Huff—
"EX—!"
"CALIBURRRR—!!
What do you do when all else fails?
Naturally—fire the goddamn Cannon!
A golden beam of light thundered down from the sky.
BOOMMMM—!
In a single instant—
The colossal stone beast vanished without a trace. Not even rubble remained.
It wasn't "destroyed"… it was completely erased.
"Haaaah…"
Arthur let out a deep, heavy breath. His face was pale, and he murmured:
"Even with 30% of the Red Dragon's bloodline… I still can't handle it. It's just too exhausting."
But…
He narrowed his eyes and gazed across the battlefield.
Truthfully, Excalibur was terrifying. But if an opponent kept their wits about them, dodging it wasn't impossible. Unless—
Unless Arthur had such vast magical power that he could fire blast after blast with no cooldown.
If that day ever came…
Even the strongest in the world wouldn't be able to survive.
Moreover—
To prevent Rubin from escaping, Arthur had already used Wind King's Sword to slice off the stone giant's legs, cutting off any chance of remerging with the earth.
Because if Rubin had managed to do that… he'd have been practically unkillable.
The Stone-Stone Fruit…
The Earth-Earth Fruit…
Both of these Devil Fruits were utterly ridiculous when it came to survivability.
With Rubin finished, Arthur turned his eyes toward a location nearby.
Though most of the palace had been fused into Rubin's giant beast, this had inadvertently exposed something important underneath—
The Royal Treasury.
Now fully visible before Arthur.
As he walked toward the treasure vault, chaos had already consumed the Ferguson Empire.
Sure, they had a large military. But fighting against members of the Rocks Pirates?
That was nearly impossible.
Unless their forces were incredibly elite and in massive numbers, sheer headcount wasn't enough to take down monsters.
Let's put it this way: against someone like Ochoku, Captain John, or Silver Axe, you could maybe grind them down with thirty to fifty thousand elite troops.
But when it came to Arthur, Kaido, or even stronger monsters like Edward, Shiki, or Linlin?
Forget it. Devil Fruits made them walking disasters. Whittling them down through attrition? Not happening.
Creak…
Arthur pushed open the treasure vault's door. It resembled a deep underground storeroom.
As he stepped into the first level, his eyes gleamed.
"As expected… these affiliated nations really are loaded."
Piles upon piles of glittering gold and silver were neatly stacked in crates. The kind of legendary wealth one only heard about.
Arthur casually glanced through it—
Then moved on.
He wasn't particularly interested in plain treasure.
On the second level, he found rare gems and artifacts. But on the third level…
Arthur froze.
"Empty."
His expression darkened. He wasn't an idiot—
This floor was clearly designed to house Devil Fruits.
And yet, it was completely barren.
"HEHEHE…"
A sinister laugh echoed through the vault.
A thin, pale man stepped out from the shadows, eyes crazed.
"Arthur Pendragon… I've heard of you."
"You came for the Devil Fruits, right? Too bad! There's not a single one left. I destroyed them all!"
This man was the prince of the Ferguson Empire. And he looked utterly unhinged.
The Devil Fruits once stored here? Gone—
Either consumed or destroyed, just to deny them to Arthur.
"Sigh…"
Arthur shook his head.
"Seems your father didn't tell you the full story."
Saying this, he lifted a hand—
Tearrrch!
He ripped open the wall next to him.
Behind it, hidden in a secret compartment, was an entirely separate hoard:
Precious crafting materials, rare artifacts—
And eight Devil Fruits, gleaming with power.
Not many in number, but the quality was unmistakably superior.
For a brief moment, Arthur had indeed been filled with rage.
But thanks to his Observation Haki, he'd noticed the hidden space behind the wall and had quickly calmed himself.
"You…"
Shff!
Arthur cut the prince down without another word.
There was no need to waste time talking.
He turned back to the treasure.
Time to start collecting.
Very soon—The entire treasury was emptied.
Not a single coin remained.
...
"Hauling this treasure out of here?"
"Nearly impossible."
"But…"
Arthur narrowed his eyes toward the horizon.
There—just beyond the empire's border—was a nearby island, one that had long served as a warzone between Ferguson and its enemies.
The perfect staging ground.
Its proximity was why this entire assault had gone so smoothly.
Arthur did a quick mental calculation.
At his current speed, a round trip would take…
Ten minutes. Maybe less.
"Alright."
Nodding to himself, Arthur took off at full speed. One hand gripping something invisible—
To any outsider, it looked like he was holding nothing at all.
Step! Step!
A golden streak flashed through the air, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
Arthur moved fast.
Time is money.
And that wasn't just a saying—it was strategy. He had to wrap this up fast. Reinforcements were on the way.
Shhhh—!!!
Arthur's figure vanished toward the distance.
-------------------///
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