He clutched a fistful of blood-stained tokens and waved them in front of Kaido.
That huge pile of gold tokens clearly outnumbered the ones in Kaido's hand.
"Sorry, first place is mine. Your azure dragon fruit is mine too—hahaha!"
Silver Axe laughed smugly, strolling past Kaido with Kilpstad, Black Charcoal Cicada, and the others.
"Bastard!! You ganged up on me—this is cheating!"
Kaido roared in fury.
Yet Silver Axe only laughed louder, proud rather than ashamed, swaggering past him.
The instant he turned his back on Kaido…
Kaido's savagery peaked.
"First place is MINE! The azure dragon fruit is MINE! No one takes them!"
"Raimei—Hakke!!"
The jet-black spiked club ripped through the air, trailing shattered lightning, and slammed into the back of Silver Axe's head before he could react.
With a thunderous bang, Silver Axe was sent flying.
"You bastard—! Kaido!! You dare—sneak-attack me?!"
Blood sprayed from Silver Axe's mouth; the tokens he'd held spilled free.
Kaido charged forward, snatched more than half, and bolted without a word.
"Orooro! Say I can't count? Fine! Now I hold over half the tokens—come steal first place again, West Blue wannabe killer! Orooro!"
Watching Kaido swagger off, Silver Axe coughed another mouthful of blood.
He opened his hand—fewer than fifty tokens left—feeling his heart bleed.
"My azure dragon fruit… my billions of Berries…!"
Suddenly!
A freezing murderous intent struck from behind.
Silver Axe spun, fists clenched, guarding the remaining tokens.
He saw Byrnndi World leaping at him with a wicked grin.
"Silver Axe! Hand over your tokens so I can grab second place and win the phoenix fruit!"
"You think you deserve the phoenix fruit?" Silver Axe roared.
He didn't even move.
Kilpstad and Black Charcoal Cicada flanked him and struck.
Kilpstad flung dozens of exploding ghosts that rained down on World.
Before World could dodge…
A transparent cube formed around him, shrinking fast and crushing the ghosts right against his body.
"What?!" World slashed at the cube.
Clang! His blade flew from his hand; the cube didn't even scratch.
"Give up—this is an unbreakable absolute defense," Black Charcoal Cicada sneered, glancing at the kimono-clad youth beside her, Kurozumi Semimaru.
He was her clan's elite, a Paramecia-type barrier user.
BOOM!!
Inside the shrinking barrier the ghosts detonated; World, with nowhere to run, was blown to near-death.
When Semimaru released the barrier, Silver Axe stepped up with a smile and pried the tokens from World's hand.
Before he could count them…
A pineapple-head who'd hidden on the castle roof—never entering the slaughter, watching everything—erupted downward, kicking Silver Axe's chin and sending him flying.
Two hands flashed in, snatching every last token.
So fast that none of them could react.
By the time they did, the pineapple-head was already laughing in the distance.
"Hahaha! Thanks, Silver Axe, for collecting all those tokens for me. My son's birthday present is sorted—he says thanks!"
Clutching his jaw on the ground, Silver Axe howled, "Bologram!! You thieving scum!"
He raged helplessly, then finally looked around.
"If I rob whoever's left, I can still grab third prize—a Logia fruit!"
Too late.
While they'd been fighting, every other pirate with tokens had fled.
No one was stupid enough to stay near the Rocks Pirates, the strongest crew.
So… after slaughtering a heap of Celestial Dragons, he'd toiled for nothing?
Silver Axe's eyes bulged.
"The hell! I shouldn't have come!"
"Damn sneak-attacker Kaido! Damn thief Gram!! I'll never forgive you!"
Meanwhile…
"A hundred fifty-five tokens, Kaido? You killed that many Celestial Dragons? Mamamama, you're finished! The Marines and World Government will hunt you day and night!"
Linlin stared at the tokens Kaido dumped out, gloating.
Kaido just shrugged, dead-pig-afraid-of-no-scalding-water. "I didn't kill that many—stop slandering me, Linlin! Less talk—hand over the azure dragon fruit now! No more screw-ups!"
"Hmph! This was mine to begin with!" She grumbled, pulling out the blue-scaled Devil Fruit and tossing it. "Remember—you owe me. You'll pay it back!"
"Yeah, yeah, your call! A favor—got it!"
Kaido pounced like a starving tiger, caught the fruit in his teeth, and chomped with relish, face bright with joy.
azure dragon fruit—chew chew chew…
Linlin stared dumbstruck.
She'd never tasted a Devil Fruit herself, but every user swore it tasted like crap—yet Kaido savored it as if it were gourmet, almost making her hungry.
"Haha, look at him gulp it down, BIG MOM! Give me one too—the phoenix fruit."