Ch. 49 - The Great Pretender's new ability!

[Congratulations! You have acquired Nagi Nagi no Mi!]

"Nagi Nagi no Mi?" Leo was confused and didn't know what fruit he got, so he asked Genesis for its description.

[The Nagi Nagi no Mi is a Paramecia-class Devil Fruit that allows the user to create a soundproof field and to cancel all noises, making the user a Soundless Human.]

"That.....very convenient. Not that strong and doesn't have any offensive capabilities but very useful especially in certain situations." Leo commented and decided to eat it later, but first he must confirm something.

"Do I get its weakness too?" He asked.

[Yes.]

"Then I won't eat it." Leo didn't hesitate to refuse the fruit. Imagine you're in a world full of seas and he just ate something that made him unable to swim. That's just idiotic.

[But you can remove the weakness through the Gacha draw.]

Hearing Genesis's explanation, Leo glanced at his Gacha tickets.

[Normal Gacha Tickets: 20]

"I'll draw then." Leo said, deciding to use all of his Gacha tickets.

[Congratulations! You have received the following...

• Common....

• Common....

• Common....

• Common....

• Uncommon - A dead dragon's final breath

• Common....

• Uncommon - Portable Bed

• Common...

• Common...

• Rare - Necklace of Ra.

• Common...

• Uncommon - Versace Eros Perfume

• Rare - Ring of Hades

• Unique - newborn Black Panther Cub

• Common....

• Common....

• Uncommon - The Most Comfortable Blanket

• Common....

• Common....

• Rare - Weakness Remover]

Seeing the last rare Gacha roll he got, Leo sighed in relief. He got a bit nervous earlier while watching the series of rolls that he's getting and being unable to see the weakness remover. Thankfully, Genesis seems to like putting him in a thrilling situation.

Fortunately, he still got the desired roll in the end.

"Aren't you going?" Noticing Leo being in a stand still, Moana approached him and asked confusedly.

"I'm just....preparing myself, you can go ahead." Leo waved his hand as he answered.

"Wait, how did you know I would climb up?"

"I just know."

"Hmph." Not liking Leo's answer, which just made her more curious about it, she decided to leave Leo and climb by herself.

Meanwhile, after seeing that Moana was already quite far up in the tall tower, he immediately took out the Nagi Nagi no Mi.

'They say that the devil fruits taste shit.' Leo muttered under his breath.

'Hopefully, they're not real.' With this in mind, Leo opened his mouth and wasted no time in taking a large bite of the devil fruit.

*Crunch!*

By the sound of his bite, the fruit might seem sweet, tasty, and crunchy but by the look of Leo's face, everyone could tell that the taste was rancid.

'Fuck! The taste was worse than I expected!' Leo's face scrunched up and he was tempted to throw up, thankfully the devil fruit on his hand has magically turned into a wet mud that seeped through the gaps on his fingers, falling down on the hard floor and mixing in with sand and dirt.

*Gulp!*

Gulping the bitten part of the fruit, Leo's entire body shivered out of disgust.

'I swear, the next time I get another devil fruit, I'll definitely remember to add some spices and seasonings. Probably also cook it.' Leo made a note inside his mind.

"You coming?" Maui's voice was heard by him from the top.

"Yeah." Although Leo still has several rolls that he wanted to check, he couldn't waste any more time or else Maui and Moana might get suspicious of his weird actions.

"Seems easy enough." Leo commented as he started climbing the tall tower of rock, eventually passing by Moana who was having a slight hard time climbing.

"Need help?" He offered.

"No! I'm....arrggh....an independent....gi-woman!...." Moana mustered to finish her sentence amidst the grunts of pain and exhaustion, showcasing her incredible will as a woman.

"Whatever suits you then." Hearing her response, Leo shrugged his shoulders and didn't dwell on it any longer before resuming his climbing.

"Took you look enough." Once at the top, Maui sneered at his 'slow' climbing.

"Yeah right, says the 'demi-god' who got his ass kicked by a human." Leo made a comeback.

"Correction, you're also a Demi-God." Maui confidently said, either to compliment Leo's strength or just to put a band-aid on his wounded pride, convincing himself that he wasn't beaten by a human but by a Demi-God like him.

"Demi-god or human, pretty much the same, I still kicked your ass." Leo shrugged his shoulders again.

Maui's eye twitched out of annoyance and anger and swore in his heart that once he got his magical hook back, he'll use it to whoop Leo's ass.

Seeing the stare that Maui is giving him, Leo chuckled, knowing what it says.

'Let's see which is stronger, your smite or the Panther Habit that boasts its nigh-indestructible defense.' Leo mentally rubbed his palms against each other, cannot wait to fight Maui again but with the magical hook and Panther Habit at their disposal.

***

"Huff....Huff." Finally after 5 gruesome minutes of waiting, Moana finally reaches the top with shortened breath, taking a small break as she recovers herself from exhaustion.

"How is it, princess?" Maui smirked, though not expecting Moana to really climb considering no other human has managed to do such a feat, or at least for him, since he was stuck in an island for a thousand years, maybe during that time someone else has successfully climbed the entrance to the monster realm.

But still, it is an impressive feat.

"I'm....not a princess! I'm just the daughter of a chief!" Moana glared at the muscular demi-god.

"Sounds the same to me." However, someone she wasn't expecting responded.

"Nice, we finally have something in common." Maui winked at Leo before changing the subject of the topic.

"Anyways, we're finally here. Let me officially welcome you both, to the realm of monsters." Maui spread his arms wide.

"This is the entrance to the realm of monsters?" Moana's eyebrows furrowed as she looked around the very bland area around her, nothing to see but rocks and the air.

"Heh." Maui chuckled slightly.

"Step aside." He said and they did.

"Ahhh Fwooo!!" Inhaling air to the maximum that his lungs could hold, Maui then released them in the ground, blowing away the dirt and dust, making a cloud of dust around them.

"Cough! Cough!" With Moana coughing due to the dusts entering her nostrils, the cloud finally went away and revealed the intricate yet ancient patterns engraved on the ground.

"Woah."

"Hah!" Maui then started doing a Haka, dancing in a stiff manner yet elegant, shouting on the top of his lungs to the point that the birds on the sky started to fly away from them.

Eventually, Maui finished the Haka chant with a huge leap and stomp on the ground.

*Boom!*

Under Leo and Moana's eyes, the ground slowly opens up, revealing a large hole with purple swirling under.

Moana looked down and gulped her saliva out of nervousness.

"Ladies first. No? I'll go first then." Maui smiled happily and hugged his knees as he jumped inside.

"Wheeeehoooooo!"

Moana and Leo both looked down at Maui's falling figure that slowly disappeared from their vision.

"I'm still falling!" They heard.

"Welp, I'll be going next then." Leo stated before casually letting his body fall forward towards the hole.

However, what he wasn't expecting though was for someone to latch onto his body.

"Moana? What are you doing?!" Leo was stunned when he saw Moana hugging his torso.

"I'm....going....too!" She answers as she battles the wind resistance.

Leo could only shake his head before watching as the water in front of them quickly comes to their vision.

"Brace yourself!" Leo warned and as soon as he did, they finally landed and submerged under the water.

*Fwooosh!*

Holding their breaths, they waited for a few seconds, meanwhile the swirling on the waters gave them such a mesmerizing sight.

"Wow." Moana muttered under her breath.

Unfortunately, the sight was soon put to hold when they got out and landed on the hard ground with grass.

"Ughh, my back." Leo groaned in pain before noticing something heavy and warm laying on his chest.

Looking down, he saw Moana rubbing the back of her head as she lay on his chest.

"Well that was something." Maui commented from behind.

"Shut it." Leo glared at the demi-god who whistles while looking away.

"Moana, can you stand?" He asked.

"Huh? O-Oh, yeah right." Seeing the situation, Moana turned beet red and she quickly tries to get up as she stutters.

Thankfully, Leo helped her stand on her own before standing back up himself.

"S-sorry about that. Was I heavy?" Moana tucked her hair behind her ears as she asked.

"It's fine and no, you feel light as a feather." Leo answered as he pats his back.

"Really?" Moana smiled happily.

'Sigh, kids these days. Falling in love with someone they just met a few days ago. Meanwhile, the previous me despite my talents as a Pretender, I could hardly get a lady fall for me.' Leo sighed while mentally shaking his head.

"Anyways, where are we?" Moana cleared her throat and asked.

"Though you wouldn't ask, considering all that..." Maui spoke while giving the two of them an 'eye' which made Moana blush again while Leo glaring at him.

"Ehem! Enough of that, let me formally introduce you to the realm of the monsters!" Maui smiled as he spreads his arm which coincidentally made a monster jump out of a large pond, showing its enormous and grosteque appearance.

"Woah."

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[Next Chapter: Ch. 50 - The Great Pretender's battle with Tamatoa]

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