"Seastone…"
Hearing Darren's almost casual reassurance, Dragon could only let out a wry smile.
Seastone was essentially solidified seawater, only far more potent. It didn't just nullify Devil Fruit abilities and prevent their activation—it could temporarily drag even the mightiest user down to the level of an ordinary human, sealing their powers completely.
But its suppressive effect differed from person to person.
Some people collapsed the instant they touched it, while others could still move around in Seastone shackles, functioning almost like regular humans.
Back at the Marine Academy, they'd all been forced to undergo Seastone resistance training.
Most cadets learned to walk and even fight in shackles, though their combat power dropped sharply.
Darren, however, had always been a monster. He'd once hacked his way out of Kaido's dungeon while fully shackled in Seastone; his resistance to the stuff had been pushed to the limit long ago. At this point, wearing Seastone was practically a joke to him.
If Darren could withstand it to that degree… what about the Gorosei, who had been alive for who knew how many centuries?
Dragon mulled it over. Darren was right—this was at least a possible breakthrough.
If Seastone could seal their Devil Fruit abilities, wouldn't that, in theory, strip away their "immortality" as well?
Actually getting Seastone restraints onto them, though… that was a different problem entirely.
But at least they finally had a direction to work toward.
They had only really stepped into the spotlight in the last few years. Hoping to unravel the World Government's eight-hundred-year-old secrets with just a few months of scrambling was laughably unrealistic.
The fact that Darren had managed to temporarily cow the World Government with schemes and blitz attacks was already nothing short of a miracle.
"What's your next move?" Dragon asked after a moment, his tone grave. "The death of the Commander of the Knights of God isn't something they'll overlook."
His gaze swept over the ruined island, now split cleanly in two, and the corner of his mouth twitched.
The Commander of the Knights of God, two of his elite subordinates, three high-ranking CP0 agents, and over a hundred of the Government's elite troops… such a fearsome force, completely wiped out in less than half a day.
Dragon could already imagine the kind of storm this would trigger in the Holy Land of Mary Geoise.
"What else is there to do? Killing one Celestial Dragon is the same as killing a hundred," Darren said with a lazy grin.
Dragon stared at Darren's roguish, devil-may-care expression, his own lips twitching.
He didn't realize that Darren's "indifference" wasn't for show.
Back when he'd slaughtered Shaldes, that bloated Celestial Dragon pig, his Conqueror's Haki had awakened outright.
But after killing the self-proclaimed "strongest" Commander of the Knights of God, his Conqueror's Haki hadn't budged in the slightest.
That alone proved one thing clearly enough to Darren:
He didn't consider these so-called "divine bloodlines" worth anything at all.
"My injuries are too severe. I need a few days to rest," Darren said, exhaling a foul breath as he patted the dust off his pants and slowly pushed himself to his feet.
A few days…?
Dragon stared at his body—riddled with horrifying wounds, his frame gaunt and dried-out—and couldn't even find the heart to scold him.
"…Why don't you come back with me?" Dragon suggested.
"The farther you are from the North Blue right now, the safer you'll be. Our Freedom Fighters' headquarters may not be as luxurious as your North Blue fortress, but it's quiet—good for recovery. And Ivan's abilities can help speed up your healing too."
He hesitated, then added in a softer tone:
"Besides… Kuma and Ginny will definitely want to thank you in person."
If it had been anyone else, Dragon would never have risked bringing them to the Freedom Fighters' headquarters.
But Darren was different.
This guy was already the Freedom Fighters' biggest debtor—no, investor. And this time, he'd personally come to pull them out of the fire. Dragon would never say it out loud, but deep down, his gratitude toward Darren was overflowing.
"Baltigo's not a bad choice," Darren said with a grin. "But before that, I want to swing by Wano."
"Wano Country?" Dragon blinked. "You're going to see Kaido?"
Suspicion flickered in his eyes. "Darren… you haven't actually teamed up with Kaido, have you?"
"Listen. No matter how bad things get, you cannot become a pirate. That's the line."
Darren rolled his eyes. "What the hell is going on in that head of yours?"
He jabbed a finger at his own face. "Do I look like a pirate to you?"
Dragon studied his arrogant, vicious face for two seconds, then nodded solemnly. "You look exactly like a pirate."
Darren: "..."
He jerked his thumb toward the Celestial Dragon's corpse floating in the sea. "Professional work should be left to professionals."
---
The New World — Wano Country.
Even after Onigashima's shattered mass had been forced back together, the horrific crack rending the island remained, enough to send a chill down the spines of any Beast Pirate patrolling the floating stronghold.
Amid the ruins, reconstruction of the research facility was underway.
"So you're telling me that guy Darren came here to ask for the latest virus you cooked up?"
Inside a temporary laboratory, Kaido frowned at the rows of eerie, luminescent test tubes, then turned to Queen, who was fiddling with his goggles.
The fat man in overalls and a lab coat nodded vigorously.
"That's right, Boss Kaido! Darren's gone completely insane!"
"He snatched my virus right out of my hands and downed it in one go! He wanted to use the immunogenic stimulation to push his body to the brink, forcing it to adapt and grow even stronger."
"He even threatened me into working for him, demanding I develop an even more powerful virus!"
"But how could I do that?! How could I?!"
Queen flailed his chunky arms in righteous outrage.
"I'm a proud member of the Beasts Pirates! That Rogers Darren is my sworn enemy!"
"Even if it kills me, I—Queen—would never work for him!"
Kaido had already tuned out most of the blustering.
He fell silent, slipping into thought.
That brat Darren… looks like he's already trying to probe the Gorosei's weaknesses.
Seeing Kaido say nothing, Queen's eyes darted nervously, then he forced a fawning grin and edged closer.
"Uh… Boss Kaido, can I ask you for a favor?"
"What is it?" Kaido shot him a sideways glance.
"My virus research has hit a bottleneck," Queen said carefully. "So I was thinking, um… Boss Kaido, would you be willing to be my test subject?"
"You got a death wish?" Kaido's glare flared like a raging inferno.
Queen shrank back instantly.
"…Darren's being so proactive, though…" he muttered under his breath.
The next second, a bolt of thunder ripped through the temporary research facility.
"Thunder Bagua!!!"
To be continued...