Chapter 10: Saurva

Montbar had pulled out from his chest- an unusual sight- instead of a heart, it was what appeared to be a scarf-shaped fruit as he placed on the ground and began to draw a pentagram.

Sanji then asked his enemy, "What the hell is that?" His eyes narrowed with suspicion as the fruit on the ground began to glow a faint blue, casting eerie shadows across the immediate area. The air grew tense as if it were holding its breath in anticipation of the unknown.

"When a Devil Fruit user eats one- their heart becomes the Fruit and it alters their Lineage Factor to its core. I'm confident in telling you this...since you're all going to die...even me.," he said.

Chopper rushed to him out of the goodness of his heart.

"I'm not sure what that all means, but you need a heart to survive! I'll try and-," he said before Montbar glared at him as Usopp quickly escorted him away.

"This is giving off creepy vibes...I-I gotta stop it! Sorry Chopper. He's made up his mind.,"" the sniper said as he proceeded to fire from his Kabuto to no avail.

Nami then noticed that Zeus was around her again, but the focus was on the circle and the ominous feeling it was giving off.

"Clown and the others don't get it...Devils...no, Daemons are alive in these containers...and things like this bring them out...it's a trade secret amongst those in the know.," Montbar explained.

Mary Geoise

Jabra sneezed as he said-

"Somehow, someone actually agrees with me."

"On what? That we stood around like idiots?," asked Fukuro.

"DOOOOOON'T say it LIKKKKKE Thatttttt. We NEEED A Better Excussssse!," yelled Kumadori.

"You're still on about it. It's just a chemical reaction negatively when you consume two or more Devil Fruits.," Blueno argued.

"No, I'm sure of-," Jabra said as he suddenly sensed an ominous aura being felt all around everywhere but too far to be close.

"This is harassment.," Kalifa commented as she felt the pressure.

In Umi's room of flowers, Umi the shadow felt the odd sensation.

Who in god's name taught them that?, thought the silhouette.

The Elders and Garling felt the sensation.

Across the World

Koby, Sabo, Dragon, Yamato, Rebecca, Akainu, Aramaki, Issho, Mansherry, Shirahoshi, Bartomelo, Cavendish, the unconscious Law, the unconscious Kidd, Garp, Sengoku, Zeff, Rayleigh, Shakky, Gloriosa, Hancock, Moria, Pell, Chaka, Igaram, Big News Morgans, the Big Mom Pirates, the remnants of the Animal Kingdom Pirates, Momonosuke, the Scabbards, Carrot, Iceberg, Wyper, Eneru, the comatose Big Mom and Kaido, Marco, Hamburg, Gaimon, Genzo, Hatchi, the girl that tried to aid Nami on Sabody when she left down to Fishman Island, and countless others all sensed it.

Shanks stared with a foreboding sense of solemnness as he looked to Building Snake.

Teach was celebrating with Kuzan when he also sensed it-

"Zehahahaha. Now, what's the world gonna do when they learn this? It might be a detour...but it's too amazing to pass out on. Pizarro!," he said as the skull-shaped island rose and took a humanoid body...

Egghead

Crocodile, Mihawk, Buggy, the Marines, the CP Agents, the remaining Oracion Seis members, the Straw Hats, and everyone else noticed the Haki emitting from the entity.

Sanji saw the fruit emit black lightning that took on swirl patterns as the object gradually expanded in size, taking on a humanoid form as it generated wings on its back.

"Sorry, guys...you're likely to be killed as well. I only did in secret before...As you guys...good fuckin' luck trying to stop this. I'll wait for your answer in Hell.," Montbar said as the entity slapped the Oracion Seis member and reached out to then open its featureless face to swallow him with its massive mouth with wide-spaced square teeth.

Sanji stared at the towering figure- a mummy-like entity wearing a loose-striped long-sleeve shirt worn open with baggy dark pants, it wore a massive scarf that split into two ends, had two scarf-shaped horns, and a set of three red-iris eyes placed vertically. It had purple wings of large size on its back.

"A...Daemon? This is what comes from those fruits? Luffy...Luffy has one of them too?" Sanji muttered as the creature let out a deep, unsettling roar that echoed through the island. The floor trembled with each step it took towards them, its very presence a stark reminder of the ancient power it now contained.

"Green Star: Platanus Shuriken!," Usopp shouted as he flung several star-shaped plants to cut down the creature...but its body went back into place as the scarfs attached it together.

"Green Star: Green Meadow Road!," he shouted as he fired on the ground as it generated a path of leaves, hoisting the ship above the seas as it sailed away.

"What the hell's going on?! It's like everything was going fine and we just walked into a nightmare!," Nami shouted.

"Wake me up! Wake me up!," shouted Chopper.

"I don't know what that is. We've had our fun, but let's get the hell out of here! Oi, Vega-guys! You know what that is?," asked Usopp to Shaka.

"The manifestations of concepts taking on consciousness...but you're right...even we know the bare minimum from research alone...This just escalated to uncharted territory.," he said before the ship halted.

Usopp turned to see the creature grabbing the rudder of the ship and grabbing it tightly.

"Don't you dare! We've already had to say goodbye to Merry! Not Sunny too!," shouted Usopp as he fired an Impact Wolf at the creature. Sanji then activated his Modifications to kick it in the neck. Suddenly wrappings covered his legs, but this time, he was being drained rapidly.

And it didn't stop there- the creature began to expand several scarfs across the battlefield- draining the unconscious fighters to dried-up husks.

"Do you know what this is?," asked Crocodile as Clown looked confused as did Judge.

"The Long-head said something about the dreams of different dimensions and the will of Fruits. But...shit...this isn't what I signed up for! Children!," shouted the man as Reiju, Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji all appeared at his beck and call.

"Deal with this.," he commanded as Reiju looked cross.

They generated fire, lightning, and poison and Yonji fired bullets from his cable arm to ward off the scarfs. Bonez and Mihawk also cut them down. But they kept on appearing.

"Eek! This is scary!," Clown shouted as suddenly, Caribou latched onto him.

"Please get me the hell out of here!" he cried.

Kizaru glanced at the creature and then zoomed back to Saturn who gave a severe look at sensing the creature.

"This is unexpected sir...Mind telling me what this is?," asked the Admiral.

"Just get enough Sea-Stone or quell it with enough Haki to make it go back to sleep.," Saturn explained.

"But the Sea-Stones are in the lab! And we don't have that much Haki! And don't forget that we also have our mission," York argued as the Elder glanced at her to silence her.

"It needs to be taken down without touching those tendrils!," shouted Red King as he dashed to its location and attempted a Haki-infused jab but suddenly it jerked its head to breathe fire with wailing faces at him, rendering him comatose from the fire.

Doberman stared with dread as Hound arrived to aid him.

"Why is it here? Where did it come from?" asked the Vice Admiral.

"It's the Straw Hat's fault. We just deal with the creature and blame them for this issue.," the Elder explained.

The entity released its grip on Sanji to then fly in the direction of Zoro.

"Tch. I'm just the snack...no, I'm just a mistaken course to get to a better meal?," asked Sanji.

It then appeared in Zoro's direct vicinity as it opened its mouth and drooled with acidic saliva.

Robin and Franky quickly defended their currently weakened friend when suddenly, Clisson got in its way.

"Montbar's let Saurva take care again.," she said as she tossed Tom to the side. Stussy quickly bit him in the neck to render him unconscious.

"Sauvra?," asked Robin.

"It's the name of the Daemon of Scarves in this reality.," Clisson explained.

The others looked baffled at her response aside from Vega 40.

The creature, Saurva, paused as if listening to the conversation before lunging at Zoro.

Suddenly, it was blocked by a force field summoned by the 39th Vegapunk as he stepped forward.

"He's unable to cooperate with his Daemon.," Vega 40 noted.

Saurva elongated his scarves and it caused the immediate area to gradually become colder and colder.

"T-this is getting Super ridiculous!," shouted Franky.

The 39th then generated hot air from his body as his skin opened to reveal heaters to warm up the area.

He noticed that Poneglyph's writing was appearing on the scarves.

An adaptive type. Need to finish this as quickly as possible., he thought as he pulled down his goggles.

After a few moments, they flashed and Saurva emitted purple blood from some invisible slash.

"Can't predict an attack from the future- since it's so full of countless possibilities.," he remarked as the creature roared.

It was propelled to another building as it then wrapped several scarves as it lifted the structure to fling at the 39th.

"Is that what's inside a Devil Fruit?!," shouted Stella as he saw Vega 39th generate a shrinking ray. They then continued to clash as the 39th covered his arms with Armament Haki as he used Infusion to attempt to strike the core of the creature from the inside.

He was kicked into a construction site, but Vega 39th grabbed it and did a roundhouse kick to its cranium.

It generated its mouth as it coughed up saliva and began to warble back and forth.

"Daemons are similar to all races' circulatory system regarding Haki. Blocking the brain scrambles him.," he said as it stumbled around in a daze before it fell to its knees.

It attempted to attack again but it was blasted from the back by Saturn's gaze. Sauvra then turned back into Montbar as his form dissipated back to normal.

"Damnit...even with that...," Montbar gasped as he saw the Elder standing tall with a stern expression as he fainted with his hat falling off.

Clisson then saw Tom generate dots to empty the toxins as he came to.

"Damnit all.," he cursed. "We would've won if you didn't decide to go insane."

"It's not madness. It's love.," Clisson said as Luffy walked on by.

Next Chapter: Pretty Flames

Author Notes: This is a much shorter chapter after the impactful last chapter- but important as it gives further hints to what Devil Fruits are.