One Piece: Control Fruit

"This… Akshia, I… I…"

Lorne, desperate, had a sudden idea—he grabbed the charred steak and stuffed it into his mouth, forcing a smile that said, "Wow, this is the most delicious thing I've ever eaten!"

"Akshia, I ate too fast earlier and accidentally threw away a piece with the bone still on it, haha. See? I finished everything. Mhm, it was delicious."

His stomach was churning, but Lorno forced a smile through the urge to vomit.

"Really? Akshia thought it was so bad you threw it away…"

Her big, watery eyes widened.

"Did you like it? I made an extra piece just for you! Akshia knows Mr. Lorno has a big appetite!"

"..."

Lorno's face twitched. No wonder Mo Williams was so "kind" and had Akshia cook for him—he had other intentions. And now Lorno couldn't even refuse. At that moment, he imagined Mo grinning darkly with his back turned, radiating evil energy.

Give me back that minute of genuine emotion I felt!

Shivering slightly, he forced a smile. "That's great. I like the food you make, Akshia."

Beaming, Akshia pulled out a small lunchbox. Inside was another chunk of meat—about 90% identical to the charred "steak" Lorno had just eaten—nestled over a bed of vegetables. It was obvious she had put real effort into it.

Chomp—gulp!

Lorno dumped the whole thing into his mouth and swallowed without chewing. His mutant body wouldn't die from food poisoning, and let's be honest—if he wasn't afraid of doing time, why be scared of this?

"Well then, I won't bother you during your training."

Akshia skipped off happily.

"Ugh—"

Lorno clutched his stomach, kneeling on the floor, feeling like his guts weren't even his own anymore.

Over half an hour later, Vice Admiral Burning Mountain walked in, cigar in mouth.

"Yo, you're not training? That's a rare sight."

"Training? Training?!"

Lorno's eyes shot wide open. He frantically opened his system interface—his daily quota wasn't even halfway done.

Crap, crap, if I lose the use of my little buddy, what's the point of chasing Lolis anymore?!

"Vice Admiral Burning Mountain, due to… certain circumstances, I won't be able to train with you this afternoon."

Lorno put on a dead-serious face. To Burning Mountain, he suddenly seemed majestic, glowing with a righteous golden light.

Squinting to ease the glare, the vice admiral studied him. "It's fine if you skip today, but tell me the reason. Don't tell me it's because of…"

He raised an eyebrow, took his cigar out, and leaned in. "Akshia?"

"Of course—NOT! I'm only fifteen, old man!"

Looking at Burning Mountain's 'I get it, say no more' face, Lorno suddenly understood why Mo always wanted to beat this guy up. Suppressing the urge to punch him, Lorno continued, "Okay, fine, Akshia is part of the reason… but regardless, I haven't reached the training goals I set for myself. If I can't even stick to my plan, then what kind of person would I be, right?"

"..."

Burning Mountain popped his cigar back in, took a long drag, and exhaled a thick cloud of smoke. "I've got nothing to say to that."

He turned and left without another word.

Just like he came—quietly, not taking a single cloud with him—except he did blow a whole faceful of smoke at Lorno on the way out.

"Alright… time to knock out the rest of my tasks."

Lorno gave up on Haki training for the day and launched straight into hell mode.

Why train Haki? Just for the rewards!

And if his "little buddy" stopped working, what's the point of getting those rewards anyway?

He trained like a madman all afternoon and managed to finish right before sunset.

After a nice, hot shower and a fresh Navy uniform, he grabbed an orange, peeled it, and strolled to the dining hall.

Mo—sunglasses man—was already sitting in a corner with Akshia, getting ready to eat.

Lorno ignored Mo's murderous glare and sat beside Akshia with a tray of four standard meals.

"Hi there, Akshia. Oh, and you too, Uncle Mo."

Lorno emphasized the "Uncle," a reminder to Mo that he was already an old bachelor and should keep his dirty thoughts away from the cute little loli.

"Hello, Mr. Lorno. Did your training go well today?"

Akshia greeted him kindly.

"Hmph." Mo's expression was stone cold.

Lorno didn't mind. He chatted with Akshia while eating.

Snap.

His chopsticks broke. …No problem. Switched to a new pair.

Ptooey!

Why was there so much sand in the rice today? Was the chef being careless?

He took a sip of water to rinse his mouth—cough cough!

How did he manage to choke on that?

Mo's face was expressionless, but inside, he was laughing his head off. Haha, pathetic! Do you dare get close to Akshia without Armament Haki? Haha, I can't take it—look at that dumb face!

He quietly wiped his mouth. "Akshia, I'm full. You keep eating. Come to my room afterward."

"Okay, Uncle Mo. But… Uncle Mo, you ate so little today." Akshia nodded sweetly.

"Ah, just not feeling hungry today." Mo gave a graceful farewell.

"Wait a sec—did he just say you're going to his room?" Lorno paused mid-bite, staring at Akshia.

"Yup. Why? Is that weird? Uncle Mo checks my homework every night," Akshia said while finishing off the food on her plate. "Well then, Mr. Lorno, I'll be going now."

"Whew—so that's all it was. Oh, okay then, take care, Akshia."

The spot where Akshia sat was tucked away in a secluded corner—partly because of Mo's powerful aura and death stare, which alone was enough to keep 80% of the Navy from sitting nearby. Also, most crew members had a rough idea of Akshia's Devil Fruit powers, and no seaman wanted to be cursed for no reason. Even Mo's adjutant sat far from their table.

Lorne fed up with the weird and chaotic food, dumped it all into the slop bucket. Skipping one meal won't kill me.

...............…

In the blink of an eye, a month passed, and Lorno finally completed his "Hell Training (Part 2)."

But the two-month voyage was also coming to an end. Ironically, that was thanks to Lorno—if he hadn't recklessly overclocked the propulsion system for a mission, there's no way they would've made it this fast.

Lorno turned to stone, frozen in place as he watched the crew disembark. We... Damn you, System! You totally knew the journey was only one month, but you still gave out a mission with such huge rewards. Not even a cheat like Luffy could complete that one!

"Mr. Lorno, thank you for everything during this time." Akshia gave a polite bow, picked up her luggage, and ran off after Mo.

"Hey, kid! Why are you still up there? You've still got Judicial Island ahead—you can't just mooch around here forever."

Vice Admiral Burning Mountain came walking back, sword slung over his shoulder, grinning.

"Wait, did you grow again? Let's measure you when we get down."

"Ughh~"

Dead-fish Lorno dragged his feet off the ship.

"Ahaha! Boys, don't forget our meeting tomorrow afternoon!"

Burning Mountain, back in Marineford, seemed in high spirits. After his subordinates responded, he slung an arm around Lorno and took him off for a height check.

"Two meters thirty-six. Tsk tsk, not bad."

Lorno had gotten over his disappointment and was quite satisfied with his height. After all, he was only fifteen—by eighteen, he might hit over three meters.

In the One Piece world, if you're not at least three meters tall, don't even talk about being "tall." For example:

Whitebeard: Estimated 7–8 meters

Blackbeard: 3.4 meters

Kaido: Estimated 7–8 meters

Big Mom: Estimated 5–6 meters

Doflamingo: Over 3 meters

Moria: Over 5 meters

Jinbei: Over 4 meters

Kuma: Over 7 meters

23333—if you're not at least three or four meters tall, you practically have to jump just to land a punch.