Marco was astonished to hear Oak, a veteran of the previous generation, say he still owed him a Devil Fruit. Clearly, he knew nothing about that old affair, but Newgate understood perfectly and said to Oak,
"Gurararara~"
"I paid back that Devil Fruit long ago. Marco's a Devil Fruit user now, too, and his power is every bit as good as that one!"
There was even a hint of pride in Newgate's voice as he said this.
He and Kaido had both been there when the promise was made, and all three of them had made it together. After Oak disappeared, he had personally found a Devil Fruit for the still-young Marco. Kaido had helped, too, fulfilling the promise they had made back then.
Oak's gaze swept over Marco at those words. He had already noticed that Marco was a Devil Fruit user, but his power was not the phoenix ability he should originally have had. Instead, it was another flight-based ability, seemingly also a mythical Zoan. Marco had displayed a pair of fiery-red wings earlier.
Oak's own wings flickered at this. Ever since escaping the rainbow mist, he had harbored doubts about Rocks's fall all those years ago.
Just as with Oak himself, the news of Rocks's death had come from the World Government. No one had witnessed the final outcome of Rocks's last battle with Imu at God Valley. Was it possible that, like Oak, Rocks had not actually died, but was trapped somewhere? Or perhaps...
Oak had plenty of theories, but no way to verify them. Rocks had left no Vivre Card behind, so they had no way to monitor whether he was alive.
But there seemed to be one thing that could help establish whether Rocks had truly fallen: the Phoenix Fruit he had eaten at