Chapter 19: Accepting the Fruit Power

Early chapters here and unreleased novels here: pa.treon.com/FFAddict

The Hancock sisters' cries caught Saint Charlos's attention, but he merely glanced in their direction before dismissing them, not caring whether Hiro lived or died, and continued walking to his room with his wife.

Hancock turned her pleading gaze to the others, but all she received in return were cold eyes. Just as she felt utterly helpless, a CP0 agent with a knife walked over. "He's fine, just exhausted and passed out... This is when he's most vulnerable, protect him well!"

After finishing his statement, Knife-wielding CP0 didn't linger and turned to leave. For Hancock, having someone inform her of Hiro's condition was enough. She thanked the CP0 agent and joined her sisters, who were supporting Hiro, while she stood guard.

Upon returning to their cell, Hancock had her sisters help Hiro to the corner where they usually slept. After covering him with a cloak, she stood guard in front of Hiro and her sisters, keeping a wary eye on their surroundings. For them, there was no safe place in Holy Land Mariejois. Without Hiro, they could hardly get a good night's sleep.

At this time, Hiro was undergoing a mysterious process. The power of his Devil Fruit began to act upon his body. The powers of absorption and reflection alternated, continuously forging his body, muscles, and cells. His reflection power continuously inflicted damage on his body, but his absorption power absorbed the damage caused by the reflection power, making Hiro's body constantly experience a cycle of damage and recovery.

His body, through cycles of damage and recovery, was gradually getting stronger. After a short while, a black oil-like substance began to seep from Hiro's pores. As the oil secretion increased, it enveloped Hiro's body, making him appear as if he was wearing black armor.

The frequent use of his fruit power during the battle and pushing it to its limits led the Devil Fruit to accept Hiro as its owner, a blessing in disguise. Gaining acceptance from the Devil Fruit allowed Hiro to unleash stronger powers, raising his damage absorption limit and stored reflective energy limit.

If previously Hiro's absorption and reflection limits were set at one, after the Devil Fruit's acceptance and modification, these limits would be increased to three. This seemingly small increase from one to three in fact triples Hiro's defensive and reflective powers, effectively tripling his overall strength. If the current Hiro were to face those five opponents again, he certainly wouldn't be sent flying. This meant that those five individuals would be unable to break through Hiro's defense.

The next morning, Hiro woke up feeling completely refreshed after a long sleep. However, when he opened his eyes, he was met with complete darkness. "Am I... blind?" This thought immediately reminded Hiro of his unconscious state the night before. Could someone have blinded him while he was unconscious? As he hastily rose to figure out what was happening, the black armor encasing him disintegrated into fragments, scattering on the floor.

As the black armor shattered, so did Hiro's clothes. This meant that, the moment Hiro rose, a completely unclothed man appeared in the cell. "Ah!!!" Seeing Hiro in this state, Hancock screamed, covering her face with her fingers while peeking at Hiro.

Understandably, Hiro was helpless. He could only rise and approach the other slaves in the cell. After a 'friendly conversation', a slave of a similar size to Hiro decided to donate his clothes for the newly formed 'friendship'. Once dressed, Hiro noticed several life-like human statues in the cell. From their expressions, he could guess what had happened the night before.

Hiro approached Hancock and said seriously, "Thank you!" Hancock shyly lowered her head, unable to look at Hiro, who seemed even more handsome for some reason. "Hu... helping each other is... expected!" Originally, Hancock wanted to say that there was no need for thanks between a husband and wife. However, realizing that she and Hiro had not yet confirmed their relationship, she hurriedly corrected herself.

Seeing Hancock's shy and cute appearance, Hiro couldn't help but ruffle her hair. Just as he was planning to tease Hancock a little more, the knife-wielding CP0 appeared at the cell door. "Come, it's time for today's training!"

"Alright!" After bidding Hancock farewell, Hiro left the cell and accompanied the CP0 agent to the training area.

Once they reached the training ground, the CP0 agent didn't start the practice as usual but stared at Hiro for a long time, making Hiro think he had something dirty on his face. Just as Hiro was about to check, the CP0 agent spoke. "You're too weak!" "Huh?"

"You're too weak. The pirates you dealt with yesterday only had bounties of 10 to 20 million Berries. They're just small fries in the grand scheme of things. Yet you fought them and ended up unconscious. Moreover, given your condition, if Charlemagne hadn't been impatient and shot the slave himself, if that boxer had been a bit braver and attacked you directly, you'd be dead!"

Hiro's face twitched uncontrollably. Come on, Arlong, who had occupied Nami's village for several years, was also worth only 20 million Berries! But for CP0, such a person was indeed a small fry. In the New World, such people could only be errand runners. But... I was an ordinary person just a few days ago. Now, being able to defeat four or five pirates with bounties of ten to twenty million Berries is quite impressive, right?

"You're too weak. So, let's double the training. Complete 5000 push-ups, 5000 squats, 5000 sit-ups, and lift a 100-kilogram weight 1000 times. You can leave when you're done!"

"What?"

Hiro was dumbfounded. Was this amount of training achievable for a human? And all in a single day? Were they trying to make him into a muscle devil? He was still a child!!!