Kaido Cried His Eyes Out Over My Azure Dragon Fruit

Broken bricks rolled across the floor.

Stones of all sizes smashed against the bluestone tiles, making a chaotic racket.

Heavy dust and the pungent smell of gunpowder poured in through the gaping hole in the wall.

Kaido struggled to climb to his feet.

He clutched the Fine Steel spiked club in his hand. The thick shaft had been reduced to half its original length. The broken end was jagged all over, smeared with brain matter and flesh.

His injuries were severe.

A deep slash ran from his left shoulder all the way to his right ribs, exposing bone. His flesh had peeled outward, revealing ghastly white splinters of bone.

Dark red blood flowed down his solid abs, dripping onto his tattered pant legs and sticking the fabric to his leg hair.

He panted heavily. His lungs rasped like a broken bellows.

The sounds of fighting outside, the roar of cannons, and even the screams of the Celestial Dragons all echoed beyond the gaping hole.

He had just been besieged by God's Knights above. He had used half his life to smash through the wall and tumble into this basement.

Kaido spat out a mouthful of bloody phlegm mixed with sand.

He raised his head.

His gaze passed over the gold coins spinning across the floor, then over the scrap metal and safes drawn into midair by magnetism, blotting out the sky.

It locked onto the agarwood box atop the white jade platform.

The fruit covered in patterns resembling azure scales.

Its stem looked like a pair of miniature dragon horns as it lay quietly on the yellow silk cushion.

The air was thick with the smells of aged wood and blood.

Kaido's eyes instantly reddened as if they were about to bleed. Blood vessels densely covered the whites of his eyes, nearly bursting from their sockets.

He had dreamed of possessing that thing.

Back when he had been an apprentice aboard Rocks's ship, he had been beaten and cursed at every day. He had eaten other people's leftovers and scraps, living like a dog.

He had had enough of that life.

As long as he ate that Mythical Zoan, he could instantly become one of the top predators on the sea. No one would ever dare treat him like cannon fodder or bait again.

Kaido completely ignored the pink-haired brat standing before the stone platform.

He also ignored the terrifying metal sphere hovering in midair.

His reason had been utterly consumed by greed and fanaticism.

"That belongs to... me!"

A beastlike roar exploded from Kaido's throat. His vocal cords cracked under the extreme congestion.

He suddenly kicked off the ground.

The two bluestone tiles beneath his feet shattered, sending fragments flying backward.

His towering body, reeking of sweat and blood, lunged madly toward the white jade platform.

Finding the half of the spiked club in his way, he threw it straight behind him. It crashed onto a pile of gold bricks with a clanging rattle.

He stretched out his bloodstained hands.

His fingers spread wide, black grime packed beneath his nails as he desperately reached for the Azure Dragon Fruit that could change his fate.

Just one more meter. Just one touch of the fruit's skin.

Rektol did not even turn his head.

He continued looking at the fruit inside the box. His left hand rose casually, palm facing downward.

His five fingers suddenly pressed down.

Boom!

The second heart in the right side of his chest pounded violently. Blood surged through his vessels at an impossible speed.

A tenfold gravity field descended from above without warning.

The air compressed with a muffled burst.

The dust floating nearby was instantly crushed against the ground. Not even a speck could rise.

Several Pure Gold coins that had rolled nearby were directly pressed into the earth by the strange force, making a strained metallic deformation noise.

Kaido did not even manage a grunt.

His body, lunging through midair, seemed to have been struck head-on by an invisible mountain of pig iron.

With a thunderous bang,

Kaido slammed into the pile of rubble. His limbs spread wide, chin hitting the ground. He looked like a toad flattened by a fly swatter.

The crushing force bore down on his back.

His hard forehead struck a sharp bluestone tile. A chunk of scalp was knocked away, and a pool of blood burst from his nose.

The bones throughout his body creaked harshly.

Splurt.

The deep slash across his chest completely split open beneath the terrifying pressure.

Blood sprayed out like a fountain, instantly dyeing the mud and gold coins beneath him red.

Behind them, Cracker gritted his teeth and struggled to maintain the enormous metal sphere in midair.

His face was covered in sweat, and his eyes bulged from the effort.

Seeing Kaido sprawled on the ground like a dead dog, Cracker's chubby face twitched. He swallowed hard.

Rektol turned around.

His military boot scraped across the bloodstained rubble with a crisp sound.

He walked over on his short legs and stopped beside Kaido's head.

He raised his right foot.

The boot tip, stained with mud and dust, mercilessly planted itself against the side of Kaido's face.

He pressed down and ground it a few times.

The rough sole crushed and distorted Kaido's cheek. Mud mixed with blood smeared across the two bull horns on his forehead.

"Useless trash who doesn't even know his own limits."

Rektol's voice was cold enough to shed ice. There was no anger in his eyes, only pure contempt.

"I didn't kill you at the camp a few days ago, and you still dared to come here and steal food."

Kaido struggled desperately.

The veins on his thick arms bulged. His blood vessels protruded from his skin as if they were about to explode, turning purple.

His fingers clawed desperately at the floor tiles.

His nails split apart, carving ten glaring bloody streaks into the stone as a layer of flesh and skin was ground away.

But he could not move even an inch.

The tenfold gravity pressed so hard that he could not lift even a finger. Even breathing had become incredibly difficult. Every breath felt like swallowing shattered glass, while his chest let out mournful bellows-like wheezes.

"You think eating a fruit will let you turn your life around?"

Rektol applied force with his toe.

Kaido's face was pressed firmly into the muddy water. Mud flooded his nostrils, making him cough violently. All he coughed up was red foam.

"Weaklings are weaklings."

Rektol let out a cold laugh.

"The sea isn't a garbage dump. Even if you were given a true dragon, you'd still be nothing more than a loach capable of rolling around in the muck."

The sole of his boot ground against Kaido's ear.

"Even if you eat the Azure Dragon Fruit, once you meet a true powerhouse, you'll still be nothing more than something to be dismembered and skinned alive."

Those knife-sharp words stabbed into Kaido's ears one by one.

They dragged the inferiority and ambition buried deepest in his heart into the open, trampling them over and over until they were torn to pieces.

Together with the tenfold gravity, they completely destroyed the last bit of resolve he had been clinging to.

Kaido's struggles grew weaker and weaker.

Humiliation spread through his veins like poison, burning until his entire body trembled.

He bit down hard on his lower lip. His teeth pierced the flesh, filling his mouth with the taste of rust.

Hot tears welled from his reddened eyes.

His tears mixed with mucus and muddy water, dripping onto the bluestone tiles with soft plops.

A several-meter-tall man had been reduced to sobbing in the mud beneath the foot of a three-year-old child.

He despaired.

All his ambitions and fantasies had been ground into mud beneath that short military boot.

All he could do was turn his head helplessly.

His gaze remained locked on the white jade platform. He watched helplessly as his hope of changing his fate remained beyond even his right to touch.

Rektol no longer paid attention to the piece of trash beneath his foot.

He moved his foot away and wiped the blood and mud from the sole against a clean floor tile nearby.

He walked back to the stone platform.

He reached into the agarwood box.

His five fingers closed around the Azure Dragon Fruit. The scale patterns on its skin were slightly prickly, and its touch was cold.

Rektol lifted the fruit and weighed it in his hand.

Katakuri stood five steps behind Rektol.

His fists were clenched tightly. His breathing had grown heavy with excitement beneath his gas mask.

"Katakuri."

Rektol called out.

Without turning his head, he tossed the fruit backward through the air with his right hand.

The priceless Mythical Zoan traced an arc through the air before flying steadily toward Katakuri.