Extracting Devil Fruits

"What are you planning to do with us, then? I can’t speak for the others, but I’ll never surrender," King said coldly.

Yota had never expected King to surrender. This guy was practically Kaido’s shadow, utterly loyal to him. Unless Kaido surrendered himself, King would never surrender no matter who else in the Beasts Pirates did.

Still, there were other Beasts Pirates members he could poach. Some were fiercely loyal to Kaido, certainly, but others merely followed him because the strong preyed on the weak.

Like a certain fat bastard named Queen…

"Boss, take me in! I’m very useful!" The fat bastard threw himself flat on the ground, trying to hug Yota’s thigh… but Yota was too small for him to reach.

Yota curled his lip. Although Queen was arguably the most contemptible person in the entire Beasts Pirates in terms of personality, he really was useful. Whether it was human modification or mechanical engineering, the guy was highly skilled.

Still, Yota spoke bluntly to Queen. "Let me make this clear first. If you don’t surrender, I won’t kill you, and I won’t lock you up for long either. I’ll let you go soon enough. At most, I’ll just extract your Devil Fruit abilities."

"Huh?" Queen’s face filled with shock, and he immediately began to regret his decision.

If he’d known he wouldn’t die and would still get his freedom, why had he surrendered so early? Couldn’t he see that the other Beasts Pirates members were already looking at him strangely?

Wait, what had this guy just said?

"Extract Devil Fruits?! Are you kidding me?" Queen screamed. He might have been timid and cowardly, but he was still an outstanding scientist. The moment he heard of such an advanced, nearly impossible technology, his professional instincts flared up.

"Do you know how difficult it is to extract a Devil Fruit? Do you know the laws governing Devil Fruit energy transfer? Do you know—"

"I don’t know any of that, but I really can extract Devil Fruits with my own Devil Fruit abilities!" Yota rolled his eyes.

"You know… Devil Fruit abilities? What Devil Fruit did you even eat?"

"Enough nonsense. Surrender, or have your Devil Fruit extracted and get the hell out?" Yota asked viciously.

"Uh…" Queen glanced around. Because he had surrendered far too quickly, quite a few Beasts Pirates members were looking at him with clear hostility.

Queen did not care much about his Devil Fruit. The Ancient Zoan Dinosaur Fruit was fairly powerful, but for someone of his strength, it was not particularly rare. Even if he lost it, he could spend some time and effort and steal another one.

What he feared was being beaten to death by his former comrades if he changed his mind!

Seeing Yota growing impatient and preparing to leave, Queen hurriedly said, "I surrender! I surrender, okay?!"

Yota nodded slightly, casually undid his Sea Stone shackles, then walked toward the others.

When King saw Yota approach, he simply closed his eyes in refusal. Yota stretched out a hand, and a surge of black mist swept over King and swallowed him. A moment later, it spat him back out, and a Devil Fruit was already in Yota’s hand.

More than that, King’s bodily structure had also been absorbed into the Brain Chip. As a rare race of "gods" from the Red Line, his physiology was quite meaningful to Yota.

The other Beasts Pirates members were all slightly stunned. Queen muttered, "He really can… extract Devil Fruits!"

Then his gaze immediately grew heated. With such an ability, what great undertaking could Yota possibly fail to accomplish? And by following a boss like this, perhaps he could rise even higher!

After extracting King’s Devil Fruit, Yota did not hesitate. He asked every Beasts Pirates officer only once: those willing to surrender were released directly, while those unwilling had their Devil Fruits extracted.

Most of the Beasts Pirates crew were fairly loyal and unwilling to betray Kaido. Or rather, their values simply did not align with Yota’s, and they did not want him as their boss. In the end, though, the siblings Page One and Ulti surrendered instead.

Yota remembered those two. They seemed to count as Kaido’s adopted children. Was Kaido really that much of a failure as a father?

In truth, the siblings had not lived particularly well in the Beasts Pirates before. They had even stolen their Devil Fruits to eat them. Only after gaining strength from those Devil Fruits had they carved out a place for themselves in the Beasts Pirates, so they cared greatly about strength and Devil Fruit abilities.

They did have some loyalty and affection for Kaido, but it was far from deep.

The Triceratops Fruit, Pterodactyl Fruit, Saber-Toothed Tiger Fruit, Ancient Rose Spider Fruit, along with the Zoan-type Devil Fruits of several other ordinary Beasts Pirates officers—Yota collected nearly twenty Devil Fruits in one sweep.

The Beasts Pirates naturally consisted of more than just Ancient Zoans. There were ordinary Zoan-types as well, but their users were merely regular officers and had not appeared in the manga.

As for the even worse artificial Devil Fruit users… forget it. Yota had little interest in artificial Devil Fruits that were a gamble with one’s life the moment they were eaten.

Besides, those artificial Devil Fruit users had now been tamed by Tama and counted as the backbone of Wano Country. Naturally, Yota could not go around extracting their Devil Fruits.

Of course, what Yota cared about most was Kaido’s Devil Fruit.

Kaido had already regained consciousness. Watching Yota approach, he snorted coldly and asked directly.

"Brat, what Devil Fruit did you eat?"

This was something Kaido simply could not understand. During their first clash, Kaido had been certain that he understood Yota’s physical strength and constitution extremely well.

After all, no one in the One Piece World cultivated internal energy. Physical constitution was not something that could be concealed. Setting everything else aside, even the feel of striking someone with a powerful physique was different. Could hitting cotton possibly be the same as hitting an iron post?

That was why Kaido had always believed Yota’s strength had surged only after dying once. It had never occurred to him that Yota had been hiding his true strength from the beginning.

Yota chuckled without answering. With a casual wave, he swept Kaido into the Dark Space. A moment later, he spat him back out.

By then, a Devil Fruit covered in azure patterns resembling scales was already in his hand.