A blinding burst of blue lightning tore across the night sky, splitting through the air with a sound like the heavens screaming.
Zzzt—!
The flash slammed into Kaku mid-leap, his speed meaningless before that overwhelming force.
Boom!!!
The explosion lit up the entire street. Kaku's body disintegrated before he could even draw breath for a scream—shattered into pieces that scattered like sparks in the wind.
Even from the shadows, Robin froze in disbelief, horror locking her breath.
"Kaku!"
Lucci and Kalifa's eyes widened, their pupils trembling in shock.
Lucian Vale's calm voice drifted through the air, low and cold.
"You little brat—if you don't show me strength worth respecting… you die."
Lucci's instincts screamed. The killing intent in those words wasn't a threat; it was a fact.
This man didn't negotiate. He didn't capture or interrogate.
He simply destroyed.
"Lucian Vale!" Lucci shouted through clenched teeth. "Are you declaring war on the entire World Government!?"
Lucian laughed quietly.
"Declaring war? Didn't that already happen the moment I walked out of Impel Down?"
To him, the so-called rulers of the world were nothing but parasites wrapped in the banner of justice. The Celestial Dragons—pigs draped in silk.
And he would rather burn in hell than bow to them.
"Enough talk."
Lucci's muscles bulged, fur spreading across his body as he entered his awakened form. His frame twisted into a towering half-beast, half-human shape, claws glinting beneath the moonlight.
"Cat-Cat Fruit: Leopard Model… Life Return!"
His killing intent flared, shaking the ground beneath him.
Lucian's eyes narrowed slightly, unimpressed.
"Zoan abilities? How quaint. But that kind of power… isn't enough to stand before me."
Then, he vanished.
The air cracked.
Lucci barely had time to see the afterimage before a colossal fist appeared in front of him.
"So fast—!"
His body screamed warnings. "Is this… the power of a real emperor-level monster!?"
"Tekkai!"
His body hardened, turning to steel.
BOOM!!!
The blow hit like a divine hammer.
Lucci shot backward, crashing through three buildings in a blur of blood and debris before lying still amid the rubble, his beastly form collapsing back into human shape.
Lucian stood motionless, lowering his arm.
"Pathetic," he muttered. "You think you're Garp? You don't even have Haki, and you dared to block my punch with Tekkai?"
He turned his gaze toward Kalifa.
She stood trembling beside Robin, her composure cracking under the weight of the scene.
The man she had thought untouchable—Rob Lucci—had been swatted aside like an insect.
Her lips parted, and she forced out a trembling laugh.
"If not for the sides we stand on… a man as strong and handsome as you—" she breathed, her voice quivering— "I might not have refused."
She closed her eyes. "Just kill me."
She refused to beg, refused to end up like Kaku—torn to shreds.
Lucian stepped closer, his shadow stretching over her.
"Kill you?"
He chuckled—a low, melodic sound that made her entire body shiver.
He raised his hand, the blade of Kyōka Suigetsu gleaming faintly in the moonlight.
A ripple of blue light passed across her eyes.
"Kyōka Suigetsu."
Kalifa froze, her body stiffening mid-breath. Her eyes glazed over, empty, lifeless.
Ten seconds passed.
Her pupils refocused—but the light within them had changed completely.
Her breath quickened. Her cheeks flushed a deep shade of red. Her voice came out soft, trembling—not in fear, but adoration.
"Kalifa. Come here."
Lucian's voice was gentle, almost amused.
Kalifa stepped forward, shy and obedient, her expression warm and submissive. She rested her head against his hand.
"Master…" she whispered, rubbing her cheek against his palm like a cat seeking affection.
Robin's mind went blank.
The woman who moments ago stood as a proud assassin now clung to Lucian like a lover bewitched.
He had rewritten her mind—her memories—her heart.
From this moment onward, Kalifa's loyalty belonged entirely to him.
In her mind, the World Government had become the monster that destroyed her home.
Lucian Vale was now her savior.
Her god.
He brushed a strand of hair from her face and smiled faintly. "Good girl."
Then he turned toward the ruins where Lucci lay unconscious.
Because there was one more thing he wanted to test.
Could he take a Devil Fruit power… from the living?
He knelt beside the fallen agent and placed his palm against his chest. Energy gathered at his fingertips, swirling into a dark blue vortex of light.
"Let's see… if this works."
The Hōgyoku pulsed once—then unleashed a gravitational pull that warped the air.
Lucci's body jerked violently. His skin greyed, his veins darkened, his breath came out in broken gasps. His muscles shriveled like a dying flower.
Lucian frowned briefly—then understood.
The Hōgyoku wasn't merely absorbing life.
It was devouring the Devil Fruit itself.
Lucci's Zoan aura flickered, then vanished completely.
His power—his beast form—was gone.
Absorbed.
Lucian stood, watching his palm as the blue light faded.
"So it works," he murmured, almost to himself. "I can extract their powers… while they live."
The possibilities stretched endlessly before him.
Even Logia users—those once untouchable—would fall the same way.
Robin stared from the shadows, her pulse quickening, her breath unsteady.
The truth was clear now.
From this moment onward—
Every Devil Fruit user on the sea…
had a new natural predator.
Lucian Vale.
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T/N:
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