Chapter 394: Natural System - Sand-Sand Fruit
Once is new, twice is familiar. This is not the first time to eat in the palace, so everyone eats and drinks.
Tilaguda, who is in charge of the kitchen and looks like Ikalem's wife, is full of confidence today - because they have hired twenty more chefs today.
In addition to the banana crocodile, the special dishes on the table also include the cheat bird that Uncle Long shot down when he was bored. The rest are some common high-quality ingredients and some vegetables and fruits unique to Alabasta.
For example, edible cactus. There are many kinds of cacti in the desert, some of which are edible. They taste great whether they are made into dishes or squeezed into juice.
At this time, Wendy and Perona were holding onto the table with both hands, their eyes level with the cup of cactus juice, staring at the crystal clear "juice" in the cup, not daring to try it.
"Can you really drink cactus juice?" Perona asked suspiciously, "Will it be as bitter as bitter melon?"
"Maybe it'll be as sour as prunes." Wendy showed a frightened expression on her face. She was most afraid of sour things, and she couldn't help wanting to run away when she saw someone eating prunes.
"If it can be used to entertain guests, the taste won't be that strange." Xia Lulu comforted, "Although the color is a little suspicious."
"Is it really okay, Vivi? What does it smell like?" Wendy and Perona turned around and asked Vivi for confirmation.
"Don't worry, this cactus juice is delicious. I'll drink it for you to see!" Weiwei picked up the cup and drank it down in gulps, without any ladylike demeanor.
And after she finished drinking it, there was even less. Weiwei's smile froze, and the glass fell to the ground with a snap and shattered. She covered her mouth in disbelief, and after a few seconds she began to dry heave while holding onto the table: "It's... so unpalatable!"
"Your Highness, please be careful!" The maid beside her gently pulled Weiwei away and hurried to clean up the glass shards on the ground.
After confirming that Weiwei was not injured, Ikalem tried to put on a stern face and lectured: "Princess Weiwei, this is too rude, just... ahem, well, well, even if the juice is not to your taste, you can't just smash the cup."
"But, this cup is so unpalatable. It didn't taste like this before!" Weiwei felt aggrieved. She wanted to prove to her friends that cactus juice was delicious, but now it has become like this. Will she be hated?
But their focus was obviously not here. Wendy asked fearfully, "Is it really sour?"
"No, it must be bitter!" Perona reached out and helped Vivi.
Then, Weiwei's arm broke.
"ha?"
"Weiwei!"
"Princess Weiwei!"
Cobra, Ikalem and the maids opened their mouths in horror, and then fell into chaos.
Weiwei herself was also stunned. Although she didn't feel any pain, it was scary to watch her arm fall off like that.
“Aiya~~~~~!” Perona was so frightened that her eyes almost popped out of her head. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Wendy! Wendy! Quick, quick, save Vivi!”
Before Wendy could answer, Vivi's arm in Perona's hand shattered into yellow sand and fell to the ground.
Perona's tears burst out, she knelt on the ground and tried hard to gather the sand into a pile; "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
Zhang Da also looked at the pile of sand on the ground and the completely uninjured end of Weiwei's shoulder, and a possibility came to his mind.
Weiwei herself seemed to feel something, and her whole body scattered into a small pile of yellow sand, and then gathered into a human shape again, and the arm naturally returned to her body.
Facing everyone's shocked expressions, Weiwei raised one hand, which first turned into sand and then immediately recovered, and said curiously: "Everyone, I seem to be fine, and I have gained some strange power."
"This is..." Cobra, Bell and others were shocked. This ability looked familiar to them.
Zhang Da now confirmed it: "This is the ability of the Nature-Shasha Fruit!"
Perona stopped crying. After learning that it was the power of the devil fruit, she curiously poked Vivi and said, "Wow, this is amazing. Isn't this Crocodile's ability?"
"Crocodile?" Weiwei was stunned for a moment, then said unhappily, "Why would I gain the ability of someone like that?"
"I heard that after the death of a power user, the devil fruit will be reborn in a corner of the ocean." Bell, who is also a power user, said, "Did Crocodile's fruit just happen to be reborn here and was squeezed into juice? That's why Princess Vivi thinks that glass of juice tastes bad..."
Everyone heard what Vivi said just now, and Bell still remembers the indescribable taste of the devil fruit. He felt a little sympathetic towards Vivi, as she drank a glass of juice directly.
Only the first person to take the first bite of a devil fruit will gain the power. Before that, it doesn't matter whether it is peeled or sliced. Now it seems that squeezing it into juice is also fine, but no one will eat the residue left after squeezing the juice in advance.
However, Bell also had some questions: "Why did the devil fruit get mixed into the cactus? And was it squeezed into juice together?"
"Maybe it's because the shasha fruit itself looks similar to a cactus." Zhang Da also remembers the official picture of the shasha fruit, which looked like a yellowish-brown cactus covered with small thorns.
At that time, I was still complaining about how Crocodile could be eaten, but now it seems that it was probably peeled or juiced.
"Vivi is lucky, and so is Perona." Zhang Da was subconsciously a little envious after knowing the truth, but after thinking about it carefully, it seemed unnecessary.
If there was a devil fruit in front of him when he first crossed over, he would definitely eat it, but now, there is no need at all. His companions have a lot of abilities waiting for him to learn and master, none of which is worse than the devil fruit, and there is no need to worry about an extra weakness, so the devil fruit thing is just for fun.
Perona asked curiously, "What does it have to do with me?"
"Because if Weiwei hadn't drunk the juice first, you and Wendy would have definitely tried it out of curiosity." Zhang Da also said, "It would have been easy if Wendy had taken the first sip, but if you drank it, then... bang!"
"Ah~" Perona took a breath of cold air. She seemed to have heard that if a person with special abilities ate a second devil fruit, he would explode.
"Thank you, Vivi!" Perona gave Vivi a bear hug, but Vivi didn't seem to be in a good mood.
" But ..." Weiwei's face wrinkled into a ball, and her disgust was written all over her face. "But he uses this ability to create sandstorms, hurting everyone and hurting my father. I don't want this ability!"
"The same ability can be used differently in different people's hands. Crocodile used it to harm the people, but you can use it to protect the people." Zhang Da also advised:
"Also, Crocodile can use his ability to detect underground water veins, and then manipulate them to create quicksand. With this ability, you can easily understand the water vein conditions in Alabasta, and it can be of great help in everything from digging pits and wells to planning new cities and opening up oases."
The Sand-Sand Fruit is an ability that is very suitable for the desert country of Alabasta, whether one wants to destroy or build this country.
The Sen Sen Fruit of the future Navy Admiral Green Bull Aramaki might be good. He could just raise his hand and create a large forest by sending down a tree world. However, if an oasis is opened in that way, all the responsibility will be placed on one person, which is not good for cohesion.
As Zhang Da also talked about the advantages of the Sand-Sand Fruit, Vivi's eyes became brighter and brighter. She was not very interested in the improvement of combat power, but when she talked about being able to protect everyone, she would feel a little motivated. When she talked about making the people live a better life, she immediately became interested.
Judging from her appearance, she will be a good queen in the future.
Cobra was very pleased watching from the side. It didn't matter whether Vivi had the ability of a devil fruit or not. What was important was that Vivi had always cared about the people since she was a child. This was the most valuable thing.
So Weiwei had no intention of continuing to participate in the following banquet, and ran to the garden in a hurry to study her abilities.
Wendy, Xia Lulu and Perona naturally followed, especially Perona, who looked like a senior and wanted to teach Vivi how to develop the ability of the fruit.
After they left, Ikalem, Bell and the others became a little restless, looking like they wanted to follow but were afraid of being rude.
Zhang Da also smiled and said, "If you are worried, just go and take a look. We are all so familiar with each other, there is no need to worry about it."
"That's rude!" Ikalem and Bell hurriedly followed. Crocodile's ability seemed very dangerous, and the princess had no experience, so she would feel uneasy if she didn't keep an eye on him.
Zhang Da also looked at Jackie Chan who was very calm and said, "Uncle Long, aren't you going to take a look?"
"No need. Ikalem and Bell are both very reliable people. I need some quiet time." Jackie Chan said that sometimes he doesn't want to take care of children. He picked up a piece of banana crocodile bone and chewed it happily. "Don't they say that eating more can make you stronger? I think I need to exercise my appetite."
Jackie Chan felt that he was not strong enough and he even needed Perona's help to deal with a demon. Although the dragon talisman gave him powerful attacking abilities, Jackie Chan always felt that making himself stronger was the right way and he couldn't rely on the talisman all the time.
Set a small goal, first eat more than Tom.
Tom casually put a fish into his mouth, chewed it for a few times, and took it out by the tail. There was a whole fish bone on the table.
Jackie Chan thought about it and decided to change his target.
The banquet ended, and except for the small episode of Weiwei suddenly becoming a person with special abilities, both the host and the guests had a great time.
Only Tilaguda in the kitchen felt a little depressed. They had hired twenty more chefs this time, but why was she the only one left standing in the end?
…
The next day, everyone got up as usual for morning exercises. The current morning exercise program first involves a simple run around Albana, and then doing two sets of boxing with Uncle Long.
Although Kung Fu may not be useful for everyone, we just treat it as a group activity. Even Tom, who doesn't like running, is interested in trying it out, probably treating it as radio gymnastics.
Because of Wendy and Perona's relationship, Vivi has also been running these days, but her physical fitness is obviously not good enough, and she usually has to be carried by her good friend Kalu before she runs halfway.
This little running duck is quite cute. Sometimes when Weiwei asks it to sprint, it hears it as sitting down, which makes Weiwei angry and funny.
If it weren't for Weiwei standing by to compare, Zhang Da wouldn't have known that Perona had made such great progress. Although she usually liked to be lazy, she had not completely fallen behind in exercise.
Perona's physical fitness was much better than that of an ordinary little girl, so at least she didn't feel too much pressure to run the whole course with everyone else. Of course, she still complained when she needed to.
Unlike her, Weiwei was a very strong-willed and tenacious child. After realizing that she was much worse than Wendy Perona, she worked hard every day to break through her own limits. And today, she seemed to be working particularly hard.
Perona said , "Weiwei, if you can't hold on, let Kalu carry you on his back, okay?"
"Quack!" Kalu raised its wings to show its agreement. Although it was still small, it had the talent and long-distance running was no problem.
Weiwei panted with difficulty: "No... I can still ... huh... I can still hold on..."
"Why are you working so hard today?" Perona asked in confusion. If it were her, she would roll over and beg for a rest when she was tired. Although she was inspired by Wendy's diligence for a while, it only lasted for a few days.
"Because... Bell said that if you want to use your abilities at will... huh... you need a lot of physical support..."
Everyone understood that she wanted to improve her physical fitness as quickly as possible because she was eager to develop her abilities and help everyone.
But if Ikalem knew about this, he might beat Bell's bird head to pieces. It was you who made Princess Vivi suffer so much?
"Okay, stop talking, pay attention to adjusting your breathing, pay attention to the range of your arm swings..." Zhang Da also interrupted her and shared his own experience. Strong children are always likable, so she should insist on doing it. Anyway, if she gets exhausted, Wendy is still here. Before leaving, just remind her not to increase the dosage in the future.
This time, Weiwei gritted her teeth and forced herself to finish the run. She felt like her legs were no longer her own and almost fell to the ground when she stopped.
However, Wendy immediately supported her, used magic to relieve her discomfort, and also helped her restore some strength.
"How magical!" Vivi jumped in surprise, but after recovering her strength, she couldn't sit still, so she simply studied the ability of the Sand-Sand Fruit in the desert outside the city of Albana.
Everyone watched with interest for a while, and one by one they told Vivi about Crocodile's abilities. It would be a waste not to learn from the ready-made moves and experience. Even if they might not use the same moves in the future, it would be great to practice with them when they first gain the abilities.
In addition, everyone also proposed some suggestions for training abilities based on their own ideas and insights, and then each went on to practice on their own. Even Perona was stimulated again and decided to work hard again, and this time she expected to be able to persist for several days.
Only Tom, who was bored, found Weiwei's ability interesting and gave her some suggestions with gestures. Weiwei thought it made sense and nodded in agreement.
"Quack!" Karoo Duck gave the order, and Tom and Vivi took action at the same time.
Swish, Weiwei used her ability to quickly build a simple small sand castle.
Tom made a sand castle of similar size with his bare hands, which almost perfectly replicated the appearance of the main hall of the palace.
"Wow... so awesome..." Even with Weiwei's familiarity with the palace, she couldn't find any fault with it.
Obviously the time taken is almost the same, but in comparison, Tom's is like a work of art, while mine is just a child's toy. As long as I can make a sand sculpture as detailed as Tom's, it means that I have better control over my abilities, right?
