Pirates: I Rely Only on Myself

The night sky was clear, with a pale moon and only a handful of stars visible.

A cold January breeze whispered through the air.

Inside his wooden cabin, Noah sat in the study, casually fiddling with a deck of cards. These weren't products of his Devil Fruit powers, but rather tarot cards he had picked up in Loguetown.

He had both the Major Arcana and Minor Arcana decks.

In the world of pirates, tarot cards were most famously linked to the magician Hawkins, who would later make a name for himself. Interestingly, his Straw-Straw Fruit had little to do with his use of tarot cards for divination.

But Noah's Card-Card Fruit? It felt like the true match for the realm of tarot.

Earlier, Noah had focused on developing the space-storage aspect of his fruit. That ability was crucial in the early stages, giving him quick access to all kinds of support and combat cards. But now, with those dangers behind him and his Haki fully awakened, it was time to explore a new branch of his card abilities.

Devil Fruits, at their core, are crystallized representations of the collective will and imagination of the millions who inhabit this world.

If tarot cards didn't already exist here, it would have been nearly impossible for Noah to develop tarot-related abilities. It would have been like trying to build a castle with no foundation.

Especially with a fruit like the Card-Card Fruit, which blends elements of fantasy and rules, having an existing real-world counterpart like tarot cards served as a crucial "root" for its powers.

Take the Graphite-Graphite Fruit, for example. Its abilities are rooted in the real-world properties of graphite—its physical and chemical traits. That's what gives it a clear source of power.

This is why regular Zoan Fruits, Ancient Zoan Fruits, and Mythical Zoan Fruits have such huge differences in potential. Mythical Zoans don't just draw from the biological aspects of the creature they represent—they also tap into the collective imagination of millions, giving them a dual-core foundation.

Now, Noah focused his mind, channeling his Observation Haki into the tarot cards in his hand.

Observation Haki, with its ability to sense the future, was the perfect spark to unlock the tarot cards' divination potential.

Under the combined influence of the Card-Card Fruit and his Haki, Noah felt the cards begin to change. His physical stamina and mental energy were draining fast.

Five minutes later, the tarot cards had fully transformed. Their backs now shimmered with golden flame-like patterns, almost like the awakened state of a Zoan-type Devil Fruit.

"Let's see how well this works," Noah murmured to himself.

He pulled out a blank card and wrote on it: The location of the Slip-Slip Fruit.

Then, deactivating his Observation Haki, he tossed the Major Arcana into the air.

The cards scattered like petals on the wind, drifting down gently.

The card that landed closest to his divination card was The Fool.

"The Fool? Complete ignorance?" Noah mused, tapping his chin.

After a moment of thought, he revised the question on the blank card: Is the Slip-Slip Fruit in East Blue?

He tossed the Major Arcana into the air again.

This time, the closest card was The World.

"The World? The final destination?"

To be sure, Noah grabbed the Minor Arcana and repeated the process.

After several tests, he had a rough idea of where the Slip-Slip Fruit was—it was on a deserted island near Shells Town.

Once the divination was complete, the golden flame patterns on the cards dimmed, their glow fading.

Noah realized that using tarot for divination consumed the energy stored in the cards. While physical stamina wasn't much of an issue, the drain on his mental energy was significant and slow to recover.

He calculated that the mental energy he had just used up was roughly equivalent to maintaining high-intensity Observation Haki for five hours straight.

And through this experience, Noah started to sense some limitations and risks in the process.

For instance, the more significant the target of the divination—or the stronger the entity being divined—the more mental energy it would consume. If the target was beyond his current capacity, the divination would simply fail.

On the other hand, general, vague divinations—like the kind Hawkins performed for broad guidance—could be used freely and as often as needed. That type of fortune-telling didn't put much strain on the cards.

But when it came to pinpointing specific people, objects, or locations, the cost skyrocketed, draining the cards' stored energy. And even then, success wasn't guaranteed.

For example, if Noah tried to divine the location of the Nika Fruit right now, the cards would fail. It was simply beyond his current abilities.

His Observation Haki warned him that he should wait at least a month before recharging the tarot cards with mental energy again. Doing it too soon could lead to serious side effects.

Peering into the future always carried great risks.

Having the Card-Card Fruit, a Devil Fruit perfectly suited to divination, gave Noah a significant advantage. He could obtain precise answers at a relatively low cost.

Hawkins, on the other hand, with his general fortune-telling method, would struggle to pinpoint exact things like the location of a Devil Fruit. His divinations were more suited to offering broad, directional guidance.

Now, Noah had a powerful tool—once a month, he could perform a specific, accurate divination. As long as he didn't overreach by targeting beings far stronger than himself or god-tier Devil Fruits, his success rate would remain high.

With the general location of the Slip-Slip Fruit confirmed, Noah consulted the sea charts he had gathered from East Blue. There were 16 deserted islands near Shells Town. It would be time-consuming, but by searching them one by one, he was confident he could find the fruit.

Noah pulled out his Forbidden Tome.

This was where he recorded everything he remembered from his past life—every bit of knowledge about the pirate world that might be useful.

Flipping through the pages, he began writing down details about the other Devil Fruits that could still exist in East Blue.

Excluding the Smoke-Smoke Fruit, which had already been eaten by Smoker, the Barrier-Barrier Fruit, which hadn't yet respawned, and the Slip-Slip Fruit, whose location was now known, there were a few others that could be out there:

• Flame-Flame Fruit

• Scythe-Scythe Fruit

• Whisper-Whisper Fruit

• Echo-Echo Fruit

• Iron-Iron Fruit

• Paste-Paste Fruit

From the newspapers and bounty posters he had collected, none of the pirates currently active in East Blue seemed to possess these fruits.

However, the Iron-Iron Fruit had been reported in the possession of a pirate in the New World, meaning the current user hadn't met their end yet.

As for the Devil Fruit users currently active in East Blue, there were three known pirates:

• Golden Hook Pirates, led by Captain Buck, a Zoan-type Porcupine Fruit user.

• Jack Pirates, led by Captain Jack, a Paramecia-type Bag-Bag Fruit user.

• Blood Knife Pirates, whose Vice-Captain Gulo was a Zoan-type Parrot Fruit user.

Noah had gathered all this intel for one clear reason: to hunt down these pirate crews.

He had two goals.

First, it was to train Joshua and the others. Real battle was the only way to push their potential to the next level.

Second, he needed subjects for experimentation.

Noah was determined to learn how to retrieve Devil Fruits from their users, and these pirates would serve as his test subjects.