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“Are you planning to bid on this Paramecia-type Love-Love Fruit?”
Olvia asked Shin, seeing the determined look in his eyes.
“Yes. The Love-Love Fruit’s ability is quite impressive. It can charm anyone, men and women.”
As Shin spoke, he glanced at Hancock. He wondered if this fruit held any appeal for her.
In terms of appearance, the shape of this Devil Fruit was quite nice. A pink heart shape, definitely one of the best-looking Devil Fruits.
“It can charm men and women? Really?”
Hancock’s eyes sparkled.
Hancock wasn’t interested in Devil Fruits. Because she knew the weakness of eating a Devil Fruit. Elder Nyon had taught her that it was best not to eat a Devil Fruit.
Though Devil Fruits had weaknesses, it was true that they could allow one to get stronger quickly. However, Elder Nyon was afraid Hancock would eat a useless fruit.
Then her strength wouldn’t increase much, but she would gain the weakness of being afraid of seawater. In other worlds, the weakness of being afraid of seawater might not be a big deal. But this was the One Piece world—most of it was occupied by the sea.
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“Of course it’s true. But the effectiveness of a Devil Fruit’s ability also depends on the user’s development,” Shin nodded to Hancock.
Hancock held her face in her small hands. ‘If I eat this Devil Fruit, can I charm Shin-nii??’
“Do you want to get it?” Shin asked Hancock.
“Ah?”
Hancock was stunned for a moment, then said hesitantly, “Won’t it be too expensive?”
The starting bid was 300 million Berries. To win it, even doubling the Berries might not be enough.
At an auction, the value of some items could be bid up far beyond their original value.
The auction had just begun, and the price had already reached 400 million Berries. Some pirates had already given up bidding. Items of this value would generally be bought by nobles—who would then use them to please the Celestial Dragons. So, many Devil Fruits ended up in the hands of the Celestial Dragons.
Ironically, those fools—the Celestial Dragons—didn’t even eat Devil Fruits. It was unknown for what reason. A Devil Fruit falling into the hands of the Celestial Dragons was a waste of resources.
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“FIVE HUNDRED MILLION BERRIES.”
Shin also started bidding.
The price, originally 420 million Berries, was directly raised to 500 million Berries by Shin. It didn’t matter how much he spent—Shin’s Berries were all created by himself. He just didn’t know if anyone would be able to tell they were fake.
‘If someone finds out, then I’ll just have to resort to force.’
After Shin bid 500 million Berries, no one continued to bid against him. Because to them, this was an unknown Devil Fruit.
The price of 500 million Berries was already inflated. If they continued to add to the price, even if they won the auction, they would be fools.
“Five hundred million Berries, once!”
“Five hundred million Berries, twice!”
“Five hundred million… three times! Alright, this Devil Fruit belongs to gentleman number 75!” The auctioneer said. He was very happy. This unknown Devil Fruit being sold for 500 million Berries had already exceeded their target.
If they knew the ability of this Devil Fruit, the price would be much higher.
The petrification of the Love-Love Fruit was quite unbeatable. Anyone captivated by its charm could be turned to stone. Though it wasn’t a great weapon like the Hobby-Hobby Fruit, it was still quite good.
Shin really wanted to get the Hobby-Hobby Fruit. In the hands of a strong person, this fruit was much more powerful than something like the Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
Just by touching, one could turn the opponent into a toy. A seemingly ridiculous ability, yet terrifyingly so. Of course, if the person using the fruit ability wasn’t strong, then even getting the Hobby-Hobby Fruit would be useless.
After all, it required touching as a condition. If you couldn’t touch them, no matter how strong the ability, it was just a decoration. Just like no matter how strong an attack, if it couldn’t hit the enemy, it was useless.
This fruit was won by Shin. But he had to wait until the auction was over, pay, and then he could get the Devil Fruit.
At this moment, Shin could feel malicious gazes from the surroundings.
This auction had many pirates present.
They were planning to rob him…
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The subsequent auctioned items didn’t catch Shin’s eye. After the auction ended, Shin went backstage, paid, and got the Love-Love Fruit.
These people looked at the Berries and didn’t see anything wrong. It seemed no one could distinguish the Berries Shin created.
After getting the Love-Love Fruit, Shin handed it to Hancock.
“Can I really eat it?” Hancock’s expression showed hesitation.
“Hancock, when did you become polite? Didn’t you say you wanted to protect me in the future?”
Shin said to Hancock with a light chuckle. Shin had no intention of eating a Devil Fruit, and this originally belonged to Hancock anyway. He had just given it to Hancock in advance.
He believed Hancock’s strength would be much greater in the future.
“Alright, I’ll eat it.” Hancock made up her mind and took a bite of the Love-Love Fruit.
Though it was called the Love-Love Fruit, it wasn’t sweet at all. Shin hadn’t tasted it, but he knew the description of a Devil Fruit’s taste.
And now, looking at Hancock’s expression, he could tell. Her face was twisted; it was an indescribable kind of disgusting.
Robin looked at Hancock with sympathy. She had eaten a Devil Fruit, so she knew very well what a Devil Fruit tasted like.
“Why is it so disgusting?” Hancock’s tears were streaming down, looking at Shin with grievance.
Is this fruit fake??
“Shin-nii, did we buy a fake? It’s so disgusting,” Hancock said, wiping her tears.
“No. Precisely because it’s disgusting, we bought the real thing. Devil Fruits are supposed to taste terrible,” Shin comforted Hancock.
As Shin spoke, Hancock gritted her teeth and ate the whole thing in one go. Shin looked at Hancock, somewhat stunned.
“Hancock, you don’t have to eat the whole thing. Just one bite is enough to get the ability,” Shin reminded Hancock.
But this reminder seemed a bit late. Hancock had already eaten the entire Fruit.
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