The moment Rocks laid eyes on Kaito, he tried to use his teleportation ability to escape again—but to his horror, he realized his power no longer worked!
Kaito casually tossed a round, purple Devil Fruit in his hand, the surface patterned with jagged lines. It was none other than the Munch-Munch Fruit, Rocks' own ability.
Rocks stared in disbelief at the fruit in Kaito's hand. Suddenly, he clutched his stomach and fell to his knees. After a few dry heaves, he began vomiting up several living, breathing people.
These were all Devil Fruit users he had once devoured. From Dalton, who came out first, all the way to Marco, who was the last—each one was spat out, unconscious but alive.
Though being swallowed by the Munch-Munch Fruit didn't kill them, it clearly wasn't a pleasant experience either.
Rocks gasped for air, his breath ragged and uneven. He looked weakly up at Kaito and croaked,
"When... when did this happen? How did my Devil Fruit get... extracted?"
Kaito ignored him for the moment, glancing instead at the Devil Fruit users lying unconscious on the ground.
These were familiar faces. The original owner of the Warp-Warp Fruit had been Van Augur, whom Kaito had killed long ago. Its current user was Caribou's idiot younger brother, Coribou.
When Rocks ran into those two brothers, he'd really hit the jackpot. Two for the price of one—both the Swamp-Swamp Fruit and the Warp-Warp Fruit were top-tier. It was no wonder Rocks' power had skyrocketed in a single stroke.
Kaito cast the Caribou brothers a cold glance. In the next instant, both men exploded into twin clouds of blood mist while still unconscious. Their Devil Fruits were neatly collected and absorbed into Kaito's Door Space.
Rocks watched, eyes wide, as Kaito harvested the fruits he had painstakingly gathered. His heart felt as though it were bleeding.
Nearby, Alvida had already been scared witless. She let out a shrill scream and turned to bolt for the door.
But before she could take more than two steps, Kaito pulled her back in effortlessly, his hand wrapping around her throat.
A faintly amused smile curved across Kaito's lips as he looked at her terrified, pretty face.
"Alvida," he said lightly, "you've got some nerve. You've been doing quite well for yourself in the Rocks Pirates. I heard you even claimed you'd personally kill Hancock?"
Alvida shook her head frantically, her voice breaking as she shouted,
"No, no, no! You're mistaken, my king! I never wanted to kill the Empress—it was Rocks! He wanted the Empress's fruit! I was just the messenger!"
Rocks' expression darkened. That woman had clearly been the one who'd egged him on to go after Hancock in the first place. Alvida always fancied herself the most beautiful woman in the world, and her jealousy toward the "World's Most Beautiful Woman"—Boa Hancock—was boundless.
Still, Rocks didn't bother arguing. He let Alvida continue throwing him.
Kaito was growing impatient. Though Alvida looked rather alluring in her current form, he knew perfectly well what she used to look like.
With a mere thought, he extracted the Smooth-Smooth Fruit from her body. Instantly, Alvida's appearance reverted to her original form—a bloated woman with a face full of fat, her body even larger than Rocks'.
Feeling the change, Alvida screamed in horror.
"No!!!"
"Urgh!"
Rocks gagged and suddenly vomited again—this time it was a half-digested cherry pie.
Kaito raised an eyebrow, glancing at him in confusion.
Rocks' face had turned green. Looking at Alvida's current form reminded him of... certain past encounters, and he couldn't hold it together anymore.
To be honest, he now wanted nothing more than to strangle her himself.
Alvida, meanwhile, was still thrashing in Kaito's grip. Now that she'd reverted to her true form, her neck had thickened, making it harder for him to choke her with one hand.
So Kaito simply squeezed harder. Her head tilted at a sharp angle, and she went limp.
Tossing the corpse aside, Kaito walked over to Rocks, looking down at him with calm indifference.
"You're already an old relic," he said coldly. "Why crawl out of the grave to cause trouble again?"
Rocks lowered his head and asked,
"Where's Aramaki now?"
"You mean him? Don't worry," Kaito replied. "You'll be seeing him soon enough."
"So he's already dead by your hand... heh, you move fast, don't you... Go to hell!"
Rocks suddenly surged to his feet, a fist wrapped in Conqueror's Haki flying straight for Kaito's face.
BOOM!
The blast of his punch shook the entire room, spiderweb cracks spreading across the walls. The whole building looked ready to collapse.
But then Rocks froze. His fist had stopped right against Kaito's forehead, unable to move an inch.
"You..." Rocks whispered in disbelief. "Are you even human?"
Kaito smiled faintly.
"Not a bad punch. But the power's a little lacking. Here—try mine."
He drove his fist straight into Rocks' abdomen with a simple, unremarkable strike.
Pffft!
Rocks' eyes bulged wide. He looked down to see Kaito's fist buried deep through his stomach. Blood foamed from his lips as he gasped for air.
He could feel his organs rupturing—shattered beyond repair. Even Blackbeard's unique body couldn't save him now.
A bitter smile crossed Rocks' face as he murmured,
"Never thought... I, Rocks... would..."
Before he could finish, Kaito yanked his hand free. The blood clinging to his fist evaporated instantly.
"Still running your mouth when you're already dying," Kaito said flatly.
Thud!
Rocks' eyes glazed over. He fell to his knees, then collapsed face-first onto the floor.
Kaito didn't even glance at the corpse. He turned instead toward Marco, gave him a light kick, and said,
"If you're awake, get up."
Marco's body twitched before he slowly rose to his feet.
As a user of the Phoenix Fruit, he had already regained consciousness back when Kaito killed Alvida. But his mind had still been dazed, so he'd stayed down to assess the situation.
Things had unfolded too quickly. He never imagined that the monstrous Rocks would be defeated by Kaito in less than a single exchange.
Marco stared at Kaito, the man who had killed his father—his expression a complex mix of hatred, gratitude, and resignation.
By all rights, he should have fought Kaito to the death and gone to join Whitebeard.
But doing that would only betray his father's final wish. In that, Marco was far stronger than Ace had ever been.
And truth be told, this wasn't even the first time Kaito had saved him. This was the second.
If Kaito had wanted him dead, he'd already be nothing but dust in the air—just like the Caribou brothers.
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