"Uh… are you talking about Blood Demon Rock? That Paramecia-type Blood-Blood Fruit user?"
Sandersonia froze for a moment before realizing who Borsalino meant.
"The Blood-Blood Fruit?"
Borsalino had only asked casually, but the answer genuinely surprised him.
A pirate with a bounty of several tens of millions of Beli barely qualified as a notable figure on the seas. And yet, Borsalino clearly remembered the previous—or perhaps an even earlier—user of the Blood-Blood Fruit. That man had left a remarkably deep impression on a much younger, newly enlisted Borsalino.
If not for the Glint-Glint Fruit being even more absurdly broken, it was hard to say whether the Navy would even have an Admiral Kizaru today.
Thinking about it now, that fruit had once been wielded by an old "acquaintance."
And yet the current user was so weak.
The contrast was so ridiculous that Borsalino nearly laughed out loud.
"Yes, it's a very troublesome ability," Marigold quickly explained, trying to defend her sisters' earlier lapse in vigilance. "If we hadn't been equipped with Seastone weapons, we might not have been able to capture him at all."
Otherwise, even if Lord Borsalino wouldn't punish them, her sister Hancock certainly wouldn't be so forgiving.
"Hahaha, take me to see him," Borsalino said with sudden interest. "He counts as an old friend's successor, after all."
Back then, Borsalino had been quite envious of that Blood-Blood Fruit.
With just a single drop of an enemy's blood, the user could place a curse on them, inflicting continuous damage over time. If Borsalino hadn't been a Logia user, he might very well have fallen to that ability.
Unfortunately, after killing that former user, the Devil Fruit never reappeared on the nearest piece of fruit.
Ever since missing that opportunity, Borsalino had never heard any rumors of the Blood-Blood Fruit again—only for it to resurface now, in the hands of a small fry.
Blood Demon Rock was a pirate born and raised in the Grand Line, and precisely because of that, he knew the Seven Warlords far too well.
But no matter how much he imagined it, he never thought he'd end up falling into the hands of one.
Even if it wasn't the legendary Pirate Empress herself who captured him, those Kuja women were absolutely brutal.
The two hundred subordinates he'd painstakingly recruited were wiped out in a single clash by just a few dozen national warriors.
That alone would've been bad enough—but Rock hadn't reached an eighty-million-Beli bounty by relying solely on his crew.
Among pirates in the first half of the Grand Line, there weren't many who could stand up to Hancock's two sisters.
Blood Demon Rock happened to be one of them.
Unfortunately, Sandersonia and Marigold had zero sense of honor and fought him two-on-one.
Even then, Rock might've found a chance to escape—
If not for how utterly useless his subordinates were.
Before Rock could even look for an opening, his entire crew was wiped out, leaving him surrounded by national warriors.
"Damn Kuja Pirates… damn Pirate Empress… I'll settle this score with you bitches sooner or later!"
Rock panted heavily as he hid deep inside a warehouse.
The moment he realized escape was impossible, he'd deliberately eased off his resistance to conserve stamina.
It turned out to be the right call.
When Sandersonia realized that even teaming up with her sister wasn't enough to quickly take him down, she immediately ordered the national warriors to join in.
No matter how strong Rock was, he couldn't withstand Hancock's two sisters plus dozens of elite warriors beating him down together.
In the end, he was captured in humiliation.
After being thrown into prison in a critically injured state, Rock searched desperately for an escape opportunity—only to find none.
Then, for reasons unknown, the vigilance of those Kuja women suddenly slackened.
Seizing the chance, Rock broke out of prison and used the Blood-Blood Fruit to absorb blood, fully restoring his injuries.
For a brief, glorious moment, he truly believed he was about to escape.
Then he was chased down like a stray dog by swarms of Kuja warriors.
Hundreds of muscle-bound women, all wielding Armament Haki, flooded in at once.
That was the moment Rock understood what real despair felt like.
If not for the Blood-Blood Fruit's absurd survivability, he would've been dead ten times over by now.
"Damn it… I've hit my absorption limit. If I keep absorbing blood, rejection will set in!"
Before those bitches found him again, Rock hurriedly checked his condition—only to reach an utterly grim conclusion.
And then…
The warehouse doors slowly creaked open.
A figure far taller than normal appeared in the doorway.
"Let's see… hiding in here, maybe?"
As the person stepped inside—and the silhouettes of those Kuja women appeared behind him—Rock was suddenly seized by a suicidal resolve.
If he was going to die, he'd drag a few of those bitches down with him!
Wait.
That voice… Why did it sound like a man?
Rock burst out from the shadows, transforming into a pool of blood mid-leap.
He didn't even have time to see what his target looked like—
Before a slipper-clad foot came crashing down on his face.
BOOM!
In the blink of an eye, Rock—who had been lunging forward just a moment ago—was sent flying like a human cannonball, smashing straight through the solid warehouse wall.
When the port warehouses were first built, they were designed to double as small fortresses. If enemies attacked, Kuja warriors could use them to hold the harbor.
That alone spoke volumes about how thick and sturdy the walls were.
Yet after taking a single kick from Borsalino, Rock punched straight through them with unstoppable force.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
His body smashed through multiple obstacles in succession, carving a trench dozens of meters long into the ground before finally coming to a stop.
If not for the Blood-Blood Fruit's ridiculous life-saving capabilities, even a Zoan user wouldn't have survived that kick.
Even so, Rock—his face stamped with a clear slipper print—was now on the brink of death.
Being riddled with arrows earlier hadn't done even half as much damage as this single blow.
"Oops… guess I kicked a little too hard."
In his fading consciousness, Rock thought he heard someone speak.
Perhaps because he no longer needed to waste mental energy figuring out how to escape, he was absolutely certain this time—
That was a man's voice.
How ironic…
Captured in the legendary land of women, Amazon Lily—
Only to die at the hands of a man.
That kick had been absurd.
There was no Armament Haki, no serious intent—just an instinctive strike meant to keep him from getting too close.
"Hh…gh…"
Rock tried to say something.
But with his entire face caved in, even producing a sound was painfully difficult—let alone forming words.
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