Leaving Turtle Island behind, Noah set a course for the Kingdom of Auckland along Paradise's third route, swiftly navigating the Nautilus in that direction.
His purpose in visiting this kingdom was simple: this month's divination had revealed that a Devil Fruit was located somewhere within Auckland.
Three days later
On the icy island of Auckland, Noah and his team, clad in down coats, skied across a snowstorm-laden landscape towards a small town.
Auckland Island, home to the Kingdom of Auckland, was a winter island. Aside from a brief growing season around the western volcanic craters, the land remained frozen and snow-covered year-round.
The team had landed in an uninhabited southeastern region of the island, approximately 46 kilometers from Auckland City near the volcano.
After traversing a dense forest of conifers, they arrived at a small cluster of cabins with a sailing ship moored in the nearby bay.
The moment Noah's group approached, the cabin doors swung open, and a middle-aged man as round as a balloon emerged, glaring at them.
"Who are you? More pirates trying to steal back their flags?" he shouted, his body radiating an intense red heat.
"Oh? That ability…" Noah looked at the man in surprise, but before he could continue, the man charged forward with a shout.
"Go, Dad!" Two young men, clearly twins, cheered him on from nearby. A sharp-chinned boy and a young woman with light purple hair also joined in.
"Yeah, Dad! Show those pirates who's boss!"
"Hehe, wonder if they've got any treasure…"
Unfortunately for them, disappointment came quickly.
With a light wave of his hands, Noah summoned massive ice serpents from the surrounding snow, coiling menacingly toward the middle-aged man.
"Is that… an ice ability?" The man's expression shifted.
The serpents of ice and snow quickly wrapped around him, but he didn't panic; his body temperature spiked, and the snow around him melted into clouds of steam.
Boom! The steam exploded outward, cracking the surrounding ice layers.
But in an instant, Noah reformed the ice around him.
The two continued their cycle of ice and steam from noon until dusk.
As the sun dipped over the snowy plains, the middle-aged man, drenched in sweat, was left gasping for air. Meanwhile, Noah showed no signs of fatigue.
So what if his opponent's body temperature could reach ten thousand degrees Celsius? Devil Fruit abilities drained physical stamina, and maintaining a high temperature constantly burned through energy.
In contrast, Noah's Float-Float Fruit barely consumed any stamina at all; he could easily keep up this rhythm for days.
In truth, Noah was only playing with him. If he'd wanted, he could have ended it in an instant with Conqueror's Haki and a barrage of electromagnetic blasts.
At last, the man seemed to realize that Noah had been toying with him, yet he was powerless to resist.
"Pant… I… won't surrender…"
Suddenly, the man dashed in the direction of his five children, shouting as he ran, "Kids… huff… run, now…"
"Run from what?" Kro, now standing behind the twins, asked, adjusting his glasses.
The man's heart sank.
In moments, his exhausted form was bound by Noah's ice serpent, while Kro "kindly" persuaded his five children to stay put.
Inside the Cabin
Noah sat the middle-aged man down in a chair.
"Now, shall we have a proper conversation?"
"Huh?" The man looked at Noah in disbelief. "You beat me up for half the day just to talk?"
"I'm not a fan of dealing with hotheads. Consider it a way to cool you down. Hope you don't mind?"
"Heh…" The man's face twisted in frustration, his fists clenched. If only he were strong enough, he'd have punched this jerk on the spot.
Without indulging him, Noah doused him with a bucket of seawater, sending a shiver down his spine.
"Feel calmer now? Need more 'cooling'?" Noah asked.
"No, no…" the man replied hastily, suddenly eager to be reasonable.
Finally, he divulged the details of his family.
The middle-aged man's name was Don Achino, a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit user with the Heat-Heat Fruit. To be precise, his power was better described as a "Heat Body" Fruit, which was different from the Heat-Heat Fruit Noah had previously acquired from Oven.
Oven's fruit, more accurately called the "Thermal Energy Fruit," allowed him to release his internal heat externally.
In contrast, Achino's Heat-Heat Fruit only heated his own body, though he could control his temperature from 1°C to ten thousand degrees Celsius.
Each ability had its advantages.
Achino's five children were:
Don Campachino (22 years old, eldest son)Don Brandy (22 years old, second son)Don Hockro (15 years old, third son)Don Alberu (18 years old, eldest daughter)Don Lily (10 years old, youngest daughter)
They were "pirate flag hunters" who roamed Paradise, a special breed of bounty hunters.
This intrigued Noah, so he chose not to harm them. Instead, he considered recruiting them.
At 41, Achino still had untapped potential. With the right training and access to the family's source-blood elixir, he could at least reach the level of an elite vice admiral.
His children, too, had promise; with suitable Devil Fruits, their strength would soar.
After a moment of hesitation, Achino reluctantly accepted Noah's offer.
The memory of Noah's overwhelming strength was still fresh in his mind. If not for himself, he had to consider the safety of his children.
Upon Achino's agreement, Noah revealed his true identity and asked Ari to send his five children to a training camp for a year.
Whether as hostages or as a gesture of sincere training, Achino had no grounds to refuse.
Noah also asked if Achino had ever encountered a Devil Fruit on Auckland Island.
Achino shook his head. "Lord Noah, if I'd found a Devil Fruit, one of my kids would've eaten it by now. I actually found my Heat-Heat Fruit back in my hometown on Whiskey Peak."
"You're from Whiskey Peak?"
"Yes, but I left a few years ago. I noticed Crocodile was active nearby, and I didn't want my kids caught up in his schemes, so I moved away."
"I see."
They stayed the night in the cabin encampment.
The next morning
Noah set out with the group to continue their search for the Devil Fruit.
Since Auckland was a populated island, he refrained from using the Float-Float Fruit's full power and relied on Observation Haki and electromagnetic scans instead.
Of course, these methods had limitations. Items buried underground, for instance, were harder to detect.
Noah could only hope the fruit wasn't buried beneath the earth.
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