One Piece: Rayquaza of the Beasts Pirates

Kane crouched down, looking directly at the disheveled Umit, his smile calm.

Umit naturally had no objection to this.

He forced a submissive expression and nodded vigorously.

If he weren't so weak right now, he would have wholeheartedly agreed.

Seeing that Umit was so "enlightened," Kane nodded in satisfaction.

"Very good. Don't worry, as long as you don't do anything underhanded, I won't touch your heart. Think of it this way: with your heart here, your enemies will never be able to attack this vital spot, right?"

Oh……

I'd rather my heart stay safely inside my chest cavity and be attacked.

Umit was roaring inwardly, but dared not show it on his face, and could only force a smile that was uglier than crying.

Kane ignored his inner thoughts, stood up, and turned serious: "Listen, our cooperation will not be open about."

"Once you return, pay the Beasts Pirates the 2 billion Berries and three Devil Fruits as you promised, as 'ransom.' This will be the price I paid for letting you go."

“Understood,” Umit replied, panting.

"Okay, once you get back, on the surface everything will remain the same, and you can continue to run your logistics empire as usual. But I have a long-term mission for you."

Kane looked him straight in the eye and said, word by word, "Use all your connections and resources to help me find a Devil Fruit. Its name is—the Dark-Dark Fruit!"

This was his ultimate purpose in sparing Umit's life and going through all this trouble.

"Dark Fruit? I'll remember that. I'll use all available resources to start searching for it as soon as I get back."

Umit agreed after a moment's thought.

He didn't take it seriously, assuming that Kane was only interested in the Dark-Dark Fruit's power.

To those unaware of the inside story, the Dark-Dark Fruit, known as the most vicious fruit, is undoubtedly a double-edged sword.

Its powerful capabilities come with significant drawbacks.

It cannot be elementalized; if attacked, the pain will be doubled.

Kane recognized this, which is why he entrusted the task of searching for the Dark-Dark Fruit to Umit.

His only concern was whether the Dark-Dark Fruit, like the Gum-Gum Fruit, was some kind of Mythical Zoan that had not yet awakened.

Given its inability to be elementalized, this possibility is not entirely out of the question.

But if that were the case, the Dark-Dark Fruit might consciously avoid him and only want to be found by Teach.

Kane didn't have a good solution to this either.

The only option is to capture Teach within three years and force him to eat other trashy fruits.

In short, he would never let the Dark-Dark Fruit fall into Teach's hands.

Blackbeard should just be a good son to Whitebeard.

Who knows, maybe in the future, they might even be able to take over the Whitebeard Pirates.

After seeing off the distraught Umit, whose life and career were at least temporarily saved, Kane stretched.

The trivial matters have come to a temporary end.

It's time to go and cultivate myself.

He had a premonition that he was getting closer and closer to breaking through to the next stage.

Time is like a wild donkey; once it starts running, it can't stop.

In the blink of an eye, a year has passed.

The Beasts Pirates have grown rapidly over the past year.

In terms of population, more and more mermaids and fish-men are choosing to settle in the inland sea of ​​Wano Country, adding new vitality to the country.

In terms of trade, Den Den Mushi, bearing the logo of the beasts, have been aggressively expanding their territory in the New World and even wider seas thanks to their affordable prices.

Although it hasn't yet reached Kane's ideal level of widespread adoption, with each household owning one, on average, it's already possible to have one in every household.

But to Kane, these scenes of prosperity were merely icing on the cake.

In this cruel world where the strong prey on the weak, the most important and fundamental thing is always absolute strength.

Ghost Island, inside Kane's private residence.

At this moment, Kane was holding a meteorite that was larger than himself and was eating it in big bites, as if he were gnawing on bread.

The hard meteorite made a teeth-grinding grinding sound between his teeth, and fragments of the meteorite kept falling.

Suddenly, he paused and let out a satisfied burp.

It wasn't physical satiety, but a sense of fullness that originated from the depths of the spirit and had accumulated to a critical point.

"Finally... has this day finally come?"

Kane casually tossed aside the meteorite that had been partially chewed up.

His lips curled into an uncontrollable smile.

How could he not be happy?

He had been diligently eating stones day after day for a year, and this was the moment he had been waiting for!

"However, it seems... we're still missing that final push."

Kane clenched his fist, trying to unleash the burgeoning new power within him, but felt as if there was an invisible membrane between them, and failed to activate it.

"Sure enough, mere accumulation is not enough; a powerful enough opportunity is needed to break through the bottleneck."

His gaze shifted, landing on the main hall of Ghost Island.

The main hall of Ghost Island was brightly lit.

As usual, Kaido held a huge gourd of sake in one hand and watched the dancers below with hazy, drunken eyes.

Suddenly, his eyes narrowed.

"Kane, are you here to drink with me?"

He was hiccuping, his eyes glazed over with drunkenness.

Kane smiled slightly: "Mr. Kaido, it's time. Let's have a battle to decide the fate of all the beasts."

"Giggle giggle!"

Kaido burst into deafening laughter, the drunkenness in his eyes vanishing instantly, replaced by a frenzied fighting spirit and elation:

"I've been looking forward to this day for a long time!"

"Do you need to sober up and recover first? I can wait." Kane seemed very understanding.

"Hmph! No need!"

Kaido snorted coldly, his massive body radiating an astonishing sense of oppression: "I'm always in peak fighting condition."

Soon, news of the impending final battle between the two swept across the entire Oni Island like a storm.

"What?! Brother Kane is going to duel with Boss Kaido?!"

The members of the Beasts Pirates were all incredulous when they heard the news.

But soon, they were filled with a strong desire to watch the game.

This is a battle between four emperors.

This is a sight that only comes around once in many years!

If they miss this opportunity, they will regret it for the rest of their lives!

Without any hesitation, the pirates immediately organized themselves and, in groups, with immense excitement and awe, surged toward the battlefield the two had agreed upon.

An unnamed deserted island next to Wano Country.

This barren land, where even seabirds rarely linger, is now teeming with people on its edge, with dozens of ships flying flags of various animals crowding the area.

Almost all the pirates on Onigashima came out in droves, just to witness this epic battle that would determine the future.

The pirates on the ship pushed and shoved each other, shouting and even punching each other, vying for a better vantage point to watch the battle, but none of them dared to set foot on the seemingly empty island.

Everyone knows that this land now belongs only to those two main characters.

"As expected of Brother Kane, he actually made it this far." Page Van held up his binoculars, his tone full of admiration.

"Is Kane finally going to usurp the throne? Let's start a fight!" Runti was eager to stir up trouble.

Jack crossed his arms, his expression conflicted. To him, both men had reasons to support him.

Queen, along with his fans, cheered for Kaido with all their might.

Jin stood at the bow of the ship without saying a word, but a trace of solemnity could not be hidden on his usually calm face.

The atmosphere was equally tense aboard the Liekong.

Hiyori, Violet, Robin, and the others all looked worried.

Despite their absolute confidence in Kane, their opponent was none other than Kaido, who was hailed as the "strongest creature in the world"!

Yamato, however, was full of confidence: "Don't worry, Kane will definitely teach my dad a lesson!"

Bonnie looked up at Yamato, her little face full of worry. She tugged at the big bear's clothes and whispered, "Daddy, will all daughters treat their fathers like this when they grow up? Will I... be like that too?"

Da Xiong sighed and rubbed his forehead: "Yamato is a special case."

Looking across the entire ocean, you can hardly find many fathers and daughters like this.

Enel crossed his arms, unleashing his full Observation Haki, and locked onto the two powerful auras in the center of the island.

Is it the strongest in the world?

"Unfortunately, I am not yet able to participate in such battles."

Zoro gripped his sword tightly, his gaze fixed intently on the deserted island, his tone tinged with a mixture of resentment and longing.

"Don't worry, we'll have our day eventually." Ace adjusted his hat, his smile still bright, but the same flame burned in his eyes.

"here we go!"

Violet, who had been watching the battlefield closely, exclaimed in surprise.