"Come on, Roger!"
Rocks roared like a wild beast. When Garp struck first, Rocks didn't even move his hands—
from within his body, black tentacles burst forth ahead of him, their surfaces glimmering with compressed Haki that lashed out in every direction.
"Roger! I'll handle the tentacles—go!"
Garp was battered but fought back whenever he could. Around them, the other ability-users were all collapsing; already weakened and wounded, now they were tortured again by Rocks' indiscriminate assault.
"Don't order me, Garp!"
Roger leapt high, swinging his sword in a perfect slash.
A flash of blade-light split God Valley clean in half—
mountains collapsed, the valley floor tilting sharply as it caved in.
Rocks' body split in two, yet the gap only spawned an even more violent devouring force.
Tentacles multiplied. Even Rocks' own crew began to suffer.
Only those coating themselves with Haki could slow the ripping away of their bloodline factors.
Without it—they were weakened instantly.
"He's back again!" Whitebeard planted his naginata into the earth.
All around, debris was torn up and swallowed, feeding Rocks' power.
Golden Lion plunged his twin blades into a crack, cursing,
"Damn it! Roger—cut him for me too!"
The suction was so wild that Linlin couldn't even ride her cloud; she jammed her hat-blade into the cliff to anchor herself.
Streusen hugged his knees like a dwarf, screaming as the gravity yanked him.
"Rocks is insane! I told you he's not reliable!" Linlin thought bitterly.
She swore she'd study what that Dark-Dark Fruit really looked like—it was absurd.
Awakening must be terrifyingly hard.
"Hahaha—hahahahaha!"
Rocks laughed madly. Maybe he'd lost his mind,
but his Haki still thundered outward without pause.
Kaido heard that manic laughter and wanted to smash him with his club.
After eating a Zoan, his body had grown many times stronger—
yet now the darkness dragged at his insides,
his organs colliding, his blood itself being devoured.
It was pure horror.
"Afraid? Terrified?" Rocks shouted.
"Before awakening, the Dark-Dark Fruit was the only Logia that couldn't elementize,
its user suffering double pain.
But once awakened—it unleashes an uncontrollable hunger!
Even light and Haki cannot escape!
That's why before awakening it couldn't elementize—
because even the user was bound by the darkness itself!
This devouring tears not only others, but also its wielder.
The gravity inflicts double agony in exchange for the mightiest natural-type power!"
His laughter grew wilder.
Had the fruit's will consumed his mind?
No one could tell. Whatever he'd become—it wasn't human anymore.
"Let the seas tremble!"
Rocks spread both arms as Roger's sword kept slashing.
His body fragmented into pieces of shadow;
each fragment spat more tentacles that devoured everything.
"It's useless!" he cried. "I can predict your every move!
Darkness is me, and I am darkness!
To strike a Logia you must surpass its nature with Observation Haki—
but even you can't surpass mine!
If I can't beat you outright—then I'll swallow God Valley itself!"
Rocks now rivaled Imu's madness.
There were barely any souls left alive on the island—
he'd wipe them all out.
If he dragged his entire crew into death,
Roger's pirates and the Navy's elites would vanish as well.
"You lunatic!" Roger roared.
He knew Rocks would accept no outcome except his own victory.
Even a draw meant failure.
God Valley was the perfect stage—this chance would never come again.
He had to end it.
"I knew it!" Sengoku yelled, clinging to bare rock, punching footholds as he climbed.
"Newgate! Shiki! You want to die with that man?!"
Everyone was trapped on the same sinking ship now.
Unable to beat Garp and Roger cleanly,
Rocks had chosen mutual annihilation—his version of victory.
A tie? Unthinkable.
He would destroy everything instead.
"He never plays by the rules," Whitebeard muttered, bracing himself.
Rocks always had a final trick.
"I told you never to corner him! Dammit!" Golden Lion snarled, furious that even he was caught up.
Darkness ripped and devoured.
Tentacles reached both sides of the valley,
the ground rumbling violently.
The vortex storm accelerated, pulling all matter toward the black core.
Sharn clung to Dragon's shoulder with one hand
while Captain John clung to Sharn's leg for dear life.
"Kid! Don't let go or we're dead!" John shouted,
flinging a wine bottle at Rocks—
it vanished instantly into the dark.
"Dragon! Don't let go!" Sharn cried. "We'll be torn apart!"
The Dark Paradise state devoured bloodline factors;
even non-fruit users were affected.
Dragon gripped a treasure chest with one hand and Zefa's arm with the other.
"Zefa-san!"
Zefa looked toward Tsuru at the edge.
She clutched a rock, glaring furiously at them.
"Why don't you all just die first?! I'm a Devil Fruit user—this hurts more for me!"
A black tendril shattered the stone near her,
the fragments pulled away before they could fall.
Within the storm, darkness expanded—
unlike the earlier "Dark Abyss," this one grew stronger with every bite.
The longer the awakening lasted, the stronger Rocks became—
and the greater the danger to everyone else.
"Roger—go!"
Rocks still taunted them.
Only his eyes still shone; his voice sounded like an elder god whispering.
Tentacles whipped everywhere, friend and foe alike,
smashing and swallowing everything they touched.
Rocks stood at the core, growing larger with every soul consumed.
His body swelled past twelve meters—giant-sized now—
and this was only the beginning.
He had surrendered himself wholly to the darkness;
only total destruction remained in his mind.
The tentacles moved with Observation Haki for guidance,
Armament Haki for attack,
and Conqueror's Haki for overwhelming dominance.
Their number climbed from dozens to hundreds, then to thousands,
until Rocks himself disappeared—
replaced by a colossal, hovering abyss.
"Devour! Destroy!"
There was no longer enemy or ally—only darkness.
Over God Valley, the abyss scraped the cliffs,
threatening to consume the entire island.
To stay meant certain death.
Even so, Sharn still held the recording Den Den Mushi in his dragon tail.
"I want to try one more time," he muttered.
Roger gripped his sword.
In his ears, the Voice of All Things echoed again.
"I can hear him—the Rocks within the abyss!
If we can tear a hole in the darkness, there's a chance!
But our Haki alone isn't enough!"
Hearing Roger, Garp didn't hesitate. "Then add mine!"
Whitebeard, shielding himself with one arm, let his Haki roar.
White lightning flared with Garp's blue,
the twin thunders joining as they struck.
The darkness blazed with brief flashes of Haki light.
"This bastard's trying to kill even me!"
Golden Lion shouted, bursting with Haki himself.
"Even my cigar got eaten!"
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