Ever since his friendship with Harald ended, Rocks had become noticeably gloomier.
Dæmon later learned the details from Shiki.
The World Government had secretly approached Harald, King of the Giants, and persuaded him to kill Rocks.
In return, they promised to allow Elbaf to join the World Government.
Dæmon did not know how to evaluate the situation.
How could Harald possibly believe such an obvious lie?
Then again, Harald had never wanted to associate too closely with an infamous pirate.
Their so-called friendship had mostly been one-sided, with Rocks considering Harald a far closer friend than Harald considered him.
Whatever the truth might be, Dæmon had not been involved.
It had nothing to do with him.
…
Time passed swiftly.
In the blink of an eye, two years had gone by.
…
Hachinosu, inside a casino.
Bang!
A man flew through the entrance and crashed heavily onto the street.
He coughed up blood and lay sprawled on the ground in a miserable state.
The nearby pirates stopped walking and stared at him in surprise.
“Isn’t that ‘Blade Demon’ Tanoz?
He only arrived on the island a few days ago.” “He’s the captain of the Blade Pirates and a user of the Dice-Dice Fruit.
His bounty is two hundred and ten million Berries!” “He’s already been beaten half to death?
How embarrassing!” Laughter erupted as a crowd gathered to watch.
Fights between pirates occurred every day on Hachinosu.
However, seeing a captain with a bounty exceeding one hundred million Berries get beaten so brutally was still an entertaining spectacle.
“Cough…
Cough…” Tanoz spat out another mouthful of blood and glared resentfully at the casino entrance.
“Damn you!
What grudge do you have against me!?” A handsome young man calmly stepped out of the casino.
He stopped in front of the fallen pirate and looked down at him with an indifferent expression.
“Do I need a reason to beat you?” Tanoz grew even more furious.
Just as he prepared to curse, excited cries erupted from the surrounding crowd.
“It’s Lord Dæmon!” “That idiot actually provoked a member of the Rocks Pirates on Hachinosu?
He must have a death wish!” “Lord Dæmon!
Look over here!
Over here~!” Hearing the high-pitched cry, Dæmon glanced toward the crowd.
His expression immediately stiffened.
He had thought he had gained a female admirer, only to discover that the excited fan was a muscular man wearing a dress.
“You’re the brewer of the Rocks Pirates?!” Tanoz’s pupils contracted in horror.
“I’ve behaved myself ever since I arrived on this island!
How did I offend you?” “You didn’t.” Dæmon raised his right foot.
Armament Haki gathered around the sole of his shoe.
“I simply don’t like your face.” Boom!
His foot slammed down.
The ground shattered as Tanoz’s head was driven deep into the street.
His eyes rolled back, and he instantly lost consciousness.
Dæmon bent down, grabbed the unconscious man by his collar, and casually dragged him away.
The spectators exchanged bewildered glances.
“Did he offend Lord Dæmon inside the casino?
Maybe he tried to avoid paying a gambling debt.” “Who knows?
Over the past six months, Lord Dæmon has dealt with several newly arrived pirates.” “Lord Dæmon is so handsome~!” “Shut up, you creep!
I’ll kill you!” …
Dæmon dragged Tanoz back to the abandoned basement where he had first been summoned into this world.
After placing the unconscious pirate on the floor, he skillfully pulled out a syringe containing the Elixir of Immortality.
He plunged the needle into Tanoz’s body and injected the crimson liquid.
Then Dæmon pressed his right palm against the pirate’s forehead.
Devour.
Tanoz’s body instantly twisted and collapsed into dust.
Within seconds, every trace of him disappeared into Dæmon’s palm.
Dæmon slowly closed his eyes and absorbed the newly acquired strength, knowledge, experience, and Haki.
After several moments, he sighed.
“The improvement is becoming smaller and smaller.” Over the past two years, Dæmon had devoured an average of one pirate every month.
More than twenty pirates had disappeared into this basement.
Every one of them had possessed a bounty exceeding one hundred million Berries and had mastered both Armament and Observation Haki.
Dæmon’s proficiency in those two forms of Haki had now reached a level comparable to Kaido’s.
Unfortunately, ordinary pirates could no longer provide any meaningful improvement.
As for Conqueror’s Haki…
Even on Hachinosu, pirates possessing the qualities of a king were extremely rare.
Dæmon had not found a single suitable target with Conqueror’s Haki during the past two years.
He could, of course, devour Kaido.
However, the two of them had grown quite close.
Dæmon already regarded him as a genuine friend and had no intention of harming him.
Dæmon checked his remaining points.
[Demon Points: 200] “I’m back to only two hundred points.” He sighed.
“Devil Fruits aren’t easy to obtain.
I’ll have to think of another method.” During the past two years, the other core members of the Rocks Pirates had each obtained a Devil Fruit and traded it to Dæmon for the Elixir of Immortality.
The points earned from those fruits had allowed Dæmon to create the doses he used on his monthly targets.
Now, however, every core member of the crew had become immortal.
Since they no longer needed his wine, they had also stopped searching for Devil Fruits on his behalf.
The Roger Pirates had not returned to Hachinosu either.
The last news Dæmon had heard about them came from the previous year, when they successfully reached Lodestar Island and caused a worldwide sensation.
“Forget it.
I’m already immortal, so there’s no reason to work myself to exhaustion.” Dæmon stretched lazily.
“I’ll visit Shakky’s tavern and have a drink.” There was no need for endless grinding.
Dæmon composed himself, left the basement, and began walking toward Shakky’s tavern.
After living on Hachinosu for two years, he had become thoroughly familiar with every street and building.
To be honest, he was beginning to grow tired of the island.
The Rocks Pirates occasionally sailed out to plunder other countries, but Dæmon rarely joined them.
He had no interest in participating in meaningless slaughter and destruction.
“Dæmon!” A familiar voice suddenly called from behind him.
Dæmon turned and saw Kaido hurrying toward him.
“What’s wrong?” Dæmon asked.
“I was about to get a drink.
Do you want to join me?” “I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” Kaido’s expression was unusually serious.
“Something major has happened.
Come with me!
Rocks is gathering the entire crew and preparing to sail for God Valley!” God Valley…
Dæmon froze.
The current year was 1484 of the Sea Calendar.
The legendary God Valley Incident was finally about to begin!
“What happened there?” “I don’t know.
Linlin only told me that Rocks had summoned everyone,” Kaido replied impatiently.
“Let’s head to the meeting place first.” Dæmon nodded.
The two immediately made their way toward the Skull Hotel.
When they entered the banquet hall on the highest floor, every core member of the Rocks Pirates was already present.
Rocks sat sprawled across a comfortable armchair, drinking directly from a bottle of wine.
“Dæmon, Kaido—you’ve finally arrived,” Stussy greeted them.
Kaido found an empty seat.
“Everyone is here now.
Can we begin?” All eyes turned toward their captain.
Rocks placed the bottle down and grinned.
“Dæmon, you’ll definitely be interested in this!” He rose from his chair and spread his arms.
“According to the intelligence I’ve received, the Celestial Dragons are gathering on God Valley for their hunting competition—the event they hold once every three years.” His grin widened.
“And the prizes for this year’s competition include six extremely powerful Devil Fruits!” Dæmon raised an eyebrow.
If he remembered correctly, one of those prizes was the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon.
Another was the Paw-Paw Fruit.
The identities of the remaining four fruits had never been revealed before Dæmon transmigrated, but they were probably just as valuable.
How many Demon Points would fruits of that level provide?
He did not necessarily need to devour them.
If Dæmon managed to seize a Devil Fruit that suited him, he would not mind eating it himself.
At that moment, Charlotte Linlin suddenly spoke.
“There’s something I’ve always wondered about.” Everyone turned toward her.
“We’re already immortal, aren’t we?” Linlin leaned forward, her eyes gleaming with curiosity.
“Normally, if someone who already possesses a Devil Fruit eats a second one, their body will explode and they’ll die.” “But since we can’t die, what would happen if one of us ate another Devil Fruit?” Her question struck everyone like a bolt of lightning.
The entire hall fell silent.
A moment later, numerous eager gazes turned toward Dæmon.
They all expected him to know the answer.
Dæmon was equally stunned.
How did I overlook something so obvious?
“Well?” Linlin asked eagerly.
“Can I eat another one?
I already possess the Soul-Soul Fruit, but I’d love to have a second ability!” “To be honest, I have no idea.” Dæmon shrugged.
“Why don’t one of you try it?
Just don’t blame me if you somehow die.” Captain John narrowed his eyes slyly.
“Why should any of us take the risk?
We can capture someone else and use them as a test subject.” Although they were immortal, none of them wanted to be the first person to test whether immortality could overcome the rule of Devil Fruits.
Shiki crossed his legs and considered the proposal.
“That experiment would be extremely expensive.
First, we would need to turn the test subject into an immortal.
Then we would have to feed them two Devil Fruits.” A serving of the Elixir of Immortality was worth one Devil Fruit.
That meant the experiment would require resources equivalent to three Devil Fruits in total.
Rocks laughed loudly and clenched one fist.
“We can discuss that after we obtain the prizes!” His gaze swept across the hall.
“Men, prepare yourselves!
We’re sailing for God Valley!” Then he looked directly at Dæmon.
“You’re joining us this time, aren’t you?” Dæmon knew that the original God Valley Incident had triggered the destruction of the Rocks Pirates.
However, history had already changed.
Every core member of the Rocks Pirates was now immortal.
Even if they suffered fatal injuries, they would regenerate.
This time, their defeat was far from guaranteed.
“Of course.” …
Before long, the entire Rocks Pirates crew gathered at the harbor.
They boarded Rocks’ Fury and set sail for God Valley.
As the legendary pirate ship moved away from Hachinosu, Ochoku stood drunkenly on the deck and scratched his head.
“By the way, where exactly is God Valley?” “The West Blue!”