The onlookers from the Rocks crew traded shocked looks.
Wounds like that… healed in seconds?
"What kind of Devil Fruit does that?" Shiki narrowed his eyes. "Doesn't look Logia."
Logias turn the body to an element—most blows pass through, but Busoshoku still hurts you. This was different.
"I heard of a Mythical Zoan, a phoenix that regenerates," Streusen mused, rubbing his chin.
"Maybe," Stussy tilted her head, arms loosely crossed. "But Kaido's healing looks like rewinding to just-before-injury. Could be a Paramecia."
Opinions multiplied. In the crater, the fight kicked off again.
Kaido's club had gone flying; he swung bare-fisted.
Whitebeard didn't bully him—he dropped Murakumogiri and met him fist to fist.
Their Armament Haki crashed together—black lightning crackled out from the point of impact, weaving across the street like a spiderweb spun of shadows.
"Gurarara… So what'd you 'eat'? No special trick?" Whitebeard's grin showed a lot of confidence—and a little pity. "Not fearing injury ain't invincible, brat."
"Hmph. It's enough!"
They traded a dozen lightning-fast blows. Kaido's fists blurred, afterimages stacking like he'd sprouted extra arms—yet each thudding combo only shoved Whitebeard half a step.
"Urgh—!"
Whitebeard's eyes flared. His right fist surged with Conqueror's coating—he split Kaido's guard and uppercut him from ten paces away.
The crack of it rolled over the island. Kaido's eyes bulged as he launched skyward like a shell, whistling into the clouds.
"Ah, heavy-handed," Gloriosa murmured, watching him shrink into the sky. "He's just an intern. Maybe skip the Bajrang-level lesson plan."
"Gehahahaha! Didn't the brat say he's undying? He'll live," Shiki smirked.
"Doesn't even have Conqueror's coating yet," Streusen sighed. "Where's the confidence to bark at Newgate?"
All eyes tracked Kaido: up five, six hundred meters—then down. After a long, clean freefall—
BOOM.
Back into the crater.
"Out cold," Whitebeard said, peering down. The wounds were closing, slower than before but steady all the same.
A new figure stepped to the rim.
Broad shoulders. Black-and-white hair flaring like rough braids. A face carved in impatient lines. The air seemed to lean away from him.
"Interesting," the man rumbled. "So he really is hard to kill."
"Rocks…" Whitebeard glanced over. "Ask me nothing. I don't know either."
Rocks D. Xebec hopped down into the pit. The others followed and ringed Kaido.
Stussy crouched, fingers at his nose. "Breathing normal. Body's… fine."
"Wake him," Rocks said.
Charlotte Linlin grabbed Kaido by the collar and hoisted him up with one hand. Slap, slap, slap.
"Hey! Up, brat! Explain yourself!"
Kaido's eyelids twitched. He blinked awake to a circle of very strong, very nosy faces.
"You're too early to challenge Newgate," Rocks grinned, not unkindly. "Now. What are we looking at?"
Kaido: "…"
"Got your bell rung?" Stussy stifled a laugh behind her hand.
"Hmph. Just scratches." He glared sideways. "I drank a cup of wine. Now I don't age and I don't die."
They exchanged looks.
Not a Devil Fruit?
Rocks' interest sharpened. "What wine does that?"
Two women perked up at the word 'not aging'.
"'Not aging'?" Stussy echoed.
"Not-aging wine?" Gloriosa's eyes glinted.
"Are you two deaf?" Linlin sniffed. "It's not-aging-and-not-dying. The not dying is the point."
Gloriosa shot her a look. "Easy for you to say, Miss Baby-Factory. Some of us track skin-care like bounties."
Stussy waved the bickering aside. "Where is the wine, brat?"
"It's called the Wine of Immortality. Tiny new bar," Kaido said, and the needling itch in his throat returned—the craving. Too bad it cost a fortune.
"Take me," Rocks said, already moving. "Anyone who can brew that—I want a look."
Kaido wanted to refuse—he still owed Dimon a Fruit and wasn't eager to face his tab.
"One cup for one Devil Fruit," he shrugged, suddenly inspired. "Even if you go, you won't get to drink. Tell you what—I'll lead the way if you give me a Fruit first."
Stussy's eyes thinned. "Cheeky."
Gloriosa's smile was not a friendly one. "Intern."
"Kaido," Linlin said—and punched him.
The group beatdown was almost a tradition.
And since the brat couldn't die—and healed fast—they didn't have to hold back.
—
Inside the little tavern, Princess Alfreda wiped the tables again. The quiet made her fidgety; working calmed her hands.
Behind the counter, Dimon leafed through an old paper, scanning yesterday's tragedies.
The racket outside? He'd heard it. Guess whose ego picked a fight today.
"Uorororo… Boss, I'm back."
The swing doors creaked. Kaido walked in with a grin you could hear.
"Ka—Kaido," Alfreda squeaked, skittering aside.
Dimon didn't look up. "Here to settle in Devil Fruits? Fast work."
The grin on Kaido's face… stalled. Fruits were rare, after all.
"Apologies, boss. We don't have a Fruit on hand," said a voice that wasn't Kaido's.
Dimon raised his eyes at last—and instantly named the man.
Rocks D. Xebec, master of Hachinosu.
He stepped in. Six more shadows followed:
Edward Newgate (Whitebeard).
Shiki the Golden Lion.
Streusen the Gourmet Knight.
Gloriosa, the former Empress.
Charlotte Linlin (BIG MOM).
Miss Buckingham Stussy.
"All familiar faces," Dimon smiled faintly. "Welcome to the Immortality Bar."
Rocks' stare was all edge. He took the stool at the counter and sat, never breaking eye contact.
Then, plain as a cannon shot:
"Owner—interested in joining the Rocks Pirates?"
The bar went quiet enough to hear the clock tick.
Dimon set the paper down, very gently—like placing a fuse.
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