Chapter 273: [273] : [BONUS] – Rowen’s Mischief! The Allure of Devil Fruits!

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BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

“Secure the sails! This climate is too harsh!”

Nami shouted, already bundled in a thick winter coat but still shivering from the biting cold.

This sea region had the climate of a winter island on the Grand Line, with an incredibly frigid current. The constant spray kicked up by the surging waves only added to the chill.

“IT’S FREEZING!” Usopp shivered, then looked towards Chopper.

“Chopper, your fur looks so warm.”

“Yeah! It looks Super warm! Chopper, GIVE US YOUR FUR TO STAY WARM!” Luffy’s eyes lit up, rushing to Chopper’s side.

“Okay! I’ll peel it off right now!”

Chopper, subconsciously wanting to help his comrades, even prepared to start peeling off his own fur with his cute little hooves.

But then, he froze…

“LIKE HELL I’M GIVING IT TO YOU! YOU BASTARDS!”

Chopper instantly transformed into his hybrid form, roaring at Usopp and Luffy with a sharp-toothed expression.

WHAM! WHAM!

He sent the 500 million Beri bounty Sogeking Usopp and the 3.553 billion Beri bounty Emperor Luffy tumbling to the deck with one punch each.

“S-SORRY…”

Usopp and Luffy apologized, their faces bruised and swollen.

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“Hahaha! Luffy, shouldn’t you guys be coming to me??” Ace laughed heartily, watching his foolish little brother get disciplined by Chopper.

Luffy had never changed, even after becoming an Emperor. He still idiotically provoked his comrades—then meekly apologized after getting beaten up.

But as a brother who cared for his younger sibling, Ace wouldn’t just let his brother and his comrades freeze.

And strictly speaking, he, Ace, was now one of their comrades too.

FWOOSH!

Flames instantly erupted from Ace’s entire body.

“SO WARM!” Usopp and Luffy immediately huddled around Ace.

“The Flare-Flare Fruit is really convenient,” Sanji commented, watching Usopp and Luffy warming themselves by Ace’s fire.

Then, he looked towards Zoro, who was wearing only an open cloak, his bare chest exposed to the falling snow.

“Oi, idiot moss-head! Aren’t you cold?” Sanji asked.

He wasn’t concerned—he was just looking for an excuse to mock Zoro’s questionable intelligence…

In this weather, with his chest bare—WHAT IS HE, IF NOT AN IDIOT??

“The cold is just a state of mind. Something a scrub like Mr. No. 4 wouldn’t understand,” Zoro glanced sideways at Sanji.

With their relationship, he didn’t even need Curly-brows to finish his sentence to know he meant no good.

“WHAT THE HELL DID YOU SAY??” Sanji instantly flared up.

This bastard… Would he ever let it go??

Immediately, Sanji’s right leg was wreathed in Haki, and he started brawling with Zoro.

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“So cold!” Perona hugged Kumae tightly, sniffing her cute little nose.

Moria’s soul wasn’t in Kumae’s body at the moment. After all, bringing Moria’s soul to the real world consumed Rowen’s stamina—and the longer he stayed, the higher the consumption.

A day or two was manageable with Rowen’s Legendary-Class physique, but a prolonged stay was impossible.

The underworld was the ultimate destination for departed souls. Moria knew this well and was more than content with the time he got to spend with his daughter, Perona.

“Rowen, why aren’t you cold at all?” Perona asked, looking at Rowen.

Rowen was still dressed as usual, his black Emperor’s cloak billowing in the cold wind.

“The cold is just a state of mind,” Rowen replied mysteriously, using Zoro’s own words.

“YOU’RE AN ICE-ICE FRUIT ICE HUMAN! WHAT COLD CAN YOU FEEL??”

Hearing this, both the brawling Sanji and Zoro, who had said the original line, couldn’t help but roar back in their sharp-toothed angry state.

“Hahaha, oh, is it because I’m an Ice Human? I just thought I was naturally resistant to the cold,” Rowen laughed, showing no guilt whatsoever.

Then, Rowen exhaled a plume of freezing air, making the already frigid climate even colder.

“SO COLD!”

Under the terrifying freezing aura of the Ice-Ice Fruit—everyone immediately hugged themselves, shivering violently.

Even Zoro, who had just claimed mind over matter, was now shivering uncontrollably…

The reason??

Rowen had given this foolishly posturing man with the Demonic Physique a little extra ’care’.

At this moment, Zoro’s eyebrows and hair were covered in a layer of frost.

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“ACE! WHY DID YOUR FIRE GO OUT??” Luffy and Usopp yelled, hugging themselves, at Ace.

“Hey, hey! Before the World’s Strongest Devil Fruit User, are you really counting on my Flare-Flare Fruit ability?” Ace was also feeling the cold now, shivering.

It was true that the Flare-Flare Fruit had an advantage over the Ice-Ice Fruit. The Ice-Ice Fruit’s ability alone couldn’t possibly freeze him.

But Rowen also had the Revive-Revive Fruit’s underworld chill. Rowen didn’t even need Haki—he just needed to combine the underworld chill with the Ice-Ice Fruit’s freezing aura, and his Flare-Flare Fruit, even Awakened, couldn’t withstand it.

It made him, a Flame Human, feel the cold for the first time in a long while.

“It’s freezing! Rowen, you’re bullying us!”

Rowen was treating everyone equally. Vivi and the others were also shivering, hugging their shoulders.

Rowen’s freezing aura, using his Human-Human Fruit ability, had calculated each person’s resistance to cold and used different levels of freezing aura to put everyone at the same level of coldness.

As for show-offs like Zoro, Rowen just gave him an extra dose. Zoro’s monstrous physique could handle it—he wouldn’t break.

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“Stop playing around, Rowen!” Nami stomped her little foot, rushed up, and playfully bit Rowen on the neck.

“Sorry, sorry,” Rowen immediately and obediently retracted his freezing aura.

Looking at Nami and the others’ little noses, red from the cold, Rowen, instead of feeling sorry, couldn’t help but laugh.

This prompted all the girls to pounce on him, giving Rowen his ’punishment’.

And it turned out, such playfulness, far from damaging the relationship between Rowen and the girls, actually made them closer.

After Rowen retracted his freezing aura, everyone on the Merry suddenly felt it wasn’t so cold anymore.

The so-called winter island climate, compared to the freezing aura of Rowen’s Ice-Ice Fruit combined with the Revive-Revive Fruit, felt downright warm.

Not to mention, after teasing his comrades, Rowen activated his Heat-Heat Fruit ability, raising the temperature of the surrounding air.

“So warm… the Heat-Heat Fruit,” Usopp and Luffy enjoyed with their eyes closed.

BOINK!

“GET UP AND WORK!”

Nami wouldn’t spoil Usopp and Luffy, giving each a large bump on the head, making them obediently go and control the sails.

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“But this sea region is really rough. Good thing we have you, Jinbe,” Nami sighed, looking at the surging sea, then at Jinbe, who was at the helm.

Before Jinbe came, their ship had no dedicated helmsman. It was usually Usopp, Sanji, and the others taking turns.

But only after experiencing the skill of a truly excellent helmsman in the chaotic seas of the New World did they realize just how shoddy their previous efforts had been. It was a complete mess!

Before the Merry was upgraded, those guys even managed to break the rudder on a regular basis.

“Hahaha! I’ve also never steered a ship with a Klabautermann. For a helmsman, this is a rare experience,”

Jinbe laughed happily.

“Don’t let your guard down! It’s not so easy to enter Egghead,” Bonney walked to the front of the deck, looking at the surging sea, fine beads of cold sweat appearing on her forehead.

“Bonney, you’ve been to Egghead before, right?” Vivi asked.

“Mm. To treat my illness, I received treatment here for a period of time,” Bonney nodded.

She hadn’t seen Vegapunk in a long time.

But unlike in the original story, where she came to question Vegapunk about her father, Kuma, and to find the truth, now Bonney wanted to sincerely thank Vegapunk.

Because of Vegapunk, her father Kuma had no regrets, and her illness was cured.

Vegapunk was also one of the few friends she had from her sickly childhood.

“Don’t be careless. Egghead is called the Future Island. There’s a lot of scary technology there. And the seas around it are teeming with horrifying monsters,”

Bonney seriously explained to everyone.

“Are they those numbered monsters, like mechanical Sea Kings?” Franky asked.

“Exactly, those are the Sea Beast Weapons—huh?” Bonney first nodded, as if to a promising student, then suddenly realized something was wrong.

“How did you know?” Bonney’s forehead began to break out in cold sweat.

“Because it’s already here…” Franky pointed behind Bonney.

“ROARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!”

A giant goldfish let out a roar.

Its appearance was very similar to a Sea King, but its body clearly had mechanical modifications.

“YAAAH! HELP!”

Bonney’s Age-Age Fruit ability was useless against such a Sea Beast Weapon.

In the original story, when Bonney came here, she was almost buried at the bottom of the sea by a Sea Beast Weapon’s pursuit.

With her Devil Fruit ability completely ineffective, and on the Sea Beast Weapon’s home turf, the sea, Bonney had no power to resist, only able to scream for help.

“How interesting! I wonder if it’s edible!” Luffy, on the other hand, was incredibly happy.

WHOOSH!

Luffy used Shave, appearing in mid-air, level with the giant Sea Beast Weapon.

“Gomu Gomu no… Pistol——!”

Luffy’s fist instantly turned black, and he slammed it into the Sea Beast Weapon, which cried out in pain and fell into the sea.

FWOOSH!

And at this moment, a terrifying storm came.

“HELP!”

Luffy, in mid-air, was directly blown away by this storm, screaming for help.

“That… idiot!” Zoro covered his face.

“Crap! If this continues, he’ll fall into the sea!” Jinbe, seeing the falling Luffy, prepared to jump into the sea to rescue him.

“Ice Age——

”

VMM!

A cold light suddenly appeared.

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

CRACK!

A terrifying wave of freezing aura was instantly released.

The raging sea froze solid in a moment, the ice spreading for an incredible distance.

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“Hah!”

An extreme freezing breath was exhaled from Rowen, whose half of his body had turned into ice.

THUD!

The falling Luffy smashed onto the ice surface.

“The Ice-Ice Fruit! I’m saved! Thanks, Rowen!” Luffy, whose rubber body was unfazed by the fall, grinned and waved at them from the ice.

“The Ice-Ice Fruit… what a captivating Devil Fruit ability,” Jinbe said, full of admiration.

In the treacherous climate of the New World, certain parts of the sea became incredibly violent and chaotic.

Even an Emperor had to be careful when sailing in such a sea region.

The power of nature was terrifying—even top-tier fighters at the Emperor/Admiral level could be buried at sea. Otherwise, the Roger Pirates would never have been pushed to the brink by Shiki’s flying fleet.

The Roger Pirates had Roger, Rayleigh, Gaban, Kozuki Oden, these Emperor/Admiral level combatants. Against Golden Lion, in terms of combat strength, they had a crushing advantage.

But on the turbulent sea, once pushed into a desperate situation by the natural environment, there was a risk of being buried at sea.

But the Ice-Ice Fruit changed everything.

It could instantly freeze the raging sea solid.

Back then, Kuzan could directly freeze a sea region, letting the civilians trapped on an uninhabited island walk for a week.

Now, Rowen could freeze the entire sea region with ease.

Though the power limit of a Devil Fruit ability couldn’t be changed, reaching its maximum after Awakening—its range of influence could be expanded with the increase of stamina.

After all, stamina, relative to a Devil Fruit ability, was like fuel—the more sufficient the fuel, the larger the range of influence.

With Rowen’s current Legendary-Class physique, whether it was the Ice-Ice Fruit or the Tremor-Tremor Fruit—the range of influence was far greater than Kuzan’s and Whitebeard’s.

“LET’S GO. TO EGGHEAD,”

Rowen said with a smile, leaping down from the Merry and landing on the ice.

With the Ice-Ice Fruit, the raging sea was like solid ground.

That was the allure of Devil Fruits.

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep