Chapter 38 - Calling my name

Bob quickly made it back to town, where the man who wanted Bob to complete his Grand Hunt was waiting for him. Or so it seemed that way, by him standing outside his door.

He saw Bob and walked over to him.

"So? How'd it go? Did you find the creature?"

The man asked.

"No. Maybe your eyes were playing tricks on you. Only found some polar bears."

Bob replied as he lied to the man.

The man looked into Bob's eyes seeing if he was telling the truth of not. Bob seemed as if he was telling the truth, so the man was left with no choice but to believe in Bob.

"I know what I saw, maybe you just went to the wrong place. I got other locations you can try."

"No thanks, I don't want to run all over this island looking for something that might not even exist."

"I'm telling you it's real!"

"Whatever old man."

Bob began to ignore the man and walked past him. He wanted nothing to do with the man anymore. Granted it could have went this way in the first place, but that was before he saw the White Stag.

Bob walked over to Dalton, and saw his four crew members standing around panting hard catching their breath.

"How's it going?"

Bob asked Dalton.

Dalton looked at Bob.

"They were a bit stronger than you said, but still not too much to handle. I'm letting them take a small break. How was it? Did he let you get the property?"

Dalton asked Bob.

"Nah, he wanted me to hunt down a White Stag. Told him I didn't want to."

"White Stag again? He's been spinning that tale for the longest time. But you may have better luck at the next town, there's a chance they might have a building for sale."

"Hmm, I never thought of that."

"You could try Cocoa Weed, its a little ways away to the west. Further north of there is Gyasta town. Not sure if they have any available properties for sale, worst comes to worst you can just build a place."

Bob shook his head.

"Building takes too long. Buying is easier."

"That's true. I wish you luck then."

"Oh, before I go off, what do you know about devil fruits?"

Dalton looked curious, but he still answered.

"Not too much, just the same like everyone else. There are three types Zoan, Logia and Paramecia. Logia being the rarest among the three."

"Ever seen a devil fruit on this island before?"

"Besides the one I ate, no. But I wouldn't be surprised if one managed to appear here."

"If you had the chance to go back in time, would you still eat your devil fruit?"

Bob asked the main question he wanted to.

Dalton thought about it for a little bit and nodded his head.

"Its ability to make me stronger gave me the strength I have today. So i'd say yes, I would. Don't you want to eat one?"

Bob grinned.

"Do I? I don't know, I wouldn't know what sort of powers i'd get if I ate one. Besides, i'd lose the ability to swim."

"A small price to pay for such a big boost in strength. However, its a leap of faith. The question is are you willing to take the first step once you obtain one?"

Dalton responded to Bob.

Bob nodded his head and walked over to his four crew members.

"Blue or Pink? If you had to pick, which would you choose?"

"Pink."

Tiffany said, she didn't even need to know what it was for. Pink was her favorite color.

"Blue."

"Blue."

"Blue."

The other three responded with blue, which surprised Bob. He thought it'd be even at least.

Bob reached into his coat pocket and retrieved the pink colored devil fruit. Everyone already knew what this was, they also knew where Bob obtained it from.

"Since you guys said blue, i'll leave this one to each of you. Whoever makes the most progress with Dalton will get this devil fruit. Sounds good?"

The four of them nodded their heads.

Bob could tell they were all pumped up.

"Good! I'll be monitoring your progress, but for now I have to leave."

Bob patted Tiffany on her shoulder since she was the closest to him and walked away.

He put the devil fruit back into his pocket.

"The pink one I didn' really care about, I just wanted it out the hands of others. The blue one felt like it was calling me. Guess I know what my choice is."

Bob pulled out the blue devil fruit from his coat and took a bite.

He kept them on him because he felt that was the safest place for them.

Bob shook his head at the taste of the fruit. One only needed to gain the powers of the devil fruit with the first bite. Thus Bob did not need to consume the rest of the fruit.

When he was going to put the rest of it back into his pocket, he stopped as he felt his heart skip a beat.

He felt as if his body was being torn in two.

"What's going on?"

Bob asked a foolish question as he already knew what was happening. His body was changing.

As he dropped down to the snowy ground, he noticed his hands begin to turn white like snow.

At that moment, Bob knew that he obtained a Zoan devil fruit.