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Facing the frantic Rosinante, Arthur couldn't be bothered to spare him even a passing glance. He was entirely preoccupied with the sensation of consuming a second Devil Fruit. That infamously vile, nightmarish taste detonated on his tongue...
Though he had consumed the Rumble-Rumble Fruit over a decade ago and thought he was mentally prepared, this flavor transcended anything a creature with taste buds should ever have to endure.
Arthur's triumphant mood was instantly soured by the fruit's revolting essence. His face turned as black as thunderclouds, and his stomach lurched violently.
"Guegh—!"
Clamping a hand over his mouth, Arthur fought back the urge to vomit and forced the pulp down his throat. He stood there, gasping for air as if he had just fought a war for ten days and nights.
"Thunder Emperor! Give the Op-Op Fruit back!!"
For the sake of Law's life, Rosinante actually drew a dagger and charged at the monster before him.
"Piss off!!"
Arthur swatted the air casually. Rosinante was struck as if by a high-velocity cannonball. He was sent hurtling backward even faster than he had approached, his body smashing directly into the wooden crate where Law was hidden.
BOOM—!
The crate splintered into a thousand pieces. Law crawled out from the wreckage, and upon seeing the state of his savior, tears began to stream uncontrollably down his face.
"Cora-san!!"
Sobbing, Law shook Rosinante's unconscious body. He looked at the man's mangled, blood-soaked form and reached out a trembling hand. Using his family's medical knowledge, he checked Rosinante's pulse, which was now as faint as a flickering candle in the wind.
Rosinante was already severely wounded; this final blow had pushed him to the very brink of death.
Law looked up, his eyes burning with a raw, visceral hatred as he stared at Arthur. He looked as if he wanted to tear the man's flesh apart with his bare teeth. The hatred that should have been reserved for Doflamingo had been entirely transferred to Arthur.
"You Donquixote bastards, give me back my—uh, gah!"
Diez Barrels, followed by his son Drake and the rest of his crew, finally arrived on the scene. He had been mid-shout when he saw the nightmarish figure standing before him. The words died in his throat.
He rubbed his eyes, praying he was hallucinating.
Arthur the Thunder Emperor!
How could Barrels not recognize him? When he first obtained the Op-Op Fruit, his first thought had been to trade it to Arthur in exchange for a guaranteed sanctuary in the New World. But the rumors said the Thunder Emperor had been killed by the combined might of the Navy's highest powers...
"Thunder... Emperor..."
"Get lost."
Arthur's mood was interrupted by the pathetic shouting. His expression darkened, and a bolt of lightning flickered from his fingertip, striking Barrels dead center.
A foul stench of charred flesh wafted from Barrels' blackened, carbonized body. He dropped dead on the spot, never dreaming that he would be killed on Minion Island before he even set foot in the Grand Line.
"FATHER!!" Young Drake screamed in horror, throwing himself onto Barrels' corpse and weeping hysterically. He couldn't fathom that his father would die like this.
"Another future Supernova? This is... too perfect!" Arthur narrowed his eyes, looking down at the grieving Drake from his lofty height.
"Exposing the secret of the Op-Op Fruit without the strength to back it up, and then trying to broker a deal through the underworld... that is a fool's path to the grave."
"As a defected Marine officer, to expect the World Government to actually pay out five billion Berries? That's just asking for death."
"I merely accelerated the inevitable... Do you want revenge? Then come find me in the New World!"
Hatred is the ultimate catalyst for power. A man driven by vengeance will do anything and everything to claw his way to strength.
Of the "Old Era," only Whitebeard remained. No matter how powerful Edward Newgate was, the day would come when there was no ship left capable of carrying him. His obsolescence was a matter of destiny.
In the "New Era," the most powerful figures were now emerging: Shanks, Mihawk, Kuma, Doflamingo, Moria, Mad Treasure, Gild Tesoro, Jinbe, and the rest. Some had already built their own empires; others had been defeated and vanished; some had become Warlords or joined the Revolutionary Army.
But it was undeniable that among them, beings capable of standing toe-to-toe with Arthur were being born.
For a man like Arthur, the world would never be boring. Pirates and Marines with transcendent talent were surfacing one after another.
After the Great Pirate Era, the "Era of Four Emperors and the Lone Sovereign" had reached its peak. And when that era eventually reached its end, a new generation of young pirates would surely tear open the curtain of a new age.
Those people, like the pirates of today, would set their sights on the absolute summit.
Arthur was destined to stride across multiple eras, witnessing the glory of the pirate age firsthand. He would watch the rise and fall of every legend. After this current era, talented youths like Drake would accumulate enough power through their hatred...
And that generation would be Arthur's greatest reward.
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"You make a fair point, you bastard! The World Government certainly wouldn't pay a single Berry to a pirate in a trade!"
"When we see a pirate, our only job is to beat him to death!!"
The Navy's signature dog-headed warship successfully docked. Garp, Vice Admiral Tsuru, and a large contingent of Marines scrambled ashore, trudging through the snow toward the ruins.
CLICK—!
Dozens of Marines moved with perfect synchronization. Under the command of Tsuru's adjutant—Aurora, the daughter of a mafia godfather whom Arthur had once saved—their rifles were aimed directly at Arthur's head.
Even a man as broad-minded as Garp saw his face turn a livid shade of green upon seeing Arthur. The deaths of Commander-in-Chief Kong and Admiral Kizaru, combined with a decade of accumulated grievances, were not things that could be easily forgiven.
Now, seeing Sengoku's foster son lying there, seemingly killed without mercy, the fury simmering in Garp's chest finally boiled over.
"Old man Garp... if it's just you alone, then I'm afraid I have some bad news for you." Arthur's expression became as cold and biting as the freezing wind.
"Today, you die here!!"
"Tsuru, get the men out of here. Now!" Garp barked, his eyes locked on Arthur. Heat began to radiate from his body, melting the surrounding snow into slush.
His skin took on a dark, metallic sheen, and his muscles expanded as if being pumped with air. In the blink of an eye, he transformed into a towering titan. Through the cracks in his limbs and torso, a glowing, lava-like crimson fluid pulsed and flowed.
The Titan Form!
"Old man Garp, I was just thinking about something," Arthur said. "I was wondering how to make your son and your grandson hate me to their very core, so they would use that hatred to grow strong enough to challenge me... I think I've figured it out."
"There are many ways to make them loathe me, but the simplest and most effective..."
"Is to beat you to death right here!!"
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