The third heart was beating as loudly as a bell.
The previously empty space in his right chest cavity felt as if a cowhide war drum had been forcibly stuffed into it. The dull thud reverberated along his ribs all the way to his feet.
Rektol was breathing rapidly. The veins on the back of his hand throbbed twice.
Raindrops from the barbed wire dripped onto the shoulders of his trench coat, slowly seeping into the black fabric.
Katakuri stopped punching.
Kaido swayed on the pillar like a tattered sack. His broken ribs protruded strangely beneath his skin, and blood dripped down his toes.
"Big brother?" Katakuri flicked the blood off the back of his hand.
Rektol did not answer.
The flagstone beneath his feet cracked open. Spiderweb-like fissures spread rapidly in all directions, and several pebbles bounced restlessly on the ground.
Following the perception of his All-Knowing Eye, he locked onto the bloody coordinates deep underground.
His right arm shot up suddenly. Two hundred million volts of blue-white lightning instantly enveloped his fist. The raging heat evaporated the falling raindrops into white mist.
He slammed his fist into the ground.
"Boom!"
The thunderbolts tore apart the soil and hard rock. The gravitational field pressed down, carving out a bottomless vertical tunnel.
A black hole with a diameter of three meters appeared beneath our feet.
Without the slightest hesitation, Rektol leaped into the darkness below.
The wind whistled in my ears.
They fell a full two hundred meters. The surrounding air became thick and cold, carrying a heavy, earthy smell and a musty, deathly aura.
"Bang."
The military boots slammed heavily on the damp bluestone tiles, kicking up a cloud of pungent dust.
Rektol straightened up and brushed the dirt off his shoulders.
Ahead lies an abandoned underground temple.
Several thick stone pillars lay collapsed in the mud and water. The murals carved on the surface of the pillars had long since weathered away and were no longer recognizable. Cold water droplets dripped from the stalactites overhead.
There is no statue of a deity in the very center of the main hall.
There was only a solitary black stone platform.
A heavy, dark gray coffin sat on the stone platform.
Rektol strode over. The closer he got to the stone platform, the more sluggish the power of lightning and gravity emanating from his body became.
Seastone.
This coffin was made entirely of high-purity Seastone, emanating a deathly aura that suppressed all demonic power.
Rektol stopped beside the coffin.
He did not back down. He pressed his hands firmly against the heavy Seastone coffin lid, his fingers exerting force until his knuckles turned white.
Without the power of his Devil Fruit, he could only rely on pure brute force.
"Get up." He gritted his teeth, a low growl escaping his throat.
My thigh muscles were taut. The soles of my shoes left two white marks on the wet, slippery tiles.
"Creak--"
The harsh sound of stones scraping against each other echoed in the deathly silent temple. He forcefully pushed the heavy coffin lid open halfway, and dust fell in a flurry.
There were no mummified corpses inside, nor any gold or silver treasures buried with them.
There was only one layer of black velvet fabric, tattered and crumbly.
In the very center of the black cloth, a blood-red Devil Fruit lay silently.
The fruit is shaped like a human heart. Its skin is covered with raised lines that resemble veins, and they even seem to be pulsating slightly.
A pair of miniature black bat-like wings grow from the stem of the fruit.
Bat-Bat Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Vampire Form.
Rektol extended his hand.
The oppressive force of the Seastone made his fingers ache slightly. He grabbed the fruit, quickly took two steps back, and escaped the absolute oppressive range of the coffin.
The fruit feels slightly cool to the touch, like a piece of freshly cut meat.
Without hesitation, he opened his mouth and took a big bite of the fruit.
stench.
It was ten times more pungent and foul-smelling than rotten pig liver that had been sitting for three months. The intense smell of blood assaulted my senses, and stomach acid surged violently.
Rektol suppressed his nausea. His Adam's apple bobbed, and without even chewing, he forced the contents down his throat.
He casually tossed the remaining half of the fruit into the puddle.
The fruit pulp had just entered my stomach.
The third heart in the right chest cavity was like a wildly activated engine, greedily absorbing this foreign, violent power.
A sudden change occurred.
His once calm blood instantly boiled. His blood temperature soared, and large areas of Rektol's skin turned an unnatural crimson.
A blinding crimson energy surged from the third heart.
The Rumble-Rumble Fruit in the left chest cavity was not to be outdone. Blue-white lightning surged into the meridians, colliding wildly with the blood and qi.
The gravitational field of the Float-Float Fruit at the center also went berserk.
Three distinct forces were locked in a tug-of-war within Rektol's body.
He groaned, his knees buckled, and he knelt on one knee in the mud.
My teeth were clenched tightly together. My gums felt swollen and itchy, as if tens of thousands of ants were biting them at the same time.
"Hiss."
Two upper canines forcefully broke through the gums, extending half an inch downwards to reveal sharp, white fangs.
The sweat evaporated as soon as it appeared on my forehead due to the high temperature on my skin.
The full potential of the Godly Mutant Physique erupted. After a brief period of chaos, the three hearts forcibly found the same beating frequency.
"Thump! Thump! Thump!"
The heartbeats were synchronized.
The ferocity of lightning and the weight of gravity were forcibly kneaded together by the crimson life energy, no longer repelling each other.
Rektol stood up.
He was panting heavily. The red and blue energy that intertwined on his body surface slowly disappeared beneath his skin.
He pulled out a standard-issue self-defense dagger hanging from his waistband.
Without the slightest hesitation, the blade pressed directly against the vein in his left wrist and slashed forcefully.
The skin and flesh were torn open, revealing a deep, bone-revealing gash on the wrist.
Fresh blood was about to gush out.
A faint, blood-red glow appeared at the edge of the wound.
The granulation tissue intertwined and snapped together at an aberrant speed visible to the naked eye. In less than half a second, the rolled-up flesh completely flattened out.
Not even a tiny white mark was left. It was as smooth as new.
This is the source of the confidence of the Mythical Zoan Vampire Form: rebirth from a drop of blood, and unlimited stamina.
Rektol threw down the dagger. The dagger clattered onto the stone bricks.
He tried to unleash this new power.
He took a deep breath of the musty air from underground, his chest slightly bulging.
A dark red ripple of blood energy emanated from him and spread outwards.
Ripples swept across the stone walls of the temple.
The thick layer of bluish-green moss on the stone wall instantly turned yellow and black, like paper scraps that had been drained of moisture.
In the corner, several burrowing, hard-shelled insects that were crawling were frozen in place.
The carapace quickly dried up and became brittle, eventually turning into a small clump of gray powder that scattered in the wind.
Within a radius of 100 meters from the temple, all life force was completely drained.
The three hearts are completely synchronized.
A monster without any weaknesses was born.