

'Disgusting! But this is for my daughter!' Thought Gibbon

Garp laughed and asked Gibbon, "Bahahahaha! How was it? Do you feel anything different?"

Gibbon nodded and answer, "Yes, I feel like I have extra limbs that I could control whenever I please"

Garp smiled and said, "Good, good!"

Garp pointed at 3 marines and ordered them to fight Gibbon. Gibbon was scared at first, but remembering his newly found power, and his daughter, he took a deep breath and got ready to fight. 

The 3 marines surrounded Gibbon, with Gibbon sweating while looking at the three. The man behind Gibbon started the attack, followed by the two guys in front of him. Gibbon tried to control the limbs he felt and two chains with a pointy end emerged from the ground and attacked the two guys in front of him.

However, Gibbon has already forgotten about the person behind him, as he was too nervous in front of everyone including the Hero of the Marines and one of the Admirals.

As the fist was about to connect, a chain suddenly came out of the ground and struck the arm of the person attacking. 

Gibbon looked surprised and said, 

"W-What?! I didn't do that!"