Magatama Rinnegan (Youth Edition)

"Hmm?"

Suddenly, Senga, who had been activating his ability, stopped the Preta Path's absorption. He realized it wasn't achieving the effect he'd anticipated.

Yes, Senga had assumed that the Preta Path of the Rinnegan could absorb chakra in Naruto, and chakra was essentially energy—translated to the Pirate World, that meant Haki and the energy within the body.

But Senga wasn't satisfied with that. He figured Devil Fruit abilities also required physical stamina to sustain, so why hadn't he sensed that special kind of power during the absorption just now?

Could it be that the source of a Devil Fruit's ability wasn't actually in the body?

But if not the body, then where else could it be?

"Got it!" A flash of insight struck Senga's mind.

"Could it be the soul? That's right—aside from the flesh, all that's left is the soul!"

No sooner said than done. For targeting the soul, the Human Path of the Rinnegan was the obvious choice. Senga grabbed Brand, who had already lost the will to resist, and slammed his other hand onto Brand's head, then lifted it as if pulling something out.

Brand, now able to move only his eyes, watched in terror as a humanoid purple Spirit Body was yanked from his head by Senga. His body trembled instinctively.

Sure enough, through the Rinnegan, Senga spotted a writhing mass of black energy in the heart region of Brand's soul body.

He immediately activated the Preta Path's ability. The black mass struggled, as if trying to flee, but it was utterly powerless against the Preta Path's overwhelming suction and was directly drawn into Senga's body.

As the ability entered him, Senga instantly felt a strange new energy surge within. It rushed toward his eyes, eventually forming a black Magatama on the pattern of his right eye.

Senga sensed the oddity in his eye and used a Water Style to create a small water screen in the air. Through it, he saw the extra Magatama that had appeared in his right eye.

"Isn't this Sasuke's Magatama Rinnegan? Even if it's just one Magatama." Senga was overjoyed. He hadn't expected that absorbing a Devil Fruit's power could evolve his Rinnegan so easily!

"Using Sasuke's eye as a reference, one Rinnegan can hold six Magatama. That means I have a pair of Rinnegan, capable of holding twelve Magatama—in other words, absorbing twelve Devil Fruits!" Senga was genuinely thrilled this time. Finding a way to evolve his Rinnegan meant he was one step closer to the level of the Sage of Six Paths.

He casually drew a line in the space before him, and a door materialized in front of Senga.

Senga looked at the spatial door with satisfaction and thought, "I didn't expect things to go this smoothly. That means I can do everything Blackbeard does—and do it better!"

This battle had yielded plenty. Senga stopped dwelling on it, came back to the present, and glanced at Brand in his hand.

With his soul extracted, Brand's eyes had rolled white. He had lost his life, dead beyond dead.

Like tossing away trash, Senga flung Brand's corpse aside. Brand followed the same fate as the small fry before him.

Smack! Another fresh, human-shaped meat patty splattered onto the ground. As for why it wasn't reduced to paste—come on, the guy was a pirate captain who had made it back from the Grand Line. A little extra body toughness was to be expected, right?

From the moment Brand struck to the moment he became a human-shaped meat patty, less than five minutes had passed. The pirates on the ground hadn't even snapped out of it before their captain had turned into what lay before them.

Slowly, a trembling voice rose from among the pirates.

"R-run!"

"Demon! He's a demon!"

"Why can he use the captain's ability?!"

"Who cares about that? If you want to avenge him, go ahead—I'm getting out of here!"

The pirates completely broke. They scattered in all directions, like headless flies.

"Tch, how ugly." Looking down at the rabble, Senga found it a real mood killer. He wondered what ability to use to clean them up.

"Well, I'll go with this one."

His eyes lit up as a move came to mind.

He pressed his palms together, index fingers touching, took a light breath, and then exhaled slowly.

"Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!"

A jet of flame burst from before his lips, instantly spreading into a sea of fire that blanketed the entire pirate crew. It surged straight at the fleeing pirates, swallowing the whole group in an instant.

"Fire! It's fire!"

"Save me! It's so hot, so hot!"

"Am I dreaming? Can someone wake me up already?!"

"Please, sir, spare my life! From now on, I'll be your most loyal subordinate—no, your most loyal dog! Please, have mercy!!"

"It's over, it's over. I never thought we, the Brand Pirate Group, would escape the Grand Line only to be wiped out in the weakest sea, the East Blue. Hahahaha!"

Desperate pleas for mercy, agonized screams, and mad laughter from broken minds echoed intermittently from the sea of fire.

Senga frowned, feeling he had gone too easy on them. He intensified the flames, and then the air fell silent.

The fire dissipated, leaving only piles of human-shaped charcoal on the ground.

"I need to take these with me. They're all merit points." Senga figured he should clean up the scene.

He slightly curled one hand, and the charcoal piles gathered together, compressing into a black sphere. Senga even thoughtfully kept Brand's corpse separate, still somewhat recognizable.

Satisfied with his handiwork, he opened his Door-Door Space and tossed the "trophies" inside.

Casually tearing down the Brand Pirate Group's Jolly Roger, Senga set the pirate ship ablaze with another burst of fire.

"Now everything's in place. I wonder if this will be enough to catch the attention of Headquarters." Senga mused.

"Whatever, I'll head there first." Making up his mind, Senga left the island where he had rested for less than a day.