Makoto looked down at Tesoro, who had collapsed and passed out, and said to Ai:
"Try using the Dark-Dark Fruit's ability to pull the Devil Fruit's soul out of his body."
Hearing this, Ai was a bit confused.
"Commander, what do you mean?"
Not only Ai, but Kotonoha, Yui, and all the other women nearby looked utterly perplexed.
'Could you even pull a Devil Fruit's soul out?'
Makoto smiled and explained, "The Dark-Dark Fruit has another special power… stealing a Devil Fruit from its user."
"A devil's soul dwells within every Devil Fruit. When a person eats a Devil Fruit, they essentially attach that soul to themselves. That's also why a person cannot eat two Devil Fruits… the two devil's souls inside them would reject each other."
"And after a user dies, the reason a Devil Fruit is reborn is that the demon soul detaches from the user's body, attaches to a new fruit, and transforms back into a Devil Fruit."
"One of the Dark-Dark Fruit's abilities is 'Gravity'… not just physically pulling a target towards you, but it can even pull the devil's soul out of a user's body, forcibly attach it to another fruit, and cause it to be reborn as a new Devil Fruit ahead of time."
After hearing this, everyone was dumbfounded.
They hadn't imagined the Dark-Dark Fruit had such an ability.
"That means..."
Sonoko looked in shock at Tesoro, discarded on the ground by Ai, thinking of something unbelievable.
Makoto nodded.
"The Gol-Gol Fruit is ours."
Upon hearing this, Baccarat and Tanaka, Tesoro's two Devil Fruit subordinates, turned deathly pale.
They exchanged a glance and then turned to run.
They both guessed what Makoto intended to do.
However, unfortunately for them, the young ladies under Makoto's command were now, for the most part, not to be trifled with.
Sensing their attempt to flee, Eriri casually took out the paintbrush tucked into her collar and waved it in the air.
The brush tip traced an elegant arc in the air. Several white cranes flew out from the painting, their sharp beaks like blades, pinning the two to the ground instantly.
"Ah—!"
Baccarat and Tanaka screamed simultaneously, unable to move.
This was the power of Eriri's Brush-Brush Fruit.
Eriri walked forward curiously and asked, "They're both so scared. They must be Devil Fruit users too, right?"
Makoto glanced at the two pinned on the ground and recalled.
"The Luck-Luck Fruit and the Through-Through Fruit."
"Luck-Luck Fruit? Through-Through Fruit?"
Kokoro tilted her little head.
"They don't seem very strong."
MaKotonohadded and explained, "The Luck-Luck Fruit's ability lets you absorb luck by touching others. It's very suitable for gambling. The Through-Through Fruit's ability allows you to pass through non-living objects."
In other words, it's a heavily nerfed version of Obito's ability.
"You should eat better ones. Don't bother with these third-rate fruits."
Makoto felt that these two abilities were the type that were 'not worth eating but a shame to discard'.
For example, with Tanaka's Through-Through Fruit, although it might visually resemble Obito's ability in a fight, allowing the user to phase through attacks, it only works on physical attacks.
Things like kunai and bullets would generally be useless against him.
But once faced with Ninjutsu or Logia-type attacks with magical damage, it wouldn't work.
Moreover, if the attack was imbued with Haki, it similarly couldn't be nullified.
It was worlds apart from Obito's Kamui.
As for Baccarat's Luck-Luck Fruit... how to put it?
Her Luck-Luck Fruit is indeed useful for scamming gamblers in a casino.
But it held little significance for Makoto's group.
"What do we do with these two?"
Eriri asked.
Makoto thought for a moment and said, "Keep the woman... she might be useful. Lock the man away."
After dealing with Baccarat and Tanaka, Makoto turned to look at Ai.
"Give it a try."
Ai took a deep breath, crouched down, and placed her right hand on Tesoro's abdomen.
Black mist surged from her palm, seeping into Tesoro's body like ink.
Tesoro's body shuddered violently, emitting a painful groan.
"Ugh..."
His body began to convulse intensely, as if enduring some unbearable agony.
Ai gritted her teeth and pushed the Dark-Dark Fruit's power to its limit.
"Devil Fruit, I command you to come out!"
Black mist surged from Tesoro's body, enveloping a mass of golden, flame-like, dancing light.
The light struggled, rolled, and twisted within the black mist, like a fish caught in a net.
"Is that... the soul of the Devil Fruit?"
Miku's eyes widened.
"It feels so eerie..."
Yui shrank back slightly.
Makoto took an ordinary apple from Baccarat and handed it to Ai.
Ai immediately understood. She manipulated the black mist, guiding the mass of golden light towards the apple.
The moment the golden light touched the apple, its surface began to change.
Its color shifted from red to gold, and spiral-shaped golden stripes appeared on its skin.
Within seconds, a new Devil Fruit was born.
The Gol-Gol Fruit.
The entire scene fell silent.
Everyone's eyes were wide, staring at the golden Devil Fruit in Ai's hand, which emitted a faint glow.
"It really... worked..."
Utaha's voice carried a hint of disbelief.
"The Dark-Dark Fruit can even do this..."
Megumi murmured.
Makoto took the Gol-Gol Fruit, twirled it in his hand, and smiled slightly.
He put the fruit away and turned to look at the ruins in the distance.
"Alright, business here is done. Time to go."
"There's no breath left, Commander."
Ai checked Tesoro's pulse and reported.
Makoto looked down at Tesoro, lifeless on the ground.
"It seems like with Jinchuriki in the Ninja World, once the Devil Fruit's soul is extracted, the user dies."
"Don't feel any psychological burden. I told you before, 99.9% of the people in this world are scum."
Ai, holding the Gol-Gol Fruit which Makoto had returned to her, walked up to Kaguya.
"Kaguya-sama, you eat it."
Kaguya looked at the golden Devil Fruit, silent for a moment.
Then, she shook her head.
"No need. Makoto said it's not suitable for me to eat Devil Fruits."
Makoto, walking on the other side, chimed in.
"Kaguya's talents would be wasted eating Devil Fruits."
As he spoke, Makoto scanned the women present.
"Although we have the Dark-Dark Fruit now, and you could have any Devil Fruit in this world you want, I don't plan on making all of you into ability users."
His tone turned serious.
"The power system in the Pirate World is only decent. The ability systems in the Ninja World, and many other worlds, surpass Devil Fruits. You can wait until we go to new worlds to seek new powers."
"People like Saeko, Kaguya, and Utaha don't need to eat Devil Fruits. Just wait until we go to new worlds to acquire higher-tier power systems."
As Makoto had said in Dressrosa, the most suitable cheat for Kaguya was the power of a Quincy from the Bleach World.
In the worst case, he could also make her a new and more beautiful version of Kaguya.
There was simply no need to eat Devil Fruits.
Hearing this, Kaguya obediently nodded.