A month later
New World, Elbaph
Aurust Castle, Throne Room
Harald sat alone in the vast throne room. He had allowed no one inside, not even Ida.
"What have I done?" he muttered, his voice low and bitter. "Why did I divorce Estrid? Why did I say such hurtful words to her? Why did I speak so disrespectfully to Jarul, Jorul, and the elders? I have done the unforgivable. Not only have I lost my wife, but now I've lost my reputation, my influence, and my face in all of Elbaph!"
Just this morning, he had woken up in horror as the memories of last month flooded back.
He remembered every word he had spoken, every action he had taken, yet none of it felt like his own.
Since when had he believed Estrid and her brother were conspiring against him? He had no idea where that thought had even come from.
Since when had he despised Jarul and Jorul? He respected them deeply, yet he had insulted them like enemies.
He was certain no one in the world could possess him, so that possibility never crossed his mind.
Instead, he convinced himself that something must be wrong with his own mind. Perhaps he had developed some kind of bipolar disorder.
But he could never let anyone know. It would be too shameful for a warrior king like him to suffer from such a weakness.
Would the world start calling him Mad Harald?
This morning he had gone to Estrid's house to beg for forgiveness, but she was already gone.
No one in her village would tell him where she had disappeared to. They had simply closed their doors in his face.
He had then visited Jarul and Jorul's homes, but they refused to see him.
Even the giants in the villages no longer greeted him when he passed by.
Many palace soldiers had resigned, leaving the halls half empty.
He could swear that the cruel words he had spoken that day had never truly come from his heart, but who would believe him now?
He was truly at a loss. He didn't have Estrid's Vivre Card, and even if he found her, they were already divorced.
-x-X-x-
At the same time
Paradise, Alabasta, Rainbase
It had been a month since "the Loki Birth Event."
Finn had spent two million berries to hire a shipping company that could take him to Alabasta as fast as possible. He had arrived just yesterday.
He rented a modest room in a small motel and immediately began searching for Cerracotta's house.
The last time the system had pulled his soul there in an instant, so he remembered nothing of the route.
But a few hours ago he had finally located Jack the Cow's shop, and he knew Cerracotta's place couldn't be far.
After another half hour of searching, he found it.
*Knock.* *Knock.*
Finn knocked gently, his heart finally settling. All the way here he had worried that she might have already sold the Devil Fruit if he arrived too late.
"Ma~ma~ma~, coming," called a familiar voice from inside. It was Cerracotta.
The door opened to reveal a woman who looked like Igaram's twin, though she was actually his grandmother-in-law.
"Little brother, what do you need?" Cerracotta asked, staring at Finn's handsome face in open amazement.
After a few seconds she shook her head. Luckily she was loyal to her husband and wouldn't be swayed even by looks like his.
"Hello, ma'am. I'm Finn, a special merchant," he said with a professional smile. "I only buy and sell strange objects, and I pay a hundred times their original price."
He could have bought the fruit for just ten thousand berries, but he wanted to test the system.
At least in something this simple, maybe it wouldn't be stingy. He needed to know if he had to follow its suggested numbers exactly.
"Ma~ma~ma~, is that so?" Cerracotta's eyes lit up. "Then it must be fate. I actually have something weird in my possession right now. I don't know if it's still good, it might have started to rot. Wait a moment."
"Of course, take your time," Finn replied, keeping his face calm even as excitement pounded in his chest.
It didn't take long for her to return, holding a strange blue fruit with an unusual shape.
The Devil Fruit was nearly spherical with a slight oblong curve, resembling an exotic pinecone. Its surface was covered in overlapping blue scales like a dragon's hide.
Each scale had a dark navy oval center marked with the classic Devil Fruit swirl, while the outer edges faded to a lighter icy blue. At the top, two separate stems rose, one deep purple and the other soft pink, evoking the twin horns of an Azure Dragon.
A small tuft of bright orange leaves curled around their base.
The moment Finn saw it, its name flashed in his mind: the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon.
A month ago, he would never have believed he could lay eyes on this legendary Devil Fruit. Now here it was, right in front of him, and he was about to take it.
"How is it?" Cerracotta asked hopefully, clutching the fruit. "Could this bring a high price? I'm surprised it's still fresh even after I kept it under my bed for a month, Ma~ma~ma~." She wanted to gather some berries for her daughter Merracotta's future marriage.
"Hm, just by its shape alone, Jack the Cow would probably give you a thousand berries," Finn said. "But I'll honor my promise, a hundred times that amount, so one hundred thousand berries. What do you say? Do we have a deal?"
He pulled out the money and counted ten ten-thousand-berry notes, then passed them to her to count herself.
One hundred thousand berries was not a fortune, but it was still a huge sum for an ordinary family.
Bell-mère's entire life savings had only amounted to that much.
"Of course we have a deal!" Cerracotta exclaimed. She quickly placed the fruit in his hand and snatched up the berries, counting them carefully as if afraid he might change his mind.
Finn waited patiently until she finished counting.
"Then I'll be on my way. Have a nice day," Finn said with a warm smile for the kind woman who had just changed his future.
"Ma~ma~ma~, thank you for your generosity," Cerracotta replied with a big smile, closing the door quickly in case any neighbors saw the money and came asking for loans.
Finn slipped the fruit into his pocket and walked away calmly.
Once he found an empty alley, he took the fruit out and ate the whole thing in one go, forcing himself not to let it touch his tongue too much. He had to be careful.
What if someone like Kaido appeared out of nowhere and tried to steal it by eating it directly?
He needed to consume it now so his nerves could finally settle.
The system storage only accepted system rewards for now, so he couldn't hide the fruit there.
After eating the whole fruit, Finn walked to a restaurant and ordered a huge seafood feast. It was the best way to wash away that awful taste from his mouth.
Of course he knew that eating just a portion of the Devil Fruit would still grant its power, but he didn't want to take any risks.
After finishing his meal, he didn't head back to his motel. Instead, he walked straight into the desert.
He kept going for nearly three kilometers until the city disappeared behind him and nothing but endless sand surrounded him.
He closed his eyes and began his beast transformation.
His skin turned a deep blue and covered in scales. Two horns grew from his head as his body shifted into the form of an eastern dragon. Purple flame rings appeared around his arms and legs, letting him float as his size rapidly increased.
From just over two meters, he grew to fifty meters, then five hundred, until he reached a full kilometer in length.
Finn soared higher and higher. As he took his complete beast form, the weather over Rainbase, which hadn't seen rain in years, suddenly began to change.
Dark clouds rolled in, hiding his massive body from view below. It was only natural.
His presence as a dragon altered the atmosphere itself, bringing storms and lightning wherever he went.
Using his tail as a guide, Finn flew at high speed in the direction of Jaya.
Many people in Rainbase caught a glimpse of the distant blue creature, but it soon vanished into the clouds before they could confirm whether it was real or just a trick of the eye.
-x-X-x-
Author Notes:
Cerracotta – Grandmother, famously known as "1000 berries and I can make you a Yonko."
Merracotta – Daughter (mother of Terracotta)
Terracotta – Granddaughter, Igaram's wife
Poor Harald is sitting alone in his throne room, seriously questioning if he has bipolar disorder. Someone send help… or a therapist.
As for Kaido… well, instead of jumping heroically from a sky island like in the original story, the poor man will probably just hit his head on a mountain somewhere if he is in his usual "seeking death" mood.
That's what a proper Bison fruit user should do, right? 😂