Chapter 799: Free Muscle Sent to the Door
Little Ian held two newly formed Demon Fruits and presented them to Ian like treasures. Ian took them with a smile and reached out to pat his little head.
The little guy responded with a very comfortable expression, rubbing against Ian's palm like a little puppy...
Ace had witnessed the entire transformation process of the Demon Fruits and asked Ian in astonishment, "This... this... what's going on!? Where did these Demon Fruits come from!?"
He still hadn't connected these two Demon Fruits to Teach's death, so after some self-concocted reasoning, he actually thought Little Ian had found two newly formed Demon Fruits.
Thus, he looked at Little Ian as if he were an alien, thinking Little Ian's luck was simply incredible.
In contrast, Doflamingo, who had been watching from afar, wore a thoughtful expression.
Among those present, Doflamingo had the most contact with Demon Fruits. Remember, he had once engaged in Demon Fruit trafficking, and he had even conducted experiments on artificial Demon Fruits. So in terms of understanding Demon Fruits, Doflamingo definitely knew far more than anyone else there.
Similar examples had indeed occurred in the world: when a Demon Fruit user died, a nearby fruit would suddenly transform into a Demon Fruit. The two fruits Little Ian had brought were likely the result of this. However, Doflamingo was well aware that even if Teach had just died, it wasn't guaranteed that just any two fruits could intercept the power of the Demon Fruits!
Unless it was an artificial Demon Fruit, which could maintain the same shape, naturally occurring Demon Fruits generally couldn't have identical appearances! This suggested that naturally born Demon Fruits might have specific requirements for the shape of the host fruit.
In other words, if the two fruits Little Ian had brought didn't meet the shape requirements of the Dark-Dark Fruit and the Soul Fruit, then the power of those two Demon Fruits wouldn't necessarily have taken residence in those fruits!
Yet the entire transformation process had happened right before his eyes, leaving Doflamingo somewhat puzzled...
After thinking about it for a while without understanding, Doflamingo, like Ace, ended up attributing it to Little Ian's luck. For a moment, both Ace and Doflamingo felt that Little Ian was the true lucky charm...
However, the real reason actually lay in the birdcage that Doflamingo had set up!
When Doflamingo's ability was activated, the birdcage created a special shielding effect that could even block the bioelectric signals of Den Den Mushi. This meant that after Teach died, the energy from his two original Demon Fruits was temporarily dispersed throughout the entire birdcage without escaping. This shielding effect caused some of that dispersed Demon Fruit energy to be forcibly "compressed" into the two fruits Little Ian had brought, resulting in the transformation of the Demon Fruits...
In fact, Teach's Dark-Dark Fruit had a similar effect, but much stronger than the birdcage's...
Doflamingo's theory wasn't wrong. When Ian first obtained the variant of Wapol's Munch-Munch Fruit, the Gluttony Fruit, it was purely coincidental that the fruit Chopper had given him matched the shape of the Gluttony Fruit. This time, thanks to Doflamingo's birdcage, he had obtained two more fruits.
Strictly speaking, Ian's earlier theory about Demon Fruit energy transfer had flaws. Without Doflamingo this time, he might not have been able to acquire them...
Both Ian and Doflamingo had only a partial understanding of Demon Fruits at this point. Ian had simply stumbled upon the truth by accident. Unless someone truly knowledgeable taught him in the future, Ian would likely continue to believe this theory was correct.
But for now, whether the theory was correct or not didn't matter. Ian had already obtained part of the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit and the Soul Fruit. His goal was achieved, so the process didn't need further scrutiny.
Holding the two Demon Fruits that Little Ian had just handed him, Ian focused his mind. Ace and Doflamingo then saw the two fruits in Ian's hands gradually disappear, and Ian wore a very pleased expression throughout the process.
Even if he were stupid, Doflamingo would have realized by now: Damn it! Ian had just absorbed those two Demon Fruits!?
Doflamingo's eyes nearly bulged out. Absorbing the power of two Demon Fruits at once—even Teach, that freak, might not be able to do that!?
He had thought Teach's ability to wield two Demon Fruits was impressive enough, but now he found: "MMP! There's someone even more ruthless out here!"
Holy crap! No wonder Ian's strength had grown so rapidly. Counting his original Pay-to-Win Fruit, this bastard now had the power of three Demon Fruits!?
As Doflamingo thought this, he reconsidered and felt something was off. Damn it, could the Pay-to-Win Fruit just be a front? Ian had amassed so much money—maybe he had bought many Demon Fruits to strengthen himself, leading to his current power?
With this line of thought, Doflamingo veered off again, glaring at Ian with resentment. He thought to himself, "This bastard really is a liar! Not only did he trick me once with the identity chip, but now he's fooled the whole world with a Pay-to-Win Fruit facade!"
Believing he had uncovered the truth, Doflamingo gritted his teeth in anger, while Ian cheerfully examined his own state.
Although he didn't know what variant abilities the two Demon Fruits intercepted from the dead Teach would have, after absorbing two consecutive Demon Fruits into the system, Ian had finally succeeded in upgrading his protagonist card to red!
Earlier, he had absorbed one Demon Fruit from the Celestial Dragons' treasure room in Mary Geoise, then bought and absorbed another at Gran Tesoro. Now, with these last two, four fruits had perfectly allowed Ian to complete four aptitude upgrades.
Since Ian's level was already quite high, these two consecutive upgrades had filled in the missing attribute points, significantly boosting his stats. More importantly, these attribute points were amplified by the skills of each card.
Ace, seeing the two Demon Fruits in Ian's hands disappear, couldn't help but ask curiously, "Ian, you can actually absorb additional Demon Fruits!?"
"Yeah!" Since Doflamingo was still there, Ian didn't say much, just nodded.
Then, he turned his gaze toward Uranus outside the birdcage!
This time, he finally confirmed that his earlier impression of Uranus's size shrinking wasn't an illusion—Uranus's body had indeed shrunk considerably!
Especially during this period, as the heat radiating from Uranus had begun to subside, it became even more obvious.
"Doflamingo, take down the birdcage!" Ian said to Doflamingo.
However, Doflamingo didn't move immediately. Instead, he spoke up, "Ian, I've done what you asked. You won't attack me, will you?"
Ian sneered contemptuously, "I told you, even if I don't make a move, you're not far from death!"
Damn it, so the radiation sickness is real! Doflamingo cursed inwardly. He knew well that even with two Demon Fruits, Teach couldn't defeat Ian and Ace and was literally roasted alive. So he definitely stood no chance against Ian either. If Ian wanted to kill him, he could at most struggle and resist, but the outcome would be the same.
But now, Ian couldn't be bothered to kill him, which meant Ian already saw him as a dead man and didn't want to waste the effort. So the radiation sickness was indeed real, and Doflamingo truly didn't have long to live.
No one wants to die, especially someone like Doflamingo. So he stomped his foot and retracted his birdcage.
"Let's make a deal, Ian!" Doflamingo spread his hands and stepped forward, saying, "It looks like you're planning to fight Uranus. I'll help too, and I'll go all out. But afterward, no matter what, you have to cure my radiation sickness!"
Ian chuckled, "You? How much help can you provide? What makes you think you have the leverage to make demands?"
"Trust me, I know more about this national treasure of the Celestial Dragons than you do!" Doflamingo said seriously. "I'll prove my worth!"
Ian's mind stirred. Doflamingo's words seemed to carry some hidden information!
After thinking it over, Ian said, "What if you get killed by Uranus in the fight?"
"Fufufufufu!" Doflamingo grinned fiercely. "Life and death are up to fate. If I really die in battle, then nothing more needs to be said. But if I survive, you owe me a promise!"
"Fine!" Ian agreed readily.
Ace was a bit puzzled. Why would Ian make such a deal with a villain like Doflamingo? What if the bastard really survived the fight? Would Ian have to cure him?
But Ace didn't understand Ian's own plans.
Because Ian had only promised that if Doflamingo survived, he would cure his radiation sickness—he hadn't said what he would do with Doflamingo afterward!
In other words, Ian could cure the radiation sickness and then turn around and kill Doflamingo!
Or, if Doflamingo was severely injured in the fight, Ian could just treat the sickness without healing his wounds!
Doflamingo wasn't stupid. He had probably thought of these loopholes too. But he had no choice—he was hanging by a thread. If he didn't take the risk, he would only wait to die. Even if the deal was full of loopholes, he had to swallow his pride and accept it, because he had no other leverage to get more promises from Ian...
With the deal struck, everyone turned to face Uranus's direction. By then, Uranus seemed to have finished its heat dissipation process...