Bologram strolled over with a fistful of ID plates, grinning as he tossed them onto the ground in front of Linlin.
'More than a hundred? That many?' Linlin stared in surprise at the pineapple-headed man.
She knew the Captain of the Bolo Pirates, Bologram.
Still, this man's reputation on the open sea wasn't particularly vile.
She hadn't expected that today… 'Don't look at me like that; I didn't kill any Celestial Dragons, I just robbed the robbers.' Bologram bared his teeth in a grin.
'So that's how it is.' Linlin saw the light. Without further ado she flung the phoenix fruit over.
Bologram caught the treasure as though it were sacred, turned, and left without a second's pause.
A short while later.
Another pirate Captain from the New World arrived with a few dozen plates and traded them for the Logia smoke fruit.
In the end, only the Paramecia-type Paw-Paw Fruit remained in Linlin's hand.
Fingering the Paw-Paw Fruit, Linlin glanced curiously at Kaido, eager to see what change the azure dragon fruit would bring him.
Just then a pirate crept over, looking left and right, drew the last twenty-odd plates from his pouch and placed them before Linlin.
'I know the number I've got is probably the smallest, so let's keep it simple—give me the fourth prize, that Paramecia Paw-Paw Fruit; I'll take it.'
'Pretty self-aware, huh? Here.' Linlin flicked it to him, too lazy to count.
The pirate caught the fruit, joy flashing across his face. Without hesitation he raised it to his mouth, just as Kaido had done.
He really was self-aware.
He knew that with his strength, keeping a Devil Fruit on this island of monsters, obtained at such deadly risk, was impossible.
Better to eat it at once, gain its power, and use the boost to keep looting the island's treasure.
The instant his teeth were about to pierce the skin—
A thick column of plasma lanced in from hundreds of metres away, speared through him faster than lightning.
In a blink only two mangled legs remained.
A right hand still clutching the Paw-Paw Fruit dropped from the air; a man flashed in, caught it, pried the bloody fingers open and claimed the fruit.
'This thing is mine.'
'John? The organiser of the hunting game is joining in personally? That's hardly fair.' Linlin stared, bewildered, as John turned away with the fruit.
Before she could say more—
A resonant, exultant dragon-roar rang in her ears.
Linlin spun round to see Kaido, who had eaten the azure dragon fruit, finally transform.
His body shot upward and lengthened rapidly.
Countless huge cyan scales sprouted across his skin.
His stretching head and neck reshaped into a majestic dragon's, antlers on the crown, whiskers at the muzzle, fangs packed inside.
Arms and legs swelled into massive dragon claws.
A thick tail grew behind, whipping as he soared straight toward the sky.
He had no wings at all, yet as this colossal azure dragon he flew freely, as though commanding the very wind to bear him aloft.
'Oro-oro-ororo! I'm off to find Rocks, to find Carlo and the rest—let them see how awesome my new power is!'
South coast.
A dozen minutes earlier.
'Are those guys immortal? They keep healing no matter how many times we cut them down!'
'No choice—run! Everyone who's caught ends up like that… is it someone's ability?'
Rocks carried wife and child across his shoulders, sprinting full tilt.
Behind him hot on his heels were Gringu and the God's Knights, plus scores of winged, horned, demonised Davy Clan members.
Rocks glanced back while running, spotted among Gringu's demons two aged figures and his face twitched.
'Even Dad and Mom were got!'
'What the hell is happening?'
He didn't fear Gringu or this eerie change himself,
but his family was with him.
Rocks wouldn't let Alice and Teach share the risk.
So flight was the only option.
First priority: get wife and child to safety!
Behind them, Gringu—his skull split in half—rode a running bird, teeth clenched. 'He really is strong; wounds he deals don't regenerate quickly!'
A sword-wielding female God's Knight beside him said, 'But now we know he's of the Davy Clan—if we kill him, the master will be delighted!'
'Right! The game's ruined, yet we're even luckier! Rocks! Stop running—you can't escape!'
As he ran, Rocks's wife Alice shouted into his ear.
'Put me down, Gibek! You think you can fight them one-handed?'
Rocks paid no heed, pounding onward, voice low:
'Alice! Now isn't the time for tantrums! Remember: anyone bearing the Davy name, once caught, will suffer torments worse than hell!'
'I know! I understand the Davy fate—so put me down now!' Clutching baby Teach, Alice wrenched herself free and leapt from his shoulder to the ground.
Rocks exclaimed, 'Alice! What are you doing?'
Alice sat up with the child and gave him a bright smile.
Oda says mothers hinder adventure, yet he always creates such magnificent mothers.
'If I were a woman who couldn't even protect her child and had to lean on you for everything… you wouldn't have fallen in love with me, right?'
'Gibek! Teach and I will never be your burden!'
'If we're truly caught, I'll kill Teach first, then myself!'
She rose, holding her son, eyes full of reluctant love fixed on the mountain-tall man before her—her husband,
a man who stood against the heavens.
'Gibek! Go fight! Let them see what strength the man who would be king of the world possesses!'
She stepped forward, kissed the statue-still Rocks deeply,
then turned and walked away without the slightest hesitation.
'Survive! Our family will reunite in the Rulusia Kingdom—Teach and I will wait for you always!'
Rocks stood frozen, staring after Alice's departing figure.
Behind him Gringu's group caught up.
Gringu, long sabre in hand, curved a cold grin.
'Finally willing to set wife and child aside? Well then—how do you plan to attack, Rocks? A hundred against one; you're at an absolute disadvantage. And mind you, those behind me include your clansmen—your parents among them. Can you bring yourself to cut them down?'
Rocks ignored him entirely, watching his wife walk away with a self-mocking smile.
'I came to save people—so why do I feel like I'm the one who's been saved instead?'
'Wahahaha! Wahahahaha! As expected of my woman!'
He threw his head back and laughed.
The long sabre in his hand slashed down!
BOOM!
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK—!
In an instant a titanic cleave burst from his blade, carving an ever-lengthening chasm across the earth of God Valley,
a bottomless fissure that split the entire island like a dividing line.
After delivering the island-splitting strike, Rocks slowly turned toward Gringu and the rest.
'Cross this line and die without quarter!'
'Bring it, monsters!'