Rhea was awakened by the pain of her ribs snapping back into place. She hadn't noticed that the pain of her healing process had caused her to lose consciousness, but that same pain had brought her back. Most of the damage she had endured was already gone, and so she stood up to make her trek back to the shoreline.
Her stomach growled as she stood up, and she decided to eat whatever she could find along the way. She ran into a few berry bushes before long, but stopped when she walked by an extremely peculiar tree.
It bore no leaves, and its trunk jutted out of the ground in a twisted manner, growing branches in various directions. Its bark also glistened with a bright blue color reminding Rhea of the Paldium stones she had seen days before. The entire tree was relatively empty except for a single strange fruit.
What kind of fruit is that?
Attached to the end of one of the branches was a large fruit in the shape of a sphere with a green and black pattern. On its top was a twisted stem with large green leaves attached to it. The oddity of its look intrigued Rhea more than she liked to admit.
Okay, this will be the last thing I eat before I focus on getting back to the shore.
Rhea jumped onto the trunk of the tree and used its branches to climb up the where the fruit was and pulled it quite easily. When she had it in her hand, she realized just how large it was.
Whoa. I might be biting off more than I can chew here, but I'll surely be fighting on a full stomach if I eat this thing.
When she jumped out of the tree, she took a seat at its base and prepared to take a fat bite out of the fruit, but heard footsteps approaching her.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you..."
Rhea turned her head fast and stood up to see who was walking up to her and wasn't happy to see Chloe standing there.
Of all the people...
"What are you doing here? Are you following me or something?"
"Something like that..."
"What is your problem?!"
"Calm down. That was a joke. Honestly, I just happened to find you here, but I'm glad to see you."
Chloe hid the fact that she was relieved to have found Rhea like this. It was taking her days to learn anything of her whereabouts and she was beginning to think whoever she was looking for had taken Rhea to another one of the major islands.
"The feeling isn't mutual.
"You shouldn't take any of what happened between us personal, ya know? It's just business, and it was good business. I made a lot of money off of you."
"And let me guess; you're here to double up on your profits?"
"Of course not. What kind of monster do you think I am? I'm here to ask you a few questions."
As if I'd give her any information after what she did to me. Plus; what sort of info does she want from me? I'm the new person here.
"And what makes you think I'd answer anything you asked? You sold me into slavery!"
"Ah, so you were sold? But to who?"
"Huh? You're the one who captured me. Why are you acting like you didn't know I was sold?"
"Because I didn't. I handed you off to Mr.Black, but I wasn't there for the transaction, remember?
Ohhh...she doesn't know about the Rebels! I bet she's curious as to who bought me after all.
"Well, he did sell me, along with a group of others...to the Rayne Syndicate, actually. So, if you know what's good for ya, you should leave me alone because I have their support now."
"The Rayne Sundicate, eh?" Chloe took a step closer to Rhea, which made her feel more uncomfortable. "You know, if you're going to lie to me, I might as well just let you eat that fruit."
"I'm not lying."
And what does she mean let me eat the fruit? Is there something wrong with this thing? I bet she's just trying to get in my head. I trusted her once, I won't make that mistake again.
"You are lying, and we both know that. I know I don't seem like much, but I know the leader of the Syndicate on a personal level. So, I have it on good faith that you weren't bought by that organization... The real question is, who did?"
"I'm really not. What reason do I have to lie? You think I'd be protecting some unknown slave master who orders me around every day?"
Technically, I'm not . I'm protecting the possible information Cast has about leaving the island. Right now, that's the only lead I've got, and so he has my loyalty, for now.
"...okay. Let's pretend you're telling the truth about being sold to the Rayne Syndicate. Since I know the order was never delivered to the tower, then someone must be lying to you about who they are...or worse; someone's double crossing ole Zoey. So, which one is it?"
Rhea had a flashback of meeting Aims and learning about the plans of the Rebels. She had never been particularly skilled at hiding her emotions, but hoped the truth didn't show on her face that she knew more than she was letting on.
Staring at Chloe with a blank face, she said, "I don't know anything about that. I'm just gathering food for the Syndicate."
"Oh, I doubt anyone told you to grab that fruit and eat it though."
"And why's that? I was gathering berries, but what's up with this fruit?"
"They're called Skill Fruits. You probably haven't seen much battle with the pals on this island, being a coward and all, but those fruit contain abilities."
Chloe's words hit hard for Rhea as she was well aware that her inability to fight is what got her in the position she was in, but she had made some progress since then.
Rhea clinched her fist with half the mind to show her how much she had learned since their last fight, if she could even call it that, but relaxed when she remembered what was more important at that time.
It's not worth it. I've got to get back to that shipwreck before long.
Chloe continued, "If a pal eats one, they gain the power that resides in it and are then able to unleash devastating attacks in battle. They're only valuable to those who tame pals, but every now and again, a human tries to eat one to get the power for themselves."
Well, if Cast's theory about humans being pals is correct, shouldn't we be able to eat them and gain abilities from doing so?
"And what happens when a human eats one?"
"I wish I could say. There's no rhyme or reason to it, and I think it depends on the person. Nobody knows for sure why it happens, but the human body has difficulty digesting the fruits. The only thing that's consistent is that nothing good comes of it and no human has been able to gain any power from the fruit."
"So, what am I supposed to do with this thing?"
"My advice is sell it. They're somewhat rare and could go for some pretty coin if you find the right client..."
"And I bet you know the right person...?"
"Look, I know you think I don't have your best interest in mind because of what happened, but I was just upset that I had finally found another woman...and you just didn't have that fighting spirit in you despite having such a cool ability as immortality. But trust me, you don't want to eat that fruit, and I'm not saying that because I want in on you selling it. We got paid pretty well for selling you, and soon, I'll have a much larger crew. We've got big plans for this island."
Rhea really didn't like hearing Chloe talk. The thought of her becoming more successful than she already was from having sold her really irritated her soul. She didn't think she deserved any of what might come her way positively. So, she decided to try and end the conversation before her emotions got the best of her.
"Well, I should be getting back to collecting berries then."
"Of course, and I'll leave you be, for now... I think I've got the information I was looking for anyway, but you'll see more of me soon enough."
Chloe turned to walk away and left Rhea with her thoughts.
When I'm stronger, I'm going to get her back for what she did, but I know I'm not strong enough yet...
Rhea looked down at the fruit she was still holding wondering what she would do with it.
"Human bodies can't digest this?"
But...is my body really "human". I mean, it's definitely not normal. I heal from everything...maybe my body could actually get it done? But the risk...
Rhea thought long and hard about the pros and cons of eating the fruit.
On the one hand, she could potentially gain a random power from eating the fruit, although it wasn't probable. With that power, it'd make fighting the Mossanda that much easier, and every fight after that. She also found benefit to gaining an ability that Cast didn't know about. Maybe there would come a day when she has a chance to escape from him and the Rebels and a surprise attack would make the difference.
On the other hand, she had no idea what eating the fruit would actually do to her. Honestly, when she wasn't fighting, she felt amazing. Her healing ability kept her in tip-top shape.
I guess I'll really be putting my ability to the test here.
And just like that, she had decided to eat the fruit. She figured there was too much to gain, and despite having gone through hell since coming to the island, she trusted her ability above everyone and everything else. It had been more than a life saver.
She grabbed the large fruit with both hands and bit into the side. Surprisingly, there was no taste to experience. Chewing the fruit was like chewing on solid air, more or less, and she had a hard time believing she was eating anything at all. Before long, she had eaten the entire thing.
She waited a while for something to happen, but her body was quiet, not reacting to eating at all.
That's odd. Eating something of that size should at least give me a stomach ache, but I don't feel anything... How will I know if it worked or not?
She began inspecting her body from head to toe trying to see if there was anything different about it but was interrupted by a large shadow cast over her. When she turned around, all she saw was the giant Mossanda pal from the shipwreck.
What the fuck!? Did this thing follow me all the way up here?!
Without warning, the Mossanda cocked its arm back just like before and began charging its insane punch attack. The odd thing about this time was that the sky began to turn dark and everything including Rhea and Mossanda changed colors every time the green light gathered around its fist.
Punch back.
Rhea's heart chimed in suddenly telling her to fight back this time. She was unsure of how she knew what to, but she decided to mirror the movements of the Mossanda and begin charging a punch of her own.
Astonishingly, when she pulled back her fist and imagined herself gathering strength into it, she could also feel a gathering of warmth from all over her body into her palm and fingers. When she looked at it, she could see a red light gathering around it much like the Mossanda's attack.
Just like before, the Mossanda punched towards Rhea, but this time she also let loose her attack. Both arms flew forward in the blink of an eye and met in a clash that sent shockwaves through their arms...and then the Pal disappeared, and Rhea was left just standing there in her punching stance.
What?! Where did it go?
Everything was back to normal. The sky was blue again and the colors of the world were back to the way they were before. When she looked around, there was no trace of the Mossanda ever being there.
Was I hallucinating? That all felt so real though...
Rhea shook her head and tried to clear her mind.
I've been wasting too much time. I've got to get back to the shore.
She didn't know why, but as she walked, she had a funny feeling that she had actually learned something back there. She replayed the experience over and over again in her mind preparing for the fight ahead and even felt herself getting a little excited.
Staring at her hands, she felt like she could punch through anything that got in her way.
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