"Someone else can hear the Voice of All Things… just like me!"
Roger's sudden words made Rayleigh frown.
"Voice of All Things?"
Throughout their years of adventure, Rayleigh had met countless masters of Haki—
but never another who could hear everything.
That ability was uniquely Roger's, a gift beyond even advanced Observation Haki.
"Who is it?" Rayleigh asked, scanning their surroundings.
No one else seemed to be listening as Roger did.
"I don't know," Roger replied, catching his breath. "He's hiding deep.
Rocks said it himself—he could sense two people who heard his voice.
Maybe the other one was somewhere in his own crew."
Roger stepped off Rayleigh's back and dropped to the ground again, sword in hand.
Rocks had entered the final stage of madness; they only needed to survive until his life burned out.
Devil Fruit users were suffering the most, while Haki wielders fought to cut through the tide of darkness—
until Rocks's strength ran dry and he turned to dust.
"Captain, you need to rest!" one crewmate shouted, rushing to support him.
"I'm the one who stays behind, not you!"
Roger wiped blood from his mouth and grinned.
Sweat drenched his face, yet his voice was light.
"Captain! Rocks said he struck you with a fatal curse!" Jaba shouted, axes dripping with darkness.
"He was bluffing before he died," Roger laughed. "You'd believe Rocks?"
That laugh eased every heart around him.
He knew the wound was real.
But the Dark-Dark Fruit's curse didn't kill instantly—it lingered, waiting.
Only time and battle would awaken it.
Roger said nothing more. He only wanted his crew to fight without hesitation.
Survive first. Let the sea decide the rest.
He refused to believe that this vast ocean could hold an incurable poison.
Maybe his Haki would evolve again—enough to drive out the darkness.
Slash!
Another tendril shot toward him; Roger's blade flashed.
Scarlet Haki arced outward, carving a road a kilometer long across God Valley—
only for the blackness to surge and seal it again.
"Rocks is burning his life to keep this going," Shiki growled.
"A Fruit Awakening this strong can't be undone. The only end is when he dies!"
Sweat poured down Shiki's temples. He no longer dared to use his Float-Float Fruit—
not when the darkness could devour his own power.
Of all those infected, Linlin was suffering the strangest.
She slammed her head against the rock walls, roaring.
Her once-impenetrable "steel balloon" body lost its resilience; blood streaked her face.
Like a shattered photograph of her past—
she saw Mother Carmel smiling,
the children of Sheep's House dancing around her.
The nightmares of her childhood returned,
haunting her like a twisted birthday tea party of ghosts.
"Devil!!" she screamed.
Kaido hammered his own chest, forcing himself awake.
He could feel something crawling inside his blood.
If he lost focus, it would consume him whole.
But his Zoan powers weren't even half-developed yet.
Awakening was a dream far away.
He relied only on sheer will and Haki to resist the pain in his very cells.
"Kill me, Wang Zhi!"
Silver Axe clawed his skull, as though his mind were tearing apart.
Wang Zhi pressed his hat down, his face twisted beyond recognition.
At the cliff's edge, Vice Admiral Tsuru gasped for air; sweat drenched her uniform.
"This pain—I never want to feel it again in my life."
Sengoku clenched his teeth, both terrified and thoughtful.
Maybe this was why the Marines encouraged high-ranking officers to eat Devil Fruits—
to learn the burden that came with such power.
Back then, he had been a rising star.
After he, Garp, and Zephyr became "the Monsters,"
Headquarters had rewarded him with a Mythical Zoan.
He'd thought it a blessing—
now he knew it was a curse.
Devil Fruit users were too limited.
Unless you had the Dark-Dark Fruit, every other power came with a fatal flaw.
Before Awakening, no elementalization and double the pain.
After Awakening, freedom of element—but the demon's will would grow, whispering to take your soul.
Sengoku remembered what the higher-ups wanted: to collect rare Logia Fruits for the Celestial Dragons.
They'd give them to slaves, make them perform—
but the Logias were too dangerous.
Without seastone shackles, a single spark of freedom could level the audience.
Even now, Sengoku muttered,
"Are the Elders already planning the next generation of Admirals?"
He looked toward Garp and Zephyr.
Perhaps their strength had frightened the Elders into plotting replacements.
Tsuru spoke coldly, "Some things are better left unsaid.
Most Celestial Dragons are garbage—but a few… are dangerous garbage."
Sengoku's face went pale.
"Don't say that out loud!"
He glanced toward the ruined pit where Saint Saturn and Steel Bone Kong lay buried under debris.
Alive or dead, it didn't matter yet.
"They can't hear me anyway." Tsuru rolled her eyes, disgust clear in her voice.
Witnessing the God Valley Incident firsthand had left her sicker than any mission before.
Along the cliff, John and Sharn sat side by side.
John said nothing, just drank from a half-shattered bottle.
The darkness had swallowed the rest of his liquor—his greatest regret.
"You don't feel pain, John?" Sharn asked weakly.
"I do," John said, biting his teeth so hard they cracked.
"Hurts like hell. But at least I can drink on it."
"What about you, Sharn?"
"I did—until just now," Sharn said. "Then it stopped."
He didn't understand why.
At the height of agony—when Rocks unleashed the darkness—
his consciousness had fallen into a mist.
A black dragon circled above, its eyes locked on him.
Just as it was about to consume him,
a voice woke him.
Rocks's voice.
The instant before his soul was swallowed by the demon, Rocks had awakened Sharn's buried will.
That spark reactivated his latent Observation Haki—
the same empathic gift Roger called the Voice of All Things.
The "two" who had heard Rocks's final words—
were Roger and Sharn.
"His life… it's burned away," Sharn whispered, rising unsteadily to his feet.
He had grown thinner, his body drained.
It would take days of food and sleep after God Valley for him to recover.
When he looked up at the sky,
the suffering of everyone else peaked.
Outside the valley, Marine Zoan users screamed—then went still,
their bodies claimed by demonic will,
never to awaken again.
"Darkness… perishes."
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