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Rosinante stumbled out of the wooden shack, clutching the heart-shaped, palm-sized Devil Fruit as if it were his own soul.
Blood poured from his wounds, soaking into the snow. Any ordinary man would have collapsed from the sheer trauma of his injuries, but Rosinante held on through pure, iron-clad willpower. He was ecstatic; he had finally secured the key to saving Law's life.
He sprinted toward the crate where Law was hidden, desperate to get the fruit into the boy's mouth. As he reached the hiding spot, he deactivated the Silent-Silent Fruit's field.
"Law... quick, eat this!"
Rosinante's face was a mask of gore, but his smile was radiant—as warm and life-giving as a sun in the dead of winter. He forced Law's mouth open, intending to shove the fruit inside.
However, Law didn't respond. He couldn't. His eyes were fixed on the space behind Rosinante, his expression paralyzed by sheer, unadulterated terror.
In the reflection of the boy's wide eyes, a bolt of violet-red lightning struck the earth. In a flash of blinding light, a domineering, terrifying figure materialized directly behind Rosinante.
"Whatever I've set my sights on... anyone else who touches it dies."
A cold, indifferent voice drifted into Rosinante's ears. Before he could react, a powerful, calloused hand reached from behind and clamped onto his wrist.
With a sharp, rhythmic flick of the wrist, the red, heart-shaped fruit—the object that had consumed Arthur's every waking thought—was jerked from Rosinante's grasp. It tumbled through the air and landed perfectly in Arthur's other palm.
Rosinante watched in frozen silence as the hope he had bled for slipped into the hands of a monster. The realization hit him like a physical blow: Law was once again at the mercy of the Amber Lead Syndrome. His warm smile vanished, replaced by a mask of rigid horror.
A second later, he snapped.
Rosinante coated his elbow in Armament Haki and swung backward with everything he had, driving his joint toward the chest of the intruder.
BOOM!!
The dull sound of the impact echoed through the clearing. Rosinante felt as if he had struck a wall of indestructible, solid steel. Not only did the blow fail to budge the man, but the recoil vibrated through his arm, sending a jolt of agonizing pain that contorted his painted, clown-like face.
As the foster son of a Navy Fleet Admiral and a student of one of the world's strongest men, Sengoku, his Haki wasn't top-tier, but it wasn't something to be ignored. Yet, this strike—delivered with the desperation of a dying man—couldn't even push the intruder back an inch. His entire arm went numb, hanging uselessly at his side.
"Give... give it back!"
Ignoring his injuries, Rosinante spun around to launch another attack. But the moment he saw the face of the man standing before him, the breath left his lungs. He went deathly pale.
As a Marine, he had seen this pirate's bounty poster a thousand times. He remembered the standing order issued to the entire Navy: If you encounter this man and do not have absolute certainty of victory, retreat immediately. To flee is not a dereliction of duty.
That order alone was enough to make the name unforgettable. Furthermore, having spent years undercover in the Donquixote Family, he knew exactly what Arthur looked like.
The Thunder Emperor. Captain of the Thunder God Pirates. One of the Overlords of the New World.
"Thun... Thunder Emperor... what do you want? Give that fruit back!" Rosinante clutched his throbbing right hand, his eyes turning feral. He wouldn't move an inch.
"Give it back? Now that's a joke that isn't funny."
Arthur lifted the Op-Op Fruit. His eyes were completely transfixed by the heart-shaped treasure, staring at it with the hunger of a starving man looking at a feast. He had lost track of how many years he had waited for this fruit to appear. He was willing to pay any price for this moment.
Finally, today, it was his.
"Everything on the sea, whether it has an owner or not, belongs to whoever holds it. Didn't Sengoku teach you such a simple lesson?"
"Oh, I almost forgot. That's pirate logic. You're a Marine..."
"But here's another lesson you should memorize: If I want something, it doesn't matter who thinks they own it. From that moment on, it belongs to me and me alone!"
"Is that easy enough to remember??" Arthur's joy was unprecedented. He tilted his head back, opened his mouth, and simply dropped the fruit in. He chewed the legendary treasure and swallowed it in one gulp.
"You're out of your mind!!!"
For Law's sake, Rosinante went into a total frenzy. Like a mother beast who had lost her cub, he lunged forward, drawing a dagger from his belt and driving it toward Arthur's heart.
But it was too late. The "Ultimate Devil Fruit," the Op-Op Fruit, had already slid down Arthur's throat.
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"Is he insane?? The Thunder Emperor... he already has the Rumble-Rumble Fruit! Why would he eat the Op-Op Fruit? Is he trying to commit suicide??"
At the edge of the horizon, aboard the Donquixote Family's great flamingo ship, Doflamingo gripped his binoculars, cold sweat drenching his back.
A person can only eat one Devil Fruit. That was the iron law of the world. Anyone with even a modicum of knowledge about the sea knew that. Throughout history, countless people had tried to consume a second fruit, and every single one of them had died. The law was unbreakable.
Kaido only survived his "suicide attempts" involving fruits because his body would physically reject and vomit them up.
But what was he seeing? Was the Thunder Emperor so bored with life that he decided to challenge a death sentence?
The secret of Marshall D. Teach's "atypical body" had not yet been revealed to the world. And the secret of Arthur's surgical modification in the Drum Kingdom was known to only four people in existence.
"Doffy... why isn't he dead? Is the fruit a fake?" Trebol asked, his eyes wide as a glob of disgusting mucus dripped from his nose.
"Fake? Impossible. Arthur definitely has the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia memorized. He would only eat it if he knew it was real... but how does he survive? What is going on!" Doflamingo felt his entire worldview shattering. For a brief, insane moment, he wanted to try eating a second fruit himself.
Only his remaining sanity held him back.
"How is this possible? Is there really a way to let a second 'Devil' into the body without them tearing the host apart?" Doflamingo pondered frantically, coming dangerously close to guessing the secret of the atypical body.
"No... that's not a secret I can explore right now. I have to find out more from the shadows."
Wrenching himself away from the abyss of greed, Doflamingo snapped back to reality, sweat pouring down his face. He looked at the Thunder Emperor on the island, his brother Rosinante, and the Marine warship carrying Vice Admiral Garp on the horizon.
He didn't hesitate for another second.
"Turn the ship around! We're leaving!"
"Garp the Hero and Arthur the Thunder Emperor... this island is a graveyard."
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