Kozuki Toki.
The Paramecia-type "Time-Time Fruit"—originally called Toki Toki no Mi.
Carl remembered her for two distinct reasons.
First, was the nature of the fruit itself—an ability governing time. In the world of Devil Fruits, such powers were exceedingly rare. Even if Kozuki Toki only ever showcased one function—traveling forward in time—it was still a conceptual anomaly. But what if that wasn't the limit? What if, like Bartholomew Kuma's Nikyu Nikyu no Mi—which evolved from simple repulsion to transporting people across the seas—Toki's fruit had hidden potential? Could it reverse time? Freeze it? Carl wasn't the type to dismiss possibilities. In his view, any power involving time was a dangerous wildcard, a potential world-altering force.
But it was the second reason that truly made Kozuki Toki significant.
She had come from 800 years ago—a survivor of the Void Century.
That was the era when the Twenty Kings came together to form the World Government.
Yet for unknown reasons, Toki had leapt forward eight centuries and appeared in Wano, eventually marrying Kozuki Oden. There had to be a secret buried in that decision. Coincidence? Carl didn't believe in coincidences—not in this world.
"Well, brat," Carl said indifferently, holding Kozuki Momonosuke in one hand like a sack of rice, "do you really want to eat this fruit?"
In his other hand, he held the artificial Devil Fruit, the very same failed SMILE that Vegapunk had created—a replica of Kaido's Uo Uo no Mi, Model: Seiryu (Fish-Fish Fruit, Azure Dragon form).
"Let me go!" Momonosuke yelled, squirming violently. "Who the hell are you?!"
"Me?" Carl's smile was razor-edged. "That's not important. The point is… if you want this fruit, I'll give it to you."
"Huh—really?!" Momo blinked, baffled. "You look like a total villain, but you're giving it away just like that?!"
In fairness, Carl didn't exactly cut the figure of a saint.
The countless lives he'd taken had steeped his very presence in bloodlust.
Even his Observation Haki had awakened into the rare battlefield version—"Domain of Death"—which manifested as a fusion of killing intent and instinctive precognition.
To Momonosuke, Carl felt like a walking nightmare.
Still, Carl chuckled coolly. "Of course. I'm not a devil."
The fruit in his hand—Vegapunk's artificial version of Kaido's Mythical Zoan—still held tremendous latent potential. Even if the World Government considered it a failure, Kaido himself had noted it was a perfect imitation in power. Carl, who had just awakened his [Alchemy] skill, was already planning to refine this into something dangerous—perhaps even a humanoid weapon, a future "bear" to deploy as a strategic asset.
If someone like Momo consumed it, he'd become the raw material.
"Fine, then I'll eat it!" Momonosuke's throat bobbed as he stared at the fruit with uncertain hunger.
"Sure," Carl tucked the fruit under his arm and began walking with Momo in tow, "but you're coming with me first."
"Eh? What are you trying to do?!" Momo cried, legs kicking in the air.
"You're too noisy," Carl sighed, raising Momonosuke to eye level.
His crimson right eye gleamed—
The digit "6" shifted to a horizontal line.
[Hell Road: Activate.]
An unseen wave of mental shock blasted directly into Momonosuke's mind.
"Urgh…" Momo's eyes rolled back as he passed out cold.
"Much better," Carl muttered, satisfied, and continued walking in the direction his Haki guided him.
Behind him, Yamato jogged to catch up.
"Will he wake up later?" she asked with a tilted head.
"He will," Carl answered, half-smirking. "Eventually."
Elsewhere—inside the corridors of Onigashima's lower floor.
Trafalgar Law and Kin'emon were engaged in a brutal fight.
Across from them stood Pica and Vergo, two of Doflamingo's most dangerous subordinates.
The walls trembled as the clash escalated.
"ROOM!" Law shouted, sweat pouring down his face as he expanded his Surgical Field.
Boom!
Before he could use Shambles, Vergo appeared in front of him and delivered a crushing punch to his ribs, disrupting his focus.
Vergo—ex-Vice Admiral of the Marines and now Donquixote's top enforcer—had mastery over Armament Haki. His entire body, like iron, was blackened with hardening. He had long since mastered Rokushiki (Six Powers), and at this point, his close-quarters combat was almost unmatched.
For someone like Law—whose powers required a stable zone to manipulate space—Vergo was the perfect natural counter.
"You're too slow," Vergo sneered, vanishing and reappearing with ghost-like footwork.
"Shit—!" Law coughed up blood and lifted his cursed sword, Kikoku, to block.
Clang!
Vergo's Haki-coated fist slammed into the flat of Law's blade. The sound of metal shrieking echoed down the corridor.
"Damn it…" Law grimaced. He was being overpowered in both speed and raw strength.
Meanwhile, Kin'emon was locked in a separate struggle.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The earth around him buckled as massive stone columns erupted from the walls and floor.
"Foxfire Style!"
Kin'emon's katana, Sukesan, ignited with fire as he sliced cleanly through the stone.
But unlike Law, Kin'emon wasn't even able to touch his opponent.
Pica, thanks to the Ishi Ishi no Mi (Stone-Stone Fruit), was fused with the surrounding fortress. He could move from one rock to another, appearing at any point at will. Though a Paramecia, his manipulation of the terrain gave him the evasiveness of a Logia-type.
Kin'emon's strikes hit only stone statues and decoys.
He grit his teeth—frustrated but unrelenting.
This was a war on every front.
But Carl, as always, walked toward it with a plan of his own—
And a sleeping dragon in his arms.
Really…" Kin'emon's eyes grew heavy, but his resolve burned as he reached for the other blade at his waist—Jōshū (Jiaoshen), his companion to Sōryū. His gaze turned steel-like, unwavering. "If I don't cut you down now, there will be no chance to save my comrades… or my son!"
Nitoryu (Two-Sword Style)!
Just like Denjiro, Kin'emon, as a loyal retainer of the Kozuki clan, had inherited and honed the traditional Oden-style Two-Sword Kenjutsu—a style known for its overwhelming force and spiritual swordplay.
"Huh?" A monstrous face protruded from the wall itself.
Pica, one of the top executives of the Donquixote Pirates, squinted at the figure charging him. "Are you… a samurai from Wanokuni?"
By now, Kin'emon's Raijin-like black ninja suit, gifted by Usopp and Franky back in Dressrosa, had been completely torn. Beneath it, his traditional red-and-gold samurai armor of Wano was exposed, fluttering in the debris and wind.
"That's right!" Kin'emon's dual blades crackled with Armament Haki, emitting an invisible, sharp sword aura that split the air. "I am Kin'emon—samurai of the Land of Wano!"
With a warrior's cry, he blurred forward—a jet-black streak across the corridor.
"Oden Two-Sword Style: Flame-Rendering Cross Cut!"
His strike echoed the memory of Kozuki Oden slashing Kaido—the blades crossed behind his back, channeling both fury and honor.
BOOM!
The wall shattered under the force, flinging stone debris and thick smoke outward.
"Gya ha ha ha!!" A high-pitched laugh tore through the rumbling.
The floor quaked. The entire corridor vibrated.
"Pica!"
Vergo, not far away, halted mid-step, his sharpened bamboo staff still crackling with Busoshoku Haki. He frowned, glancing toward the source of the tremor.
•••••••••**•••••••••
The smoke gradually cleared. Kin'emon stood motionless, both blades drawn, his breath steady but strained.
"You won't defeat me that easily," came Pica's shrill voice, echoing ominously from the rubble. "Ishi Ya (Stone Press)!"
Kin'emon's eyes snapped downward—his feet were trapped in hardened stone!
BOOM!
Two massive stone columns shot up on either side. From their inner walls, dozens of razor-sharp spikes extended. In a flash, the stone constructs twisted into a cruel replica of the Iron Maiden, a deadly trap closing in from both sides.
CLANG! CLANG!
Kin'emon roared, slamming his Haki-coated blades against the incoming stone as blood trickled down his arms. The sharpened spikes carved shallow gashes into his sides as he struggled to hold the pillars at bay.
"Your comrades… seem to have reached their end."
Vergo's chilling voice echoed behind Trafalgar D. Water Law, who had been locked in battle elsewhere.
Law's eyes widened—but before he could react—
SCHLICK!
A hardened bamboo staff, coated in jet-black Armament Haki, plunged through his abdomen.
"Fighting me and still daring to lose focus?" Vergo sneered, twisting the bamboo as Law coughed blood. "This is your destiny, Law. The day you opposed Doflamingo was the day your fate was sealed."
Hearing the name of his hated enemy, Law's pupils dilated. Blood pooled at his lips, but his right hand clenched.
"ROOM…!"
A glowing surgical sphere burst out, warping the space around them. A white vortex of wind spiraled outward.
Vergo frowned, and in the blink of an eye, Law vanished from his view—reappearing a few meters away, holding his side, breathing hard.
"You're only delaying the inevitable," Vergo muttered. "You're already half-dead."
He wasn't wrong. Law's Ope Ope no Mi was absurdly powerful—godlike, even. But it consumed tremendous stamina with each activation. The more he manipulated space, the faster his life force drained.
In his earlier fight with Vergo back on Punk Hazard, Law had already exhausted a large portion of his strength. And this new wound had nearly sealed his fate.
Even with his ROOM cast, his body trembled—on the verge of collapse.
CRACK!
Vergo reappeared, bamboo spear aimed like a javelin, plunging toward Law's chest.
"ROO—!" Law tried to force out another technique.
BOOM!
Just as the bamboo was about to pierce his heart—
A hand emerged from thin air, seizing the weapon mid-air. It stopped cold—completely immovable.
Law's eyes widened.
So did Vergo's.
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