'Amatsuki… Toki?'
Bazel's mouth fell slightly agape, his eyes wide with shock.
'Wait, I remembered this woman…'
'Isn't she the mother of Momonosuke and Hiyori?!'
'No no no!'
'If I calculate based on the current situation, it seems that Toki has not yet met that big fool, Kozuki Oden.
'Which meant…'
'I might, perhaps, possibly have a chance to intervene temporarily, pulling off a last-minute interception?'
Bazel stroked his chin, lost in thought.
'If I could meet and get to know Toki before Oden did, did that mean the character, Kozuki Momonosuke, would never exist in the future?'
No matter how stupid he was, Bazel would never give his child a name like Momonosuke.
Meanwhile, Toki, seeing Bazel spaced out, thought he was frightened by the overwhelming number of opponents.
She hurriedly pulled out a Devil Fruit from the bag at her waist. It was deep purple with eight distinct sepals.
"Eat this quickly and then defeat the enemies! This fruit has immense power!"
'Devil Fruit?'
Interrupted from his thoughts, Bazel frowned slightly. Just as he was feeling puzzled, Toki's next words nearly made his jaw drop in astonishment.
"Twelve years ago, I accidentally arrived at a place called… Hachinosu."
"At that time, I met a woman named Kurozumi Higurashi. She seemed to be stealing something."
"I went over to try to stop her, but she directly tried to attack me!"
"My stamina hadn't recovered yet, so I could only snatch her backpack in the chaos. When I arrived in the future again, I discovered the backpack contained a Devil Fruit."
'Hey, hey, hey!!'
'This plot isn't right!'
'It's completely off!'
'12 years ago...'
'Hachinosu...'
'Kurozumi Higurashi...
'Isn't that Kurozumi Higurashi's past experience!?'
Bazel looked down at the Devil Fruit in his hand and immediately recognized it.
The Mythical Zoan Type of Hebi Hebi no Mi: Yamata no Orochi!
'Wasn't this the very Devil Fruit that Kurozumi Orochi had wasted?!'
'And the old woman who gave it to Kurozumi Orochi was none other than Kurozumi Higurashi, a former member of the Rocks Pirates and the previous user of the Mane Mane no Mi.'
'She could even transform into the likeness of members of the Rocks Pirates like Shiki and Bakkin!'
'Though, in the future, she was killed by Kaido for interfering in his fight with Oden!'
'Connecting all the clues…'
'Which meant, Amano Toki wasn't lying?'
'This Devil Fruit was truly that ultra-rare Mythical Zoan wasted by Kurozumi Orochi?!'
"Hurry up and eat it! My current stamina isn't enough to take you with me to the future to escape!"
Watching the slavers closing in, the kind-hearted Toki grew increasingly anxious.
Bazel picked up the fruit and devoured it in a few bites.
"It really does taste like disgusting rags, ugh."
After dry heaving, Bazel felt his soul and body undergoing a transformation. A strange new power was rapidly awakening.
'It's here!'
"Roar…!!"
Suddenly, Bazel's originally 1.9-meter body rapidly grew and mutated.
Eight heads, eight tails, with clouds of what appeared to be foul, impure purple poison drifting around its body!
In just a few seconds, a Yamata no Orochi over fifty meters tall appeared at the edge of the beach.
Seated atop the central snake head was a beautiful woman wearing a pink short kimono.
"Whew!!"
Toki hurriedly pressed down on her fluttering kimono top with one hand, while the other tightly gripped a protruding scale.
"Wow, such a big head!"
Bazel opened his snake eyes, a contemplative glint flashing within them.
The other seven heads, which had been ravaging the beach moments before, instantly fell silent.
The eight snake heads slowly rose, looking down upon the slavers who had collapsed on the ground not far away.
"T-this… sir, we were just passing by, ha, haha!"
"That's right, sir! We were just passing through, saw this lady was lost, and wanted to help her!"
"We'll leave right away!"
Just as the slavers tried to flee, one of the heads suddenly opened its maw.
Poison Mist!
A purple, mist-like breath shot out from the snake's mouth, catching up to the enemies who dared turn their backs on him within a few breaths.
"Ugh!!"
"I-I was wrong, I'm sorry, please spare me, cough, cough…"
There was no pity in Bazel's snake eyes.
In any world, slavers were absolutely among those who deserved to die!
With a thought, the snake head immediately to the left of the main one opened its mouth.
Poison Flame!
Grey-purple flames spewed out, engulfing the slavers in roaring flames amidst their screams.
But it wasn't over!
Yamata no Orochi was a legendary monster!
In Bazel's memory, the abilities it possesses weren't limited to just poison and fire.
The Yamata no Orochi was a great youkai that brought disaster and calamity.
Orochi, however, could only utilize abilities like biting, constricting, and his eight lives. Using the term 'wasting a treasure' would be praising that idiot.
Gazing at the deceased slavers, the snake head that had spewed the poison mist opened its maw wide.
Pale gray mist drifted from its mouth, covering the corpses.
!!!
"Naraku's Poison..."
The pale gray mist did not further destroy the remains. Instead, it seeped into the bones and bodies of the corpses.
Squeak--!!
Squeak-!
Watching the first corpse twitch and stand up, Bazel's heart surged with wild joy.
His guess was correct!
The development of Devil Fruit powers wasn't singular or fixed… the user's own imagination and knowledge were immensely powerful aids!
In Orochi's eyes, this fruit might have been the best Devil Fruit for saving his own life!
But in Bazel's view, this fruit was a calamity-class Devil Fruit!
Although the undead revived by the Naraku's Poison were all small fry, small fry were only needed to deal with other small fry.
The enemy's aces would be dealt with by him personally.
"Sinners, Arise. Atone for the mistakes you made in life."
As the murmur rang out, one corpse after another, killed by the poison, stood back up, picked up their weapons, and slowly knelt before the Yamata no Orochi.
"Hey, you guys!"
Suddenly, an angry shout came from the woods further away.
"We're setting sail soon, what are you dawdling for!?"
"Huh? This giant snake… did it mutate?"
The octopus fish-man, Karma, drew his six swords, alert.
"The New World is truly terrifying! Even Sea Kings can come ashore now?!"
"Men, slaughter this thing and eat its meat!"
"Oh!!!"
Watching the pirates charge at him in a frenzy, Bazel didn't panic in the slightest.
"Kill them, Atoners."
When the words came out from the great snake's mouth, the leader, Karma, paled drastically.
"Wait! You're a Devil Fruit User!?"
It was only then that Karma clearly saw the figures who had been kneeling on one knee and now stood back up.
Decaying bodies, putrid features, but they were unmistakably his crewmates!
At least, they used to be.
Roar!!
A meaningless roar erupted from the mouths of the atoners.
The pirates had never seen such a scene.
'Fighting the Marines or Sea Kings was one thing, but now we had to battle corpses?'
'And those rotten things… were they even poisonous?'
As their thoughts raced, the pirates trembled and began to back away.
"Captain Karma, let's retreat! How can we possibly win against corpses!?"
"That's right, Captain Karma. These things are corpses! Corpses definitely don't have treasure, and even if we caught them, they probably wouldn't sell for a good price!"
But before Karma could issue the order to retreat, the poison mist and poison flame shot out, arriving first.
They swept up the atoners, carrying them along as they charged the enemy.
Yamata no Orochi's body rapidly shrank, but the residual onslaught had already completely crushed the enemy.
"Disaster always follows close behind…"
Bazel, who had returned to his original form, reached out and caught the girl falling from the sky, who was screaming incessantly.
"Please allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Bazel. Would you care to join me for lunch, fair lady?"
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