Previously, to integrate this black panther as one of the shikigami in his Ten Shadows technique, he had to replace the toads to make room for "Kuro Hyou."
However, it's worth noting that the toads didn't disappear from his Ten Shadows technique; they simply remained in his inventory, so to speak.
Imagine it as a game, specifically Minecraft. You carry hundreds of items in your backpack, but only those in your quick access bar are usable.
The quick access bar would represent the shikigami you can use, and the backpack would represent the domain expansion. If you wanted to summon the toads, you would have to expand the domain and use them from there.
But once the domain dissipates, you can't use them; only the shikigami in your quick access inventory are usable without the domain.
Rody discovered that the Ten Shadows technique had a limit on the number of shikigami he could use: ten by default. However, using this method, he could switch between them. Of course, to do so, he would have to open the domain, which was quite cumbersome.
Unless he found a way to evolve the Ten Shadows technique, this pattern wouldn't change.
But anyway, Rody had no intention of replacing any other shikigami as he had the toad, or at least not the Divine General Mahoraga, Nue, the Funeral Tiger, the Great Serpent, the Round Deer, and the Supreme Elephant. These were irreplaceable, no matter what.
Rody stopped thinking about it and stepped on the man in green's chest.
"Kughhhhh!" The man in green, with hundreds of broken bones, groaned in pain as he felt the pressure on his chest and awoke with a start, emerging from his unconsciousness.
"Sir... Sir Dalton!"
The villagers exclaimed upon seeing the man in green's battered state. They wanted to rescue him, but Rody's murderous aura and what had happened earlier prevented them from moving. Besides, that terrifying panther was still there, so they couldn't even take a step.
Dalton endured the intense pain and said to Rody with difficulty, "What are you doing here, on Drum Island? What... what is your... your objective?"
"Cough, cough, cough!" After saying this, Dalton, due to the pain and his broken bones, felt as if with each word he was losing his breath. In the end, he couldn't stop himself from coughing and spitting out another mouthful of blood.
"Tell me where the king of your island is. As for my purpose, you don't need to know." Rody shoved his hands in his pockets and glared at Dalton with a cold expression.
"No... No, if you want to see the King of Wapol, you must tell me your purpose. Otherwise, I won't take you there under any circumstances," Dalton said, looking at Rody as if his life meant nothing to him.
"Bastard! Do you think I'm asking you for a favor? Since you want to die, let me grant it to you!" Seeing Dalton's eyes, Rody knew this guy wouldn't say a word, no matter how much he tortured him, so he simply didn't try to persuade him; he was too lazy for that. Rody took a hand out of his pocket and prepared to kill Dalton.
He also wanted to test a method he had devised long ago to retrieve Devil Fruits from those users.
He had wanted to try it for a long time, but there wasn't a test subject available. Now that this Dalton fellow had come to his doorstep to die, what better test subject could there be? Even though that bison-type Zoan was trash, it was enough to be his test subject.
"Wait a moment!"
"Just a moment, please, Mr. Rody!"
Two urgent voices rang out in unison. Rody glanced to his side and glimpsed the owners of those voices.
He recognized Vivi, and the other was a tall, thin old woman who had just arrived and was approaching him, holding and drinking from a bottle of wine.
Rody noticed that the old woman was wearing clothes that were far too extravagant and inappropriate for her age, which made him frown.
...
Nami saw that Vivi was staring intently at Dalton with a serious expression, as if she knew who he was. Unable to contain her curiosity, she asked, "Vivi-chan, do you know him?"
Vivi thought for a moment and nodded. "It sounds vaguely familiar. I remember seeing it as a child," she replied, resting her chin on her palm, trying to recall where she had seen this man/bison.
The villagers, seeing the old woman approach Rody, recognized her at a glance, and the next moment they screamed in panic.
"It's the witch of the forest, Dr. Kureha!"
"Dr. Kureha, don't come!"
"Dr. Kureha, please leave immediately! You're the only doctor practicing on the island. Whatever happens to us, nothing should happen to you. It's too dangerous here, please leave!"
Judging by the voices of the Drum Island residents, they were even more terrified than when the black panther brutally attacked Dalton. This demonstrates Dr. Kureha's importance. It's no exaggeration to say that, judging by the voices of these villagers, Dr. Kureha's life is worth more than that of Dalton, a Devil Fruit user.
"Shut up, you idiots, listen to me! Even though I'm the only doctor allowed to practice on this island, I'm free and I owe nothing to anyone. I can do whatever I want," Dr. Kureha said, taking a sip of the wine in her hand and shouting furiously at the Drum Island residents.
"Uh... uh... Doctor..." The Drum Island residents were immediately intimidated by Dr. Kureha's violent aura and didn't dare say anything more.
"Hey, old lady, you've got a lot of energy!" "You don't look old at all," said Bumblebee, surprised to see the energetic and grumpy Dr. Kureha.
"Hey... hehehe, although I don't know what species you are, would you like to know my secret to eternal youth?" asked Dr. Kureha with a smile.
"Ah, I don't need it. I'm only a little over 200 years old and I'm still very young," said Bee, making a dismissive gesture with his hands as if that recipe for youth meant nothing to him.
"Huh? 200 years old? You look older than me. By the way, I'm 139 years old and I'm not an old lady, I'm still a young thing, can't you see?... hehehe," exclaimed the eccentric doctor, taking a swig from her bottle of wine.
"What do you mean, 139 years old?" Nami, Carmen, and the other women stared at Dr. Kureha in astonishment, even a touch of longing.
"Grandma Dr. Kureha, are you really 139 years old? I can't believe it! If you hadn't told us, we wouldn't have guessed!"
"How rude! How dare you call me 'grandma'? I'm a young, unmarried, and noble lady. Besides, isn't there a two-hundred-year-old monster right here with you?" Dr. Kureha said with disgust, glancing at Bee out of the corner of her eye.
"Hmph, old woman! Who are you calling an old monster?" Bee exclaimed irritably, pointing at Dr. Kureha.
"Bee, shut up!" Nami hit Bee with a stick, sending him flying, and approached Dr. Kureha, her eyes flashing.
...
Bee got up from the snow and rubbed his headlight, muttering under his breath,
"The Captain's wife is so scary!"
"Miss Dr. Kureha, this Bumblebee fellow is a motorcycle of a rare breed. He's different from us. His lifespan is similar to that of giants and is very long, so it doesn't surprise us, but you? You're the complete opposite, aren't you?" "You're human, but you've lived 129 years! What's your secret?" Nami asked, her eyes wide with Bailey's.
"Hahaha. If I get my hands on that recipe, it'll be a bargain, right?" Nami thought.
"Hahaha, I see you have good eyesight, huh? Want to know my secret?" "—asked Dr. Kureha in a seductive voice, making Nami nod like a chicken pecking at rice.
Vivi and Carmen swallowed hard and strained to listen attentively, not wanting to miss a single word from that eccentric old woman.
"My secret secret is…!"
"—Cough, cough. Hello, my name is Sebas Tian, and I'm Lord Rody's butler. Lord Rody and everyone on board are quite young, so for now, they don't need your secret to staying young. But I'm not young anymore. If Miss Kureha really does have a secret to staying young, please don't hesitate to tell me. If Miss Kureha needs anything, I'll gladly provide it." "—I'm not asking to live with the same energy and vitality as Miss Kureha, I'm just asking to live a few more years so I can dedicate more time to serving Lord Rody. Please!" "—" Sebas Tian said sincerely as he looked at Dr. Kureha
... Sebas Tian, an elderly man, interrupted Dr. Kureha, fearing that his secret would only be shared with Nami and the other girls. Even though they glared at him, he remained unfazed and decided to interrupt.
"Listen... hehehe, of course I can tell you the secret to living so long, but Captain Rody, would you be so kind as to spare Dalton's life?" "I'll take you all to Wapol Castle, what do you think?" Dr. Kuleha looked at Rody with a smile.
"Dr. Kuleha, you…" Dalton glared at Dr. Kuleha and wanted to say something, but she glared at him. At that moment, Rody stepped on his chest harder, making him spit blood again and interrupting him.
Seeing that old woman, who, despite being over a hundred years old, still dressed with such style and was quite eccentric, Rody laughed and said, "Haha, you're very interesting. You're over a hundred years old, but you still have a great personality. You're not like those old folks who seem to want to live in retirement forever, without energy—you asked for it that way."
BAM!
Rody kicked Dalton hard, sending him flying and breaking more bones. Dalton lost consciousness again after the impact.
"Hahaha... How rude! I told you clearly that I'm a lady."
Sakura Kingdom Castle, Drum Island.
The Sakura Kingdom wasn't always called that; it was once known as the Drum Kingdom. Before becoming the Sakura Kingdom, the Drum Kingdom boasted the best doctors on the Grand Line. But when the king died and his son Wapol ascended to power, things took a turn for the worse.
Wapol immediately issued a royal decree forcing the island's twenty best doctors to work exclusively for him, while the rest were either expelled or killed.
It was at that moment that the island with the best doctors in the world began its decline. The cold, the shortage of doctors, the high taxes, and the king's tyranny plunged the kingdom into misery.
Seated on the luxurious throne was a fat, ugly man with purple hair and an enormous mouth.
This man was Wapol, the king of the Sakura Kingdom. At that moment, Wapol grinned as he ate nonstop:
"Muahahaha!" "Yes, I just thought of a very interesting law. Would you like to hear it?!" Wapol asked his subordinate.
Beneath the throne, a nobleman from the Sakura Kingdom, Cro-Malimon, sporting an afro, congratulated him and replied, "King Wapol, have you had another brilliant idea? As always, King Wapol invents fantastic laws. It's amazing, please speak!"
"Muahaha, you can finally speak properly! The new law I just came up with is…" Just as Wapol was about to tell his subordinate about the new law he had just created, a soldier from the kingdom burst into the conference room in a panic.
"Report… Report, King Wapol, news has just arrived that Rody the Assassin, whose bounty is 50 million Baileys, has landed on Drum Island and is heading for the Kingdom Castle. He's almost there," the soldier informed Wapol, still panicking.
"Um... um... what... what should we do? I've heard about this man. They say he's killed tens of thousands of people without hesitation. Wherever he goes, he kills everything in his path. He's a bloodthirsty monster. He's about to reach my castle. You'd better think of a damn solution fast!" Wapol exclaimed, looking at his subordinate Cro-Malimon, his eyes bloodshot and panting like a bull in heat.
"King Wapol, Rody the Killer is almost at Drum Castle." "So we can't escape no matter what we do."
"Knowing this, I've thought of a way, but I don't know if it will work," Cro-Malimon said gravely.
"Tell me... tell me," Wapol said quickly, his voice trembling, on the verge of tears of despair.