Chương 8: Helen Cho’s Shock

"Welcome to the Home of the Devil Fruits" Rosh greeted her with a warm, perfectly tailored professional smile as he stepped out from behind the wooden counter. He kept his posture relaxed, letting his casual confidence put her at ease.

"Hello, Shopkeeper," Helen returned the greeting politely. Her voice was calm and elegant, but her eyes were already on the move. She was quietly analyzing every square inch of the shop, her sharp intellect practically scanning the room for anomalies. Almost immediately, her gaze locked onto the main display cabinet. Lined up in neat, pristine rows were the bizarre fruits. Each one possessed a completely unique, almost alien shape, its skin etched with those mesmerizing, hypnotic swirling patterns.

To a world-renowned geneticist, they looked less like agriculture and more like a massive question mark. They definitely didn't look like anything that grew naturally on Earth.

"Ma'am, I already know exactly what's running through your mind," Rosh said, offering a knowing, gentle smile.

"And yes, those are the genuine Devil Fruits." Helen looked back at him, a subtle flicker of surprise crossing her features. For a fraction of a second, she genuinely wondered if this handsome young man was pulling some sort of elaborate prank.

'Were those things supposed to be edible? They looked completely toxic.' Still, her elite upbringing and professional restraint kept her from blurting out the heavy skepticism threatening to spill over. Instead, she composed herself, her posture turning razor-sharp as she got straight to the reason she had traveled across the city.

"Shopkeeper," she began, her gaze pinning him down.

"Do you happen to know a man named Wade Wilson?"

"Wade?" Rosh let out a light, amused chuckle.

"Of course, I know him. He was actually right here yesterday purchasing the Smooth-Smooth Fruit." He paused, his smile widening slightly.

"And if I'm not mistaken, you must be the brilliant Dr. Helen Cho." A sudden trace of shock flashed through her eyes.

"You know who I am?"

"Wade mentioned you in our group chat," Rosh shrugged casually, walking a few steps closer.

"He told me a legendary, genius scientist might be stopping by today." Helen gave a slow nod, processing the information.

"That would explain it." She took a quiet breath, choosing to be entirely transparent.

"To be completely honest, Shopkeeper, I came here solely because of what happened to Mr. Wilson. His cellular recovery... It's absolutely extraordinary. From a biological standpoint, I am still having an incredibly difficult time believing it."

"That is entirely understandable," Rosh said, gesturing gracefully toward a comfortable chair near the counter.

"Please, take a seat. Feel free to ask absolutely anything you'd like. I promise to answer with complete honesty." The sheer, unshakeable confidence in his voice was impossible to ignore. Helen took a seat, crossing her elegant legs as she brought the conversation right to the core issue.

"Was Wade's facial restoration truly caused by one of these fruits?" Helen asked, her voice laced with lingering, heavy doubt.

"One hundred percent," Rosh nodded casually.

"I assume Wade already treated you to his usual theatrical version of the story?"

"He did," Helen said, folding her arms over her chest.

"Which is precisely why I remain highly skeptical. Shopkeeper, with all due respect, the scientific concept that a single piece of organic fruit could completely reconstruct severely damaged human tissue in a matter of seconds contradicts every single law of modern medicine and cellular biology."

"Does it really?" Rosh smiled, leaning casually against the edge of the counter.

"Personally, I'd argue that's exactly what makes them so fascinating." Helen raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow.

"What do you mean by that?"

"The entire purpose of established knowledge is to be constantly challenged, isn't it?" His grin turned a bit more playful.

"If we never questioned the status quo, the scientific community would still be arguing that the Earth is the flat center of the universe." Helen stared at him, momentarily stunned into silence. Then, a faint, amused breath escaped her lips. She almost laughed out loud. This young shopkeeper was actually lecturing her on the fundamentals of scientific thinking. Helen Cho, the woman currently pioneering the Regeneration Cradle, a technology capable of printing synthetic human tissue.

"Shopkeeper," she said, leaning back in her chair with a noticeable trace of disappointment coating her words.

"Is that really your final answer?" She internally sighed. Perhaps she had allowed Wade's manic enthusiasm to cloud her better judgment. Maybe this entire trip across Manhattan was just a massive waste of her valuable time. But Rosh wasn't done yet. He folded his arms, his eyes locking onto hers with absolute clarity.

"Dr. Cho, I think your primary issue right now isn't a lack of intelligence," Rosh said smoothly.

"It's a limitation of perspective." Helen blinked.

"Perspective?"

"Scientists spend their entire lives studying the rigid rules of how the world currently works," Rosh explained, his voice grounding the room.

"Which is incredibly admirable. But sometimes, that deep expertise creates massive blind spots." Now, the scientist in Helen was genuinely intrigued. A challenge to her intellect was something she could never ignore.

"Oh? Such as?" If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. Rosh simply smiled.

"Such as this." Buzz! Without warning, a brilliant, blinding golden glow ignited right at the tip of Rosh's index finger. The entire minimalist store was instantly bathed in a warm, radiant light that pulsed like a miniature star. Helen's eyes went completely wide. For the very first time since she had walked through the door, her flawless, professional composure cracked.

"What—?" In a split second, the clinical scientist inside her completely took over. She abandoned her posture, leaning forward aggressively.

"May I examine your hand?"

"Of course," Rosh extended his glowing finger willingly, keeping his arm perfectly still.

"Take all the time you need, Doctor." Helen immediately moved in, her focus narrowing down to a laser-like intensity. She grabbed his wrist, inspecting every single millimeter of his hand. She checked the skin texture, analyzed his fingernails, pressed on the joints, and searched his wrist for subdermal implants. One minute passed. Then three. Then five. The heavy frown on her face deepened into pure frustration. There was absolutely nothing there. No micro-projectors hidden under his nails.

No fiber-optic wiring beneath his sleeves. No technological explanation whatsoever. The blinding golden light was simply radiating from his organic cells.

"This is... impossible," the word escaped her lips before her logical brain could filter it. Rosh smiled gently, slowly withdrawing his hand from her grip.

"Dr. Cho, I completely understand why this is bothering you so much. But the truth is, some cosmic phenomena simply do not fit inside our current scientific frameworks. Devil Fruits are one of them." Helen slowly shook her head, her eyes still utterly fixated on his hand.

"No. Every physical reaction has a logical source. There has to be an explanation. I just haven't uncovered the variables yet." The unshakable confidence of a world-class genius returned to her voice. Brilliant minds like hers simply didn't accept defeat. They didn't believe in magic; they believed in undiscovered data. Rosh wasn't surprised by her stubbornness at all. In fact, he had anticipated it.

"Is that so?" His smile turned distinctly mischievous.

"Then perhaps I need to provide you with a much stronger piece of clinical evidence." Before Helen could even ask him what he meant by that, Rosh raised his left hand, spreading his palm flat in the air. At the same time, he extended the glowing index finger of his right hand.

"Store Manager?" Helen's brow furrowed, a sudden wave of unease washing over her.

"What are you trying to—" Shing! With a sudden, decisive motion, Rosh drove his glowing right finger straight through the absolute center of his own left palm. Helen completely froze. The color drained from her face in a split second, leaving her completely pale. For a horrifying moment, her brilliant brain entirely stopped functioning. The visual before her was a living nightmare. A solid human finger had just punched a clean hole right through a solid human hand. And yet... There was no agonizing scream of pain.

There was no panic on Rosh's face. There wasn't even a single drop of blood splattering onto the counter. Where the finger connected with the palm, the flesh simply dissolved into shimmering, harmless golden particles of light, letting the finger pass right through as if his body were made of mist. A few seconds later, Rosh casually slipped his finger back out. He held up both of his hands side-by-side, flexing his fingers with an easygoing grin. Completely unharmed. No puncture wound. No torn tissue.

Not even a scratch. Helen frantically grabbed his hands for a second time, her pulse hammering against her ribs. She flipped his palm, checked the back of his hand, and rubbed the skin where the hole had just been. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It was perfectly intact, healthy tissue. The rigid scientific confidence she had carried into the shop completely crumbled into dust.

For the first time in her career, she was staring directly at a phenomenon that violently shattered her entire understanding of physical reality. Several heavy, silent moments passed as she tried to process the data. Finally, Helen slowly lifted her head, her voice much quieter and softer than before.

"So... Wade wasn't exaggerating."

"No," Rosh smiled, his tone warm.

"He wasn't. The Devil Fruits are entirely real, Doctor." Helen remained silent, the core of her logical mind still desperately trying to reject the conclusion, but the physical evidence staring her in the face wouldn't allow it. Finally, she let out a long, slow exhale, turning her eyes back toward the display shelves.

"Shopkeeper," she said, a deep, genuine curiosity finally coating her words.

"Tell me more about them. How do they function?" As she spoke, her gaze naturally drifted toward a specific fruit on the center shelf, a uniquely shaped, soft-pink one. Rosh noticed her trajectory instantly. Internally, he couldn't help but chuckle.

'Is a sleek pink aesthetic secretly every single woman's weakness? Even a world-renowned, elite biotech scientist wasn't totally immune to a cute design.' Outwardly, however, he kept his best professional composure.

"Ah, you're interested in that one?" He pointed toward the pink fruit.

"That right there is known as the Kilo-Kilo Fruit. Some regions prefer to call it the Pound-Pound Fruit." Helen tilted her head, her analytical mind immediately kicking back into gear.

"And what specific biological alteration does it cause? What does it do?"

"It allows the consumer to completely control and manipulate their own physical body weight at will," Rosh explained. The scientist's eyes instantly lit up.

"Weight control?" A sudden, highly practical thought crossed her mind. She leaned forward slightly, her tone turning confidential.

"Wait. Does that mean... it can be utilized as a permanent method for weight loss?" Rosh nearly choked on his own breath. For several agonizing seconds, he just stared at her, completely losing his signature smooth composure. He genuinely didn't know how to respond to that. Of all the reality-bending, physics-defying possibilities that a cosmic superpower fruit offered... that was the groundbreaking medical application she came up with? High-end dieting?

"Dr. Cho," Rosh let out a soft, defeated sigh, rubbing his temple.

"I say this with the utmost respect, but you are severely, massively underestimating the true power of a Devil Fruit." Helen blinked, looking slightly defensive.

"Am I?"

"Yes," Rosh said, pointing firmly at the pink fruit.

"This ability isn't about skipping a few calories or shedding a few pounds for a summer wardrobe. Let me ask you a real question, Doctor: Can modern medical science instantly reduce a fully grown adult's physical weight down to a single kilogram?" Helen's brow furrowed instantly.

"A single kilogram? That's impossible. The bone density alone—""Exactly," Rosh cut in with a definitive nod.

"The Kilo-Kilo Fruit allows the user to freely alter their mass on a fundamental level. Dropping your weight to 1 kilogram is effortless. And with enough mastery and training?" His smile turned incredibly sharp.

"You can go even lower than that. You could practically become weightless." Total, heavy silence filled the room once more. Helen just stood there, staring from the fruit to Rosh, her mind racing at a million miles an hour. Her deep scientific instincts were screaming that this was madness. Weight wasn't a slider you could just adjust on a menu. Physical mass couldn't just be ignored without violating the fundamental laws of conservation of energy. The universe didn't work that way. And yet...

five minutes ago, she would have said the exact same thing about a man driving a finger through his own hand without shedding a drop of blood.

"How could an anomaly like that even exist...?" she whispered, genuinely shaken to her core. And for Rosh? Watching the absolute awe take over her face, he knew he had her hook, line, and sinker. That precise look of reality-shattering realization was exactly what he had been waiting for.