The Castle Part 5

The Castle Part 5

\____-o(X)o-_____/​

"Momma! Momma!" I practically scurried over to my mother's side, tugging on her empty sleeve.

"Yes baby? What is it?" My momma asked with a bemused smile, breaking off from the perusal of the shop she'd been in front of to dutifully follow after me.

A sparkle of excitement in my eyes, I tugged on her sleeve, "I found a sword I want!"

"Oh? Not another of your little science projects?" She asked, though I could tell that she was actually happy I was taking an active interest in weaponry for myself.

"Nope! It's a straight sword! It's beautiful and it's got a great tensile strength and both flexibility and hardness! It looks like it was forged really well!"

"Did you test it?"

I pouted as I led her to the store I'd found it in, "No. The owner wouldn't let me. Said I was too small."

Momma's hand ruffled my short mess of dark brown hair, "That's okay little man, you're more than big enough for me."

I stuck my tongue out at her, "I'm a runt and I know it, but it's not fun for them to dismiss me because of it."

"Well we'll test out this sword you want and if I think it's good enough, we'll buy it, okay?"

I beamed, giving a quick nod, "Mhm!"

-oOo-​

Over the creaks and groans of the ship at dock, I could hear the jovial voices of the crew growing louder, and the distinct and uniquely feminine voice of the captain. Grinning, I launched up from my chair and scurried up the stairs.

"Bonney!" Spotting her coming down from the cabin, I rushed up to the pink haired woman who had a drumstick in her mouth, holding up my oversized pants with a hand, "Bonney! You've got to change me back, I'm not strong enough to properly and safely grind or polish some tools–MmMmph-?"

"Ironhide." Bonney gave me a confused and wary look, struggling to find words as she held a hand over my mouth, "… the fuck?"

I blinked a few times before holding up a thumb and then gently moving her hand aside, "Age me back up please. I've got some science to do and I need to be older to do it." I said excitedly.

"… what?"

I sighed, slumping a bit, "Just… age me back up please?"

Raising an eyebrow at me, Bonney put the hand not holding the drumstick on top of my head. There was that strange as hell sensation I expanded back upwards and outwards, my body rapidly re-aging. In moments I was back to my eighteen-year-old form, standing about even with Bonney if it weren't for the fact that she was on the stairs.

"Thank you, now I've got work to do." I spun on my heel, only to be stopped by a hand in the back of my vest.

"Oi, what are you on about Ironhide?" I stopped and turned to look at Bonney, finding her pointing the drumstick at me accusingly, "Did you get into some moon dust or something?"

That made me blink before snorting, "Tch, nah. I found a Devil Fruit–" the entire crew stiffened in surprise, Bonney's hand falling from my vest, "–so I've been trying to rebuild enough lab equipment to test it."

"You've got a Devil Fruit?!"

I leaned back from the nearly synchronized exclamation, cleaning out an ear with my pinky, "Yes. Probably from the user I killed two days ago."

Another stunned silence, though don't let it be said I don't learn from my mistakes! I covered my ears this time–

"When'd you kill a Devil Fruit User?!"

Pulling my hands away from my ears, I raised an eyebrow at the captain and the collected crew, "A stupid pirate trying to shake me down. He had a Devil Fruit ability, and fruit transfer to a nearby fruit when killed so it's probably–"

"But don't you have an ability already?!" Wallace threw out.

"Well, yes, but–"

"How can you even get close to the fruit?! Didn't you know that the devils will tear you apart-?!"

"I heard that the demons will come out and fight! How hasn't it tore its way out of you?!"

"You guys are idiots, it's the spirit of the sea that actually makes the fruit work and it hates people too greedy that try to take two of its gifts!"

"No matter what, keep that thing from the Captain!"

"They're called devil fruit for a reason! It's–"

"Shut up."

The room went silent at my glare.

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out a pad and pencil, "Now, one at a time. What do you know about Devil Fruit? And don't worry, the whole dying bit only happens if you eat two Devil Fruit."

There was some shuffling and muttering from the crew, "Ah, well… um…"

"Oi." It was all cut off by Bonney stepping off of the stairs to come even with me, the drumstick being waved warningly in my face, "I thought you were gonna make some guns for us."

It wasn't a question.

I looked at her for a moment, frowning in thought, "Well… I'm definitely taking this opportunity to study this thing… that's not debatable." Her eyes hardened and I held up a finger, "I can put it off so long as no one wants to eat it. But if someone wants to eat it I'll want to study it before they do."

Her glare eased up a bit and she turned to shout over her shoulder at the men on the stairs, "Hey! Does anyone actually want to eat it?"

"I have reason to believe it's a Jello Parmecia," I added, hand on my hip, "It'd turn you into a Jello Human, like what I do just with a jello-like substance rather than metal." The guy hadn't generated jello such that I saw, and I really doubted jello was sufficiently 'natural' for a Logia.

The crew members all glanced between each other, Tom shook his head, as did Lucca, Wallace–

Casey stepped forward, swallowing as he tilted his hat backwards, "I'd want to… I've always wanted a Devil Fruit Ability and… and in the South Blue I never got the chance… I'd volunteer."

Bonney and I both looked to him before at each other, "Let me do some tests with this thing first. I don't know how long it'll be before I get another chance. Once I'm satisfied I'll hand it over to him to eat."

The scantily clad captain huffed, taking an angry bite of the drumstick in her hand, demanding as she chewed, "Arnd whry do you want to shtudy it?"

"Because I know so little, and this may be my only opportunity in a long while. There may be ways to replicate them, improve on them, or any number of things! I just don't know yet!" I said, my excitement at the possibility to actually study one of the unique and semi-magical things of this reality leaking into my words and expression. With a grin, I added, "That… and tell me you don't want artificial Devil Fruit."

A beat of silence. The drumstick hung loosely in Bonney's hand as she and the rest of the gathered crew stared.

"… artificial…?" Bonney whispered.

"I know it's possible," I said, gesturing with a hand as the other rested on my hip, "But I don't know enough to even have an inkling as to where to even start yet. Not yet at least."

Bonney's mouth worked silently for a moment, before she softly asked, "Are… are you saying you could make Devil Fruit? For the crew?"

"Not the whole crew. We want at least a few people to still be able to swim." I pointed out with a smirk before my expression became more serious, "And I don't know if it's something I can recreate or if it's something linked to Devil Fruit ability of the person I know who did it."

Slowly, a grin began to spread across Bonney's face, the little dab of lipstick she wore a stark contrast to the grin that threatened to split her face in two, a devilish sparkle in her purple eyes. A giddy little sound escaped her as she started to vibrate. Torn between amusement and concern, I raised a hand, "Get started then?"

"Yes!"

---

"Mmm…" carefully, I turned the focus dial of the microscope I'd slapped together by melting some sand into glass and very carefully polishing it into shape.

"Florida…?" Looking up from the microscope, I found Casey walking into the section of the hold that I'd appropriated for this, "You wanted to see me?"

"Ah, yes." I grabbed a pair of self-made test tubes from the table beside me as well as a note, "Okay. I've got a couple things. Since you're going to be eating the fruit when I'm done, I'll be doing some of the tests on bits of you." Gesturing for him to sit at the chair I'd appropriated beside my own, "I want you to spit into this tube. I'm going to draw some blood into this one. And I'm going to want a cheek swab as well, don't worry, I'll explain that better in a sec."

The larger man sat down awkwardly beside me as I continued, "Once we've got the samples, I'm going to want you to head out onto the islands and find me some materials. Y'all don't carry a lot of what I need to rebuild my lab since it's a bit esoteric."

He nodded slowly, as he delicately picked up the tube marked 'Saliva'. He'd be my control for a human without powers and how their tissues reacted with the Devil Fruit.

I hadn't stepped on deck since I'd slipped in as a kid, nor did I have any intentions to. This little corner of the hold I'd sectioned off near the back of the ship now had a few tables arranged around it with a growing number of elements and apparatus on it as well as a sizable metal oven I'd appropriated from the kitchens to do some glass-work and any heating I'd need.

"What… what is all this for?" Casey asked, staring at the test tube in his hand.

"To test to see how the Devil Fruit reacts to people and their cells, to see if I can determine how it works and how the powers are activated."

With the proper chemicals and materials I could recreate a lot of my stuff pretty quickly. I'd had to rebuild a lot of it through trial and error initially due to a limited memory, but I'd already gone through all of that. As it is, I was limited to what was in my belt when I was knocked off of the Patch, which thankfully included a syringe. Thankfully, Akira's… office? What do you call that? His doctor's corner? Yeah, close enough. Akira had enough medical equipment for me to procure to work with.

"What… what all do ya hope to learn…?"

"All the things?" I said jokingly, "But more seriously, I know basically nothing right now, I'm not even sure what I don't know. Devil Fruit cells seem to be structurally identical to those of the normal fruit," I said, gesturing at the microscope and the slide with some Devil Fruit scrapings on it, "But that's all I know so far."

"Huh…" Casey set the vial of spit into the holder, "Can… you really make Devil Fruit?"

"Maybe. I don't know yet. I know it's possible, but I don't have a real understanding of how they did it. This is the first step to figuring that out."

I picked up the syringe I was going to use to draw blood, and Casey's eyes widened, "Hm? Oh, don't worry, it's nothing much. I just need a little. I want to be sure this thing is safe." I gestured at the fruit, it even looked sort of like jello. A dark maroon and in the classic pseudo-conical shape, but with the crenellations on both top and bottom and stem poking out of the larger end. "Amazing isn't it?"

"Yeah…" I took his distraction to slide the needle into his arm, filling the vial I'd based off of what was modern blood donation 'tech' in my original home. He started to look down and I waggled my fingers in front of his face, drawing his attention back to the fruit.

"Trust me, it's always a little weird to watch it happen," I'd had my blood drawn enough to know that, so I did my best to keep his focus away from the syringe, "Just focus on the fruit for now. And the list, I'm gonna need all of those things."

Pulling the needle from his vein, I placed a cotton swab over it, "Hold this down. Apply pressure."

Casey nodded, holding the cotton swab down as I moved the syringe with its handles into my ghetto centrifuge. A wheel with a crank and some gears as well as pairs of hooks to cradle the vials and allow them to rotate, a cradle I set the capped vial of Casey's blood into.

The chunky man gave the list a funny look, "Pumpkins and Apples…?"

"When a fruit is used and the consumer dies, the fruit regenerates in a nearby fruit, transforming it into a new Devil Fruit. I don't know if this happens based on the closest fruit or based on particular kinds of fruit or anything." I explained as I tied a bandage around the cotton swab.

"You… what do you plan to do?"

"To try to understand how it's 'eaten'. But I don't want to have it attached to a sample without the ability to get it back. I have a Devil's Bunghole Fruit to test." I grinned, "It will not escape me."

"… what? How would it? Escape ya', that is." Casey tilted his head to the side, gesturing towards the fruit.

"… there's a way to infuse Devil Fruit into objects and I don't want to do that accidentally and deny you your Devil Fruit."

"Oh… okay…?" he looked down at the list in his hands.

Raising an eyebrow, I gave him a small shove, "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah... just…" Casey fiddled with the paper in his hands, "This is a little overwhelming. I've been... I've wanted to get an ability for so long..."

A small smile spread across my face, "And you will. Just give me some time to run some tests on it first." Placing a hand on his shoulder, I offered, "If you want, I'll explain what I've been doing later."

His brow furrowed as he looked down at the list, "You're sure I'll still get it?"

"Mhm?"

Casey grinned, tipping his small white cowboy hat back, "Then don't bother. Barely know how to read, anything you try to explain will go way over my head."

"I-…" that gave me pause, throwing me for a loop, "You're sure?"

"Anything you told me would just confuse me. And you ain't the kind to cheat someone Florida." He said with that grin, standing from the chair, "We ain't known you that long, but we know that much."

A small smile spread across my face, "... thanks. Now let me show you how to do a cheek swab…"

---

The Castle Part 5 End