When Captain John, his whole body ablaze, fell from the sky under that giant flaming sword that stood like a pillar holding up the heavens and crashed into the sea, everyone watching the battle knew it was over.
The Whitebeard Pirates, who had rushed back just to watch the excitement, were lucky enough to witness that final blow, and every one of them was left staring in stunned disbelief.
On the deck, Flower Sword Vista looked up in shock at Yemu floating in the sky like a god, then turned to the two Devil Fruit users beside him, Marco and Jozu, and asked with a slight stammer,
"Hey... what was that? Is that another Logia ability too?"
Jozu shook his head, his expression dark.
"I've fought Logia users in the Marines before, but I've never seen anything like that. Unless..."
"Unless what?"
"There's only one explanation. Awakening... Devil Fruit awakening... But I've never heard of a Logia awakening before..."
Marco narrowed his eyes slightly as he stared at Yemu in the sky, his brow tightly furrowed. But he did not say much. He only let out a quiet sigh.
"Looks like the New World is about to get chaotic. I never thought a man like John would fall here. Hurry back and tell Pops. Everyone needs to get ready. It may not be long before our Whitebeard Pirates have to face a challenge from this group too..."
...
Floating in the sky and feeling the powerful strength still surging inside him, Yemu finally let out a long breath of relief after seeing John fall into the sea. With a wave of his arm, the flaming sword in his hand vanished. The spiral patterns on his shoulders turned, and the flames around his body gradually dispersed, returning him to his normal form.
In the next instant, an overwhelming sense of weakness washed over him. Yemu could no longer even control his flight and dropped straight from the sky.
Fortunately, a huge furry figure appeared beneath him and caught him.
Seeing that, Yemu relaxed completely. Lying comfortably on Lillilu's back, panting heavily, he said with a grin,
"That's rare... You're actually willing to carry me..."
After all, even on the Twin Goddesses, Lillilu was an odd one out. She barely interacted with anyone else and spent all day in that little grove at the stern.
But Lillilu paid no attention to his teasing and spoke of something else instead.
"I thought you would completely fuse the powers of those two Devil Fruits together."
Yemu paused, then thought it over before replying,
"That would be too cruel. If they were only tools, then maybe it wouldn't matter. But now they both have their own self-awareness. They're basically two little lives. Erasing their consciousness and fusing them together just for the sake of greater power... I can't bring myself to do that."
Hearing Yemu's answer, Lillilu's black vertical pupils widened slightly, and she said in a low voice,
"You're nothing like Master. If it were him, he wouldn't care about something like that. He only believes in himself. Still, this is better. With the vitality you have now, the burden of this Devil Fruit is already very heavy."
That made Yemu curious.
"What do you mean? What does using a Devil Fruit have to do with vitality? And what burden?"
"With other Devil Fruits, naturally there wouldn't be one. But your case is different. To put it simply, think of a Devil Fruit user like the four robots on your ship."
Yemu froze for a second. He had not expected Lillilu to suddenly bring up the Kuro Brothers. Ever since boarding the ship, Lillilu had naturally seen the Kuro Brothers in their original state.
"The power of a Devil Fruit itself is like the biological component inside their bodies. It grants them eternal life, but it can only maintain their most basic functions. It cannot do more than that. At that point, the user's stamina is like the external energy they absorb. When those two forms of energy are used together, that's when they truly come alive."
"And in a Devil Fruit, that base energy is the energy nurtured by Uranus. But in their life blueprint, that energy is already locked to their original abilities, the Mera Mera no Mi and the Atsu Atsu no Mi. In other words, the new power born from fusing these two Devil Fruits can't use their original energy. And at that point, your life force becomes the only option."
Now Yemu finally understood completely.
But because of that, the joy he had felt over the successful fusion immediately became tinged with worry.
There was no need to think too hard about life force. It was obviously not something that could be spent carelessly.
That was a completely different concept from physical stamina.
So he asked directly,
"Is there a solution?"
"Of course. And you already have it."
Yemu froze, not understanding.
Seeing that, Lillilu asked in return,
"Aren't you curious? Your current heart belongs to Master, so where did your original heart go?"
That question completely stunned Yemu. He really had never thought about it.
And according to Lillilu, his original heart was still by his side.
"Where is it? How do I not know?"
Lillilu did not bother with much explanation.
"It's only natural that you don't know. In the form it's in now, you really wouldn't associate it with a heart."
The moment she said that, Yemu's mind began racing.
If it had always been by his side, then it definitely could not be something he got later.
Which meant that from the moment he arrived in this world, his original heart should have already been with him.
But ever since coming to this world, the only thing he had always had on him was...
In an instant, Yemu realized something and stared wide-eyed.
"You're not saying that the ruby embedded in that piece of clothing I've had since childhood is my original heart, are you?"
"That's right. Though it's different from an ordinary heart, it is indeed your original heart."
Lillilu's firm answer left Yemu speechless.
That was not just different. It was completely absurd. They had nothing to do with each other at all.
But that was not important.
"Then what am I supposed to do? Put it back into my body?"
Lillilu shook her head.
"That's one option, but there's no need. You have an even better method. And very fortunately for you, you now have two Tontatta crew members, which makes this method much easier."
Yemu could not understand what those two things had to do with each other.
Lillilu did not answer right away. Instead, she asked him another question.
"Do you know why Master said he had grasped the method to become a creator, and could even create Devil Fruits himself? And why your Mera Mera no Mi was able to absorb power from Sunlight Tree Eve, awaken its own consciousness, and evolve?"
How could Yemu possibly know any of that? He wanted answers too, but there had never been anyone to explain it to him.
Fortunately, Lillilu did not keep him waiting.
"It's simple. Just as the so-called Ancient Weapons do not consist of Uranus alone, but also Poseidon and Pluton, the ones capable of nurturing this kind of power from the earth are not limited to Uranus either. Certain plants, such as Treasure Tree Adam and Sunlight Tree Eve, can do the same. And the Tontatta just happen to know how to grow those plants..."