The Terror of the Pirates

Caught off guard by a cry of "Mommy," Alex froze in his tracks.

It wasn't so much being called "Mom" that startled him, but rather Bailey spitting out words.

"A Devil Fruit ability user?"

This was Alex's first reaction.

After judging that it was highly likely that Bailey had eaten a Devil Fruit, Alex's feelings suddenly became complicated.

The coveted Devil Fruit had been eaten by a skunk?

Alex's reaction, however, was not as strong as Sonny's, and he did not immediately jump to a conclusion.

The fact that an animal could spit out human words was not necessarily because it had eaten a Devil Fruit.

Saul looked at the bewildering Bailey with a blank face and slowly withdrew his hand, inclining his head toward the two men standing in the doorway of the restroom.

"Who brought this little thing?"

Alex raised his hand and pointed directly at Mulder.

Mulder: "..."

Ten minutes later, the group was seated at the table.

Bailey, whose upper body was bundled into a dumpling, was lying on the floor beside the dining table.

In front of him were two meat steaks and a handful of vegetables.

The dinner, which could be described as humane, gave his wounded heart a little bit of comfort.

Saul stuffed a piece of chicken thigh into his mouth, chewed a few times, and swallowed it. Then he turned to look at Bailey, who was nibbling on the meat steaks.

"Hiding quite deeply, this little thing."

Bailey, as one of the items in the auction, was the first thing Saul had noticed.

The reason he had almost pinched Bailey's head earlier was because he sensed a faint malice emanating from the creature.

His sensitivity to malice was so acute that his reaction could almost be described as a conditioned reflex.

If it hadn't been for Bailey spitting out human words at the moment of life and death, Saul definitely wouldn't have stopped in time.

It was also thanks to Saul's experience as a veteran of body magic—quick to strike and quick to withdraw—or else Bailey would have long since turned into a headless corpse.

"Bailey didn't eat the Devil Fruit, so why can he talk?"

Alex looked at Bailey in doubt.

Earlier, regarding the question of whether Bailey had eaten a Devil Fruit, Saul had already used an extremely rare seafoam bullet to resolve the confusion.

But now another doubt arose.

Mulder resisted the urge to comment and ate his meal in silence.

In his current position, it was not appropriate for him to explain the science behind this to Alex.

Saul, however, knew what was going on and explained:

"In the Grand Line, there is an isolated race called the Fur Clan. This little thing is more than likely somewhat related to that Fur Clan, but apparently, the bloodline inherited is not complete—it's even thin. That's why it has become like this."

"Fur Clan? What kind of race is that?"

Alex's expression twitched.

Meanwhile, Bailey, lying beside the dining table, slowed down his nibbling on the meat steak and listened to Saul's explanation with a sideways ear.

He had been born different, which led to him separating from his pack early on.

He had agonized over his own special characteristics and, in order to explore and understand them, had even risked contacting human society.

Because of this, he had been accidentally caught by humans in the end.

Saul was too lazy to explain too much and said perfunctorily, "Just think of the Fur Clan as a group of humans who ate Animal Devil Fruits."

On the side, Alex almost choked on Saul's explanation.

But upon careful consideration, it seemed to make sense.

For her part, Sonny nodded in a daze, instantly conjuring up an image of the Fur Clan.

Saul took several more bites of meat and then sighed:

"Alex, you've sort of picked up a treasure. A Fur Clan member with a thin bloodline like this little thing isn't common. I've only seen it a few times in my life. If the auction house knew his true details, how could they possibly just leave him here to be auctioned off?"

"Not so much. He's only worth a bit of money."

Alex didn't think Bailey could be called a treasure.

If Saul was willing to trade [Thousand Birds] for Bailey, then Alex would be willing to punch himself in the face.

"Whether it's a treasure or not depends on how you utilize it."

Saul took a large gulp of wine, a glint in his eyes.

"In the Grand Line a few decades ago, there was a rising star pirate who came out of nowhere, and he was followed by a black hunting cat with a delicate physique—just like this little thing, also a Fur Clan member with a thin bloodline."

"Although its form was no different from that of an ordinary animal, it was both humane and could spit out human words."

"Those who didn't know about that black hunting cat would only think that the cat could speak because it had eaten a Devil Fruit. But it's also true that the hunting cat had indeed eaten a Devil Fruit."

"Only, what that hunting cat ate was neither a common fruit nor a fruit related to language, but... a Weapon Fruit."

"Because the hunting cat ate the Weapon Fruit, at that time, many veteran pirates who had been famous for a long time were unexpectedly defeated by that rising star pirate. At that time, I was still considered young and vigorous, but I was also nearly outsmarted by him."

"To this day, I can walk the path I'm on now, and I have to thank him for the lesson he taught me back then."

Speaking in a slightly reminiscent tone about his past experiences, Saul raised his glass again and took a few more sips of wine.

Listening to Saul's narration, an image of a cunning old pirate popped into Mulder's mind, and he couldn't help but glance at Bailey.

He knew that there was a technology that could make weapons eat Animal Devil Fruits, but he hadn't realized that someone would make animals eat Weapon Devil Fruits.

If you thought about it, it wasn't impossible, but animals were animals after all.

There were too many disadvantages...

But for a Fur Clan member like Bailey, with a thin bloodline, eating a Devil Fruit would make him functionally no different from a human. And functional Devil Fruits weren't limited to just the Weapon Fruit.

Manipulated this way, there was a kind of plasticity in the form of a low-profile double fruit ability.

However, whether it was worth investing a Devil Fruit in a pet was another matter.

But it was always a potential.

As soon as he thought of this, Alex looked at Bailey with a different gaze and immediately picked up a chicken leg, placing it in front of Bailey's eyes.

Bailey: "..."

After hearing Saul's words, Sonny was also looking at Bailey.

However, the direction of her thoughts was different from Alex's.

It was still the original idea.

"It's too wasteful."

Sonny shook her head.

If she were in Alex's place, she would never let a pet eat a Devil Fruit.

It wasn't something that could be found everywhere, and it was already not easy to come across one in a lifetime.

This was actually a difference in perspective.

Devil Fruits, in the eyes of ordinary people, were indeed rare and hard to come by.

But Alex knew very well that for figures like Doflamingo or the Four Emperors, their cadres almost always had Devil Fruits. Not to mention, a small handful of people would casually waste Devil Fruits.

It could only be said that as long as one's strength was great enough, the rare things in the eyes of ordinary people would eventually become commonplace.

"So, it's better to sell Bailey."

With Sonny's values, it was impossible to waste a Devil Fruit on Bailey, and her side point was still wanting to exchange Bailey for money.

"Bailey is calling you 'Mommy.' It's not good to sell him, right?"

Although he didn't have a Weapon Fruit, Alex had already regarded Bailey as one of his potential assets, so naturally, he didn't intend to sell him.

Just as he finished speaking, a chicken bone flew toward him, accompanied by Sonny's icy glare.

Being suddenly called "Mommy" by Bailey had left her baffled.

And how could she know that the reason Bailey called her "Mommy" was because she had picked a name for him?