The Pirate Princess Becomes Queen

No matter how much you train your body, your internal organs are still fragile. Barrett is only close to the strength of the Pirate King, but he is not the Pirate King after all. Even Roger suffered from a terminal illness, let alone him.

Countless electric currents struck his heart, abruptly interrupting his transformation, which was already resembling the nascent form of a demon giant. A large amount of material shaped by the Fusion Fruit rained down to the ground.

"Me? What am I doing?" He was a little dumbfounded.

What am I doing?

Weiwei smiled at him, and his anger rekindled.

If you can't figure it out, then don't think about it.

"Die! I am the strongest man in the world!" He began a new transformation, and in a realm that seemed both real and illusory, he once again defeated all his powerful enemies and destroyed Dressrosa.

"Die! I am the strongest man in the world!" This time he sensed something was wrong and alertly covered the hundred-meter giant's body with a thick layer of Armament Haki.

"Die! I am the strongest man in the world!" This time, the 100-meter-tall giant seemed a little weak. Barrett released his Haki continuously, and his stamina was being rapidly depleted. He was already panting a bit.

His memories were becoming increasingly chaotic. What was he doing? Where were the enemies? One second he felt he had defeated all his enemies and become the Pirate King, the next he was back on the streets of Dressrosa. What was going on?

Vivi stood not far away watching. Barrett's Armament Haki was very strong, but his Observation Haki was obviously not good. Using Observation Haki to mislead him, combined with the Soul-Soul Fruit, she could interfere with his brain and create an illusion that perfectly matched Barrett's own thoughts according to his subconscious ideas. At this moment, he was like a fool, his body standing still, punching and kicking, while his consciousness was fighting against the enemy in the illusion.

Vivi used the illusion to carefully study this guy's awakened Devil Fruit ability.

Chapter 562 An Encounter

If Vivi wants to advance further, her skills like Haki and swordsmanship are unlikely to improve much in the short term, so she can only focus on awakening her Devil Fruit.

She has three Devil Fruits: Zoan-type, Bat-Bat Fruit, Mythical Zoan type, Vampire form, Rumble-Rumble Fruit, and Soul-Soul Fruit. She hasn't reached the awakening level for any of them.

Not to mention her, even the original owners of these three Devil Fruits, Red Earl, Enel, and Fat Mom, did not have the ability to awaken their Devil Fruit powers.

According to Vivi's observation, the skinny Sister Carmel was close to awakening her Devil Fruit powers, but she went astray, somewhat like Orochimaru who couldn't learn Sage Mode. It wasn't that she lacked talent, but rather that her physical constitution was inadequate. Sister Carmel tormented the fat sister, and similarly, the fat sister's soul was also overwhelmed by her. The two of them delayed each other.

Awakening a Devil Fruit is not just difficult, it's extremely difficult.

Perseverance, talent, physical condition, comprehension, and willpower are all indispensable.

There are several Zombie Beasts in Impel Down whose Zoan-type Devil Fruits failed to awaken. Vivi once used Magellan's connections to secretly bring out four of these failed awakening Zombie Beasts, drew their blood, and shocked them with electricity to study them for a while.

The four Jailer Beasts are somewhat similar to the artificial Devil Fruit users in Kaido's Beasts Pirates, with beast heads and human bodies. Vivi strongly suspects that these guys are also failed products from the laboratory.

Normal Zoan-type Devil Fruit users can switch freely between beast and human forms. These Jailer Beasts have reached the level of Devil Fruit awakening in terms of stamina and explosive power, but the price is that they are half-human and half-beast with low intelligence. Others are jailers, but these guys have a new name: Jailer Beasts. The word "beast" describes their current situation.

Vivi tried to hypnotize the four people to turn them back into human form. Unsurprisingly, her attempt failed. They were unable to regain their original appearance, and their intelligence dropped significantly. This was likely due to the "devil" within the Devil Fruit affecting their minds and causing some kind of homogenization and irreversible effect.

Aside from these four failed attempts, the only other people Vivi has ever seen whose Devil Fruits have reached the Awakening level are Doflamingo, who ate the String-String Fruit; Gild Tesoro, who ate the Gold-Gold Fruit; Katakuri, who ate the Mochi-Mochi Fruit; and Douglas Bullet, who is currently in front of her and has eaten the Fusion Fruit.

Four Devil Fruit users who reached the Awakening level all ate Paramecia-type Devil Fruits. Is this a coincidence? It's not necessarily a coincidence; it can only be considered an inevitability.

She could only conclude that Paramecia-type Devil Fruits are easier to awaken.

Like the Golden Emperor's awakened-level ability, Barrett also creates a "Gundam" and runs inside to control it. This method may only be useful for Paramecia-type Devil Fruits. Vivi's Thor form can already create a similar effect. This kind of technique that simply increases size and energy is meaningless to her.

She spends most of her time thinking about whether, after a Devil Fruit awakens, it transforms into a human or a Devil Fruit.

Based on current observations, the answer should be humans. The form of a Devil Fruit is fixed and will not change. When a person dies, the Devil Fruit is reborn, but it is still in its initial state. Whether it is awakened or not is irrelevant to the newly generated Devil Fruit.

Doflamingo and the Golden Emperor are dead. Their Devil Fruits disappeared after their deaths, and nothing can be researched from a corpse. The Barrett in front of them is a good experimental subject. Vivi trapped him in an illusion, letting this guy punch and kick the air. She cut Barrett's artery and started to study the mystery of Devil Fruit awakening from the blood.

A test subject that can run and jump and looks very energetic is truly invaluable.

Whether it's a god or a demon, its specific name doesn't matter. What she discovered was that the energy of Devil Fruits, due to their unique nature, could never merge with the energy within intelligent life forms. Upon closer examination, one would find that the two were clearly distinct, seemingly mixed together, but in reality, they were completely different.

Vivi had some guesses and hypotheses, but lacked empirical evidence. Doflamingo and the Golden Emperor were dead, and there was nothing inside their bodies. Katakuri, who was alive, would not allow her to dissect and study them. Now, however, Barrett's willingness to sacrifice himself for science has been a great help to her.

Barrett's physique, honed through weightlifting, is truly impressive! Even with his artery severed and blood gushing out like a fountain, he can still punch and kick the air. This ruthlessness and relentless fighting spirit are worthy of emulation.

Vivi had long since passed the stage of caring about worldly opinions. In addition, it was the middle of the night and no one knew her. She opened the River of Dead and summoned a bunch of undead assistants. She then studied Barrett's blood on the street.

Dressrosa is quiet at night, but it was occupied by Doflamingo back then, and many civilians were turned into dolls by Sugar. Although more than a year or two has passed, many people's sleep schedules have been permanently changed. Many people are sleepy during the day and can't sleep at night.

Because of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, Dressrosa is now a giant vortex, attracting a large number of pirates, adventurers, and speculators. Barrett's image of punching the air is comparable to President Biden shaking hands with the air; it looks wrong no matter how you look at it, and it's a pretty big problem.

Some people couldn't resist their curiosity and peered at the scene from a distance. No one dared to approach, for fear of being beaten up by the idiot. It would be one thing if they were beaten up, but they were afraid of being beaten to death.

Barrett's fists are bigger than a casserole dish, his face is ferocious, and blood is spurting from his body; this image is quite intimidating.

"Vivi?"

Vivi was studying the substance in Barrett's body that was similar to a Devil Fruit when she suddenly heard someone calling her name.

She turned around and saw two familiar faces: Zoro and Hiyori.

Zoro's green kimono, green hair, and green headscarf were quite strange. Meanwhile, Hiyori was dressed in a floral brocade kimono in the middle of the night, with her long, jade-colored hair neatly combed and adorned with a flower-shaped hairpin decorated with pearls and jade. Her wooden clogs added to her even stranger appearance.

Vivi isn't very close to Zoro, but she's quite close to Hiyori, as they share a lot in common when it comes to music.

She looked up at the sky, where a crescent moon hung high, and then looked at the courtesan who had appeared in full regalia.

Weiwei smelled alcohol on the two of them and asked knowingly, "Why are you dressed so formally? What have you been doing?"

Having spent so many years in the entertainment industry, Hiyori Kozuki was completely unfazed by this level of teasing: "It's nothing, I'm just in a good mood, so I came out for a stroll with Zoro-kun."

“Oh—” Vivi drawled out.

There's something interesting between the two of them. She'd heard about this from Robin. It seems they've come to terms with their relationship after the trip to Laugh Tale? That's good.

Chapter 563 Vivi's Devil Fruit Awakening

With Vivi's help, Hiyori impersonated someone else and liberated Wano Country. Now that she is no longer bound by identity restrictions, she is obviously much more relaxed.

Perhaps due to her environment, this girl had a bit of a strong admiration for the strong, coupled with a traditional personality. Zoro, who was outstanding in swordsmanship and seemed to have some Shimotsuki clan blood, caught her eye.

The two had feelings for each other, so it wasn't surprising that they got together.

Hiyori Kozuki came from a brothel, and she was very good at talking, chatting casually with Vivi for a few minutes.

After they finished exchanging pleasantries, Zoro, with a furrowed brow, pointed at Barrett not far away and asked in a strange tone, "What's that guy doing?"

Weiwei casually made up a story: "Maybe they're practicing boxing? The air is fresher at night... I was just passing by, so I'm not really sure."

Zoro rolled his eyes. This burly man had a face full of scars, and blood was still spurting from his neck. You're telling me he's practicing boxing in the middle of the night? Do you think I believe that?

Hiyori gently tugged at him, saying, "This has nothing to do with us. Let's mind our own business and continue our stroll."

Zoro and Hiyori bid each other a polite farewell. They had no particular destination in mind, so they wandered aimlessly in the middle of the night, going wherever their horses took them.

It was just a brief interlude; after the two left, Vivi continued her research on Barrett's blood.

When Barrett fell into the illusion for the fifth time, Vivi completely deciphered the secret of Devil Fruit awakening.

She summarized the awakening of the Devil Fruit into four steps: adaptation, imitation, approximation, and transcendence.

When Devil Fruit users use their Devil Fruits, they only consume their own physical strength. The energy inside the Devil Fruit is never consumed; it is simply hidden within the intelligent life form. When the host dies, the Devil Fruit is refreshed. It is almost impossible for a previous host to excessively consume the Devil Fruit's power, causing the overall upper limit of the next host's power to decrease accordingly.

After eating a Devil Fruit, the body must first adapt to its energy. This is essentially a process of symbiosis between the body's cells and the Devil Fruit's power. This stage can be considered the initial stage of a Devil Fruit user, which Vivi calls "adaptation."

After the body adapts to this energy, under the high-intensity training of the Devil Fruit user, the cells begin to automatically mimic the energy flow inside the Devil Fruit, which manifests externally as the user's abilities becoming stronger and stronger.

If we were to define it by force, we could use the degree of compatibility to measure it. Some people have strong abilities, so their compatibility with their Devil Fruit is definitely high. Conversely, if someone has weak abilities, their compatibility with their Devil Fruit is definitely low.

This value can be improved through exercise.

At first, Ace could only throw fireballs and light cigarettes. With training, he was able to unleash the Flame Emperor. The higher his strength, the shorter the learning time became.

99.999% of Devil Fruit users are in the second stage, which is called "Imitation".

According to Vivi's estimation, Barrett has already reached the third stage, "approaching".

Through countless arduous training sessions, his compatibility with his Devil Fruit has become nearly 100%.

The Golden Emperor, Doflamingo, and Katakuri should all be at this level.

The reason why Vivi believes there is a fourth stage, "transcendence".

The main evidence is the Paramecia-type Ope Ope no Mi (Operation Fruit).

After the Devil Fruit's power awakens, it can grant the target the ability to live forever. Just look at the ages of the Five Elders to know that the Op-Op Fruit is different from the Tremor-Tremor Fruit and the Gold-Gold Fruit. It is not refreshed in real time and can only be used once every hundred years or so.

Vivi suspected that using this immortality ability would require the user to exceed the limits of the Op-Op Fruit. This would not only consume the user's physical strength and lifespan, but also extract a portion of the Devil Fruit's core ability. After using it once, the user would die, and the Devil Fruit would need decades to replenish itself before it could reappear.

By getting infinitely closer to the origin of the Devil Fruit and generating a certain convergent characteristic, Vivi believes that this is the secret to the awakening of the Devil Fruit.

She felt that the Golden Emperor and the Barrett in front of her had used the tendency to converge to make their bodies and Devil Fruits, which were clearly unrelated "species," evolve into a phenomenon with similar forms and characteristics through the same environment and a lot of training.

Their awakening is merely a "false awakening," and they have not achieved true awakening.

Approaching is not difficult for Vivi. Let alone a vampire, with her physical abilities, she could even kill a god. What she wants is to surpass him.

"Um......"

"Um?......"

"Um--!"

The brain may know, but the body may not.

Vivi stood still, constantly mobilizing the blood in her body, trying to push herself beyond the limits of her vampire form.

The four fangs representing the vampire fell off, grew back, fell off again, and grew back again, a process that lasted nine times. Blood flowed slowly through her body like lead and mercury. Her skin turned from white to black, then from black to white. Her muscles swelled, and her height broke through to nine meters in a very short time. Blood light radiated everywhere, and a crimson pillar of light shot straight into the sky, even staining the crescent moon on the horizon with a layer of blood.

Birds, beasts, and insects in Dressrosa were all fleeing; the crows were wailing pitifully, while the bats were extremely excited, with countless bats converging on this side.

The sleeping civilians opened their doors and windows one by one, asking each other what had happened, but no one knew what was wrong.

Lost Zoro and Hiyori looked back, and Barrett, who was trapped in an illusion, was also awakened by this chilling killing intent.

Seeing Weiwei, who had regained her normal figure but whose aura had become noticeably more sinister, he finally became afraid. This woman seemed to have broken through again? What was the point of fighting now? Run!

Barrett turned and ran away. Vivi glanced in the direction of the palace, seemingly wanting to test her skills on Kaido. After hesitating for a while, she decided to give the big wolfhound some face.

She awakened her Mythical Zoan type, Vampire form. She didn't know if she was the first person to awaken a Zoan type, but guessed she probably wasn't. According to her research, Paramecia types were the easiest to surpass, followed by Zoan types, and Logia types were the most difficult.

The compatibility with the Soul-Soul Fruit is still relatively low, and the proficiency is insufficient.

Awakening the Rumble-Rumble Fruit is extremely difficult. It won't work on this blue planet. Lightning is lightning; how can you surpass it? No matter how wild your imagination, can you surpass such a natural phenomenon? Simulate a nuclear explosion? She plans to take her spaceship to other planets when she has time. Perhaps other planets have even more powerful natural phenomena. If she learns from them, surpassing them will be much easier.

Once Weiwei returned to her normal height, she felt that her physical strength was simply unbelievable; if she had to describe it in one word, her physical strength was now limitless.

With unlimited stamina, her strength and speed have also greatly improved. Now, even without using the Rumble-Rumble Fruit to accelerate herself, she can easily catch up with Kizaru.

Chapter 564 True Awakening