Drum Kingdom.
Rocks stepped on Wapol's corpse, holding a round, chubby Devil Fruit in his hand. This fruit looked like a closed, gaping mouth—it was Wapol's Munch-Munch Fruit.
Tidal waves of darkness pooled beneath Rocks' feet. He glanced down at the Devil Fruit in his hand and grinned.
"Finally found a decent substitute. What a waste it was in that piece of trash's hands!"
With that, he kicked Wapol's corpse away like garbage and shoved the Munch-Munch Fruit straight into his mouth.
Good thing Blackbeard had a thick neck—Rocks didn't even chew and swallowed it whole in one go.
After devouring the Munch-Munch Fruit, Rocks' mouth suddenly expanded, stretching almost to his ears. He smacked his lips, then casually picked up a gun from the ground and swallowed it too.
Immediately after, his right arm transformed into the shape of a gun. Rocks looked at it, nodded in satisfaction.
Suddenly, a weak voice reached his ears.
"You bastard… You actually killed the king..."
"Hmm?"
Rocks turned slightly and saw it was the so-called Captain of the Royal Guard—Dalton.
Scoffing, Rocks raised his hand to unleash the powers of the Dark-Dark Fruit, but this time, only a few wisps of black smoke curled from his palm. The gravitational pull was no stronger than a gentle breeze.
His expression immediately darkened. He stared at his palm and cursed through clenched teeth.
"Damn it! Has the darkness finally run dry?"
Even after Kaito had taken the Dark-Dark Fruit from him, Rocks was still able to use its power. That was because he had originally pushed the fruit to near-perfection—his soul still retained a lingering trace of darkness.
But that residual power wasn't renewable. After absorbing Wapol's Munch-Munch Fruit, it had finally been depleted.
Dalton seized the opportunity to struggle up from the ground. White steam burst from his nostrils as horns sprouted from his head and his face grew covered in coarse brown fur.
He was a Zoan-type user—the Ushi Ushi no Mi: Model Bison.
Still fuming about his loss of darkness, Rocks noticed Dalton's transformation. His eyes lit up.
Not because he valued Dalton's fruit. As far as he was concerned, it was just a run-of-the-mill Zoan type—slightly boosts the body, otherwise useless.
But it was perfect for testing another ability of the Munch-Munch Fruit: devouring Devil Fruit users to steal their powers!
A twisted chuckle escaped from Rocks' mouth. In the next moment, his figure blurred and flashed forward—he appeared right in front of Dalton.
Dalton didn't even have time to react before Rocks devoured him in one clean gulp...
After swallowing Dalton, Rocks patted his belly theatrically like he'd just enjoyed a fine meal.
Moments later, horns identical to Dalton's sprouted from Rocks' head, and his arms turned into hooves.
Though honestly, given his size, if not for the horns, he looked more like a giant black bear than a bison.
He stomped the ground with one heavy step—cracks split the earth and stretched for nearly a hundred meters. With a simple Zoan like the Bison Fruit, in the hands of someone like Rocks, the power far surpassed what Dalton could ever muster.
Returning to his normal form, Rocks' expression grew even more manic. He spread his arms wide and laughed wildly at the sky.
"Kyahahaha! Just as I thought—when it comes to devouring, this fruit is even better than the Dark-Dark Fruit!"
After laughing for a good while, Rocks finally quieted down and began to walk away. But suddenly, he stopped.
His Observation Haki picked up something—someone nearby was spying on him!
"Heh… looks like there's another fool who doesn't know when to quit."
Rocks whipped his head around and locked eyes on a small figure peeking out from behind a tree.
The tiny shape panicked and tried to flee, but there was no way he'd escape Rocks' grasp.
The moment he turned to run—bam! He smacked right into Rocks' chest.
Rocks lowered his gaze, studying the little creature in front of him. It wore a large red hat with what looked like antlers on either side. Its face was mostly hidden beneath the brim.
Then the little guy slowly looked up in terror, and Rocks finally got a clear look.
He raised an eyebrow and blurted out:
"What kind of tanuki is this!?"
As soon as the little one heard that, he puffed up angrily.
He completely forgot the horrifying scene from moments ago and started shouting:
"You… you bastard! You're the tanuki! I'm clearly a reindeer! A reindeer!!!"
But Rocks didn't budge from his first impression. Frowning, he said:
"Nani? A talking tanuki? What's your name?"
"I already told you—I'm not a tanuki! I'm Chopper!"
He mustered a bit of courage, but fear quickly crept back in. Chopper swallowed hard and fell silent.
All he'd wanted today was to run out and grab a newspaper for Doctorine. But instead, he witnessed that tyrant Wapol get into a fight… and then get absolutely flattened.
At first, Chopper was even a little happy—Wapol was an awful king, and the one who'd caused Doctor Hiriluk's death!
But then Rocks killed Wapol on the spot—and what's worse, he actually swallowed Dalton whole.
That part had broken Chopper's mind. He froze on the spot in shock… and by the time he came to, Rocks had already noticed him.
Now he didn't even have the chance to escape. He stood there trembling all over, afraid he'd be next on the menu.
Rocks rested his chin in one hand, staring down at Chopper with amused interest.
"So, why can you talk? And stand upright like a human?"
"I… I ate a strange fruit, and then I became like this!"
"A strange fruit? Did it have swirly patterns on it, and taste really gross?"
"Yes!"
Chopper's head nodded frantically at the memory of that disgusting taste.
Rocks' suspicions were confirmed—what Chopper had eaten was clearly a Devil Fruit.
Thinking of Devil Fruits, a sinister smile curled across Rocks' face.
He asked slowly,
"So besides standing and talking, what else can you do?"
Chopper's fur bristled in fear. He trembled as he answered,
"N-nothing else!"
"Nothing else?"
Rocks froze, his brain spinning as he tried to match this ability with a known Devil Fruit… and sure enough, something came to mind.
But the moment the fruit's name surfaced, Rocks' expression twisted into something utterly bizarre.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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