"How does it feel?"
After Kabuto Yakushi ate the artificial Devil Fruit, Orochimaru asked the question, and everyone else's eyes turned toward Kabuto as well.
Kabuto closed his eyes and carefully sensed the changes in his body.
In the next instant, patches of dragon scales appeared across his body—but they were pink.
At the same time, two dragon horns grew from his forehead, also pink.
Anyone who had read One Piece knew that Zoan-type Devil Fruits allowed a person to transform into different animals depending on the fruit, giving the user the animal's natural power, enhancing their physical abilities, and granting them the traits of that creature.
At the same time, the user gained three forms: human form, beast form, and hybrid form.
Among them, the human form was the weakest, while the beast form was the strongest.
As for the hybrid form, that was what Kabuto looked like now—his body remained human in shape, but his appearance took on beastly characteristics, giving him both human agility and beast-like brute force.
It was the form best suited for combat.
"It feels very strange, Lord Orochimaru."
Kabuto opened his eyes and flicked his finger. A blade of wind shot from his fingertips, cleanly slicing through the cup on the tea table without damaging the table itself in the slightest.
That level of control was astonishing.
"I can feel how much stronger I've become. And I've discovered something else interesting."
"Let's hear it, Kabuto."
Orochimaru was clearly intrigued, his golden eyes locked onto Kabuto.
Kabuto turned to Nico Robin and asked, "When people in the One Piece world use their abilities, they consume stamina, right?"
"That's right," Robin said with a calm nod. "The stronger the technique, the more stamina it uses."
Kabuto said, "But I've realized that I seem to be able to use chakra to drive the power of the Devil Fruit. I can even release Wind Release ninjutsu without forming hand seals—like just now."
That made everyone's hearts stir.
Chakra could actually drive the power of a Devil Fruit?
And it could even let someone cast ninjutsu without hand seals?
That was a major discovery.
Just then, Tsunade spoke up.
"When I examined Nico Robin's body before, I found that her cells housed a strange kind of power."
"At the time, I suspected that was the power of the Devil Fruit. Whenever Nico Robin activates her ability, that power draws energy from her cells—which is what people here call consuming stamina."
"And as everyone knows, chakra is a combination of cellular energy and spiritual energy."
"So the fact that chakra can drive the power of a Devil Fruit isn't impossible at all."
"On the contrary, I think it makes perfect sense."
"As for why Kabuto can use Wind Release without hand seals, that's easy to explain too."
"The Fish-Fish Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Model: Azure Dragon allows the user to transform into a massive dragon, while also giving them control over flame, lightning, and wind. That's the user's instinct."
"So isn't it possible that this instinct is what lets Kabuto use Wind Release without hand seals?"
"And not just Wind Release—he may even be able to use Lightning Release and Fire Release without hand seals too."
Everyone's thoughts shifted at once, and all eyes turned toward Kabuto.
Kabuto wanted to test it himself. His throat moved slightly, and he opened his mouth to spit out a fireball.
Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique.
It wasn't some profound, mysterious jutsu—just a basic Fire Release technique, nothing that would stump someone as talented as Kabuto.
The reason he had never used it in the original story was because his chakra natures were Wind, Earth, Water, Yin, and Yang.
He didn't have Fire.
But that didn't mean he didn't know the technique.
Now that he had eaten the Devil Fruit and gained control over wind, flame, and lightning, he successfully used the jutsu.
"If Lady Tsunade is right, then Fire Release jutsu also seems to be usable without hand seals—anytime I want."
Tobirama couldn't help clicking his tongue.
"It looks like Devil Fruits are even better suited to ninja than we imagined. This kind of complementarity is incredible."
What he wanted most right now was to drag Kabuto into a lab immediately and study the changes in his body, as well as the power of the Devil Fruit itself.
To see whether they could unravel the secret behind Devil Fruits.
In fact, it wasn't just him—even Orochimaru and Tsunade were clearly itching to get started.
The three of them read each other's expressions and confirmed they were all thinking the same thing. Tsunade immediately said, "Then there's no time to waste. I think we should head back right now and begin researching Devil Fruits."
"I have no objections," Orochimaru said.
Kabuto just shrugged. Even though he was technically the test subject, he had no objections either, because he knew very well that Orochimaru would never dissect him just for this.
One Devil Fruit alone wasn't worth that.
Clap clap clap…
At that moment, Rowan clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention.
"I know you're all dying to get started, but there's one thing that needs to be settled first."
"Tsunade, you promised Nico Robin you'd help her gain the ability to refine chakra. Before researching Devil Fruits, can you take care of that first?"
Robin smiled faintly when she heard that.
"Actually, I'm not in any hurry about it."
In her view, cracking the secret of Devil Fruits was even more important than her own ability to cultivate chakra.
If Devil Fruits could truly be mass-produced, that would be an earth-shattering development.
Tsunade crossed her arms over her chest and said calmly, "Who do you think I am? It's just helping Nico Robin extract chakra. I already have a foolproof plan."
"But I'll need the equipment in Orochimaru's base."
"That won't be a problem," Orochimaru said.
"Then let's head back to Orochimaru's base first."
Rowan casually found a door in Nico Robin's room and pushed it open. On the other side was Orochimaru's secret research base.
A moment ago, they had come from there into the One Piece world.
Now they passed back through the door and returned to the base.
Only this time, Nico Robin came with them.
After a whole night of work, by the next morning, Tsunade had successfully injected her cells into Nico Robin's body and suppressed the rejection response with a specially prepared drug mixture.
Not long after, Tsunade's cells began to fuse with Robin's.
That also meant Nico Robin had gained Senju blood.
Granted, the purity of that bloodline was only about one percent of Tsunade's—perhaps even less.
But that wasn't what mattered.
What mattered was that Nico Robin had now gained the qualification to extract chakra.
Compared to that, the tiny trace of Senju blood was nothing more than a bonus.
~~~
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