Chapter 3: Shoot Me

Early chapters here and unreleased novels here: pa.treon.com/FFAddict

Seeing the heart-shaped fruit, Hiro breathed a sigh of relief, forming the words, "It's okay!" with his lips towards Hancock.

Being familiar with the plot, Hiro recognized the fruit as the one Hancock would acquire in the future. He knew that this was how Hancock obtained her Devil Fruit when captured by the Celestial Dragons. The Love-Love Fruit's abilities had helped her survive a crisis, so there shouldn't be any danger.

Seeing Hiro mouth the words "It's okay!" to her, Hancock, for some unknown reason, felt her unease slightly dissipate. She mustered the courage to bite into the fruit. Although the Love-Love Fruit looked tempting, being a pink heart-shaped fruit, it still tasted awful, just like any other Devil Fruit. It instantly disgusted Hancock to the point that her face contorted and her features crinkled in revulsion.

After eating the fruit, Hancock exuded a captivating aura that made people unwittingly fall in love with her. The slaves around her had their eyes morph into heart shapes. They held their clenched hands to their faces, gazing at Hancock with a lovestruck expression.

Charlos was no exception, but his intentions weren't to possess Hancock. Instead, he planned to use Hancock to flaunt in front of his sister. To the Celestial Dragons, no matter how beautiful a woman was, they were just inferior beings, mere toys. Only a Celestial Dragon was a match for another Celestial Dragon.

"Hahaha, this seems like an interesting fruit! Quickly show me your abilities and give me more surprises!" Charlos danced with joy, excited about the prospect of acquiring an impressive toy to show off.

After eating the Devil Fruit, Hancock instantly understood its basic power — turning those smitten by her into stone. However, Hancock, who had just consumed the fruit, had no idea how to utilize this ability. She was sweating profusely from anxiety, fearing she might be killed. She looked towards Hiro for help, hoping he could assist her.

Seeing Hancock's bewildered expression, Hiro quickly pointed to the half-eaten fruit in Hancock's hand, then formed a heart shape with his hands.

Inspired by Hiro, Hancock made a heart shape with her hands and slowly pushed it towards a smitten fool with love-struck eyes. Hancock felt the power of the fruit rapidly converging in her hands, forming a pink heart that drifted towards the fool. As soon as the heart touched him, his body instantly turned to stone.

"Hahaha, this is too amusing! I love the power of this fruit!" Charlos, prancing about, approached the petrified fool. He lightly nudged the statue, which collapsed and shattered. Just like that, another life was snuffed out by Charlos. However, Charlos showed no remorse; instead, he clapped his hands with glee. All because...it was fun!

The accursed Celestial Dragons!

When Hiro was reading the manga, he already despised the self-righteous, trashy Celestial Dragons. Now, having personally experienced their wickedness, he believed such scum needed to be eradicated! He was unsure whether it was the slight disorientation from just having transmigrated, or if killing Celestial Dragons had become the original host's obsession, but Hiro found himself struggling to control the murderous intent welling up inside him.

To hide his intent, Hiro kept his head lowered most of the time, afraid of being discovered and killed when he was still vulnerable. However, the more you wish to avoid trouble, the more it finds you.

At that moment, Hiro, head downcast, saw a hand holding a devil fruit reaching out to him, ordering him coldly, "Eat it!" Hiro's eyes widened instantly, but instead of fear, he felt immense joy.

Upon his arrival in this world, he tried to see if he had any special privileges as a cross-world traveler, like a system or abilities from other anime worlds. Unfortunately, he found nothing; he was just an ordinary transmigrator, carrying no special abilities. In this dangerous world, the key to survival was becoming stronger. Otherwise, he'd be powerless against any pirate who decided to kill him.

There were three main ways for pirates to become stronger: through Haki, Devil Fruits, or swordsmanship. But Haki and swordsmanship took long periods of learning and couldn't protect him at his current stage. On the other hand, the power of a devil fruit could make him strong instantly. The problem was, he didn't know which fruit he was about to eat. If it were a Zoan-type fruit, Charlos would surely kill him outright. He needed to find a way to make his devil fruit power seem interesting!

After receiving the fruit, Hiro bit into it without hesitation. The moment the fruit entered his mouth, his eyes bulged out. A foul odor surged upwards, making him feel nauseous as if it was touching his soul, causing him to shake involuntarily.

Nevertheless, he didn't mind the fruit's taste that was akin to a piece of excrement mixed with various seasonings. He chewed a few times before swallowing it down in a hurry.

After eating the Devil Fruit, Hiro instantly felt subtle changes throughout his body. Information about the fruit surfaced in his mind. The "Rebound Rebound Fruit": the ability to absorb damage and reflect it back. This simple piece of information made Hiro feel extremely fortunate, thankfully it wasn't a Zoan type but a Paramecia type fruit.

Hiro didn't look down on Zoan type fruits. If developed properly, a Zoan fruit could rival any fruit, even outperforming others in physical enhancement. Like the undying Kaido of the Beasts, who developed his Zoan fruit to a terrifying extent, securing his position among the Four Emperors, becoming an existence even the navy had a hard time killing.

However, this required development and awakening to become this powerful, and Hiro, currently facing a life-and-death crisis, would die if his fruit power did not entertain Saint Charlos.

"Come, come, show me what your power is," Saint Charlos said expectantly, hoping that Hiro would provide some amusement.

Yet Hiro did not perform, he merely stood silently.

Hancock watched Hiro worriedly. After all, Hiro was the first person willing to help them since she arrived in this hellish place. If it weren't for him, she might already have been killed by Saint Charlos.

Hiro suddenly lifted his head towards Saint Charlos. "Shoot me!"

"Huh???"