(T/N: Chapter number 216 does not exist)
Looking at Zephyr, who was lost in grief, Kaito let out a sigh and spoke softly.
"Zephyr-sensei, over the past few days, I found a Devil Fruit."
Zephyr's hand froze as it gently caressed the coffin. His voice trembled as he asked,
"What is the name of this Fruit?"
"The Yomi Yomi no Mi."
Just hearing the name sent a violent tremor through Zephyr's entire body. He didn't know much about this fruit, but the word Yomi carried heavy implications. And coupled with Kaito's recent actions…
(T/N: Said term is derived from yomi, which refers to the Japanese underworld)
A thought so terrifying that he had never dared imagine it suddenly exploded in his mind.
He stiffly turned his head and, with dry lips, asked hoarsely,
"What does it do?"
Kaito didn't answer right away. He simply raised a hand, and from his palm, a chilling, bone-deep cold began to rise—the aura of the underworld.
That deathly aura drifted toward Zephyr. Even as a Mythical Zoan user, he couldn't help but shiver.
Kaito clenched his hand, dispersing the aura with a snap. His voice dropped low.
"It gives me power connected to the underworld. It makes me... the Revive Man."
The Yomi Yomi no Mi, due to its unique nature, has appeared only a handful of times throughout the entire history of One Piece. And among those rare instances, no one has ever truly awakened it.
(Not sure if Brook was the original user or not)
Now, for the first time in this world, the Yomi Yomi no Mi had awakened!
In Kaito's eyes, the eleven tomoe swelled and began spinning rapidly along the Rinnegan's circular patterns. A terrifying aura began to form within them.
Zephyr stared in a daze.
This was the first time he had seen Kaito awaken a Devil Fruit using his ocular power. Even a trace of this energy was enough to shake a man to his core.
A surge of Yomi's icy aura erupted from Kaito's body, freezing the surrounding area in an instant.
Zephyr felt himself reaching his limit under this chill.
Without hesitation, he pushed the power of the Ox Demon King Fruit to its peak, entering his hybrid beast form.
Even that wasn't enough—he coated his body in a dense layer of Armament Haki just to barely resist the assault of Yomi's cold.
And yet, even then, both of his horns were covered in sharp, frozen spikes.
Hot steam burst from Zephyr's nostrils as he glared at Kaito in disbelief.
He had seen ice-based Devil Fruits before—Kuzan, for instance, one of his most prized students, wielded the Logia Ice-Ice Fruit.
He knew the power of that Fruit inside and out. It could go toe-to-toe with Akainu's top-tier magma-based Logia, the Magma-Magma Fruit.
There was also the Snow-Snow Fruit, another ice-related Devil Fruit in the Logia class. But in terms of pure freezing power, it couldn't compare to the Ice-Ice Fruit.
And yet, the cold Kaito was giving off now—this Yomi Aura—felt even stronger than Kuzan's!
Zephyr had sparred with Kuzan before. The chill Kuzan produced, while formidable, was never this overwhelming. It never left him this defenseless.
What Zephyr didn't know was that the chilling aura of Yomi was merely a side effect of the Yomi Yomi no Mi.
Its true power had yet to reveal itself.
The spinning tomoe in Kaito's Rinnegan finally came to a stop. Only a single tomoe remained glowing faintly in his left eye.
At that moment—the Yomi Yomi no Mi fully awakened.
The scattered Yomi aura rushed toward Kaito's left eye like rivers returning to the sea, disappearing in an instant.
...
The frozen land melted instantly, as if nothing had ever happened.
But both Zephyr and Kaito knew—what had just occurred was no dream.
Kaito opened his mouth slightly, and a stream of cold breath escaped, crystallizing into tiny ice flakes in the air.
Zephyr reverted from his beast form. He walked over to Kaito and stared into his Rinnegan.
"No matter how many times I see those eyes… I can't believe something like them exists in this world."
Hearing Zephyr's comment about his Rinnegan, Kaito couldn't help but shake his head and chuckle.
It was true—the Rinnegan didn't belong to the One Piece world. Zephyr was right on that.
Of course, that wasn't something Kaito was going to admit out loud. It was his greatest secret.
Zephyr finally looked away from the Rinnegan. The newly awakened Yomi-infused eye carried a chill that reached straight to the soul. If he kept staring, he feared something bad might happen.
Thinking back to the Yomi aura that had suddenly erupted from Kaito—how uncontrollable it looked—Zephyr couldn't help but ask,
"Kaito, what just happened back there? It looked like you lost control of your power."
Kaito shook his head and explained,
"Not at all. I was just in the process of awakening the Yomi Yomi no Mi. It's fully awakened now."
"Nani!?"
A successful Devil Fruit awakening!?
Zephyr felt like his entire worldview was crumbling again.
Everyone knows that developing a Devil Fruit is already difficult—but awakening it?
Only those with incredible talent, plus perfect compatibility with their Fruit, can achieve that. Miss one, and it's impossible.
Zephyr himself had a strong foundation and perfect compatibility with the Ox Demon King Fruit. Yet even now, "awakening" still seemed like a distant dream.
And he had Sengoku—an actual case study—as a reference!
But Kaito?
He just said he got the Yomi Yomi no Mi a few days ago... and now he's already awakened it!?
Anyone hearing this would go mad with jealousy!
Even Zephyr, as the mentor, couldn't help but scream internally:
"Heavens above! Could you be any more biased!?"
Zephyr's face twisted with emotion. He glanced again at the eleven tomoe spinning in Kaito's Rinnegan and asked,
"So that means… you've already awakened eleven Devil Fruits?"
"No. There are a few I don't really need right now, so I haven't awakened them yet."
"..."
A few?
"Don't really need them right now, so I didn't awaken them."
Is this even human speech!?
If Zephyr were from Earth, he would've used one perfect phrase to describe Kaito:
"Absolute humblebrag."
Unfortunately, he wasn't. So he was just at a complete loss for words.
Zephyr once again fell into a deep, existential self-doubt.
Kaito glanced helplessly at the drooping Zephyr and said,
"Zephyr-sensei, did you forget? The coffins, they're still outside."
As soon as he heard that, Zephyr spun around and rushed over to the two coffins. He carefully inspected them and only relaxed once he was sure they hadn't been damaged by the Yomi cold.
Kaito walked over as well. He bowed solemnly toward the coffins, then turned to Zephyr and said softly,
"Zephyr-sensei... open them. Let me bring this tragedy to an end."
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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