The newcomer was none other than Bartholomew Kuma, one of the Shichibukai, whose true identity was that of a Revolutionary Army officer.
Though he and Moria were both Shichibukai, their strength wasn't even in the same league—Kuma's power easily ranked him among the top three of the Shichibukai.
After all, the ability of the Paw-Paw Fruit was so broken it eventually had to be nerfed.
Of course, for Kaito now, even that didn't mean much. No matter how powerful Kuma was, he still couldn't reach the level of an Emperor.
In the original story, Kuma had come to inform Moria that Crocodile had been defeated by Luffy. But judging from his words now, it was clear he had come specifically to find Kaito.
Moria didn't care what business Kuma had with Kaito—he was about to explode from anger at this man's intrusion.
"This is my turf! What the hell do you think you're doing here?!"
Kuma ignored Moria's furious question. He kept walking toward Kaito with heavy steps, completely unfazed.
Kaito folded his arms and observed Kuma's movements. He noticed a slight stiffness in the way he walked and couldn't help but wonder if Kuma had already been modified by Vegapunk.
When Kuma stopped in front of Kaito, he loomed nearly seven meters tall, towering far above him—but somehow, it still felt like Kuma was looking up at Kaito.
Kuma forced a stiff smile on his face and spoke.
"It's good to see you again, Admiral Shikiryū. There's something I need to tell you."
Kaito stared at Kuma for a moment, then gave a slight nod, signaling him to speak.
Receiving Kaito's approval, Kuma leaned down and brought his head close to Kaito's ear, whispering,
"Someone wants to meet you."
"Hmm?"
Kaito raised an eyebrow. He couldn't immediately figure out who Kuma meant.
Vegapunk? Dragon?
"Who wants to meet me?"
Kuma slowly shook his head and replied in a hushed tone,
"I can't disclose his identity. Please understand."
Hearing this, Kaito had a pretty good idea. Most likely, it was Dragon.
Still, if it was Dragon, wasn't he afraid that Kaito, as a Marine Admiral, might just capture him and hand him over to Garp?
That thought made Kaito smile meaningfully.
"You're talking about Monkey D. Dragon, aren't you?"
"!?"
Kuma's expression instantly changed. His identity was highly confidential—very few people knew about it. How the hell did Kaito know?
The look on Kuma's face confirmed Kaito's guess.
If it had been Vegapunk, Kuma wouldn't have reacted like this. Vegapunk, after all, was technically under the jurisdiction of the World Government. Even if a Marine Admiral like Kaito knew about him, it wouldn't have mattered.
Off to the side, Moria was getting more and more annoyed watching them whisper back and forth. He pricked up his ears, trying to eavesdrop on their conversation.
But in the end, he didn't catch a thing, which made him even more irritated.
He silently vowed that once Kaito left, he'd teach Kuma a lesson.
Seeing Kuma frozen and silent, Kaito smiled, then casually walked past him.
"If he wants to see me, tell him to come to Marine Headquarters himself. And..."
He paused for a second before continuing.
"Will you even still be you by then?"
With that, Kaito didn't wait for a reply. His body turned into lightning and vanished on the spot.
The moment Kaito left, Moria couldn't hold it in anymore. He shouted at the still-dazed Kuma.
"You bastard! You think you can just waltz into my territory?! Who do you think is in charge here?!"
Still, Kuma didn't respond, which pushed Moria completely over the edge. He activated his shadow powers, making the ground around Kuma writhe.
When the shadows crept up to Kuma's feet, Moria grinned and shouted,
"Shadow Lance!"
A black spear shot up from the ground, aimed straight at Kuma's body.
Kuma raised his hand calmly to meet it.
Pfft!
The spear pierced through his glove—but then, it vanished into thin air.
Kuma pulled off the ruined glove and tossed it aside, revealing a strangely cute paw pad in the center of his palm.
This was one of the abilities of the Paw-Paw Fruit: it could repel anything with those paw pads. Similar to Almighty Push, it could reflect not just physical attacks but even intangible forces.
Like how in the original story, Perona's ghost dolls were repelled by Kuma's paws.
The fruit's power was truly versatile. If it had any drawback, it was that apart from launching compressed air for long-range attacks, Kuma's abilities required physical contact through the paw pads.
Still, it was undeniably a top-tier Paramecia Fruit.
That said, it wasn't particularly useful for Kaito anymore.
His own arsenal now included powers of space, time, regeneration, destruction, and defense. He had it all.
Most importantly, he still hadn't fully explored the potential of the Op-Op Fruit.
Its ROOM ability alone hinted at limitless possibilities. Kaito was deeply confident in it.
Compared to that, the Paw-Paw Fruit might as well just be a cute gimmick at this point.
...
Kuma was no longer his usual composed self. The unexpected attack from Moria had left him both irritated and distracted.
He instantly teleported in front of Moria. Before the shocked Moria could react, Kuma placed a paw against his round belly.
"Go take a trip."
Boom!
Moria vanished into thin air, just like the attack he'd unleashed earlier.
With that done, Kuma didn't linger. He activated his ability again and vanished.
Perona and the others were left dumbfounded. One second their captain was there, and the next, he and Kuma had both disappeared.
They stood frozen in place like a bunch of stunned geese.
...
Meanwhile,
Kaito, unaware that Moria had just been launched into oblivion by Kuma, was watching Brook with a smile as the skeleton danced around in excitement.
Brook had realized that his shadow had returned. The moment he found out, he was so thrilled he nearly cried. It meant he could walk in sunlight again—maybe even explore the outside world someday!
After hopping around in joy for a while, Brook approached Kaito and bowed respectfully.
"Thank you, truly. Please accept my Devil Fruit in return."
Kaito accepted the gesture with ease this time. Using the Human Path, he extracted Brook's soul, then used the Preta Path to draw out the Yomi-Yomi no Mi.
A fifth black tomoe appeared in Kaito's left eye.
But when he tried to return Brook's soul to his body, something went wrong.
The soul seemed to reject the skeleton body with overwhelming force—it simply wouldn't go in!
It was starting to look like a real backfire. Kaito stood there holding Brook's soul, stunned.
His Human Path could extract souls, yes—but not preserve them.
If he didn't deal with the soul in time, it would either dissipate or return to the afterlife.
Wait a second... return to the afterlife?
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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