Chapter 182: Hooking An A Xing, Devil Fruit
（In early November, there will be monthly ticket extras. I’ve put them in the author’s note at the end so no one misses them. Don’t rush to cast your monthly tickets; first go unlock the side stories, then cast the rest.
“So, all the random junk this lady kept fishing up before was A Xing’s doing?” March 7th said through gritted teeth.
“Very likely Star Sister, but she definitely won’t admit it.” Zhu Zhuqing squinted and smiled.
“Does her not admitting it do any good?” March 7th waved her little fist.
“What if—and I mean what if—it actually wasn’t Star who did it?” Po Xiao asked.
“Of course we’d catch her red-handed. Brat needs to accept punishment.” Himeko walked over, her smile carrying a dangerous vibe.
Meng Huaifeng saw coffee stains on Himeko’s white dress.
When pulling in the Sea King, the ship had lurched unexpectedly, then got smashed by the Sea King. Though shielded, lots of stuff on the ship still spilled everywhere.
Himeko’s coffee hadn’t been spared either; it splashed everywhere, some landing on her clothes.
“So how do we catch her red-handed?” March 7th asked.
“Let me try. You two switch spots.” Meng Huaifeng said to March 7th.
He handed his fishing rod to March 7th, then took out the Phantom Spear and edited it into the shape of a fishing rod and fishing line.
For the now stronger Meng Huaifeng, editing no special attack effects—just changing the form—meant very little imaginary number consumption when the Phantom Spear materialized.
Even maintaining it continuously wouldn’t be a problem.
The four continued fishing casually, just like before.
Po Xiao and Zhu Zhuqing each caught two more fish, while Meng Huaifeng’s line still had no action.
“That naughty A Xing wouldn’t have caught on to our plan and stopped, right?” March 7th whispered, unable to hold back.
“Don’t rush, don’t rush. Fishing requires patience.” Meng Huaifeng soothed.
Even if they couldn’t catch her red-handed, even if A Xing refused to admit it, this lady would elbow her later anyway!
March 7th thought bitterly.
Star’s heart fluttered with excitement after her bad deeds, but fearing discovery, she dove straight to the seabed.
A sunken ship appeared before Star. Her eyes lit up, and she disassembled it section by section in search of treasure.
Most things were ordinary items, already rotted, worthless.
Finally, Star found a small locked treasure chest in the captain’s quarters.
Hugging the treasure chest contentedly, Star floated upward. Nearing the surface, she vaguely saw the four on the ship fishing casually through the seawater, just like before.
They hadn’t spotted her.
Star felt smug and couldn’t resist finding the four underwater fish hooks again.
One, two, three, four—the third from the left was March 7th’s.
She’d hung so much trash on March before; this time, hang her found treasure chest on her instead.
She’ll definitely be thrilled.
I’m so good to March!
Star thought, reaching to grab the fish hook, aiming to hook it into the treasure chest’s keyhole.
After so long with no bite, everyone waiting on the ship was nearly ready to give up.
“She’s hooked—caught red-handed.” Meng Huaifeng suddenly said.
Everyone perked up, staring intently at the sea surface.
The fish hook grabbed by Star suddenly lengthened, wrapping two loops around her arm and body.
“Huh?”
Star froze, not reacting in time before a massive force yanked her out of the sea. The surfacing Star still clutched the treasure chest tightly.
“Snap!”
March 7th raised her camera for ten rapid shots, fully recording Star from head to full body emerging from the sea.
Star landed on the ship. Besides the four anglers, Himeko, Su Xiaoli, Yan, and Hong Kou stood with arms crossed, eyeing her menacingly.
“Hi.”
Star shrank back, greeting guiltily.
“Hi your head! You dared trick this lady, hanging trash on the fish hook—prepare to die!” March 7th reached devilish claws toward Star’s ticklish spots.
“I~ haha~ didn’t I hang you a haha~ super huge haha~ fish?” Star laughed while defending herself.
Still bound by Meng Huaifeng’s Phantom Spear, Star had no resistance. Under March 7th’s torment, she collapsed into a rolling shrimp ball on the deck.
“You still say that! That massive fish nearly flipped the ship—lots of cups got smashed.” Star mentioning the big fish only fired March 7th up more; she mounted Star and went at her harder.
The juice Su Xiaoli brought her wasn’t even finished— all spilled, cup shattered too.
Moreover, with the fish hook size they used, they could at most catch a ten-plus-meter fish, hardly affecting the ship.
Then suddenly a Sea King bigger than the ship showed up.
“Stop, hahaha~ I was wrong, March, haha~ spare me.” Star begged for mercy.
“You planning to hang trash on my fish hook again?” March 7th paused temporarily, hands on hips as she asked.
“Since you know you were wrong, no problem cleaning up the mess on the ship later, right?” Himeko squatted down, poking Star’s forehead with a finger.
“No problem.” Star said obediently. “Huai Feng, untie me first.”
Meng Huaifeng canceled the aether editing, then stowed the Phantom Spear.
“This time it wasn’t trash—this is a treasure chest I found on a sunken ship at the seabed. I was gonna hang it on you.” Star held up the treasure chest like an offering.
“What’s in it?” March 7th took the treasure chest, getting off Star.
Under everyone’s curious gazes, March 7th used Six Phases Ice to protect the contents, then violently pried open the treasure chest.
A blue fruit with spiral patterns appeared before everyone.
“Just a fruit?” March 7th dumped out the opened treasure chest, somewhat disappointed.
“What kind of fruit is this?” Su Xiaoli asked, eyeing the strangely shaped fruit.
“This might be a Devil Fruit.” Meng Huaifeng said.
“Devil Fruit? The one that turned little Luffy into a rubber man?” Star’s eyes lit up.
“Devil Fruits grant all sorts of bizarre abilities, but no two are the same—definitely not turning into a rubber man like Luffy’s.” Meng Huaifeng said.
Meng Huaifeng directly mind-dialed Dan Heng. Since arriving in this world, Dan Heng was like a dragon entering the sea—most of the time, no one knew where he’d wandered off to.
“What’s up, Huai Feng?” Dan Heng picked up quickly and asked.
“We found a Devil Fruit. Interested in coming back to research it together?” Meng Huaifeng said.
“On my way.” Dan Heng replied.
“So, what ability is it?” Star nudged Meng Huaifeng with her elbow and asked.
“Let me see…” Meng Huaifeng tried reading the Devil Fruit’s information.
Meng Huaifeng detected a soul consciousness in the Devil Fruit, but it was utterly dormant, silently allowing him to read all its info without resistance.
Himeko used her own methods to analyze the Devil Fruit as well.
Meng Huaifeng’s brow slowly furrowed.
“What is it, Huai Feng?” March 7th asked.
“This Devil Fruit lives up to its demonic name. It contains a soul will. Eating it attaches that will to your soul. When the eater develops the Devil Fruit ability to a certain degree, the will revives, fuses with the eater’s soul, and greatly boosts the fruit’s power.”
“But the eater will be influenced by the will, gradually changing their personality. The stronger the will in the Devil Fruit, the greater the influence.”
“As for the will’s origin, maybe it formed after the first person to develop the Devil Fruit to that degree died, then incorporated parts of later awakeners’ wills, attaching to the Devil Fruit ability and constantly regenerating into new Devil Fruits.” Meng Huaifeng guessed.
Dan Heng glanced at Meng Huaifeng. He too sensed the Devil Fruit’s soul will but couldn’t read its inner info.
“Eww~” March 7th rubbed her arms, eyeing the Devil Fruit with disgust.
Isn’t this basically soul possession? So evil indeed.
“If that’s the case, we should easily erase the soul consciousness in this fruit.” Yan said.
“True, but without the past eaters’ experience developing the fruit ability, awakening boosts would be minimal or none—you’d have to develop it yourself slowly.” Meng Huaifeng said.
“Even if everyone who’s eaten this fruit combined could beat me? Their experience is useless. Besides, I don’t plan to eat it—no strength boost, just an extra tool.” Yan shrugged.
“You haven’t said what ability it is yet.” Star reminded.
“Oh, it’s a Zoan Ancient Species Devil Fruit, Cerberus Fruit.” Meng Huaifeng said.
Himeko finished her preliminary analysis. Compared to Meng Huaifeng reading info, Himeko’s was far more fundamental.
“That soul will is just an adjunct product of the Devil Fruit. The true fruit ability stems from a meme-like pseudo-rule entity containing all of Cerberus’s genetic info, plus… faith power? Needs more research for details.” Himeko said.
Faith is a power too. Native gods on some planets respond to people’s calls, born from faith—not uncommon in the universe.
Not just faith—people’s fantasies, wishes, cognition, etc., are powers too, birthing faith-god-like beings.
But this planet’s faith birthed Devil Fruits instead of gods? Himeko wondered inwardly.
“There’s indeed a saying on the high seas that Devil Fruits are born from people’s fantasies and wishes.” Meng Huaifeng said.
His world’s canon had no conclusion on Devil Fruit origins, theories abounding—this confirmed a bit.
Himeko pondered: perhaps different Devil Fruit types draw from different power sources.
Would need more Devil Fruits to research. As for this one…
“March, you wanna eat it?” Star asked.
March 7th shook her head like a rattle: “No way! This lady doesn’t want some unknown remnant soul attaching to her soul—what’s that but a ghost possession?”
“Plus, who knows how long it’s been in the sea—still edible?” March 7th doubted.
“If it hasn’t rotted, it’s edible!” Star looked to the others: “What about you all?”
“A Xing, don’t just want to eat random stuff. I remember Huai Feng saying eaters get rejected by the sea, going powerless on seawater contact.” Himeko reminded.
Meng Huaifeng scratched his head. He’d only mentioned it briefly in the car, not elaborating: “That’s because this world’s sea contains something called Seastone Factor—unsure if it’s universal in all seas or this world’s unique product.”
“Sister Himeko, no worries. Worst case, just expel it if there’s an issue.” Star said carelessly.
“What if it can’t be expelled, or permanently affects the body?” Himeko frowned.
For items with side effects, Himeko preferred fully researching before deciding to eat.
“Uh…” Star scratched her head, speechless.
“Just test it on that.” Meng Huaifeng pointed to his big marlin.
“Mm, good idea.” Himeko nodded.
Star took the Devil Fruit and shoved it into the marlin’s mouth.
Under everyone’s gaze, soon the marlin’s belly sprouted four legs, its head somewhat Cerberus-like—grotesque and mismatched.
“I feel like my eyes got polluted.” March 7th scrunched her little face but still snapped a photo—for the bottom of the drawer, bottom of the drawer.
Star grabbed the big marlin’s tail and flew it to the sea surface, dropping it in.
Normally, the marlin should perk up in the sea, but now it lay limp like dead, no movement; the new limbs vanished, reverting to normal.
“Truly magical.” Star marveled, hauling the big marlin back.
Fresh from seawater, it dripped wet, listless, not reverting to that freakish form.
“Next, try expelling the Devil Fruit’s soul will.” Meng Huaifeng said.
Manipulating souls and memories isn’t just Memory Weavers’ trick—they’re just better at it.
Meng Huaifeng invaded the marlin’s weak soul. The Devil Fruit’s soul will stood starkly apart from the marlin’s.
Meng Huaifeng cut it out. The instant it detached, the Devil Fruit soul will tried fleeing but was blocked by Meng Huaifeng’s data stream.
“Done.” Meng Huaifeng nodded to Star.
Star got it, hauling the big marlin to sea again.
This time, the marlin normalized. Just hitting the surface, it thrashed wildly to escape Star’s clutches.
“Back to normal—not a permanent side effect.” Himeko relaxed.
So in future Devil Fruit finds, as long as no issue with the Devil Fruit will, anyone could eat if they wanted.
Star tossed the big marlin on deck, pouting slightly: “Too bad, no more Devil Fruit.”
“Who says?” Meng Huaifeng pulled out an apple, slapping the Devil Fruit will into it.
Before everyone’s eyes, the apple soon transformed into the Devil Fruit they’d seen.
“So, anyone wanna eat?” Meng Huaifeng held the Devil Fruit and asked.
Recalling the marlin’s freakish change after eating, all the beautiful girls but Star grimaced in disgust.
Dan Heng shook his head—he was a Dragon Scion, a true dragon; eating Cerberus Fruit would be pure devolution.
Po Xiao played mecha; transforming after eating—how to pilot? He shook his head, refusing.
Star blinked her golden eyes expectantly at Meng Huaifeng: if you don’t want it, then I can eat it for fun.
“You eat it—no one’s competing.” Meng Huaifeng chuckled.
“Yay!” Star cheered.
About to bite in, Star paused, asking Meng Huaifeng: “To get the fruit ability, gotta eat the whole thing?”
“No need. First bite attaches the Devil Fruit ability to your soul; eating the rest doesn’t matter.” Meng Huaifeng said.
“Then everyone taste the Devil Fruit together!” Star declared generously.
