[RLOP] Chapter : 03 - New Fruit

Those who survive calamities often share a belief:
After great disaster, fortune always follows.

At this moment, in the dimly lit treasury, Rob Lucci stirred.

Lying on the cold ground, he opened his eyes in a haze, his vision drifting upward toward the massive hole in the ceiling—something had crashed through from above. The sight snapped him back to his senses.

He sat up quickly, scanning his surroundings. Charred ruins, shattered walls, the stench of smoke—and Kaido himself, drinking heavily amid the wreckage.

None of it mattered.

His gaze fell on Hattori, still breathing faintly beside him. Relief washed over him, only to sour the moment after. A rancid stench clung to his mouth, making him grimace. He smacked his lips, his stomach churning.

'What the hell… it's like I just ate dog shit.'

Cradling Hattori protectively, Lucci lifted his eyes to meet Kaido's. That broad, scarred face bore the faintest trace of amusement—an almost imperceptible smile.

Lucci broke the silence first.

"I didn't expect one of the great pirates of the New World to have a hobby of feeding prisoners shit."

A pause. His gaze hardened.

"What a revolting taste."

Kaido's mouth twitched. For a fleeting moment, the urge to smash this insolent brat into the ground with his club blazed in his mind.

But he didn't move.

Not yet.

Partly because of the investment he'd already made.
Partly because something about this boy's aura… felt familiar.

Chuckling, Kaido tilted back a massive gourd and drank deep before letting out a booming, unrestrained laugh.

"Worororo! Kid, who do you think saved your life? To keep you breathing, I fed you a Devil Fruit!"

Lucci froze.

A Devil Fruit?

For the first time, Kaido's tone carried no malice—only a rough sort of generosity. The tension in Lucci's body eased slightly. Looking down at himself, he realized his wounds had closed. His blood-soaked, broken body no longer looked like the mangled ghost it had before.

He chose to spare me?

Slowly, Lucci pushed himself to his feet, mind racing. If Kaido had gone so far as to waste a Devil Fruit on him, then it meant only one thing—he still had value. And as long as that value remained, his life was safe.

Calming himself, Lucci reached inward, feeling for the new energy swirling inside him. His original plan had been simple: after betraying the World Government, he would vanish. Train in obscurity for years. Grow strong enough to roam the first half of the Grand Line freely. Then, when the time was right, seek out the legendary Mythical Zoan he knew—the Vampire Bat Fruit. A perfect pairing with his Haki. A cornerstone of the empire he would one day build.

But fate had its own cruel sense of humor.

Whether the world itself was correcting course, or some butterfly had already stirred the currents, Lucci's carefully woven plans had been shattered before they could even begin.

And now, a Devil Fruit—one not of his choosing—burned within his body.

'I can only hope this fruit isn't worthless,' he thought grimly. 'At the very least, it needs to give me a way out of Wano. Thirteen years it took me to slip free of the World Government… how long will it take to escape the grip of the Beasts Pirates?'

Focusing inward, Lucci willed the strange energy to awaken.

And then—

His pupils shrank violently. The energy flared, then stopped.

His once-dark eyes now gleamed with a golden hue as he locked gazes with Kaido, who was watching him with keen interest, still seated cross-legged on the stone floor.

For the first time in years, Rob Lucci—the cold killing machine—felt his emotions stir in shock.

Because he recognized the name of this fruit.

Zoan-Type. Cat-Cat Fruit. Mythical Zoan. White Tiger Form.

Lucci parted his lips to speak.

But Kaido beat him to it.

"Kid, join my crew. Be my crewmate!"

Gulp, gulp—

After another heavy swallow of sake, Kaido lowered the massive gourd hanging from his hand. His face, flushed red with drink, twisted into a grin.

"Not a subordinate—a crewmate. But even if you refuse, I'll shatter your limbs and drag you back with me."

'Wororororo! I'll lock you up with Yamato if I must!'

A crewmate, huh…

This time, Lucci did not immediately reject the offer.

Subordinate and crewmate.
Two words that looked alike on paper, but on the seas, they meant entirely different things.

The difference was like that between Gifters… and the Disasters and Tobiroppo.

The former were tools—disposable.
The latter, partners who could guard your back.

Lucci had no desire to be anyone's tool again. Thirteen years of slaving under the World Government had carved that lesson into his bones. They had spent every day drilling into him the ideology of servitude, of being a weapon. His will endured, but the brainwashing left a bitter taste that never faded.

As for becoming a crewmate…

Truthfully, he hadn't wanted that either.

A lone wanderer could go further. Someone seeking to resist—no, to destroy—the World Government didn't need chains of loyalty dragging him down.

But…

"Why me?" Lucci asked at last, eyes closed as he steadied his breath. When he opened them, his expression was once again calm and unreadable.

Kaido squinted. "Kid, you've got an aura."

An aura?

Lucci frowned, recalling the clash moments ago. The surge of wild, unnamed power that had erupted from him.

Could it have been… Conqueror's Haki?

If that was all, then it wasn't enough. Kaido wasn't the type to kneel before titles. Unlike weaklings like Trebol, Kaido never revered Conqueror's Haki.

"Is it Conqueror's Haki?" Lucci pressed.

"Conqueror's Haki? Worororo!" Kaido threw back his head in laughter, clutching his stomach as if he'd heard the world's funniest joke.

"You do have it, boy. But Conqueror's Haki is nothing special in the New World. Those with it are as common as carp leaping upriver. It's hardly worth mentioning."

He paused, eyeing Lucci carefully.

He expected disbelief, anger, even wounded pride. That was what geniuses showed when stripped of their pedestal.

But Lucci's face remained calm.

Boredom flickered across Kaido's expression. Did this brat not know how rare Conqueror's Haki truly was? One in a million, at best. Or did he simply not care to be called a genius?

Kaido's grin widened.

"In that instant—when our Haki clashed—I felt it," he rumbled.

"That will to spit in fate's face and strike upwards!"
"That drive to resist the world and tear down its order!"
"That ambition… to grow stronger and rule over everything!"

Lightning crackled as Kaido rose to his full height, red and black sparks exploding across his massive frame. The winds whipped outward, sending Lucci's long hair flying behind him.

"And I…"

His roar shook the air.

"I will ignite a War that will tear down every law and every chain!"
"To drag the World Government from their throne in the sky!"
"To rip power from the hands of those pathetic, false gods!"

"So, join me, Rob Lucci!" His fist, larger than Lucci's entire body, stretched out before him. "Because you and I… are the same kind of monster!"

Lucci stared at that enormous hand, his silence heavy.

Then, slowly, a faint smile touched his lips.

His fist—small, yet burning with the same black and red lightning—rose to meet Kaido's.

The two forces collided, sparks tearing across the ground.

"I'll join you, Kaido."