On the vast o, there was no faster path to power than the Devil Fruits.

  Ordinary fruits didn't i Arthur. Even if he had one, he wouldn't give it a sed gnce.

  People spouted nonsense, saying things like, "There's no such thing as the stro fruit, only the stro user." It was plete rubbish.

  Imagiwo geniuses, both with the same effort and talent. Give one a stronger fruit, and that person's starting line is instantly ahead. Where's the fairness in that?

  Of course, developing a Paramecia fruit took more than just talent. It took a creative mind, a certain spark.

  So, Arthur had a pher would a fruit, or he'd eat the stro one. And, being familiar with the One Piece story, he knew just which fruits were the stro.

  His top choices were two: the Dark-Dark Fruit, which hadn't appeared yet, and the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. Both were Logia-type.

  The Dark-Dark Fruit's power was gravity. It could pull everything into nothingness. But it had a fatal fw: it couldn't turn the user into their element.

  However, any damage could be absorbed, verted into double the pain.

  What if the pain exceeded the brain's limit? Only oe: the user would pass out, being easy prey.

  The biggest issue? Arthur had no idea where it was.

  In the inal story, it appeared before the year 1520, when Luffy reached the Abasta Kingdom. It was found by Thatch, the 4th division ander of the Whitebeard Pirates. Then, Marshall D. Teach, Bckbeard, killed him for it.

  Right now, it was 1493. The most infamous fruit was either in the New World or hidden somewhere in the Four Blues.

  His sed choice was on Sky Isnd: the stro Logia, not yet eaten by Enel - the Rumble-Rumble Fruit!

  Arthur knew where it was. He also ks terrifying power.

  First, lightning was almost as fast as teleportation. It was better for travel than Kizaru's Glint-Glint Fruit.

  Light travels in a straight line. One wrong move, and Kizaru could end up miles away. That's why he used the Yata no Kagami, to reflect light for direal movement. (Realistically, Kizaru couldn't reach light speed. If he could, pirates wouldn't stand a ce.)

  But the Rumble-Rumble Fruit was different. Lightning could ge dire.

  Then there was eleagism. With training, it could be like Shiki's Float-Float Fruit or Fujitora's gravity fruit, maybe even stronger.

  Don't fet, lightning gees heat. Just like Charlotte Oven of the Big Mom Pirates, Arthur could use heat to attack.

  The extreme heat of a lightning strike could reach ten thousand degrees, ten times hotter than magma.

  With its destructive power, it could easily destroy an isnd. Its electrical waves, bined with Observation Haki, could cover aire isnd. And it had pierg and cutting power.

  This fruit could do the work of several. Arthur coveted it. It was his, as long as Enel didn't get to it first.

  Based oimeline, Enel would it for a while. Arthur had time to get there first.

  Enel destroyed his home, Birka. He drove out the God, Gan Fall. He took over and became the new God in the year 1514!

  This fruit was nearly fwless. It had top-tier destructive power, speed, and Haki amplification. Only someone like Arthur could truly unlock its potential.

  So, after his family's ship sank, he wasn't afraid of this wless isnd. He was excited.

  Bckbeard hid for twenty years on Whitebeard's ship, all for a slim ce at the Dark-Dark Fruit. Why couldn't Arthur stake his life on the Rumble-Rumble Fruit?

  Arthur was just as ambitious as Bckbeard. He khe timing of the sky current was near.

  He'd waited five years for this. He might be smashed to pieces or he might reach Sky Isnd and cim the fruit he craved.

  No oarts at the top, not even Gods. But the throne in the sky was waiting. The Pirate King would be born in three years. The tide of the era was ing. And Arthur would rise to the very top!

  Life or death, it to fate!

  ...

  Jaya wasn't a rge isnd. turies ago, a sky current had ripped away half of it.

  inally, the isnd was skull-shaped. The missing part was the top of the skull. What remained were the teeth.

  It had two towns: Mock Toirate haven, and a small vilge nearby with a few hundred people.

  The small vilge survived because of one man, a pirate from the vilge with a bounty of over one hundred million Beli in the New World. His reputatiohe outws of Mock Town away.

  Bounties in this era weren't ihey were earned with blood.

  ...

  A dense forest split the isnd. The vilgers of the small vilge made their living by fishing and hunting. They weren't rich but had enough to eat and wear.

  In the forest, Arthur leaped between branches, swinging from thick vines.

  He moved like Tarzan.

  He was multitasking, thinking about the information he had gathered from the vilgers.

  Acc to vilge legend, the sky current was caused by a giant sea dragon turning over in its sleep.

  The timing of the dragon's movements was uable, but there attern. Arthur had figured out from the pattern that the current was ing soon.

  He didn't believe in sea dragons. He thought it was a giant Sea King or maybe ahquake. It was just a natural phenomenon.

  He reached the bea front of the vilge and sat down, taking off the homemade fishi he carried.

  Moments ter, a gruff voice broke his thoughts. "Arthur, quit daydreaming! Time to go!"

  Arthur stood up, straightening his posture as he brushed the sand off his pants.

  In five years, he had ied into the vilge, persuading the fishermen to take him to sea.

  Of course, he had to tribute. He couldn't expect them to carry a useless burden.