Boom!
Pitch-black claws crashed down.
The twin blades in Denjiro's hands bent at once, and the terrifying force sent him flying backward. His back smashed through the wall of the main hall.
Rubble flew as dust billowed.
He rolled more than ten meters before stopping, the flesh between both thumbs and forefingers split open, blood dripping continuously down the hilts of his swords.
"Cough..."
Denjiro supported himself with his twin blades and struggled to his feet.
When he saw Lucci's current appearance clearly again, his pupils involuntarily contracted.
"That appearance of yours..."
Black fur covered his entire body, while dark purple markings moved slowly across his swollen muscles like living creatures.
There was no trace of human warmth in his scarlet vertical pupils. Every swing of the leopard tail behind him slightly distorted the surrounding light.
The oppressive aura bearing down on him reminded Denjiro of Kaido.
It was not because they looked alike.
It was that presence—the kind that made one instinctively realize the gap between them merely by standing there.
Another monster.
Lucci looked down at him as though he were merely a corpse that had not yet fallen.
"This was a reward bestowed upon me by that lord."
"The Devil Fruit most suited to bringing out my full potential."
Dark purple mist slowly seeped from between his claws.
"Cat-Cat Fruit: Mythical Zoan: Underworld Leopard Form."
Several years ago.
Water 7.
Lucci had truly seen the order Rock wanted to establish.
From that point onward, CP9 outwardly still belonged to the World Government, but in secret, they had long since pledged themselves to Rock.
Bruno's Door-Door Fruit had allowed them to complete countless tasks for Rock that the World Government never even noticed.
Spandine, who controlled the Cipher Pol system, had also long become Rock's deepest-embedded piece within