Shusui's blade struck the gray-robed old man's neck, but it did not sever him in two as it would when cutting an ordinary person.
The old man's body surged with thick black mist the moment the blade struck, and the mist condensed into a thick shell on his neck, forcefully blocking the blow.
"Clang!"
Sparks flew everywhere.
Roy was thrown back half a step by the recoil, his eyes darkening.
"As expected, without severing their connections, we can't kill anyone."
The old man grinned. His smile was filled with arrogance accumulated over eight hundred years.
"Kid, you think you can kill me just because you've found the key?"
"We, the nineteen of us, have been one body since eight hundred years ago."
"If you cut me once, the other eighteen brothers will take the hit for me."
"You broke my bones, but their power can set yours in an instant."
You can't kill me.
You can't kill anyone.
His voice echoed in Roy's ears, carrying a contempt that was certain to the core.
The Barbarian King, who was locked in combat with Kaido in the distance, heard this and burst into wild laughter:
" Roy! You think finding the elder will solve anything?"
Get over here! I'll twist your head off and use it as a football!
Loki, who was just forcing the Mountain King back with a hammer blow, heard the Barbarian King's curses, turned around and spat:
"Shut up! I'll deal with you after I flatten this big guy!"
Roy didn't speak.
He simply looked at the old man and then smiled.
"You're right."
Roy slowly withdrew his Shusui.
"If it's just a regular slash, it certainly won't kill you."
But you seem to have forgotten something.
The old man's smile froze.
He saw something in Roy's indigo eyes that sent chills down his spine—it wasn't murderous intent, but a condescending calm, as if looking down on the dead.
Right in the center of Roy's chest, a third heart began to pound.
"Thump--"
The dull thumping of a heartbeat exploded across the battlefield, and thick black mist erupted from Roy's body, spreading in all directions like a volcanic eruption.
The black mist and the black mist on the Nineteenth King were of the same origin, but it was much purer and more violent, like a black flame burning to its extreme.
The Dark-Dark Fruit: True Power.
The ability is invalid.
The hand that was pressing on the old man's crown was now being enveloped in a surge of black mist that rushed into the old man's body.
The surging black mist on the old man's body froze instantly, as if it had encountered a natural enemy, and was then gradually devoured by the darkness within Roy's body.
"You... what kind of ability is this?!" The old man's expression finally changed.
He could feel the invisible thread connecting him and his eighteen brothers being slowly eroded by the darkness within Roy's body.
That thread has bound the nineteen of them together for eight hundred years; it is the foundation of their immortality and their reliance on not dying.
But now, that thread is breaking.
Roy's Telekinesis-Telekinesis Fruit activated simultaneously.
The space around him seemed to be pressed down by an invisible hand, freezing instantly.
The entire space was forcibly separated from the Red Line, forming an independent, isolated little world.
The unseen connection between the old man and the other eighteen kings was completely severed at this moment.
"No—impossible!"
The old man finally panicked.
He could clearly feel that the thread connecting him and Imu and the others, which had lasted for eight hundred years, had been severed.
The power that had been flowing continuously from the other eighteen brothers was gone.
That feeling of being one with the whole world is gone.
He was just an ordinary old man who had lived for eight hundred years.
An old man who can get hurt, bleed, and die.
"What... what did you do to me?!"
Roy, carrying Shusui, walked step by step towards him.
"It seems you ambushed Davy Jones eight hundred years ago and stole a sliver of his primordial power."
"But you still don't know what the true power of that fruit is."
"You think the Dark-Dark Fruit is just about devouring?"
Roy smiled.
Its true power is to nullify all other abilities.
"Including that thread that's been tied up for eight hundred years."
The old man's pupils shrank to pinpoints.
He finally understood.
Why didn't Joy Boy kill them back then? Joy Boy was light, was freedom. No matter how strong he was, he couldn't sever the thread that bound the nineteen people together.
Roy is different.
Roy possesses the essence of Davy Jones and a Dark-Dark Fruit that can nullify all abilities.
He was born to be the nemesis of these nineteen thieves.
"How ridiculous." Roy swung his sword down.
Shusui's blade sliced across the old man's neck as easily as cutting through a piece of tofu.
The old man's head, still bearing a terrified expression, rolled off his shoulder, bounced twice on the stone surface, and came to a stop.
Roy removed his Devil Fruit powers.
The independent space reconnected with the Red Line, and he and the still-bleeding head landed on the stone surface at the same time.
Almost simultaneously--
The Barbarian King, who was locked in battle with Kaido, suddenly spat out a mouthful of black blood.
The Mountain King, who was exchanging blows with Loki, suddenly stopped moving.
The Sword King, who was exchanging sword blows with Hawk Eyes, almost dropped his rapier.
The Shadow King, who was dealing with Shanks, stumbled.
The eighteen kings simultaneously coughed up a mouthful of black blood.
They turned their heads at the same time, looking at Roy with expressions of shock and anger.
The old man in the gray robe lay dead at Roy's feet.
Blood was still gushing from the wound on his neck, and the terror lingered in his eyes.
Eight hundred years.
Since the night their nineteen kings betrayed Davy Jones, no one has ever been able to kill any one of them when they joined forces.
Davy Jones won't do, Joy Boy won't do.
But today, this young man named Roy, who emerged from the New World, did it.
The Barbarian King's fist was trembling.
The Mountain King's giant hammer slammed into the stone with a loud clang.
Cold sweat beaded on the Sword King's forehead.
Shanks watched this scene, a slight smile playing on his lips, and took a swig of his drink:
"Pretty."
Kaido laughed heartily.
"Hahaha! You old fogies, you're scared too!"
Roy, carrying the still-dripping Shusui, looked up at the remaining eighteen kings.
His gaze was calm, as if he were looking at eighteen corpses already lying on the ground.
"Next," he said.
The Barbarian King's fist was trembling.
He had fought wars for eight hundred years, and never before had he felt such fear.
The young man named Roy stood there, the black mist around him still lingering, with the corpses of his brothers at his feet.
That calm was more chilling than any roar.
"Kill him!" the Barbarian King roared, charging towards Roy first.
But he had only taken two steps when Kaido's Hassaikai slammed into him from the side.
"Your opponent is me!"
Kaido roared, his dragon scales gleaming blue in the sunlight.
The Barbarian King was forced back by a single blow and had no choice but to turn his attention back to Kaido.
As the Mountain King tried to move, Loki's Iron Thunder were already crashing down in front of him.
Just as Sword King was about to withdraw, Hawk Eyes's Black Blade Yoru was already at his neck.
The Shadow King fared even worse; Shanks ' Conqueror's Haki froze him in place, rendering him unable to move.
The eighteen kings were held back tightly.
Roy, carrying a knife, walked step by step towards them.