Sword

Chapter 32

Shoko stared at the box in Garp's hands. "Is that a devil fruit, Sir?"

"It is," was his simple response.

Shoko stared.

"Why me? I'm not even a real officer yet." Garp was able to obtain a devil fruit, and I'm his first choice to receive it?

"It's compatible with your particular skill set. And I can choose who I want to give it to, no matter the rank. If you don't want it, you don't have to take it." Garp raised a challenging eyebrow.

"No! —I mean, I'm not sure yet. It's a big decision." Shoko paused pensively. Her mouth felt cottony. "What fruit is it?"

"The bomu bomu no mi," Garp responded. "Its previous owner was in a corrupt political organization. When Hina and her guys went to capture their leader, he got caught in the crossfire and died. Luckily, they found the fruit quickly and were able to secure it for the Marines. Hina passed it on to me to choose what to do with it."

Shoko was speechless.

"The way I understand it," Garp continued. "You can use your body as an explosive without harming yourself. If you get creative with it, I think it would be very useful combined with your archery."

Shoko fidgeted nervously with her fingers. "I can't help but feel like this is cheating. I mean, you're so strong without a devil fruit."

The corners of Garp's eyes crinkled good-naturedly. "I see where you're coming from, but I think it's fair to think of a devil fruit as a sort of weapon. Like your bow and arrow, or how I throw cannon balls. With this, you're just learning a new weapon."

Shoko gently took the box from Garp's hands. She felt like she was holding an actual explosive, though she doubted the fruit itself could be detonated.

It could be really interesting to experiment with this. I wonder if I could use it to make explosive arrows....

She lifted the fruit from its box with one hand. There's no going back if I do this. I'll never be able to swim again.

She glanced back at Garp. He nodded once, as if reading her mind.

Then she bit into the fruit.

Shoko grimaced at the devil fruit's bitter taste but forced herself to gulp it down.

She paused, then looked to Garp expectantly. "Am I supposed to feel different?" she asked.

Garp chuckled. "Everyone always asks that, but no. Most people don't feel any magic tingling or anything like that." He held out his hand to take the box back from her. "I'll get rid of that for you. We can go test it later. Just try not to explode anything in the meantime."

"Wait, how do I know-" Shoko started, but Garp was already back in the other room with Drake, Coby, and Helmeppo.

If I accidentally blow this building up it's his fault.

As she reclaimed her spot at the table, Drake leaned forward, resting his chin on the palm of his hand. "These boys are telling me you freed a prisoner of the Marines, and now he's a pirate," he said.

Shoko froze, staring wide-eyed at Drake, then at Coby and Helmeppo. The two boys responded with apologetic looks, but Drake just stared, smirking with one eyebrow raised in question.

"I thought they were ballsy just going against orders trying to recapture a prisoner, but you just went and helped one escape!" Now he was laughing out loud. Shoko felt her cheeks burn in anger.

But then Garp was laughing, too. "Not only that, but she had someone call her superior and assign a fake mission so she could do it!" he chimed in.

"Ha!" Drake's amused eyes drilled into Shoko. "By next week she'll be deserting the Marines and becoming a pirate herself!"