The evening breeze carried a pleasant chill as a bonfire roared to life in the center of Diwen Village, sparks drifting upward into the darkening sky.
Several of the village's strongest young men had taken part in the battle at Marine Base 175 and returned with minor injuries. To recover their strength, the Village Elders had decided on a feast, and the barbecue that had been prepared all afternoon began early, filling the air with smoke, laughter, and the rich scent of roasted meat.
Ash sat among them, his expression stiff with unmistakable embarrassment.
He had intended to sit as far away from Pini as possible. Instead, under the watchful eyes of the elders, he was placed right in the middle of the group.
To his left sat Sali, the undisputed big brother of the village. To his right was Pini, who kept biting back laughter every time his gaze landed on Ash. Nearby were Youki, scowling as he prodded a sore jaw, Dicken with his clouded eye, and the unmistakably rough-looking Daly Three Brothers.
It was the exact same group that had gone to Marine Base 175 the day before.
Clearly, in the eyes of the Village Elders, Ash counted as someone who needed to eat well and recover.
And honestly, he did not mind at all.
His delight had nothing to do with cheats, systems, or transmigration.
In his previous life, Ash had been an orphan for as long as he could remember. Because of that, he understood something very clearly.
(All Transmigrators are orphan👀)
In any world, no one owed him kindness.
Which meant that when kindness was given freely, it was worth more than gold.
He had been abandoned as a child and later discovered by a passerby who sent him to an orphanage. There was no cruel director there, no malicious volunteers, no bullies hiding in the corners. Everyone was kind. Everyone tried their best.
Part of that, he knew, was because he had been a pleasant child. He was quick-witted, well-spoken, and knew how to make people smile.
At eighteen, he left the orphanage and entered an ordinary local university with excellent grades. An elderly professor, learning of his background, quietly paid his tuition for all four years.
Ash never disappointed him.
Every semester, he earned scholarships without fail, proving that the old man's trust had been well placed.
After graduation, he rode the rise of short-video platforms, founded a small media company with friends from the orphanage, and threw himself into live streaming. Whatever genre was popular, they adapted. With his natural charisma, the channel grew steadily, and before long he became a well-known travel streamer, broadcasting from one country to the next.
Looking back, every step he had climbed was built on the kindness of others.
So he understood it well. He recognized kindness easily, cherished it deeply, and returned it without hesitation.
The orphanage director wanted the children to grow up healthy and happy, so Ash did exactly that, and later became one of the orphanage's benefactors.
The professor hoped he would succeed, or at least live with dignity, so Ash carried that expectation forward, funding students from poor backgrounds year after year.
Kindness was not weakness. It was a choice, a quiet strength buried deep in human nature.
And right now, his way of responding to that kindness was very simple.
Eat.
Eat seriously.
Eat without holding back.
Ash lowered his head and focused entirely on the food.
Absolutely not because Pini's stare was making his scalp tingle.
Old people loved seeing kids eat. Just look at how round and glossy the cats and dogs raised by the elders always were.
And to be fair, the barbecue was incredible.
The centerpiece was a small Sea King that Sali and the village's toughest fighters had hunted in less than half a day. Around it were wild boar, bear meat, bison, and goat, all roasted to perfection.
In short, it was nothing but meat.
"No wonder these guys are monsters," Ash muttered inwardly as grease coated his lips. "They hunt Sea Kings for dinner. Of course they are built like this."
This was the world of One Piece, after all.
Here, you truly were what you ate.
Bones broken? Drink milk. Injured? Eat meat. If it did not work, then you had not eaten enough.
Eat more.
Train Life Return, eat even more, and grow stronger.
With the young men of Diwen Village eating Sea Kings every few days, their physical strength was no mystery.
The only problem was technique. Their fighting style was raw and instinctive. If Sali and the others had received proper combat training, Langguan Kamberna of the Wolf-Guzzling Pirates would never have escaped.
Pini had mentioned Kamberna turning into a massive beast during the fight, and Ash immediately understood.
A Zoan Type Devil Fruit.
More specifically, the Inu Inu no Mi, Model Wolverine.
In the One Piece world, pirate crews were often named after their captain's Devil Fruit. Wolf-Guzzling was simply a crude nickname for the wolverine.
Ash had once worked as a science-popularization streamer. He knew exactly what kind of creature that was.
The wolverine, also known as the glutton of the north, was smaller than a bear but far more vicious than its size suggested. Fast, aggressive, and fearless, even wolves avoided it.
Still, at the end of the day, it was just an ordinary Zoan.
Not everyone was Rob Lucci.
And with the Devil Fruit Editor in hand, Ash had no intention of taking common Zoans seriously.
Yes, he was that confident.
Earlier, Pini's sudden appearance had interrupted his system research. But on the way to the bonfire, Ash had still managed to glimpse the core interface of the Devil Fruit Editor.
The structure was clean and straightforward.
[Paramecia Fruit Edit Page]
[Logia Fruit Edit Page]
[Zoan Fruit Edit Page]
Each page was expandable. Zoan even had Ancient and Mythical subcategories.
Creating any Devil Fruit required 100 energy points.
Ash currently had exactly 100.
A follow-up query revealed several details that left him quietly thrilled.
First, Devil Fruits created by the editor were not weakened by seawater or Sea Stone. The so-called Sea's Secret Treasure truly lived up to its name.
Second, whenever someone consumed a fruit he created, Ash automatically gained 60 percent of that fruit's base ability.
That explained the "Subordinate Fruit Ability" line on his panel.
Sixty percent was not small at all.
Most Devil Fruit abilities overlapped in nature. Fire, strength, enhancement, transformation. Stack enough similar abilities together, and the result would surpass even famous fruits like the Mera Mera no Mi.
And that was without training those abilities at all.
In simple terms, the more Devil Fruits he designed and distributed, the stronger he became.
There was no possibility of a fruit user surpassing the creator.
That kind of absurdity was not allowed.
Finally, and most importantly, the energy powering editor-created fruits came from the system itself. When a user died, the fruit did not reincarnate somewhere in the world. It returned directly to the system.
Ash would need to redesign it, but it also meant he could grant power and revoke it at will.
Loyalty problems ceased to exist.
If the cabin had not been so close to the bonfire, leaving him no time to finalize his first design, he would have been even more pleased.
As for why he had not worked on it during the feast?
Because good food and genuine warmth deserved full attention.
The flashing red "WEAKENED / HUNGRY" status on his panel was completely irrelevant.
Chewing Sea King meat, Ash let his thoughts wander, a smile slowly creeping across his face.
"Kid," Pini said suddenly, noticing the grin, "what are you smiling about this time?"
All eyes turned toward Ash.
"…Why do you keep staring at me?" Ash swallowed hard and answered quickly, "Nothing. The food is just really good."
Sali laughed loudly. "Then eat more. The more meat you eat, the tougher you get."
"Don't worry, Uncle Sali," Ash said brightly. "I can eat a lot."
Sali's smile froze. "I am twenty-four. Uncle is pushing it."
Dicken and the Daly Three Brothers burst into laughter.
Youki did not laugh. His tooth still hurt.
Pini also did not laugh. His face darkened slightly. "This brat called me uncle at the Marine base too."
The laughter doubled.
When things finally settled, Sali looked at Ash seriously. "We never asked. What is your name? How old are you? And do you remember how you ended up on our island?"
Ash straightened slightly.
"Let me introduce myself properly,"
he said. "My name is Ash. I am thirteen years old. I do not remember how I arrived here. But I am genuinely grateful to everyone in the village. You are all warm people."
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