The moment the second Cyrus stepped through the doorway, his body dissolved into flames and vanished.
A tiny figure resembling a Tontatta dropped onto the deck.
Aramaki recovered from his dizziness and looked around. The first thing he saw was Cyrus, followed by everyone else aboard the ship.
'It's over.'
The thought appeared in his mind instantly.
This time, there truly seemed to be no way out.
Cyrus had dragged him all the way from Mary Geoise.
Apparently, the one who appeared there had not even been his real body.
Not that it made any difference to the outcome.
"How are you going to deal with me?"
After landing on the deck, Aramaki made no attempt to struggle or escape. He rose and looked directly at Cyrus.
"Oh? I thought you'd at least try to run."
Cyrus regarded him with mild surprise.
"Or did you hide another seed somewhere?"
"No."
Aramaki shook his head.
"Now that I'm here, I doubt you'll let me escape. And if I beg, would you spare me?"
"No."
Cyrus answered without hesitation.
"Then I'm dead no matter what. The only difference is how."
Aramaki sat down on the deck.
"I chose the wrong side, that's all. But I still became a Celestial Dragon."
"Even if they only made me one because they wanted to use me, that was enough."
"You sound as though becoming a Celestial Dragon was something you genuinely admired."
"It was."
Knowing he would not live much longer seemed to calm Aramaki.
"I saw them when I was a child. They stood above everyone else and controlled everything."
"That was what I wanted to become."
Robin and the others listened from nearby without interrupting.
"I see."
Cyrus nodded in understanding.
"You saw Celestial Dragons doing whatever they pleased and decided you wanted the same freedom. That's hardly unusual."
Most people who witnessed the Celestial Dragons reacted in one of only a few ways.
Some envied them.
Some dreamed of becoming them and enjoying the same life.
Others simply feared the threat they represented.
Aramaki clearly belonged to the first two groups.
Envy and ambition had shaped the goal he pursued throughout his life.
"The Celestial Dragons possess everything in the world. They're descendants of the gods. Those who live in the heavens stand above everyone else."
Aramaki stared at Cyrus.
"And you still believe that now?"
Cyrus laughed.
"That truth hasn't changed."
Aramaki's voice remained firm.
"You only reached your current position through overwhelming strength. Your birth and status never changed."
"So you're still proud of being a Celestial Dragon?"
"Of course."
Aramaki nodded seriously.
"I'm a real Celestial Dragon."
"Robin."
Cyrus called her name.
Robin looked at him in confusion.
"Bring me an apple."
She paused, then seemed to understand.
After leaving briefly, Robin returned with an apple and placed it on the table before Cyrus.
"So it's time?"
Aramaki looked toward him.
Cyrus raised his left hand.
A ribbon of condensed darkness swept forward and wrapped around Aramaki.
Blackness descended, completely enclosing both of them.
Robin stepped back and stood beside Hancock to watch.
Farther away, Teach was controlling the ship, but his eyes filled with envy when he saw the darkness.
The Float-Float Fruit was certainly powerful.
Even so, the Dark-Dark Fruit remained the ability he had always wanted most.
Zoro and Kuina watched with open curiosity.
A short while later, the darkness receded.
Aramaki had disappeared.
The apple on the table had transformed.
Its skin was now green, covered in leaf-shaped spirals.
"It turned into a Devil Fruit?"
Zoro's and Kuina's eyes widened.
What had just happened?
Weren't Devil Fruits supposed to reappear somewhere in the world at random?
Had Cyrus somehow controlled the process?
"The Woods-Woods Fruit."
Cyrus picked up the fruit, examined it briefly, then placed it back down.
"Zoro, interested in eating a Devil Fruit?"
"No."
Zoro rejected the offer immediately.
Cyrus nodded, unsurprised.
Zoro had devoted everything to swordsmanship.
Cyrus glanced around.
Other than Zoro, everyone currently aboard the ship had already eaten a Devil Fruit.
His gaze eventually settled on Teach.
Teach gave an awkward laugh and instinctively took one step backward.
"Captain—Chairman, I've already eaten one."
"It's a Logia."
Cyrus pointed toward the fruit on the table.
Teach swallowed.
A Logia Devil Fruit.
It might not rank alongside the Glint-Glint Fruit, Ice-Ice Fruit, or Rumble-Rumble Fruit, but the Woods-Woods Fruit was certainly not weak.
From what he had just witnessed, it also possessed extraordinary survival capabilities.
Had Aramaki faced anyone other than Cyrus, killing him completely would have been extremely difficult.
But Cyrus had deliberately directed the offer toward Teach.
He really had noticed that Teach was different.
Sometimes, it felt as though Cyrus understood his body better than he did himself.
Teach deeply disliked that feeling.
The confidence he had gained from obtaining the Float-Float Fruit vanished immediately, and he became much more cautious.
"Forget it. A person can only eat one Devil Fruit."
Teach swallowed again and refused.
"All right."
Cyrus did not expose him.
He glanced at Robin, who nodded and stepped forward to take the fruit away.
"Cyrus-sama, did you just visit Mary Geoise?"
Hancock asked curiously after Robin left with the Devil Fruit.
"My clone did."
"Are we still going there?"
"That…"
Cyrus fell into thought.
Should he make another trip to Mary Geoise?
He had already applied enough pressure to Imu. Pushing too hard could produce the opposite result.
Although the confrontation had been unexpected, he had accomplished everything he wanted.
There was little reason to visit again.
After considering it, Cyrus turned toward Zoro and Kuina.
"We'll continue your training instead. We'll follow the Guild's reports and clear the affected islands one by one."
"We're going to keep sailing together, Cyrus-sama?"
Hancock's eyes lit up.
She had never truly travelled with Cyrus before. T
heir current journey, beginning when they left Sky Island, was the first time they had spent any meaningful length of time sailing together.
Hancock loved it.
She could see Cyrus every day.
That alone made her happy.
"What about Amazon Lily?"
Cyrus noticed the brightness in her eyes and asked curiously.
"I left my sisters in charge. There won't be any problems."
Hancock answered earnestly.
"You're the empress. Is it really fine for you not to return?"
"Of course. I often left the island to sail before."
Cyrus nodded.
Hancock clearly had no intention of going home anytime soon.
The empresses of Amazon Lily really did lose all sense once they fell in love.