Chapter 857: Don't Let It Increase Any Further
Chapter 857: Don’t Let It Increase Any Further
“Achoo!”
A sudden sneeze echoed through the Golden Ship sailing the Grand Line. Kuro, lounging in his office chair, glanced at Klah standing nearby. “Did that crocodile leave already?”
They’d just departed from a small island. Crocodile and Mr.1 had already split off from the group, with Buggy and his crew retreating as well. The other two Seven Warlords of the Sea had disappeared much earlier.
Boa Hancock had her own ship and left immediately after the battle. Dracule Mihawk, however, had only a tiny wooden raft, though he’d brought along a ghost girl who seemed to do nothing but eat. The latter had left quickly, but the lingering, meaningful glance he gave Kuro left a strange unease.
“Uh-oh, I think I’ve been exposed!” Kuro smacked his palm against his forehead, inhaling sharply as pain shot through his plaster-cast-covered left hand.
Earlier, during his heated clash with Bartholomew, he’d completely forgotten to hide his strength. That hawk-eyed stare—Mihawk definitely wanted a duel now!
Thankfully, the Seven Warlords system hadn’t been abolished yet. Otherwise, once Mihawk recovered, he’d storm straight to G-3, and Kuro had no desire to face that nightmare.
“Stay calm, stay calm, Kuro!”
Kuro muttered to himself, clenching his teeth. “No more of this madness! I need to stabilize, stay composed. The world’s too wonderful to let my temper ruin it!”
“Kuro!”
The door slammed open as Lida burst in. Without a word, she leaped forward, her palm slamming straight into Kuro’s forehead.
“Essence Feedback!”
Bang!
Kuro’s chair tipped backward from the force. Baring his teeth, he glared up at her. “What the heck was that for?!”
“Treating you, obviously!” Lida replied. “I absorbed energy from those Vice Admirals and fed it back to you.”
Kuro grimaced. “Alright, alright, I get it. But stop already. If you keep this up, I’ll be fine, but the entire crew’ll end up hospitalized.”
He couldn’t shake the feeling that everyone aboard, aside from Klah, was just a walking charging station for him. Lida kept barging in every few days, slapping him with another “Essence Feedback.”
But it barely helped. Her ability wasn’t genuine healing—just a pseudo-healing effect. She could mend flesh wounds, sure, but deeper injuries remained untouched.
His current injuries truly required rest and proper recovery. Yet he couldn’t tell Lida that her ability was practically useless. That’d crush her morale.
“You’re probably hungry. Go grab a snack,” Kuro suggested.
“Oh, now that you mention it, I am kinda starving.”
Lida hopped off the table and settled onto the sofa, rummaging through her tiny shoulder bag.
Kuro shook his head before turning to Klah. “When do we reach Red Port?”
“Half a day from now.” Klah adjusted his glasses.
“What about the fortress repairs?”
“Almost done. Final touches are being made.”
“And the casualties?”
“All accounted for. The funerals will be held once we return.”
Kuro nodded, then turned toward a display cabinet. With a flick of his wrist, a transparent compartment flew toward him. Inside sat a deep-blue Devil Fruit, its surface covered in uneven, nodular protrusions like a metal tumor.
He placed the compartment on the table. This was the Conjoin Devil Fruit—Lida had accidentally dropped it from her bag after Bartholomew’s battle. Its ability let the user fuse with any inanimate object, transforming their body into a weapon. Before Awakening, the power was limited to small-scale combinations. But after Awakening? Just like Bartholomew, the fusion range became limitless—air itself wasn’t even safe.
Finding it in Lida’s bag wasn’t a coincidence. Better it stayed in his hands. A Devil Fruit like this loose on the Grand Line would be a nightmare. Keeping it meant one less threat to the world.
Plus, this fruit countered his own abilities. Best to keep it close.
He stared at the fruit, sighing. “You wanted to become the world’s strongest, right? Why chase me? Go fight the Four Emperors. Defeat them, and the title’s yours.”
But Kuro knew better. Both Bartholomew and himself still had gaps to bridge before rivaling the Emperors or Admirals. He’d fought Kaido and Big Mom before, barely scraping by with his full strength. The two had barely broken a sweat.
And that was before acquiring the Yokai Blade. Even now, he wasn’t certain he could win.
Bartholew had already fused Conqueror’s Haki Encasement with his ability, creating a new form. Kuro didn’t doubt the Four Emperors—or even the Admirals—had similar tricks. Gramps, the Fleet Admiral, had barely used his full strength in his few major battles. His true power? A mystery.
Logia types were always a 50-50 gamble. In the Paradise, they crushed opponents without Haki. Even in the New World, with just Observation Haki, you could at least force a stalemate. Kuro envied their lazy advantage.
After returning the Devil Fruit to the cabinet, he opened a drawer and pulled out a broken pair of headphones.
Bartholomew’s.
“I’ll be back,” Kuro muttered, opening the window and soaring upward, piercing through the cloud layer. He ascended until the sky darkened, revealing a massive continent sprawled above, its shadow swallowing all below.
A hole in the continent let him rise to its center. There lay a mechanical prosthetic arm, a parasol, and two double broadswords.
Kuro placed the headphones beside the parasol and blades, sighing. “Don’t let it increase any further. I’ve got enough headaches already.”
Three old men and a single adult. All relics of the Old Era.
Was he really just the nemesis of the Old Era, as the newspapers claimed? Couldn’t there be one young challenger for once?
Placing the headphones down, he lit a cigar from his case, sticking one into each socket. With a snap of his fingers, a floating pile of debris—ship wreckage, trees, houses, weapons, all fused into a giant ball—drifted toward him.
“Why is this thing so freaking durable?” he muttered, eyeing the intact ship rudders scattered across the ball’s surface. With another snap, the ball split open, revealing a glowing golden orb—the treasure he’d launched into the sky earlier.
The treasure scattered, revealing a small wooden box. It floated to his hand, opening to reveal a Log Pose inside. The landmark engraved on it?
Laugh Tale.
(End of Chapter)
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