"A demon residing within the Devil Fruit?"
The revelation from Professor Clover sent a fresh wave of shock through the room. To an outsider, such a claim sounded like something pulled straight from a fairy tale for toddlers. Yet, the scholars of Ohara knew Clover better than anyone; he was not a man to joke about history.
As the Professor continued his explanation, the true nature of the Devil Fruits finally came into focus.
The reason "Ability Users" possessed such miraculous powers was simple: upon consuming the fruit, a literal demon entered their body. The human host was merely borrowing the demon's supernatural strength. However, this power came with a fundamental curse. These entities harbored an innate, primal fear of the world's oceans. The moment a demon merged with a host, that person—no matter how skilled a swimmer they once were—would instantly and permanently lose their ability to stay afloat in seawater.
Furthermore, these demons were functionally immortal. When a host died, the entity within did not perish. Instead, it would return to the "Devil Mother Tree" before reincarnating as a fruit somewhere else in the world, beginning the cycle anew.
Had Lin Xuan been present, many of his previous frustrations would have vanished. He had tried using the Edo Tenseito reincarnate deceased Ability Users in the past, only to find they had been stripped of their powers, their combat effectiveness plummeting. Even when he killed Blackbeard, his Rinnegan had detected a strange anomaly—something intangible escaping the corpse.
Those were the demons, abandoning their vessels.
Professor Clover's expression grew even more grim as he dropped a piece of information that made everyone's skin crawl.
"According to the records left by the ancients in the Poneglyphs, the Devil Mother Tree is not only a font of immense vitality, but it can also use these demons to exert total control over every Ability User. Every war and conflict eight hundred years ago was, in reality, orchestrated by the Mother Tree from behind the scenes!"
"What? How is that possible?"
Eyes widened in disbelief. Among those present, only Nico Robin and Konan were currently "living" beings, and their faces went pale. As Ability Users themselves, this revelation hit them like a physical blow.
"The records suggest the war of the Void Century lasted for an eternity," Clover continued. "The Mother Tree controlled every Ability User of that era, using them to topple the existing nations in an attempt to seize absolute dominion over the world. Afterward, every single controlled user died mysteriously. It is suspected that the Mother Tree purged them all to hide the truth of its influence."
A cold chill ran down the scholars' spines. To think a tree possessed such calculating malice and intelligence was terrifying.
"This," Clover sighed, "is the truth of the Hundred Year Void we have been searching for."
The scholars stood in a daze. They had spent their lives chasing a ghost, never imagining the reality was this monstrous.
"Professor," one scholar asked, "if the Mother Tree is so powerful, why has it remained hidden for eight hundred years? Why let the World Government rule in its stead?"
"Because while it is powerful, it is not invincible. The Poneglyphs mention that when the Mother Tree nearly conquered the world, a resistance movement mobilized the three Ancient Weapons: Uranus, Pluton, and Poseidon. The combined might of those three weapons managed to greivously wound the Mother Tree."
Clover gestured toward the horizon. "For the last eight centuries, the Mother Tree has likely been hiding deep beneath the Red Line to recover. It selected twenty guardians—the ancestors of the Celestial Dragons—to form the World Government specifically to protect it. The ancients believed that if the three weapons were united again, they might finally destroy the tree for good."
"Professor... can we trust these records?" Nico Robin asked, her voice trembling slightly.
Clover frowned. "I cannot say for certain. However, the one who left this specific Poneglyph was an ancestor of the 'D.' clan. He was the very man who led the charge and wounded the Mother Tree eight hundred years ago."
The room fell silent as they struggled to process the sheer weight of the information.
Suddenly, Robin's expression snapped to one of urgency. She turned to Konan. "Lady Konan, we have to warn the Chairman! They are fighting the World Government at Mary Geoise right now!"
Konan nodded. She didn't need the reminder; she was already preparing to transmit the data to the Akatsuki Chat Group via the multi-dimensional communication array.
However, back at the Holy Land of Mary Geoise, chaos had already erupted.
Boom!
"Kill them! Kill them all!"
"Damn it! Have you lost your mind? Why are you attacking us?"
"Captain! Wake up! What's happening to you?!"
The air was thick with the sounds of screaming and clashing steel. The battlefield had descended into a mindless bloodbath. The reason was horrifying: moments ago, every Devil Fruit Ability User on the field—regardless of whether they belonged to the New Era Alliance or the World Government—had suddenly snapped.
They were attacking anyone within reach, their eyes glazed and devoid of humanity. Even titans like Whitebeard, Sengoku, and Aokiji had succumbed, their rational minds extinguished as they fought like feral beasts.
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T/N:
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