At the same time…
In the streets encircling the Japanese-style mansion, the battle in the torrent reached a fever pitch. Fists, feet, swords, and blades met in relentless clangor, sparks briefly lighting young, pale faces.
Bang!
Two pitch-black fists crashed together, a sheet of rain exploding upward.
The Marine Rear Admiral skidded back, wooden sandals rippling puddles. Blood threaded from the corner of his mouth and was instantly washed away.
"Is Marine Headquarters so short on talent that trash like you climbs to Rear Admiral?" sneered the CP0 agent in a white suit, wiping his own blood away as murder burned in his eyes.
"Big words for someone just as banged up," Tokikake spat, scarlet spittle cutting across the rain. His brown hat was long gone, swept away by the storm. Wet hair clung to his skull; his eyes were bloodshot; his thin frame looked even gaunter beneath the downpour.
The agent's gaze turned cold. "Do you really think you can stop me? Given your rank, you should understand the power we represent. Obstructing a Government mission will ruin you."
He spread his hands, oily and calm. "Step aside. Pretend you saw nothing. When I report success to Their Excellencies, you'll have all the wealth and glory you want."
"Headquarters Rear Admiral Tokikake, you want women, don't you? Let me pass, and I'll see you get any woman you desire."
"Rogers Darren is finished. No need to get buried with him."
Tokikake seemed to mull it over, then nodded gravely. "I admit, it's tempting."
"So you're—?"
"I refuse."
He jabbed a finger, fury breaking loose. "You think you represent the World Government? You're not the Strongest Shield of the Celestial Dragons—just a CP0 lapdog. Who the hell are you to make demands of me?"
"Sure, I'm greedy and lustful. But you think I'd betray my comrades for scraps like that?"
Veins stood out on the agent's temple. "Whatever Darren promised you, the Government can double!"
"I refuse," Tokikake snapped, face twisted in disdain.
"Then die!"
The CP0 operative launched, speed and strength spiking into a life-burning overdrive. Tokikake was caught a beat late—his chest caved with a sickening crack. Blood sprayed as he folded like a shrimp and smashed through a nearby building, the structure collapsing in a roar.
"You ignorant fool!" the agent barked, striding faster with each step. "Did you think training under a washed-up relic like Zephyr makes you a powerhouse? You've no idea what hell CP agents endure to reach this level."
"R-really?" came a hoarse, mocking rasp from the rubble.
The agent's eyes narrowed. He vanished—reappearing before the ruins in a blur.
"Rogers Darren, that cunning bastard, is using you," he said, lips curling as he drew back his fist for the finisher.
Bang!
A massive, furred black arm ripped from the wreckage like a beast's claw and clamped his wrist in an iron vice. The agent's pupils pinpricked.
That arm—grotesquely muscled, bristling with coarse black hair—radiated crushing power. His own arm was pinned fast.
"Yeah," Tokikake growled from within. "That bastard Darren was scheming, cunning, always stealing my spotlight. It pissed me off."
"But 'using me'? That's crap. I'll never accept it."
Boom!
A feral, black shape tore free of the rubble. Tokikake towered now—three, four meters tall—his body sheathed in cold, hardened black fur, slender limbs blown into slabs of muscle. Two tusk-like fangs jutted from his mouth; his breath reeked of blood and rot. His looming bulk swallowed the CP0 agent's shadow.
"A… a Devil Fruit user?!" the agent stammered, stunned.
A Zoan. And not an ordinary one. That bone-deep, primal fury could only belong to some long-extinct creature. But if he had this power, why wait until he was broken to use it?
"Confused?" Tokikake rasped, features grown monstrous, eyes burning red with barely checked murder. "I hadn't planned to show this. I'm not exactly pretty like this."
"But."
The boar-like giant leaned in, voice gone glacial. "You made two mistakes."
"First, you brag about CP's hell training. Fine. But if hard work alone guaranteed results, why would the world need geniuses?"
"I am a Marine Headquarters genius. Tokikake."
His grip tightened.
Crack!
The agent's wrist snapped; bone punched through skin. His scream cut the rain.
"As for your second mistake…"
Tokikake's brutal face filled his vision. "Whether Darren 'used' me doesn't matter. Do you even grasp the priceless gift he gave me?"
"Wh-what gift?" the agent snarled, teeth clenched against pain. "Whatever it was, the Government can—"
"When I was at my lowest—starving, desperate—he gave me a Black Card with unlimited spending in the Pleasure District."
The agent froze, as if struck by lightning—utterly unprepared for that answer.
"Those were the happiest days of my life. The peak of my genius."
"Call that 'using me'? That's a bond forged on the edge of life and death."
"And you want me to betray Darren—let you hurt his wife and kids?"
"What kind of man do you think I am?"
The colossal beast-man roared, voice shaking the street.
"Even a cheapskate like me who never pays has principles!"
"This is an insult to the Pleasure District's top VIP—the greatest disgrace!!"
To be continued...