"Successful Summon: You have obtained one Thunder Fruit."
"Thunder Fruit: A Logia-type Devil Fruit from the world of One Piece. After consumption, the user can transform their body into lightning, becoming immune to ordinary physical attacks. The user can freely release high-voltage electric currents for offensive attacks and move at the speed of lightning. The fruit can also enhance Observation Haki through radio-wave amplification. If the user is fatally injured, they may even restart their own heart with electricity and revive themselves. Warning: consuming this fruit will curse the user with the weakness of the sea."
In Ethan Blake's hand appeared a blue pineapple-shaped fruit. Its peel was covered with swirling patterns resembling flashes of lightning.
The first thought that popped into Ethan's mind was unexpectedly about Pietro. If sacrificing Pietro's hairline meant Pietro would slowly become bald, Ethan wondered whether losing his hair might somehow make the guy stronger. Of course, if Pietro really became stronger later and came looking for trouble, that would be a different story.
Fortunately for Ethan, Pietro had absolutely no idea what had happened.
What confused Ethan even more was the pattern behind the summons. Every time Pietro was used as a sacrifice, something incredible appeared. Was Pietro secretly blessed with absurd luck? Was he some hidden "chosen one" of fortune?
Ethan quickly pushed the thought aside. Whatever the reason, the conclusion was simple. Pietro clearly had tremendous sacrificial value. If summoning again in the future, sacrificing Pietro was obviously the correct strategy. Perhaps this was Pietro's true purpose in life.
With that philosophical conclusion reached, Ethan focused his attention on the Thunder Fruit in his hand. The fruit's blue surface shimmered faintly, and the lightning-like symbols across its skin seemed almost alive.
However, there was still a problem.
Devil Fruits carried a curse. Once eaten, the user would lose the ability to swim and become helpless in seawater.
If Ethan had summoned the Thunder Fruit two or three years earlier, he probably would have eaten it without hesitation. At that time, gaining such immense power would have outweighed any weakness.
But things were different now.
The fruit's power was extremely tempting, but Ethan was unwilling to accept such an obvious weakness in exchange. Losing the ability to handle seawater could become a fatal flaw in the future.
Fortunately, Ethan already had a solution.
He reached into his golden storage space and retrieved the Woodcutter's Spring.
The magical spring only had two uses remaining. Each use was unimaginably valuable, practically priceless.
Still, Ethan felt the Thunder Fruit was worthy of spending one of those opportunities.
Without hesitation, he tossed the fruit into the spring.
Ripples spread across the water, and bubbles began rising slowly to the surface. Soon, a colorful glow emerged from the depths. From within the glowing water rose the Woodcutter's Goddess, wearing a wreath of flowers like a figure straight out of Greek mythology.
In her hands, she held a shining Thunder Fruit.
Smiling gently, she asked in a soft voice filled with temptation, "Young man, did you drop this perfect Thunder Fruit?"
Her voice carried an almost hypnotic charm, as if urging Ethan to simply answer yes.
But Ethan had learned his lesson from the previous encounter. The instant the goddess spoke, he activated a skill.
Ragnarök.
For the next six seconds, he was completely immune to any form of mental control. The seductive pressure from her voice vanished instantly.
"No," Ethan answered firmly.
The Woodcutter's Goddess smiled brightly at his response.
"You are an honest young man," she said warmly. "Then this perfect Thunder Fruit shall be yours."
She placed the sparkling fruit into Ethan's hands.
Moments later, the goddess slowly sank back beneath the water, and the spring returned to its calm state.
"One chance left now," Ethan muttered as he returned the Woodcutter's Spring to his storage space.
He checked the Thunder Fruit's description again.
As expected, the warning about the sea's curse had disappeared.
Now that the fruit was completely free of side effects, Ethan had no reason to hesitate any longer.
He took a bite.
The moment the fruit touched his tongue, Ethan froze.
Before eating it, he had mentally prepared for the worst. Devil Fruits were infamous for tasting horrible. He had braced himself for something comparable to eating spoiled garbage.
But reality was completely different.
The flavor was unbelievably delicious.
Ethan couldn't tell whether the Woodcutter's Spring had removed the curse alone or also improved the taste. Whatever the reason, the fruit was easily the most delicious thing he had ever eaten.
Originally, he had planned to take just one bite and store the rest away.
Instead, he devoured the entire fruit in several quick bites, including the peel. After finishing, he smacked his lips slightly, still feeling that it wasn't quite enough.
A surge of energy flowed through his body.
Ethan raised his hand, and his entire arm instantly transformed into blue lightning.
With a single thought, his body flashed forward.
In the blink of an eye, he appeared ten meters away.
It wasn't teleportation. Instead, his body had turned into lightning and moved at roughly 300,000 kilometers per second. Over short distances, the effect was almost indistinguishable from teleportation.
Blue electric arcs danced across his body. The visual effect alone looked incredibly impressive.
If he stood beside Thor right now and claimed to be the God of Thunder, no one would question it.
In fact, Ethan felt the title suited him better than Thor. Thor mostly relied on his hammer to control lightning. Ethan, on the other hand, had become lightning itself. If anyone deserved the name God of Thunder, it was definitely him.
Thor might as well be called the God of Hammers instead.
Ethan continued testing his new abilities.
When he released his Observation Haki, the radio-wave amplification effect immediately became clear. His detection range expanded dramatically. What had previously been a limit of roughly seven hundred meters suddenly stretched outward to nearly seven thousand meters.
The increase was staggering.
Next, Ethan teleported to a deserted island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.
Lightning crackled across his entire body as he floated above the island. Raising his hands, he began releasing electricity continuously into the sky. The lightning gathered into thick storm clouds above him.
Gradually, the thunderclouds reached their limit.
Then the lightning began to fall.
Bolts of thunder rained down like a storm of destruction, striking the island below with relentless fury.
Minutes later, the small island—several square kilometers in size—was completely erased from existence. The landmass vanished beneath the Pacific Ocean as if it had never been there.
The Thunder Fruit truly deserved its reputation as one of the strongest Devil Fruits.
The destructive power was comparable to the legendary Quake Fruit.
Even more exciting were the possibilities for further development.
Since the Thunder Fruit could amplify Observation Haki using radio waves, that meant electromagnetic waves were already part of its abilities. If the power were developed further, it might eventually allow full control over electromagnetic forces.
And electromagnetism was one of the four fundamental forces of the universe.
The thought alone made Ethan's heart race.
Living creatures possessed biomagnetic fields, and metals possessed magnetic properties as well. If he pushed the Thunder Fruit to its absolute limits, he might eventually manipulate metal just like Magneto.
Of course, that level of mastery would require long-term experimentation.
Still, Ethan was extremely satisfied with his first test of the fruit's power.
After finishing his experiments, he teleported back home.
Not long after he left the destroyed island, a S.H.I.E.L.D. Quinjet arrived at the location. The explosion of energy earlier had been large enough for satellites to detect unusual activity.
Unfortunately for S.H.I.E.L.D., their investigation revealed nothing except a mysteriously vanished island.
Early the next morning, Pietro—who had recently moved out—came rushing to Ethan's house with a panicked expression.
"What's wrong, Pietro?" Ethan asked curiously.
"I need a favor," Pietro said anxiously.
"What happened? Just say it," Ethan replied. "Don't forget, we're family."
Pietro hesitated for a moment before speaking. "You work with the FBI. I want you to help me find someone. I know it might be illegal, but…"
He looked embarrassed. Asking for help felt wrong, but he clearly didn't know what else to do.
"No problem," Ethan said casually. "Who do you want to investigate?"
Whether it was technically legal didn't matter to him at all. He had already bent the rules countless times.
"My girlfriend," Pietro said. "I can't find her."
The moment those words left Pietro's mouth, Ethan felt his heart skip a beat.
No way.
Last time he had sacrificed Pietro's romantic luck for the next life during a summoning ritual. Could the effect really have started already?
Then another thought struck him.
Ethan slowly looked up at Pietro's head.
After studying it carefully, he asked cautiously, "Pietro… when you woke up this morning, did you notice more hair falling out than usual?"
After all, during the Thunder Fruit summoning yesterday, Ethan had sacrificed Pietro's hairline.
....
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