His life had burned out

"Someone can hear the Voice of All Things just like me!"

Roger's words made Rayleigh frown.

"The Voice of All Things?"

Over the course of his adventures with Roger, Rayleigh had met countless powerful people.

So far, he had never met a second Observation Haki user who could hear the Voice of All Things.

He could even say that.

The Voice of All Things seemed more like an extraordinary gift unique to Roger.

"Who is it?"

Rayleigh looked around, but no one seemed to be listening the way Roger was.

"I don't know. Whoever it is seems to be hiding pretty well."

"It's Rocks talking. He said two people were listening to him."

"Maybe they're in the Rocks Pirates."

Roger caught his breath and got off Rayleigh's back, returning to the ground.

He gripped his blade and joined the fight again.

Rocks had entered the final stage of his rampage.

All they had to do was survive until Rocks dropped dead.

The Devil Fruit Users were being tormented.

The powerful Haki users had to sever every darkness tentacle.

Until Rocks exhausted every last bit of his strength and crumbled to dust.

"Captain, you need to rest!"

A crewmate looked at Roger, a long staff in his hands as he brought up the rear.

"I'm always the one who brings up the rear in our crew! What are you butting in for?"

Roger wiped away the blood and once again worked up a pouring sweat.

He looked as though nothing was wrong at all.

"Captain, Rocks just said he seriously injured you!"

Gaban hurried over to him in concern.

"That guy's just trying to scare us before he dies. You actually believe Rocks?"

Roger smiled with utter indifference.

It put every crewmate at ease.

He knew it had definitely affected him.

But that was precisely what the Dark-Dark Fruit's final erosion did.

Ordinary methods could not eradicate it, and the danger was only slight.

Only time and battle could trigger it.

Roger had said that only so everyone could fight without holding back.

Survive first, and leave the rest to the sea!

He did not believe a sea this vast could hold an incurable illness.

Perhaps his Haki could advance further too, completely expelling this Devil Fruit effect.

Whoosh!

Another lightning-fast attack from a darkness tentacle came.

Roger severed it with one slash.

His Haki became a blood-red flying slash, cutting a path nearly a thousand meters long through God Valley.

Unfortunately, darkness tentacles soon covered it again, leaving no escape.

"Rocks is using his life to maintain this state."

"A Devil Fruit Awakening at this level is absurd. There's definitely no reversing it."

"Not until he exhausts his strength and dies!"

Golden Lion swung his Dual Swords, no longer using the Float-Float Fruit to fly.

It looked as though he did not want to use his Devil Fruit powers while being eroded by darkness.

Still, every bead of sweat on his forehead dripped down.

Among the Devil Fruit Users suffering the erosion.

Linlin was the most unusual.

She clutched her head and slammed it madly against a wall.

Her previously invulnerable iron balloon had actually lost its properties, leaving her head split and bleeding from the impacts.

It was similar to the state she entered when the nun's photograph was smashed.

"Sister! Mother!"

Linlin roared in pain as nightmare after nightmare from her memories appeared before her eyes, too many shadows overlapping like the Grim Reaper.

Everyone from Sheep's House danced joyfully before her.

Although many of them remained honored guests at Linlin's birthday cake tea parties afterward.

The nightmares of her childhood could not be mended.

They had haunted her dreams for years.

Linlin opened her mouth and cried out, as though gravestones filled her throat.

The nun's name was clearly inscribed upon them.

"Demon!"

Kaido pounded himself with his fists, struggling to stay lucid.

He felt something stirring even in his blood. If he could not defeat it, he would be devoured.

But he had yet to fully develop his Devil Fruit, and could not even reach the threshold, let alone achieve Awakening.

He could only rely on willpower and Haki to hold on, struggling to resist the pain coming from his lineage factor.

"Kill me, Wang Zhi!"

Silver Axe clutched his head, feeling as though every cell in his body was being torn apart.

Wang Zhi, suffering just as much, held his hat down with one hand.

His features, hidden beneath the brim, had long since twisted.

Below the cliff.

The pain of darkness erosion made Tsuru sweat more and more.

"I never want to experience this pain a second time in my life."

Sengoku complained, but inwardly he was considering the Marines' future.

This was probably why Marine Headquarters wanted the headquarters Admirals it cultivated to eat Devil Fruits.

He had only just begun to distinguish himself when, after becoming a monster alongside Garp and Zephyr.

Headquarters had rewarded him with this Devil Fruit.

As a Mythical Zoan, it offered not only every advantage of a Zoan, but additional combat abilities as well.

Sengoku had originally considered himself rather lucky.

But only now did he fully understand.

Devil Fruit Users faced too many limitations!

Unless he himself were the Dark-Dark Fruit User.

Even then, danger lurked everywhere.

Before Awakening, the user could not turn into their element and suffered double the pain.

After Awakening, the user could turn into their element, but the demonic will was absurdly powerful, and one careless moment could cost them their sense of self.

Sengoku had long since learned that Marine Headquarters was searching everywhere for Devil Fruits, especially rare Logias.

The Celestial Dragons loved using Devil Fruits worth over a hundred million Beli apiece for amusement.

They made those slaves into Devil Fruit Users, then forced them to perform.

Logia Devil Fruits had always been forbidden as playthings because they were too dangerous.

If they wore Seastone shackles, the users could not turn into their elements, leaving no entertainment.

If the Seastone shackles were removed, they had to be replaced with explosive shackles.

Those things were lethal to ordinary slaves, and even ordinary Zoans and Paramecias.

But elemental users would flee on the spot, killing a few stupid pigs along the way.

"We haven't even grown old yet, and the Five Elders are already considering the next generation of headquarters' strongest fighters?"

Sengoku muttered to himself, looking at Zephyr and Garp.

Presumably, those two had become exceptions that made the Five Elders feel threatened.

"Some things are best kept to yourself. Most Celestial Dragons are trash, but that doesn't rule out powerful trash with both ability and ambition."

Tsuru's casual remark left Sengoku's head drenched in sweat instead.

"You're the one who shouldn't say things like that!"

Sengoku glanced at Kong. Saint Saturn had long since been buried beneath boulders in the enormous pit.

Whether they lived or died did not matter. They could dig them out later, or discuss it then.

"They can't hear us anyway."

Tsuru rolled her eyes. Witnessing the God Valley Incident firsthand had only disgusted her more.

Walking along the edge of the cliff.

John and Shane were staring at each other.

Despite the intense pain, John said nothing and simply drank his liquor.

His only displeasure was that the darkness had sucked away his fine liquor.

"Doesn't it hurt, John?"

Shane lay on the ground and looked at John beside him.

"It hurts like hell. I can only use my teeth as a drinking snack."

John's teeth rattled as he spoke.

Good grief.

So this most carefree of fellows was drinking until his teeth nearly shattered.

"What about you, Shane?"

John asked Shane through gritted teeth.

"It hurt like crazy just now, but I don't feel anything anymore."

Shane did not know why either.

The worst pain earlier had come when Rocks unleashed the darkness.

He had felt himself plunge into a fog.

A Black Dragon circled in the sky, looking down upon the earth and watching Shane too.

Just as their wills clashed, he was about to be devoured, and pain erupted from his cells.

A voice had instead awakened Shane.

It was Rocks!

Before sacrificing himself to the demon on the verge of death, Rocks had awakened Shane, who had lost his will but activated his special Observation Haki instead.

Just as when Shane had completely broken down under the effects of the drugs before.

That ability to hear the inner voices of others, and even things, had been triggered once again.

He had heard everything Rocks said.

The "you two" Rocks mentioned were precisely Shane and Roger.

"His life has burned out."

Shane instinctively stood up.

His body had grown considerably thinner again.

He would probably have to eat and drink his fill after the battle of God Valley, then sleep until he lost track of time before waking up fully restored.

When Shane looked up at the sky.

Everyone's pain reached its peak as well.

Outside the valley, the powerful Zoan users from Marine Headquarters were devoured by demonic will on the spot and never awakened again.

"Darkness Annihilation!"