No way. I spread fake news—and it turned out to be true?
No wonder Kaido and Big Mom bit, rushing to the North Blue before their wounds had even closed.
So the Float-Float Fruit really is here.
Ever since Golden Lion Shiki's fall in the North Blue, Darren had been combing every channel and network for the Float-Float Fruit. He'd never imagined it would end up in the World Government's hands.
Hearing Saint Saturn—one of the Gorosei—pose the question, Darren faltered. He could barely believe it.
That's the Float-Float Fruit. Haven't the headaches from the "Flying Admiral" been enough for you, World Government? And you Celestial Dragons are arrogant—and foolish—enough to put it up as a hunting prize? You already lost two god-tier fruits at God Valley.
He realized he'd grossly underestimated the Celestial Dragons' idiocy.
No wonder Doflamingo tossed the real Flame-Flame Fruit into an arena. It's in their blood.
On second thought, of course they'd be blind. Their arrogance simply couldn't picture anyone defying them.
"So, you were only guessing…" Saint Saturn said coolly, catching the flicker in Darren's eyes. "It seems I overestimated you."
Darren grinned. "Better to know now than never."
He pivoted and launched, blasting off the ground.
If the old fossil won't stay dead, there's no point wasting time. Grab the Float-Float Fruit first.
"Don't even think about it." Blood-red light flashed in Saturn's ancient eyes, and an oppressive weight slammed down, the air congealing around Darren until he felt mired in pressurized sludge.
Suppression.
"Don't expect to leave this island alive."
Two spider legs speared for Darren's skull, Haki hissing off them in sharp, explosive cracks.
Boom.
Darren's Haki snarled to life. Black-crimson lightning tore the pressure apart.
Kaido-sensei had taught him well: on this sea, ultimate strength isn't a Devil Fruit or a machine. Only Haki reigns.
Free in the same breath, Darren's callused hands shot up and caught the legs mid-strike. Gyuki's charge plowed him backward for dozens of meters, his boots trenching the earth.
"Nice hit, Saint Saturn, Excellency," Darren sneered, hair whipping, a savage smile cutting his face.
He inhaled; his arms swelled like mountains, muscle knotted tenfold. Cloth split with a tearing crack. His upper coat burst apart, laying bare a torso crosshatched with old and fresh scars.
Saturn's pupils pinpricked. The brat's aura and strength had spiked far beyond their first clash.
"You want to know why I dared to call your bluff?"
Darren's rough, arrogant face hovered inches away. His fists closed like vices. With a sickening crack, the spider legs buckled under his grip.
"It's not because you cornered me—it's because I'm strong enough."
He roared, drove his feet deep like iron stakes, and heaved. The six-or-seven-meter Gyuki lifted clean off the ground.
The world spun in Saturn's eyes.
Out on the ice, Marines battering Kaido and Big Mom glanced over. What they saw nearly popped their eyes from their skulls: the mountain-sized Gyuki hoisted high by a single human silhouette—then
driven into the earth.
Boom.
Saturn's face met the ground with a brutal crunch; his head twisted at an ugly angle as blood geysered from mouth and nose. Cracks raced outward in a web, the ground collapsing by meters over hundreds more. Pines toppled in droves.
While regeneration took hold, Darren blurred from the dust cloud and vanished into the jungle.
"W-what was that…?"
"Vice Admiral Darren—no, the criminal—he just smashed a Gorosei into the ground?"
"Does that mean…the Gorosei are weak?"
"Impossible! Vice Admiral Darren is just too strong!"
"He's like a god—or a demon!"
…
Cold sweat sheeted the Marines across the frozen battlefield. Sengoku went pale, pupils tightening. Darren's power now dwarfed anything Sengoku had seen.
"Hahahaha! That's my lifelong rival!" Kuzan's delighted shout carried; Sengoku's eyelid twitched.
"Shut it if you want to live, brat," Sengoku snapped, then ground down his turmoil and plunged back into the fight. Concern and grim resolve flickered in his eyes.
Young Darren… even with this growth, if that's all you've got, it might not be enough.
---
Deep within Felsek Island.
The snow was stamped with tiny, blood-smeared footprints.
"Hahahaha, don't run, Hancock! You're mine!"
"I'll treat you well. Be a good girl and obey me!"
The green-haired Celestial Dragon panted, sweat beading like peas, pistol clutched tight. He grinned as he cornered the girl.
"Delusional fool."
The black-haired child stood in front of her two trembling sisters, eyes bright with fear—and disdain. Bare feet cut and bleeding from thorns and sharp stone, she stained the snow red. She brandished a dagger stolen from a dead noble, face fierce as a cornered pup. Her hands shook, but the contempt on her face was raw and unhidden.
"I'd rather die than obey scum like you."
Her defiance only stoked his frenzy.
"Yes! That look!"
"Hancock… your talent is unimaginable!"
"Flawless beauty, pure arrogance, unfeigned disdain… You'll be my most exquisite work of art. My queen."
His eyes blazed with fanatical worship. He drew a wooden box from his robes and flipped it open to reveal a Devil Fruit nestled inside.
"See? A gift prepared just for you. The Love-Love Fruit."
"I've searched for the perfect vessel."
"And you, Hancock—you're it."
Two crimson-purple cherries, joined by a green stem, each heart-marked and gleaming.
Greed and twisted anticipation filmed his gaze.
"You won't even have to obey me. I'll call you 'Master.'"
"My Queen Hancock—wealth, glory, status—everything."
"You can whip me, trample me, slap my face—anything you desire!"
He stepped toward the sisters, flushed with heat despite the cold wind.
"Because a woman this beautiful can be forgiven anything."
The moment the words left his mouth, Hancock's eyes—and her sisters'—fixed on a point behind him. Their pupils shrank.
The noble hesitated and turned.
A towering figure, soaked in blood, stood there.
"Playing a little rough, huh?" the man said.
Blood dripped from his left hand. In his right, he held a Devil Fruit, its surface slick with red.
The Celestial Dragon froze, color draining.
The Vice Admiral didn't spare him a glance. He looked past him to the black-haired girl and gave a small, courtly nod. A faint smile touched his bloodstreaked face.
"Good evening, ladies," he said. "The next part might be… unpleasant. Would you mind closing your eyes for a moment?"
To be continued...