With Bullet defeated, Kaito dispelled his Susanoo.
He walked up to Bullet and expanded the ROOM. As the transparent space enveloped him, Bullet stared at it. Though he didn't understand what kind of power this was, he could sense what was coming.
But he clearly wasn't someone afraid of death—otherwise, he wouldn't possess such a terrifying Conqueror's Haki.
He grinned wide and spoke his final words:
"Didn't expect that in my final moments, I'd meet a man like you. Thanks for showing me what true strength really is. Hahahahahaha!"
Kaito looked silently at the "battle maniac" one last time. Then he crouched, extended a single finger, and gently touched Bullet's forehead.
"ROOM: Shigan."
Bullet's head twitched violently. The light faded from his eyes, and the man who had obsessively pursued strength to the point of madness finally met his end within Kaito's ROOM.
Staring down at Bullet's lifeless body sprawled on the ground, Kaito muttered to himself,
"I've granted your final wish. You can rest in peace now."
With those words, the finger on Bullet's forehead turned into a palm and pressed down.
The Clank-Clank Fruit was without doubt a powerful Paramecia-type Devil Fruit, and Kaito had already decided to absorb it.
A few seconds later, Kaito stood up. A third tomoe had appeared in his left eye—proof that he had successfully absorbed the Clank-Clank Fruit.
However, as with all his Rinnegan evolutions, each third tomoe awakened a new power.
The first three tomoe had given rise to the Mangekyō ability in his right eye. At six, he unlocked a Rinnegan ability in that same eye. Now that the third tomoe had formed in his left eye, another special ability was bound to appear.
Kaito closed his eyes and quietly focused. When he opened them again, he fully understood the new power brought by this tomoe.
As he had expected, the new power was the resurrection of his former left-eye Mangekyō ability—Taira no Masakado.
Taira no Masakado, in Japanese mythology, was a vengeful spirit—certainly not a benevolent god. He was infamous for tormenting the living.
Naturally, an ocular ability named after him would be twisted. This Mangekyō technique shared all damage received by the user with their target.
Put simply, if the user had all four limbs broken, the target of the technique would suffer the same fate.
This power was the polar opposite of the right eye's Konohanasakuya-hime, which represented life, while Masakado embodied death.
Combined, these two abilities formed a nearly unbeatable combo. Back during his time in the Naruto world, Kaito had used this exact pairing to take out powerful enemies again and again.
Without prior intel, this combo was arguably even more disgusting than Hidan's Jashin ritual, because it didn't require blood or a specific ritual zone.
Its only limitation? Konohanasakuya-hime could only be used once per day.
But that was necessary—otherwise it'd be way too broken. Without monstrous regenerative power, taking a hit from this combo was a guaranteed death sentence.
Whenever Kaito found himself unable to win a fight, he'd stab himself in the heart, activate Masakado on his opponent, then use Konohanasakuya-hime to revive himself. The ultimate cheap move.
However, now that Kaito had grown this strong, he wasn't too interested in this technique anymore.
Who could possibly push him to the point where he'd need to rely on something like that?
Still, having more techniques was never a bad thing. But what truly thrilled Kaito was the Clank-Clank Fruit.
With a single thought, his full-body Susanoo materialized once again. The third tomoe in his left eye pulsed, and a surge of purple-black energy burst from his body, wrapping completely around the Susanoo.
The Susanoo's armor fused with the energy, then converged onto Kaito himself, coating his body in a deep purple set of armor.
But he wasn't done yet. He activated his Destruction Armament, layering it atop the Susanoo armor.
Immediately, intricate lines unique to the Destruction Armament etched themselves across the surface of the armor.
When it was all complete, Kaito's entire aura shifted dramatically. Now fused with Susanoo, he had become a true god of destruction.
His Rinnegan's purple hue deepened into a dark violet, radiating destructive energy that dyed the entire ROOM the same color.
Kaito looked down at his Susanoo armor, satisfied.
He could feel it—Susanoo's defensive power had increased significantly.
He wasn't sure by how much, but at the very least, it wouldn't be like in Boruto, where a single touch from an Ōtsutsuki would shatter it like glass.
Not only that—Susanoo's offensive power and strength were now imbued into his own body. In this state, even if all four Emperors stood against him together, they might not be able to take him down.
...
After enjoying the new Susanoo armor, Kaito turned his gaze back to Bullet's corpse.
Bullet was undeniably at the Emperor level. That made his body an incredibly valuable candidate for a Path of Pain.
In fact, it was probably of higher quality than even Golden Lion's.
With that thought, Kaito summoned a sphere of black flames and pressed it onto Bullet's body.
Bullet's eyes flew open. He slowly rose to his feet, now standing stiffly and expressionless.
Kaito watched the "resurrected" Bullet with thoughtful eyes.
He was considering which Path of Pain to assign him.
Thinking of Bullet's infamous nickname—"Heir of the Demon"—Kaito made his decision.
He stared into Bullet's eyes and projected the power of the Naraka Path into him.
A ripple spread through Bullet's eyes, and the distinct Rinnegan pattern appeared in both of them.
From this moment on, he was one of Kaito's exclusive Six Paths puppets.
Kaito gave his creation a satisfied look and clapped his hands.
Now he had three Paths of Pain.
As for the remaining three? He already had candidates in mind.
Once he assembled all six, Kaito planned to form a unique Marine organization that would act as their public front.
That way, every little pirate scum wouldn't need Kaito to personally intervene.
With the quality of his Six Paths puppets, they could easily obliterate any one of the Emperor crews.
When that time came, the Shichibukai? The Pacifistas?
They'd all be obsolete.
With the Six Paths standing guard, Kaito would love to see what kind of waves those pirates could still make.
Thinking about everything he had gained on this trip, Kaito couldn't help but laugh. His laughter echoed throughout the ROOM.
This time, however, there was no one left to hear it.
After a while, Kaito suddenly frowned.
He touched the right side of his forehead, puzzled.
"...Weird. Why does this spot feel kinda itchy?"