Treasure Hunt, the Devil Descends

"Damn it! I found this box of gold first!"

"Bullshit! Whoever grabs it first gets it!"

In the heart of God Valley, the castle that had once symbolized "order" and "nobility" had now become a playground for pirates.

Their eyes were red as they brawled and cursed one another over the Celestial Dragons' treasures.

A pirate dragged a heavy sack of gold coins to his ship and spoke as if claiming credit.

"Captain! I just saw a huge woman carrying a box. From its shape..."

"It looked like it had a Devil Fruit inside! Should we..."

"A woman? What did she look like?" The captain frowned.

The pirate racked his brains.

"She was really tall, with a... seriously hot body! A pink long dress, and she seemed to be wearing some strange hat..."

Before he could finish, the captain's expression changed drastically, and he cracked him over the head!

"Are you fucking stupid?! That's Charlotte Linlin of the Rocks Pirates!"

"You dare steal her stuff? I still want to live a few more years! Pack up, take whatever you can carry, and get out of here! Greed will get you killed!"

"Y-Yes, Captain!" The pirate shuddered and hurriedly nodded.

Not far away, Charlotte Linlin, towering like a fortress, strode over with heavy steps.

Wherever she passed, both the pirates fighting bloodily over treasure and the Marines trying to maintain order consciously made way for her.

Linlin paid no attention to the fear of those around her.

She sat down on a relatively intact flight of steps, impatiently opened the treasure chest she had just found in the treasury, and raised a strangely patterned Devil Fruit before her eyes for a close look.

"Ma~ Ma~ MAMA!"

Linlin let out her signature laugh, her eyes filled with anticipation for the future.

"I'll have Katakuri eat this fruit when we get back! My dear son will definitely become one of my strongest fighters in the future!"

Just as she laughed and prepared to put the fruit away—

The sky suddenly darkened.

A massive shadow descended like storm clouds overhead, completely shrouding her.

"Thunder Bagua!!"

"Boom—!!"

The heavy spiked club smashed solidly into Linlin's smiling face!

The tremendous force distorted her entire face, sending saliva mixed with a little blood spraying through the air.

Linlin's body flew backward with a crash, demolishing a ruined wall.

Yet after taking such a heavy blow, Linlin merely shook her head. Aside from some swelling on her cheek, she was completely unharmed.

"Kai—do—!! What the hell are you doing!!!"

Recognizing her attacker, Linlin let out an earth-shaking roar.

The one who had attacked her was Kaido, a crewmate she regarded as a younger brother.

Kaido stood there with his spiked club over his shoulder, licking his lips with a wicked grin. His throat bobbed, clearly having just swallowed that precious fruit whole.

"Wororororo! Linlin, that fruit wouldn't have done you any good anyway, would it?" Kaido laughed carelessly.

"Since you didn't know who to give it to, why not let me have it? I can test out my new power while I'm at it!"

"You actually dared... to eat the fruit meant for Katakuri..."

A terrifying aura began radiating from Linlin. Prometheus the sun and Zeus the thundercloud gathered above her head.

Lightning and flames intertwined.

"Looks like I'll have to remind you properly today who's the boss!"

"Hey, Linlin, once he's eaten it, making him spit it out won't do any good."

A calm voice cut between the two, whose tension was ready to explode.

Edward Newgate—Whitebeard—strode over with Murakumogiri on his shoulder and positioned himself between them.

"Stop fighting among yourselves. Something's not right."

Kaido glanced at Whitebeard, his tone still arrogant.

"Newgate, you here for treasure too? Don't waste your time. Almost everything valuable here has already been taken."

Whitebeard ignored the scattered treasures, sweeping his gaze across the surroundings as he spoke in a deep voice.

"I got here before either of you."

He raised his bisento and pointed toward a high cliff in the distance. "Kaido, look over there. Do you know that guy?"

Kaido and Linlin followed the direction Whitebeard indicated.

A figure stood atop that cliff.

Dressed in a black suit, covered in thick hair, and leaning on a cane, he was one of the Five Elders—Saint Saturn.

He was not watching the chaos below. Those deep-set eyes of his were fixed intently—not on the three of them, but on somewhere farther away.

"Saint Saturn..." Kaido recognized him and frowned. "Why's he staring at us?"

"No," Whitebeard said in a low voice. "He's not looking at us."

Atop the cliff, Saint Saturn's face was filled with unprecedentedly complicated emotions.

Shock, rage, and a trace of... indescribable confusion.

He looked down at the Marines and pirates below, fighting chaotically like swarms of ants.

Listening to their mad shouts over treasure, he murmured hoarsely.

"Everything has spiraled out of control... beyond expectation..."

"One might even say, I..."

His words abruptly stopped.

His pupils rolled upward, leaving only terrifying whites!

"Urgh... Aaaaah—!"

A howl tore from his throat as his body began undergoing a horrifying transformation!

His once-human body swelled and twisted as though inflated, his skin darkening while eerie purple-black flame clouds rose from his back.

Before the horrified eyes of Linlin, Kaido, Whitebeard, and countless others below.

The Warrior God of Science and Defense—Jaygarcia Saturn Saint—revealed his Ushi Oni devil form!

The shadow cast by his enormous body blanketed the entire area below!

Yet it was not over!

Above that gigantic Ushi Oni body.

An even larger, indescribable pillar-like creature emerged, carrying an evil aura that made souls tremble.

It forcibly "grew" out of Saint Saturn's back.

Crushing Saint Saturn's gigantic Ushi Oni body beneath it!

"Ahhh—!!!"

"M-Monster!!"

"Saint Saturn! What's happening to you?!"

The Marines and pirates below had never seen anything like this, and panic immediately spread through the crowd.

At the top of that pillar-like creature, a slit slowly opened, like an eye and yet like a mouth.

A cold voice clearly entered the minds of every insect present.

"An eyesore."

Before the words had faded, several massive tentacles wreathed in black mist shot from the surface of the pillar-like creature!

"Splurt! Splurt! Splurt!"

"Ughaa!"

"Aaaahhh—!"

Miserable screams erupted everywhere.

Like candied hawthorns on skewers, those tentacles impaled dozens of Marines and pirates who had not escaped in time, raising them high into the air.

The indiscriminate slaughter did not stop.

Imu casually lifted one spider-like limb and jabbed, then swept it through the crowd nearby.

Another entire section was wiped clean.

Severed limbs and broken bodies flew everywhere.

The once-crowded center of the battlefield had been forcibly cleared into a bloody "no man's land."

"What... is going on..."

Even Linlin, who feared neither heaven nor earth, felt a chill rise from the depths of her heart.

Kaido's pupils were filled with gravity as well.

"Hahaha! Rocks Pirates, farewell!!"

A burst of arrogant laughter rang out.

Golden Lion Shiki stood atop a massive floating chunk of earth, clutching an ornate treasure chest larger than himself in his arms.

He was rapidly flying out to sea, clearly planning to slip away amid the chaos.

"Ah, I've had enough! I'm leaving this damn place too!"

Linlin watched Golden Lion's retreating figure, then looked at the indescribable thing that had begun moving and continued slaughtering everyone. The urge to retreat rose within her.

"Newgate, what about you?" she asked Whitebeard.

Whitebeard gripped Murakumogiri tightly, but his gaze remained locked on another direction.

"I'm waiting for someone."

Kaido spoke in a deep voice. "I've already gotten what I wanted. There's no need to stay any longer."

"Is that so?" Whitebeard suddenly grinned, revealing a wild smile.

"Then I'll be going on ahead!"

Boom!

The ground beneath his feet exploded as his massive body shot forward.

But rather than charging directly at that terrifying pillar-like creature, he rushed diagonally.

His target was another figure, one also racing toward the center of the battlefield at high speed.

"Newgate! You..."

Linlin and Kaido immediately noticed that the figure running toward Whitebeard wore a captain's coat they knew all too well.

It was Rocks!

"Wororororo!"

Kaido transformed into an Azure Dragon and circled through the sky, excitement blazing across his draconic face.

"I've changed my mind, Linlin!"

"Now that I've got new power, I might as well use that big bug for a test run!"

With that, he let out a dragon roar that shook the heavens. Wind and thunder coiled around him as he charged fiercely toward where Rocks and Whitebeard were meeting.

Charlotte Linlin was left standing alone.

Watching Whitebeard, Rocks, and Kaido rush at that monster one after another, she stomped her foot in anger and complained aloud.

"You bastards!"

"If I don't go after you're acting like this, won't I look like some kind of coward?!"

She raised her head, ruthlessness and resolve flashing in her eyes as she shouted.

"Zeus! Prometheus!"

"We're here, Mama!"

The thundercloud and sun appeared in response, circling around her.

"There's a hard fight ahead! Stay sharp!"

"Let's go!"

"Yes, Mama!!"

Linlin leaped onto the thundercloud and charged toward the center of the battlefield, which had already become a true hell!