"As expected, no more Devil Fruit powers…"
On the sea's surface…
A woman with mid-length orange-pink hair stood with her hands behind her back, facing a dripping wet figure in front of her.
Any strong figure from the New World would recognize him at a glance. This soaked man was Rocks D. Xebec, who had died in the God Valley just days ago. Yet here he was, standing on the ocean itself, face-to-face with the woman.
The woman had ripple-like eyes, like circles spreading on water. She was none other than the Control Devil, Makima, whom Genichi had recently drawn. Truly, with that ability, anyone could appear—regardless of gender or race.
The last one had been a monster, this one was a devil.
But devils were not the same as the fiends they possessed. They themselves had no real gender. They were simply the embodiment of something humans feared. The fear called "control" had taken shape as Makima, and now she had appeared in the pirate world.
It was a strange feeling. Once she appeared here, she was naturally bound by this world's laws. As the Control Devil, Makima could accept the fear of "control" that existed in this world. And in this world, people's fear of being controlled was extremely strong.
Especially because…
This was not a civilized world!
Or rather, the parts that looked civilized and shining were really propped up by endless darkness, built on the rule of slaves. Most of those enslaved lived in deep resentment and fear of "control," and that fear turned into power for Makima to absorb.
That power in the One Piece world seemed to take the form of a special kind of Haki. It resembled Conqueror's Haki, and it gave Makima's control a way to be measured on this world's scale.
In other words, she could turn the fear of "control" in this world into a kind of Conqueror's Haki of her own. If an enemy's Haki could not resist her Conqueror's Haki, they would be brought under her control.
That meant her enemy had to fight against the fear of control carried by countless people in this world. If they could overcome that fear, they would be free. If not, they would be bound to her will.
Of course, she wasn't capable of that just yet. This kind of fear-born Haki wasn't hers instantly—it would take time to absorb.
Besides direct control, she also had other powers. For example, through a ritual like a curse, she could link two people's lives together and kill someone from afar. But this required knowing the target's name and having Haki that surpassed theirs.
And beyond that, there was her ability to control the dead…
She looked at the figure of Rocks standing before her. After controlling the sea creatures in this area, they easily found his sunken corpse. But her tone carried disappointment as she spoke.
"After all, he's not a devil. All I can control is the body. Unlike devils or fiends, he doesn't keep his own special abilities."
That meant Rocks was now just a puppet. He could still carry out tasks Makima ordered, but he had no awareness of his own.
And without the Dark-Dark Fruit, even if she bound him with chains, all he could really use was his Haki.
"And without the Dark-Dark Fruit, plus without his own will to fight, his strength will fall off a lot, won't it?"
Rocks' original power had been among the highest in the world. Even toward the end, Kaido had counted Rocks, Whitebeard, and Roger among the top forces on earth. But now, first stripped of his Devil Fruit, and then of his consciousness, his strength had dropped sharply.
With a single thought from her, a surge of power burst out from Rocks' body. Birds in the sky and fish in the sea all fainted in that instant. It was Conqueror's Haki!
"So even after being taken over, his Haki still remains… even Conqueror's Haki," Makima murmured to herself. Rocks was now the only strong puppet in her hands, so of course she would make him stronger. That actually wasn't hard to do.
All she needed was for Rocks to eat another Devil Fruit. Even if that didn't bring him back to the peak of his prime, it would still be enough to make him a ruler again. His face also needed to change—after all, Rocks was already dead. The world didn't need another "Rocks" showing up.
Even if Rocks were truly revived, his old crew—like Whitebeard and Shiki—wouldn't return to his ship and follow his orders.
He had already lost. And on Rocks' ship, losers were nothing but weaklings. The reason he was able to gather people around him in the past was because he had never been defeated. Now that he had fallen so badly, that old authority was gone.
"Go to Skypiea."
Makima spoke to Rocks. "Eat the Rumble-Rumble Fruit on Skypiea. Gain the power of thunder. Then throw away the name 'Rocks' and become the God of Thunder."
The moment her words fell, Rocks—or rather, the new God of Thunder—vanished from the sea, heading toward Skypiea to hunt for the fruit.
At this point in time, the Logia fruit should still be quietly waiting there for Enel to find it.
But in this world, Enel no longer existed. That fruit, once hyped up before Genichi crossed into this world, was something he wouldn't let slip away, especially when its location was certain.
Of course, from what he knew, the fruit wasn't as overpowered as it had been hyped. Its attack power was probably below the Magma Fruit, its speed below the Light Fruit, and its control below the Ice Fruit. But what made it strong was its balance—it wasn't the best in any one area, yet it surpassed in others by being well-rounded.
After all, Enel, if not for being countered by Luffy, was easily a five-hundred-million-level pirate. That wasn't weak at all. Ace and Chinjao only had a five-hundred-million bounty themselves. Above that were the top commanders of the Yonko.
But if Rocks ate the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, his strength would be far beyond Enel's. Haki amplified Devil Fruit powers, and Rocks' Haki was leagues above Enel's. With that fruit, reaching Yonko level again wouldn't be a problem.
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