"The only main mission is activating…"
"The only main mission…"
"Collect Devil Fruits…"
"Current progress: 20 out of 500."
"Reward: Unknown."
"..."
Ash stared at the panel in silence.
"System, are you serious?"
"So collecting 20 Devil Fruits is what triggers this mission. If I never collected them, this would never activate, right?"
"This feels exactly like when I first used Devil Fruit energy to activate you."
"You really live up to your style, using what I already have to push me forward."
The System remained silent.
Ash frowned. "That is all? No explanation?"
"At least give me proper mission details. Two lines and a hidden reward, that is it? That is way too careless."
He was already used to the System going quiet. Over the past three years in the pirate world, it rarely responded.
But this time was different. It released a main mission, and the only one at that, yet gave almost no information.
Recalling how it only responded to questions directly related to him, Ash adjusted his approach.
"Is this mission mandatory? Will there be a penalty if I ignore it?"
The System responded immediately.
"The only main mission…"
"Not mandatory…"
"The host may choose whether to complete it…"
Ash exhaled lightly. "Good. At least it is optional."
He glanced toward the battlefield. Nothing had changed. It was still a simple exchange of punches and kicks, nothing worth watching.
Leaving a brief message behind, Ash disappeared and returned to his room at the top of the Dawn ship.
He lay on the large bed, staring at the mission panel in thought.
Five hundred Devil Fruits.
He had only absorbed twenty in three years.
Even if the world contained more than five hundred, reaching that number would still be difficult.
Before his transmigration, only a little over two hundred Devil Fruits had appeared in the original story.
That did not even include many held by powerful figures like the Four Emperors, the Marines, and the World Government.
Even if he took everything by force, he would still fall far short.
"System, do artificial Devil Fruits count?"
"No."
Ash rubbed his head. "So this will take a long time."
He turned over impatiently. Why release such a mission now?
He was already nearly unmatched in this world. What kind of reward could justify such an effort?
Still, the unknown reward lingered in his mind.
A faint thought surfaced.
Maybe completing this mission would reveal the truth behind his arrival in this world.
That possibility alone was enough to stir his motivation again.
Ash sat up and began organizing everything he knew about Devil Fruits.
"Twenty absorbed so far. Aside from the unknown one that activated the System, there is the Bear-Bear Fruit, Model Wolverine, the Steaming Fruit from the cooking competition, and the Purple Ox Fruit from Sabaody Archipelago. The rest mostly come from known sources."
"From the battle with Gecko Moria, I obtained the Shadow-Shadow Fruit and the Clear-Clear Fruit."
"Sali defeated Enel and obtained the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. From the Donquixote Family, I collected the Flutter-Flutter Fruit, Stone-Stone Fruit, Bomb-Bomb Fruit, Arms-Arms Fruit, and Spin-Spin Fruit."
He nodded slightly. "The Donquixote Family contributed quite a lot. Doflamingo will be useful again later."
"Then there are the Ancient Zoans from the Flying Six, the Spinosaurus, Pachycephalosaurus, Saber-Tooth Tiger, and Triceratops Fruits. Robin's Flower-Flower Fruit replacement, and Yamato's Mythical Zoan, Okuchi no Makami."
Ash paused.
"That only adds up to eighteen. Where did the other two come from?"
He thought for a moment, then waved it off.
"Probably from random battles. The crew must have dealt with a few unknown users along the way."
The real reason was simple. He had not paid attention.
He rarely traveled with the ship or kept track of everything happening across his forces.
"But even after three years, the number is still low. Most of them are already known fruits. Finding the remaining hundreds will not be easy."
He leaned back slightly.
"Fortunately, I have multiple fleets searching for me."
After a brief pause, he continued organizing the known Devil Fruits.
"Logia types first."
"The Ice-Ice Fruit, Glint-Glint Fruit, Mag-Mag Fruit, and Smoke-Smoke Fruit are all with the Marines, held by the Admirals and Smoker. The Marines maintain balance across the seas, so dealing with them should come later."
"The Rumble-Rumble Fruit is already secured. The Flame-Flame Fruit is currently still available, but Ace will set sail soon, so I can deal with that later. The Dark-Dark Fruit has not appeared yet, so I will wait for Blackbeard."
"The Sand-Sand Fruit belongs to Crocodile. The Swamp-Swamp Fruit to Caribou. The Gas-Gas Fruit to Caesar Clown. The Forest-Forest Fruit will eventually go to Aramaki."
"The Revolutionary Army holds Dragon's Storm ability and Karasu's Soot-Soot Fruit. They are easier to negotiate with."
"Oh, and the Snow-Snow Fruit user, Monet. Not sure if she has eaten it yet."
"Right now, that makes fourteen Logia types."
"Next, Zoan types."
"Sixteen Mythical Zoans have appeared. The Five Elders and Fleet Admiral Sengoku's Human-Human Fruit, Model Daibutsu, can be left for later."
"Luffy's Human-Human Fruit, Model Nika. Marco's Phoenix Fruit. Catarina Devon's Nine-Tailed Fox."
Ash rubbed his temples.
"The rest are mostly in Wano."
"Kaido's Fish-Fish Fruit, Model Azure Dragon. Yamato's has already been taken. Orochi's Snake-Snake Fruit, Model Yamata no Orochi. And Onimaru's Human-Human Fruit, Model Onyudo."
"Kaido is right here, so that is settled. Orochi is in the Flower Capital, easy to find. Onimaru should still be in Ringo guarding Shimotsuki Ushimaru's grave."
He continued.
"Doc Q from the Blackbeard Pirates has the Horse-Horse Fruit, Model Pegasus. Not sure when he got it, which makes things complicated."
"He also has the Sick-Sick Fruit. Tracking him down before Blackbeard gathers his crew might be difficult."
Ash let out a breath.
"The hardest ones are the Bat-Bat Fruit, Model Vampire, and the Bake-danuki fruit. Their locations are completely unknown."
He lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
"This is going to be troublesome…"