10 Devil Fruit & The Morning Star

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"I'm telling you this, Morning Star, or else, your future would be turn into one hell of a tragedy."

*SKIP*

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[Disclamer: For those who don't want to read a badly written plot involving 'mental growth' (and author support), and potentially cringing inside, feel free to scroll down or flip the pages until you see the *SKIP* sign I've listed down there.]

[This chapter is written completely for my sake.]

April 1 

"Ban-san, shouldn't we chase him?" Toki asked, her worry evident in her voice.

"Ahh... it should be okay. You've spent five days with him, so you should know, but that guy is pretty smart... Much smarter and more mature than Mistella. A day is enough for him to return. Besides, except for the plants I grow here, this island is empty. He won't be in danger," Ban said in an unworried tone.

"Even so... he is just a child, the looks he had before he ran off looked so sad to me, I'm... going to chase after him!" 

"Don't bother, don't bothe-..." 

"Grandpa Ban, she's already gone," Mistella said, shaking her head.

---

Toki wore a haggard expression and her gi was drenched with sweat. However, despite covering the same or potentially more distance as me, she seemed to have spare energy as she didn't similarly collapse like me.

When Toki arrived, I had already recovered my consciousness and I was having a conversation with the source of the voice I faintly heard before.

The source of the voice was a singular cherry with an extremely bizarre geometric pattern that comes from a devil fruit.

"Kind child, would you kindly take(eat) me with you? Being robbed of freedom inside this minuscule body is rather apathy."

"Woah, a cherry is talking!" 

.

.

.

"Woah, a cherry is talking!" my voice reached Toki who just arrived, tired.

"Heylail-kun I was searching for you! Why did you suddenly run off... is that a... cherry?" Toki caught her breath before pointing to the cherry in my hand.

"Old ha-, Toki... I think it's the Devil Fruit mentioned by Grandpa Ban..., I should bring this back to him and ask him what to do with it," I said in a tone mixed with shame.

'When I ran away, this situation wasn't what I hoped for,' I gazed away from Toki's line of sight, feeling like a guilty criminal.

Toki scanned me and my surroundings before speaking. "You're right! we should bring this fruit back to Ban-san." 

Then without delay, my field of vision suddenly heightened, and a milliseconds later, my brain finally realized that I was being piggybacked by her.

'Toki had stopped the time to carry me up,' I noticed this fact and also realized that my opportunity to resist her wellbeing had been lost the moment she piggybacked me.

Unable to say a word, I rested my body on the fragile yet warm back of a single woman, and a sense of peacefulness surrounded us, only the sound of footsteps could be heard.

"When I spoke about the dream before, I didn't mean to say bad things about you, Heylail-kun. It is wonderful to carry a dream but not having one doesn't mean you're bad. So, I am sorry about my roundabout way of saying things and hurting you."

Being carried on Toki's back, I felt strong remorse, sorrow, and a tiny bit of love in her voice.

"That's not it! I-I just didn't know what to..."

"Shhh..." Toki gently silenced me.

"Truth be told, during the 800 years of time I've lived, it's been a while since I had spent so long with a relationship, but I've met a long of people in my journey of time!" 

"So... I know. You didn't know how to receive love... You were afraid of being loved... Yet, you wanted to be loved, right? That's why, you wanted to be like Ban or Mistella (normal)."

"But I think Heylail-kun is fine as you are right now. Even without a dream, you are beautiful. Although I can't replace what you truly want or need right now, let me give you the least consolation I can give you right now."

Toki stopped at the spot and extended her arm back, before patting my back gently. "You gave your best, You've done well."

The animosity directed at me in the past, worries about the purpose of my existence, and the anxiety of not being able to stay where I wanted to belong, all was washed away by a single encouragement from the woman, as the last wall of defense inside me crumbled away.

Strangely enough, my vision became blurry as droplets of water began flowing down, and for the first time the topaz eyes that had dimmed in the past, recovered their light as a glimmer of hope flickered.

Before I dug my face deep into Toki's back to suppress my sobs, I thought that the colors Toki was emitting were beautiful.

'...Mother,' Amidst the peaceful tranquility that passed behind Toki, a single word echoed in the depths of my mind.

*/\==-SKIP TILL HERE-==/\*

I wiped all the tears from my face intensely, making sure no evidence remained.

Once I confirmed that my face was dry, I cheered up and opened the door.

"Old man! I brought something back,"

"Ou, kid, you're back!... Were you crying? Gyahahaha!" Ban held his stomach in laughter.

'What!? How did he know!? I wiped all...' Then, I looked in the mirror and I noticed that my face was red.

'When you cry, your face gets red!?' I learned something new today, but I also made a new embarrassing memory I wouldn't want to talk about.

"Are you already done with your self-reflection?" Ban teasingly asked.

"Yup! I decided that I would be true to myself and as for finding a dream to aspire to, I can start looking for it now. 'Unlike you,' I'm still young after all!" 

"How dare you mock my age... tch, is that so. So what is the deal with you bringing something back? I won't take a shit-"

"Devil Fruit" I got to the point.

"What! Move out of the way," Ban pushed me away and took a look at the pair of cherries in Toki's hand.

Aside from the bizarre pattern, the cherry-shaped Devil Fruits was were something Ban had never seen before. What was even stranger was that one side was colored in light while the other was in darkness.

"Hmm... I've never seen this one before, Mistella, bring the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia we stole from the Second Research Institute."

After being handed the book, Ban swiftly flipped through its pages, only to find nothing.

"Uhhh, hey. Preferably, I would like to be eaten by the kind child there..." a soft, gentle voice emanated from the fruit.

"The fuck! it spoke."

"Oh oh, I forgot to mention, this one can speak," I really forgot about this matter because I was too busy learning life lessons from Toki from before.

"You little rascal, you should have said that from the beginning," Ban cursed at me.

"I said I forgot!" I complained.

"Anyway, this would be much quicker. You, what kind of ability will you offer?" Ban asked.

"That... I apologize, but I don't know what kind of ability I can grant to those who have consumed me," The Devil Fruit said in a sorry tone.

'Hey, part', this is just my hunch but that Devil Fruit seems quite powerful. Maybe as powerful as me,' Yami inside Ban called out to him.

"As powerful as you!?" Ban exclaimed in shock, as his common sense was overturned.

"Hey Mistella, want to eat this fruit?" Ban finally asked someone else to eat it.

The Devil Fruit who heard it, sighed. "Although it is my dearest wish to be eaten by the kind boy there, I will do my best to assist whoever possesses me."

"Eh... don't wanna. I wouldn't want a man's voice calling inside me," Mistella backed off.

"As a Devil Fruit, I am naturally genderless... ahem ahem, would this be acceptable?" the Devil Fruit coughed a few times before its voice changed from a soft, gentle voice to the high-pitched, gentle voice of a kind nun.

"I'm fine... besides, you want to be eaten by him, right? I'll give it to you Heylail."

"Ahh. Mistella-sama, thank you very much for your kindliness," the Devil Fruit thanked Mistella. Its attitude unbefitting of the title, 'Devil.'

"Oh, sure... wait! I think we need to teach ourselves before eating the Devil Fruit!" I wasn't entirely against eating a Devil Fruit. Sure, losing the ability to swim was a drawback, but it didn't matter to me who couldn't swim in the first place, besides, gaining new ability piqued my interest.

"There's no need for that, just eat it, duh," Ban picked up the Devil Fruit and shoved the cherry into my mouth, causing me to swallow it involuntarily.

"Ahh! What did you just do? I needed to get to know it before eating it! Now how do I have a conversation with it!" I complained about Ban's hasty action in shoving the Devil Fruit into my mouth.

But in truth, I need to thank him because his impulsive act spared me from tasting the terrible flavor of the Devil Fruit.

"That is of no necessity, Whenever you want, I can communicate with you," a gentle, high-pitched voice echoed from within me, startling me.

"Oh, so this is what Ban has been experiencing. Let's see... hoh!" I tried to access the abilities granted by the Devil Fruit only to find nothing except for the fact that my back felt heavier and that my nervous system had heightened in count.

"It's so fluffy..." Mistella touched my back sweetly.

"It's a feather! A Zoan or Paramecia Fruit... What else can you do, Heylail?" Ban observed the feather and asked me.

"Uhh... I think this is all I can do?... Ouch, ouch! Don't pull it, Mistella!" I swung my wing vigorously to escape from Mistella's tugging and flew above.

"You can only fly? That is disappointing. It doesn't seem like the feather of a bird so it's Paramecia Devil Fruit, let's call it a Feather Feather Fruit," Ban lost interest in my Devil Fruit after seeing its ability and went back to his business.

The Devil Fruit, overhearing Ban's remark sounded distressed. "I'm sorry Heylail-san, I fear this is all I can offer you. I have disappointed your expectations..."

"No, this is great! I've always wanted to fly! Ahyahyahyahya! I can fly!!!!" using my nerves expanded across every single feather, I tested things around and moved my wings only to find out that I could control even my feathers separated from my wing and use them to hover in the sky without using my wings.

I settled onto a cluster of feathers and retracted my wings. In the vast sky, I was alone, yet for the first time in my life, I felt that solitude could be comforting. Surrounded by the clouds, I enjoyed the view from up above, as I played with the fluffy feathers below me.

"Let's continue our introduction, soulmate!" I don't know if I used the words correctly but I called the Devil Fruit within me as my soulmate because because they would likely be with me for the rest of my life.

"Yes!" The gentle, sweet voice inside me responded with delight.