Currently, I am facing my new partner, and it's a bit tense. I was always that kid who did group projects alone, and now I have to bounty hunt with another person. It's not that I think she's bad or going to be useless, it's that I just now have another factor when it comes to hunting.

"Well, hello Ms. Saturday. It's a pleasure to be working with you. I hope you can say the same."

She quietly looked at me for a moment before responding. "I guess we're partners now. I hope you're good. The last Mr. 12 was a dumbass and got himself killed."

Off to a morbid start, but it could've been worse. Much. Much. Worse.

"Anyways, we should head to a hotel for the night,"

"Yes, we should," She got up from the table, pushed in her chair, and walked off. I followed behind her.

We exited the building in silence, as we slowly walked toward our destination. While walking to the nearest hotel, I kept looking at her. She had a relatively plain face, blue eyes, and long silver hair. She was decked out in the most dripped out 3-piece suit I've seen, and had a large sheath along with a spool with fishing wire? attached to her belt.

In short, she looked like an assassin. Actually, when I think about it, she would kinda fit in with the Zoldyck Family.

We reached the front desk, and in the end, we had booked separate hotel rooms, and I was all alone. I was about to feed Cardamom and check my fruit farm, but then the baby Den Den Mushi started ringing.

"Hello?"

"Ah, Mr. 12. I called to tell you that your ship will be ready by sunrise tomorrow. It's coming along smoothly."

"Thank you, Ms. All Sunday. I appreciate the supplies and the ship. Have a good night."

There was a silent pause from her before she ended the call. I put the Baby Den Den Mushi next to Cardamom. The baby was light green, with a dark teal shell. I pulled out some lettuce and fed Cardamom and the baby, whose name shall be Coriander.

I inspected my sack full of Fruit. And inside I found… 'No way. No Fucking Way. It's a fucking Devil Fruit! I have a Devil Fruit!'

Ding!

You encountered a Devil Fruit!

+10 Luck

Paprika, Bounty Hunter, Lv.18

Health: 420/420

Exp: 500/1800

VIT: 42

STR: 50

AGI: 45

INT: 30

LUK: 20

[Skills]: 6

Damn, I just doubled my luck.

Okay. Okay, I should probably try to identify it first. It came from one of the apples. It's orange with black swirls, with a white stem wrapping around the fruit. It doesn't fit the description of any known devil fruits. I pull out a flask filled with, not alcohol, but soda. I know that devil fruits taste like ass, so I'm just going to do this quick and easy.

I took a quick bite of the fruit, making sure to bypass my tongue. Unfortunately, some juice got on my tongue. I quickly washed it down with some Soda, trying to get rid of the taste.

I sat there on my bed breathing. I did it. I got a damn fruit. I laid down on the bed and pulled the covers up. No matter what fruit I got, I'll make the most out of it. And with that, I went to sleep.

I woke up dazed. Slightly more tired than usual. I even had a nice little dream. It was about me and a couple of tanukis playing spoons, like some altered version of dogs playing poker.

I got up out of bed, changed into my summer wear, grabbed Cardamom and Coriander, and left my hotel room.

I went to the room next to me, where Ms. Saturday was, and knocked on the door. There was no response.

After a couple of minutes of waiting, she exited the room in the same 3-piece suit as last night. I decided to warn her.

"Hey, Ms. Saturday?"

She turned her head to look at me, "Yeah?"

"I have to warn you… Last night, I ate a devil fruit."

Her eyes widened, and she gripped her hands on my shoulder. "From where?"

I then explained to her the concept of my Fruit Farm, and the chances of a Devil Fruit respawning in the fruit I have.

"Hey, make sure to tell me if you get another. We could upgrade to Officer Agents if both of us have devil fruits." She told me with a little hidden excitement in her voice.

"Alright, Alright," She then began to walk towards the stairs before she quickly turned around back to me. "So, what does your fruit do?"

"Honestly, I have no clue," I answer, "But we're about to find out."

I had no idea how to activate devil fruit abilities. Was it instinctual? Was it thought-based? I didn't know. So I do what any anime character does when drawing out power. I focus purely on the core of my being.

I closed my eyes and focused. I had to find the devil within me and activate my power. And I felt results immediately.

I'm going to describe what it feels like. It felt like my body was shifting or wavering. It was similar to the feeling you get when swimming underwater, ironically. Like a "feeling" was coating my body.

I opened my eyes and observed my environment. Everything was sort of smaller. However one of the big things I noticed was my senses. My sense of touch, smell, and hearing increased a lot. It was a bit overwhelming. I looked down and saw Ms. Saturday looking up at me, along with a bunch of other people at the end of the hall looking at me with shock.

"How do I put this lightly," She said while tapping the side of her cheek absentmindedly, "You turned into a god damn tiger!"

"Ah… Cat-Cat Fruit: Model Tiger. That's what I ate," I said while inspecting my paws.

I'm going to keep it a stack with you. This is the best possible fruit I could've gotten. I now have a strength, speed, stamina, and durability increase, along with sharp-ass claws and fangs. My Rokushiki will be even stronger, plus I can steal moves from Rob Lucci.

Plus, what if I get an awakening? I don't mean like the defective jailer beast awakening. Hell, I think those guys might've been artificially awakened, and that's why they're so… them (There's also that punk-ass Dr. Vegapunk). I mean a natural awakening, where the capabilities of the fruit increase exponentially. I do personally believe that Who's Who or even Kaido are naturally awakened Zoans.

I decided it's for the best that I try to transform back before I cause some public freakout. I closed my eyes, envisioned my regular body, and focused on that "submerged feeling."

I opened my eyes, and… I was back to normal.

"What was it like?" Ms. Saturday asked me.

"Well… transforming feels like being submerged underwater or having this weird feeling coat over your body. While I was transformed, some of my senses were increased, and I felt… huge."

"Hopefully, your little fruit farm comes through again." She said as she began to leave for the stairs.

"Yeah…," I followed behind her, also going down to stairs.

Well, there was a little bit on my mind, so I thought to spill it. I had to get some other stuff to prepare. I'm surprised no crew with devil fruit users, has good amounts of water safety equipment. No safety rings, no life-jackets (actually, those may not exist), or any buoyant object to keep them somewhat afloat until another crew member can rescue them.

One of the first things I'm getting is a Buoyancy Bag. If one of those bags can support the weight of the Thousand Sunny, it can handle an underwater devil fruit user. However, those things might actually only be available at Sabody, because at what other point would you want one other than heading to Fishman-Island?

We checked out of the hotel and began our trip back to Erumalu Dock, where our new ship is.