"Hm?"
Kane Uchiha suddenly halted the Hungry Ghost Path. The energy he was draining didn't feel quite right. The result wasn't what he had expected at all.
In Naruto, the Hungry Ghost Path could absorb chakra the life energy that powered all ninjutsu. In this world, Kane had assumed the same rule would apply. Chakra, after all, was simply energy. Here, that would translate to Haki and the natural vitality that existed within the body.
Yet what he'd just absorbed felt incomplete. It lacked the essence he was seeking.
The Devil Fruit's power had been the core of Brand's strength. It required stamina and willpower to use, yes but when Kane drained his energy, he hadn't felt that special, otherworldly force that defined a Devil Fruit ability.
Strange, he thought. If it doesn't come from the body… then where does it come from?
His mind raced through possibilities.
Energy, stamina, Haki none of them explain it. Then perhaps… it isn't physical at all.
His eyes brightened. "Of course. The soul. Aside from the body, what else could hold such power?"
Once the idea formed, Kane acted without hesitation.
The ability suited for dealing with the soul was another of the Rinnegan's Six Paths the Human Path. He lifted Brand's limp body by the collar and pressed his other hand onto the pirate's head.
A faint shimmer rippled across the air. Kane's hand sank slightly into Brand's skull as if the flesh had turned to mist. Then, slowly, he drew upward, fingers closing around something unseen.
Brand's eyes rolled in terror as his body trembled uncontrollably. He could still see, still feel, but his body no longer obeyed him. From his head, Kane pulled forth a faintly glowing, violet humanoid silhouette his soul.
Through the Rinnegan, Kane could see it clearly: at the soul's heart pulsed a writhing mass of black energy.
"There it is," Kane murmured.
He activated the Hungry Ghost Path once more. The black energy within the soul twisted violently, struggling to escape, but the Rinnegan's suction force was absolute. In moments, the energy was pulled free and absorbed into Kane's body.
The instant it entered him, Kane felt it a foreign but powerful energy merging with his essence. It raced through his veins, gathering in his head before surging into his eyes. A heat flared in his vision, and his right eye's rings pulsed with an eerie light.
A new pattern formed one dark, teardrop-shaped magatama at the edge of his Rinnegan.
He blinked, then conjured a small, reflective water screen in the air using Water Release. Gazing at his reflection, a slow grin spread across his face.
"So this is it… the Magatama Rinnegan. Just like Sasuke's though I only have one magatama so far."
Excitement burned in his chest. He hadn't expected this. By absorbing the essence of a Devil Fruit, his Rinnegan had evolved. And so easily, too.
He began to calculate. "If one Rinnegan can hold six magatama, and I have two eyes… that means twelve in total. Twelve Devil Fruits."
A thrill coursed through him. For the first time since arriving in this world, he could see the path ahead clear and within reach. Each magatama was a step toward the power of a Sage of Six Paths.
Reaching forward, he sliced the air with his hand. A glowing doorway appeared instantly before him. Kane nodded in satisfaction.
"So even the Door-Door ability is mine now," he mused. "Looks like Blackbeard's little trick won't be unique anymore. I can do everything he can only better."
The battle had yielded far more than he expected, but as he looked down at Brand's lifeless body dangling from his hand, his enthusiasm dimmed slightly.
With his soul torn out, Brand's eyes were empty white and void of all consciousness. There wasn't a shred of life left in him.
Kane tossed the corpse aside like a piece of refuse. It hit the ground with a wet thud, leaving behind a human-shaped crater.
He glanced at it briefly. "Well, at least he was sturdier than the others," he muttered dryly.
From the first clash to Brand's death, less than five minutes had passed. The pirates below had barely processed what had happened before realizing their captain was gone reduced to pulp on the dirt.
A heavy silence hung in the air.
Then someone finally broke it. "R-run… run for your lives!"
"Monster! He's a demon!"
"How can he use the captain's ability too?!"
"Who cares?! You stay and find out I'm getting out of here!"
Panic consumed them. The entire crew scattered like headless chickens, tripping over one another in their desperate flight.
"Tch. Pathetic," Kane muttered. "You call yourselves pirates?"
The sight disgusted him. He sighed and raised his hands in a seal. "Fine. I'll just clean up the mess."
A deep breath. His lungs filled with heat, and then
"Fire Release: Majestic Destroyer Flame!"
A torrent of fire erupted from his mouth, sweeping across the clearing in a roaring inferno. Flames surged outward, devouring everything in their path the trees, the soil, and every fleeing pirate.
Screams echoed through the blaze.
"It's fire! Fire!"
"Help me! It burns it burns!"
"This can't be real! Somebody wake me up!"
"Please, I'll serve you! I'll be your loyal dog! Just let me live!"
"Haha! So this is how the Brand Pirates end surviving the Grand Line only to die in the weakest sea! Ha ha ha!"
The sounds of agony, pleading, and madness tangled together in a horrifying symphony, rising and fading through the flames.
Kane frowned. "Too noisy."
He intensified the jutsu. The fire roared louder, hotter. Within seconds, silence fell. Nothing remained but blackened, smoldering shapes human silhouettes turned to charcoal.
Kane descended slowly, surveying the aftermath. "Let's tidy up."
He closed his hand. The charred remains rose from the ground, drawn together by an unseen force. The ashes compressed, forming into a single dark sphere of condensed matter.
Brand's body, still recognizable, he left separate. "A captain deserves a little distinction," he murmured.
Satisfied, he opened a Door-Door portal and swept all the remains the "spoils of war," as he called them inside. Then, with a flick of his wrist, he tore down the pirate flag fluttering above the smoldering ship.
"Can't leave loose ends."
He ignited another stream of fire. The ship went up in flames, collapsing into the sea in a cascade of smoke and embers.
When the last of it sank beneath the waves, Kane stood alone on the scorched island, gazing at the horizon.
"Let's see if this will be enough to catch the Navy's attention," he said quietly.
Then, without another glance, he turned and stepped through a portal, vanishing from the island that had burned for him alone.