"So smug, are you?!"
Seeing how excited Kaido was, Oak felt a surge of irritation. The next moment, he activated his ability. The wound on his abdomen, which Rocks had cut open, healed at a visible speed. In mere moments, the wound closed, his skin became smooth again, and not even a scar remained.
"Isn't it amazing?"
He patted his belly and grinned smugly at Kaido.
"Hehe, I traded your lifespan for it!"
Aside from absorbing other people's lifespan through their blood for its user's own use, allowing the user to remain forever young, the Vampire Fruit had another function: healing injuries.
No matter how severe the injury, as long as the user did not die on the spot, they could recover by absorbing blood. Even severed limbs could regenerate.
Though he had seemed to return all the lifespan he had taken from Kaido, he had actually secretly kept a little back to test this ability.
The amount he kept was not enough to affect Kaido at all. Kaido only needed to recover a little after returning, which was why he had not noticed.
Oak had not intended to tell him, afraid Kaido would be upset. But who told that guy to be so smug? So...
The next moment, Kaido, who had been beaming with delight just seconds ago, stopped laughing altogether. After a long silence, he tremblingly raised a finger at Oak and cordially greeted his entire family, along with eighteen generations of his ancestors.
"I ×u0026%￥#@..."
"I'll beat you to death, you goddamn bastard!"
Rocks and Newgate were already used to seeing the two of them start brawling again.
"Wororororo!"
Rocks burst into laughter and even stood to the side to watch the show, while Newgate felt that if the two kept fighting like this every day, they would sooner or later develop some rather special feelings for each other...
As for the result of their fight, it went without saying. Kaido had not been Oak's match even before Oak ate the fruit. Now that Oak possessed the Mythical Zoan Vampire Fruit, Kaido could only take a one-sided beating.
An hour later, Rocks walked in the middle, with Oak and Newgate to his left and right. Kaido, battered and bruised after the one-sided beating, trailed behind them. The four of them explored the ancient ruins together to see if they could find anything else.
Rocks and Newgate were both highly interested. Kaido kept staring into every corner, occasionally overturning the rubble of ruined buildings to see if there might be an underground treasure chamber or something similar. If he could find another Devil Fruit and eat it, he could use it to suppress that bastard Oak.
Only Oak seemed absentminded. He covered the spot over his heart with one hand and sank into thought.
He had known about the abnormality of his heart since he was very young. His body, as tough as steel and bone, along with his immense strength, were all connected to that heart as well.
So, long ago, he had begun to wonder whether his heart, divided into three parts, might allow him to break this world's limits. Could one person possess three abilities?
He had not been sure before, but today, he was certain. He could!
Because the moment he ate the Vampire Fruit, he had felt all its powers settle into one section of his heart rather than spread through the entire larger heart.
According to legend, every Devil Fruit was the incarnation of a certain "demon," and therefore a Devil Fruit user housed a demon within their body.
Every demon was inherently incompatible with the others. The moment they met, they would fight. Thus, if someone ate two Devil Fruits, they would self-destruct due to the conflict between those demons. That was why every user could possess only one ability.
But Oak felt he did not need to worry about that at all. Since he had a Tri-Color Heart, and one ability could only reside in one colored section without spreading, then the Tri-Color Heart could hold the powers of three Devil Fruits. He would not have to worry about the demons fighting each other and bursting him apart.
This discovery thrilled him. He could eat three Devil Fruits. As long as he chose wisely and made the three abilities complement one another, he could definitely push his strength to an unprecedented height.
Once he trained his Three-Color Haki to its peak as well, combined with his monstrous physique and strength, who in this world could still be his opponent?
He glanced at Rocks. Even surpassing that guy would not be a problem!
Meanwhile, at Punk Hazard,
"We're too late!"
Looking at Punk Hazard, now reduced to ruins and scorched earth, Sengoku, standing at the bow, slammed a hand heavily against the railing. His eyes were filled with unwillingness.
They were too arrogant!
In a single day, the Rocks Pirates had first brazenly attacked World Government-affiliated Countries, then attacked a Navy research base. They simply had no regard for the Navy at all.
But Sengoku was not blinded by anger. Instead, he was considering a question.
He could understand the Rocks Pirates attacking World Government-affiliated Countries. They were pirates, after all, and they must have attacked those countries for treasure. But why had they attacked Punk Hazard?
Although Punk Hazard was a Navy research base, it was not an especially important location. It was merely a medium-sized arms factory responsible for supplying weapons and equipment to the Marine Branches in the New World. It was not a valuable target at all, nor was there anything inside worth a large pirate crew like Rocks's plundering. So Sengoku ordered an investigation on Punk Hazard, wanting to uncover Rocks's purpose in attacking this place.
He did not have to wait long before his subordinates brought him the results.
Sengoku looked over the report in his hands. According to the recollections of several survivors,
There had been four people who attacked Punk Hazard: Rocks, captain of the Rocks Pirates; Newgate; and two apprentices, Oak and Kaido.
This matched the description in the distress signal he had received earlier.
As he continued reading, Sengoku discovered that Rocks and his group seemed to have attacked Punk Hazard in search of something. They had even asked base personnel whether they had seen a Frozen Giant on the island.
A Frozen Giant?
Upon seeing this, Sengoku understood that this was likely the reason Rocks and his men had attacked the island.
But why they were searching for the Frozen Giant, and why they believed Punk Hazard had one, Sengoku did not know. The island's survivors could not provide any more useful information, so after some thought, he reported the matter to Navy Headquarters, hoping they could analyze something from it.
After the information Sengoku provided reached Navy Headquarters, the report soon appeared in the Power Hall of Mary Geoise, the World Government.