The Spider's Shadow

The Dream Verse
“I hate the snow,” Koyuki pouted as she crossed her arms, stomped her foot, and puckered her lip. “It makes me feel bad.”

“What do you mean it makes you feel bad honey?” Her father inquired calmly.

“I dunno! Whenever I touch it, I get slow.”

“Slow, eh?” He turned to face the Onymoji that stood beside him. “What does this mean?”

“Well, Masanobu,” the Onymoji replied, “I would have to say it’s a byproduct of the fruit.”

Masanobu turned to face Koyuki. “Hey, you can stay inside, but please, daddy needs to speak with this man. You think you can go to your room until I come up and grab you? I promise, after that, you and I will personally do some shuriken training, kay?”

Koyuki nodded, leaving the room behind. She had figured that her father was going to talk to the Onymoji in private about her again; she hadn’t told her parents that regardless of where she was, she could still somehow hear them, as if she could decipher the sound waves regardless of whatever medium they traveled through.

“Listen, I need to know what the hell you mean by it being a byproduct of the fruit?”

“Masanobu, please. Let’s..”

“No, dammit, I refuse to relax anymore Kakuzu. Every day, we find something new about her. We can’t give her hot baths because the heat bothers her, she damn near eats eight times the amount as me, she can’t swim either, and, on top of that, chocolate, or any type of caffeine intoxicates her harder than the strongest rum being devoured by the world’s smallest man. I’m tired of these games. Tell me, what the fuck did we feed our child?” Masanobu interrogated, his voice almost furious. “And yes, you’ve already filled me on this Devil Fruit thing. Just, what Devil Fruit?”

“We haven't truly nailed it down yet, but it's a zoan spider based fruit sir,” Kakuzu calmly informed.

“So, you’re telling me my girl is a fuckin’ spider?”

“Well, she has the ability to turn into one if she so desires.”

“So then,” Masanobu interjected, “Why is she constantly bothered? She shouldn’t share spider properties unless the girl is transformed into one, so what the hell is happening?”

“I’m under the current suspicion that because of how young she ate it, her body has naturally acclimated to the hybrid position of the fruit. So, the form we know now, is not her true human appearance, but rather the form that is half human, and half well, spider.” Kakuzu yawned. “Though, the situation is quite odd considering that she doesn’t seem to waste that much stamina in this form. In fact, when she switches back and forth, her human form seems so foreign to her that it is that transformation that takes stamina to maintain.”