Haas took a massive bite of the fruit.
He immediately gagged, his face turning a sickly shade of green. It tasted like rotting flesh mixed with battery acid. He forced himself to swallow it down, coughing violently.
Corro stepped forward next. Without a word of hesitation, the massive man grabbed the jagged, apple-like fruit and devoured it in three bites.
Tarro, Finn, and Kael exchanged a single look of absolute resolve. They reached into the box. Finn took the yellow, elongated fruit. Kael took the deep blue one. Tarro took the darkest one, a purple fruit covered in jagged whorls. They ate. They choked. They swallowed.
Haas looked at Elara, who was leaning against the vault door, reloading her revolvers. There were no fruits left, but he knew she wouldn't have taken one anyway.
"You're not partaking, Elara?" Haas asked, wiping his mouth.
"Someone has to be able to swim to fish you idiots out of the ocean when you inevitably fall in," Elara replied coldly, spinning the cylinders of her guns and holstering them. "Besides, I prefer my steel. I don't need a demon inside me to pull a trigger."
Suddenly, Finn dropped to his knees, clutching his stomach. "Argh! It... it burns! My blood is boiling!"
A horrific, tearing sound echoed through the vault. Finn's screams morphed into a deep, guttural howl. Thick, coarse gray fur violently erupted from his skin. His face elongated, his jaw snapping and restructuring into a terrifying, slavering snout. His fingernails elongated into razor-sharp claws that gouged deep grooves into the stone floor. Within seconds, the young Marine was gone, replaced by a massive, bipedal wolf.
The Dog-Dog Fruit: Model Wolf. "Finn...?" Kael gasped, taking a step back from his transformed brother.
But then Kael arched his back, a sharp cry escaping his lips. His arms violently contorted, bones snapping and resetting. Feathers—brilliant, aerodynamic brown and white plumage—burst from his flesh. His nose hooked into a razor-sharp beak, and his eyes dilated into the terrifying, hyper-focused golden stare of a predator.
The Bird-Bird Fruit: Model Eagle.
Corro let out a low, rumbling bellow that shook the very dust from the vault ceiling. His already massive frame expanded grotesquely. Thick, impenetrable gray hide replaced his skin. A massive, deadly horn erupted from the bridge of his nose, and his boots shredded as his feet transformed into heavy hooves. He was a walking tank.
The Ox-Ox Fruit: Model Rhinoceros.
Tarro remained completely silent, but his transformation was the most unnerving. His body became impossibly sleek. Jet-black fur consumed him. His muscles coiled with explosive, lethal tension, and a long, whip-like tail lashed out behind him. He dropped to all fours, his green eyes glowing in the darkness.
The Cat-Cat Fruit: Model Black Panther.
Haas watched his men transform into a menagerie of lethal beasts. He looked down at his own hands. He didn't sprout fur. He didn't gain a snout.
But he felt an intense, overwhelming pressure building inside his muscles, specifically in his legs and forearms. It was a terrifying kinetic tension, like a coil wound so tightly it was begging to snap.
Haas squeezed his fist.
CH-CH-CH-CHUNK.
With a sound like heavy machinery, Haas's forearm completely restructured. The flesh and bone spiraled inward, transforming into a thick, highly compressed steel spring.
Haas's eyes widened. He understood immediately. The infamous pirate Bellamy the Hyena had died in Mock Town, he remembered, and his power had reincarnated. The Bane Bane no Mi. The Spring-Spring Fruit.
But Haas was a seasoned Marine Captain, trained in Rokushiki martial arts, not a brawling street pirate. His mind instantly began to calculate the lethal physics of his new body.
Springs are not just for bouncing, like Bellamy Haas realized, staring at his coiled arm. According to Rear Admiral Light's Training, something like this... if I compress the spring tightly enough and release it at the exact point of impact... it isn't just a punch. It's an 'impact'.
Haas turned to the massive, five-foot-thick solid seastone and iron vault door that they had just picked open.
He compressed his right arm, pushing the spring down until it was a tight, vibrating disc of tension against his bicep. He stepped forward and thrust his fist directly into the center of the heavy iron door, releasing the spring at the exact millisecond of contact.
BOOOOOOM!
The sound was like a cannon firing inside a tin can. The release of the kinetic vibration shattered the molecular bonds of the iron. A massive, spiderwebbing crater erupted in the center of the vault door, and the sheer force ripped the heavy hinges completely out of the stone wall. The ton of iron flew backward, crashing into the corridor outside.
Haas looked at his fist, vibrating gently. A terrifying, predatory smile stretched across his face.
He turned to his squad of Zoan monsters.
"The vault is empty," Haas ordered, his voice echoing with demonic authority. "Now, we return to the surface. And we show the world the teeth of the Smiling Reaper."