Chapter 2: The Fruit

It had been 4 days since the attack, and I was still struggling to find a way to become strong. I had never been too productive in my life, and my resolve was weak. I came to that conclusion after realizing that without a carrot or stick, I would never get anything done if it was too hard. That is why I was facing this intimidating, glowing object. A special devil fruit they called it. Normally the elders rarely had anything to do with the other nobles, but my case was a different. A celestial dragon had never been attacked before, so there was no precedent for providing compensation.

Furthermore, a celestial dragon had never requested to eat a devil fruit because they had all wanted to rest on their laurels despite being weak. The Elders had no idea what it did, but they knew that whoever ate it died a couple days later. Despite warning me of the dangers, I still wanted to eat it.

"Michael L. Edward, are you sure you want to eat this fruit? No one has ever survived eating it. Will your pursuit of strength truly lead you into taking such risks?" One of the elders said, warning me of the dangers.

"It's fine, I'll just be the first to survive, won't I? It can't be that hard." I replied, and looked back at the glowing fruit.

They classified the devil fruit as special because of the unknown powers it gives, and it's appearance. No other devil fruit glowed, and no other devil fruit removed the user's existence from the world.

I picked it up carefully, as if it was glass, and prepared myself to take a bite.

'I was told these things taste disgusting, I hope I don't puke'

I closed my eyes and took a bite.

It tasted like flowers, surprisingly, and in shock I opened my eyes. What greeted me was a hell scape, with a ruler looking down at me from a throne of ice and fire.

It was tall, abnormally so, and its presence was domineering. It had three horns, two surrounding his head like a crown, and one protruding forward out into the black sky. They were black as the abyss, in contrast with his glowing gold skin. Those key details were they only thing that distinguished him from a human.

He leaned forward on his throne in interest. "So another one ate my fruit huh?"

"Y-yes sir."

'Why am I stuttering? And why did I call him sir?'

"I should explain what that fruit of yours does, shouldn't I? Well, I'll give you the rundown."

I was surprised, because despite his appearance and my surroundings the man was quite courteous. "Thank you, I appreciate it."

"Haha! That's a new one, I haven't ever heard your kind say thank you before!" His laugh was booming, shaking my entire body with it's volume and depth, then it suddenly stopped.

"Alright listen up. I am the most powerful devil in hell, my name is Apep therefore giving me the most powerful devil fruit, the one you just ate. It is called the world-world fruit, and it allows you to go to multiple worlds, and assimilate with them. When I say assimilate, it means that all former powers are sealed and you gain one power from that world."

(On google, the god Apep is a name for the snake of chaos, I chose it because the snake represents one of the three poisons in Buddhism.)

"Sealed? What does that mean? Also, do I get to choose my powers?"

"Sealed means you are unable to use your powers from other worlds. and no, you don't get to choose your powers. However, you will be granted information on the world that you enter, and what power you get."

"Will I keep my body?" I asked, as I was personally a fan of it. I was lean, by no means muscular, but quite handsome, with an angled nose, and slicked back, red hair. My eyes were purple, and angled, and I had quite the smile if I do say so myself.

"You will keep your body if you so choose, however being reborn for every world will give you a higher understanding gained through experience, rather than just an info dump in your head which might be more beneficial, given your lack of experience in affairs not concerning the wealthy."

This confused me, would my appearance remain the same once I grew up, or would I have a different face every time?

"Can I choose to maintain the appearance I have but grow into it instead of just being immediately moved to a different world?"

"Sure, that seems reasonable, but be forewarned, the challenges you face will be great, and all who have faced my trials have broken in defeat. The path ahead will be arduous but I believe you can do it."

"Thanks, that means a lot, I guess? I don't really know you so it is weird having a random demon talk about me like I'm his son"

"You're welcome! Of course I said that to everyone else too, but whatever."

"What did you just say?" I couldn't exactly hear the last part but it seemed pretty important.

"Oh, nothing!" he coughed and waved his hand dispelling any other questions I had.

"Now then, what is your choice, would you like to be reborn, or moved as you are now?"

"I'll be reborn." I responded immediately, because I wanted as much information on my future world as possible.

"Very well, Michael L. Edward, have a good trip" Apep said as he waved me away.

An unknown force sucked me away as I wondered 'How did he know my name?'

The force put me in a vortex, with absence of light, smell, taste, sound and only the occassional jiggle, until after an unknow amount of time I was pushed out again, the sudden influx of light blinding me forcing out a wailing cry. Sensory overload caused me to be unaware of my surroundings as I continued to cry aloud.

After what seemed like a couple minutes I stopped crying.

"Look Ms. Tomahawk, its a beautiful baby boy!"

I finally realized that I had been reborn, and as a surge of knowledge came washing over me, I blacked out.