Terrified, Buggy's round red nose began to run.
The moment he saw Ayame, he started trembling like a startled cat. As for the spider demon... that had to do with Ayame's Oni form.
Zoan・Spider Fruit, Widow Spider Form.
In other words, what people commonly called the black widow spider.
Ayame's Oni form had two variations. One was a form with a human upper body and a massive spider lower body, while the other was more humanoid, with several spider arms extending from her back.
Originally, Ren had thought that an Oni created with Reception Magic could only have one form, but it later proved this assumption was incorrect. If an Oni successfully mastered the Rokushiki technique, Life Return, they could make certain modifications to their initial Oni form.
However, the difficulty of Life Return far exceeded that of Rokushiki itself, and even now, very few people had mastered it.
Putting that aside, it was clear that Ayame had left a terrifying impression on Buggy and Enel, to the point that the two children froze in place the moment they saw her.
Ayame gave a cold snort and said icily, "I don't know who told you that pretending to meow would get you past security when sneaking in, but I overheard your little plans back at the foot of the mountain!"
Ayame was clearly exaggerating, but she had indeed noticed Buggy and Enel when they were sneaking toward the high pavilion.
"Go on, what exactly are you trying to do?"
"W-Walking..." Enel quickly said in a small voice.
"Walking?" Ayame's vivid lips curled into a smile. She looked incredibly beautiful, like a rose with poisonous thorns. But Buggy and Enel weren't at an age to appreciate beauty; they only felt the spider's thorns drawing closer.
"I'll tell you this, you can say whatever you want, but I'll decide how to deal with you based on your answer."
Hearing this, Buggy and Enel's eyes instantly widened in terror, looking like four fried eggs.
"We're dead for sure! It's all your fault, you nasty red-nosed fool! I told you not to go!" Enel shamelessly started snitching.
Buggy's nose turned red with anger from his words, and while still hanging in the air, he frantically kicked his short little legs and reached out to tug his ear.
"You betrayed me, you nasty long-eared fool!"
Ayame wasn't in the mood to watch two clowns perform in the middle of the night, so she directly used the spider silk that had grown from her hand to tie them up and hang them from the eaves.
"You two can reflect on this for now. Hopefully, you'll be cooperative enough to answer me properly tomorrow morning." Ayame tossed this over her shoulder and turned to leave.
Watching this terrifying female demon leave, Buggy breathed a sigh of relief this time. He'd rather hang all night than face her again.
"Buggy, what do we do now? We still won't be able to escape tomorrow." Enel was clearly a bit smarter than Buggy.
"You have the nerve to say that, you traitor!" Buggy gritted his teeth, staring fiercely at Enel. The more he looked at this kid, the more he disliked him, and the angrier he became!
So he simply started swinging in mid-air and then hurled himself toward Enel.
...
By the next morning, Buggy and Enel, who had been hanging all night, began their public execution.
Now it wasn't just Ayame, but also Yuriko, Matsuri, and others who had discovered them.
"Alright, now you can tell us what two little schemes you two brats were hatching, right?" Ayame was wearing a black kimono today with bright red patterns embroidered on it, looking like fresh blood.
Iris, who was a few years older than Buggy and Enel, followed behind Ayame, covering her mouth as she watched their predicament with amusement.
"We were looking for those fruits with weird patterns... Buggy said they were Devil Fruits." Enel's eyes were brimming with tears. Being hung all night wasn't the worst part; the worst part was that bastard Buggy swinging over on the spider silk and biting his ear.
Just in one night, his earlobe was already covered in bite marks.
"Devil Fruits?" Yuriko asked in surprise. She never expected these two children's target to be this. In recent years, Ren had indeed found many Devil Fruits.
With intentional searching, they had found numerous Paramecia and Logia Devil Fruits, and even one Mythical Zoan.
Among these fruits, some were indeed prepared for Buggy and Enel, but originally Ren hadn't planned for them to become Devil Fruit users so soon.
However, since these two children were interested, Yuriko thought it might be a good idea to let them choose a fruit early.
A sharp spider arm extended from Ayame's back. The spider arm, like a spear tip, sliced through the air in a black shadow, cutting the spider silk binding Buggy and Enel.
The two children immediately fell to the ground, clutching their heads and howling in pain.
"Matsuri, go to the ninth floor and bring those Paramecia Devil Fruits here." Yuriko instructed. She only mentioned Paramecia because there was no need to eat Zoan fruits; Ren would find the right time for the two of them to become Oni.
"Understood." Matsuri nodded and turned to walk up to the pavilion. Saori followed behind her, intending to help.
Soon, they came back down with several fruits.
"See, Long Ears? I told you there were Devil Fruits!" Buggy exclaimed excitedly upon seeing the fruits, prodding Enel with his elbow.
Enel was still angry about his sore ear and ignored him.
Buggy didn't care and continued on his own: "Look at their appearance, they obviously look evil!"
"Just as you said, this is the Devil Fruit. Eat this, and you'll gain demonic power." Yuriko said.
"Demonic power?! With this power, won't Buggy-daddy be invincible?" Buggy clenched his fists, his eyes shining. He was already planning to eat all these fruits, not leaving a single one for the traitor Enel.
Even Enel showed a look of longing.
"From the left, they are the Bomb-Bomb Fruit, Slip-Slip Fruit, Chew-Chew Fruit, Clone-Clone Fruit, Glint-Glint Fruit, Chop-Chop Fruit, and the Flower-Flower Fruit."
Actually, Ren's harvest during this period wasn't limited to these, but some fruits had already been consumed.
"After eating the Devil Fruit, you'll gain demonic power, but correspondingly, you'll be cursed and become unable to swim. So, what do you say? Want to eat it or not? The same goes for you, Iris." Yuriko reached out and stroked Iris's head.
"Is there even a question? Buggy-daddy will definitely gain demonic power, then follow Lord Ren to sea and help Lord Ren rule the world, hahaha!" Buggy boldly reached out and grabbed the Chop-Chop Fruit, then took a big bite.
"Blech!"
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