Kairos Flint: "???"
He stared at the man in front of him with the same expression as an old man on the subway.
NEO Navy?
That didn't make sense. This couldn't be after the Summit War, because the Navy had only recruited Edward Weeble to fill the vacancy in the Shichibukai…
And then he stopped. Wait.
Morgans had mentioned it.
Recently, the one who had filled the vacant seat among the Warlords of the Sea was indeed Edward Weeble.
So… was that what led Zeffa to leave the Navy early and form the NEO Navy?
But something about that didn't add up.
Why did Edward Weeble get chosen as a Warlord so early? Was it because of his overwhelming strength?
Possibly. But in the New World, there were plenty of pirates who might not be as physically strong as Weeble but had much more fame. So the World Government shouldn't have based the selection solely on power.
Regardless, as Kairos looked at the guerrilla squad of the NEO Navy surrounding him, it was clear—speculation wasn't going to help right now.
The priority was dealing with the people standing in front of him.
"I still need to get to the Navy's G-2 Branch," Kairos said coolly. "Step aside now, and I'll spare your lives. Otherwise… you'll die here."
He looked straight at Shuzo as he spoke.
The NEO Navy wasn't his enemy.
From a purely logical standpoint, they simply saw him as a pirate. And perhaps because he'd destroyed the G-1 Branch, they had classified him as one of the Navy's 23 most wanted criminals.
Back then, he had been in direct conflict with the World Government and the Navy. Naturally, during that war, innocent lives might have been lost on their side.
But from his perspective, those were casualties of battle between enemies. It wasn't wrong.
Now things were different.
The NEO Navy had broken away from the World Government. Technically, they weren't enemies anymore.
So he didn't want to kill people who weren't his enemies.
However, if they insisted on becoming a problem, then…
He wouldn't hold back.
If they attacked him, that made them enemies. And he had no reason to show mercy.
"Alpagachino!" Shuzo shouted.
Next to him, an alpaca stepped forward, its red eyes gleaming. It opened its mouth toward Kairos.
Boom!!!
A cannonball, wrapped in Armament Haki, shot through the air straight toward Kairos.
LAN KICK!
Kairos casually raised a leg and kicked out.
His kick, imbued with Armament Haki, sent out a vacuum slash of compressed air.
It collided directly with the incoming cannonball.
BOOM!!!
The explosion lit up the sky, smoke hanging in the air for several seconds.
Kairos' expression darkened.
"So that's your answer."
Since they saw him as an enemy, he'd do the same.
"Nami. Vivi. These guys are enemies. Do it."
His voice was calm and cold.
"Attack!"
Shuzo gave the order on the other side.
The NEO Navy soldiers began to fire their muskets.
But the attack felt almost childish, like kids throwing punches at adults.
Nami and Vivi immediately entered combat mode. Nami, in Nine-Tails Mode, launched a mini Tailed Beast Bomb straight at the enemy submarine.
Vivi followed, unleashing a Gaia-powered bomb nearly two meters in diameter.
Uta unsheathed her black blade, Shusui, slicing out a wave of sword energy.
Robin activated her Hana Hana no Mi powers, forming a colossal, Haki-covered arm that slammed down like a giant's hand.
Rebecca charged into battle.
Even Perona used her ghost bombs to blow up a submarine.
And then there was Baby-5…
Well, there wasn't much to say. She was the weakest of the group and didn't even get a chance to act. Nami and the others had already sunk all the submarines.
Meanwhile, Kairos finally joined the fight.
Drawing his blade, he unleashed a slash infused with Conqueror's Haki.
It shot straight at Shuzo—so fast he couldn't dodge.
Armament Haki!
Harden!
Entangle!
Shuzo poured his Armament Haki into both arms, crossing them for defense.
"Six-Style Finger Guns: Double Gatling!"
He launched a flurry of blows to intercept Kairos' slash.
It was pointless.
SLASH!!!
Blood sprayed. Shuzo took a direct hit and was gravely wounded in an instant.
ROAR!!!
Kairos appeared beside him in a flash. One ice-infused slash later—
Shuzo was dead.
Kairos turned and delivered another strike, instantly killing the rocket launcher soldier who had eaten the Alpaca Devil Fruit.
Then, he leapt back aboard his ship.
On the way, he casually swung his sword at a submarine—not aiming to kill, but slicing it cleanly in two.
"Tell Zeffa," Kairos said to the stunned NEO Navy survivors, "if he's got time to watch me, he should spend it watching Edward Weeble. If he comes after me again, I'll personally destroy the NEO Navy he founded."
He waved to Nami and the others to leave the survivors alone.
They sailed away, and Kairos silently collected the rewards from the battle.
[Ding! Acquired:
Legendary Physique Crystal ×5
Legendary Soul Crystal ×3
Legendary Talent Crystal ×5
Legendary Physical Technique Crystal ×6
Legendary Armament Haki ×3
Legendary Observation Haki ×4
Legendary Six-Style: Shave & Paper Arts Crystals ×2
Legendary Zoan-Type Alpaca Fruit Crystal ×1
—all stored in Portable Space.]**
It was a huge haul.
Even though he hadn't killed many enemies, taking out just Shuzo had earned him a massive amount of ability crystals.
If a Vice Admiral dropped this many…
What would an Admiral drop?
The thought made Kairos raise an eyebrow with interest.
But more importantly, this time, he'd obtained a Devil Fruit Ability Crystal—and it was unexpected.
With that, he pulled out the following crystals:
Legendary Zoan-Type: Alpaca Fruit
Legendary Paramecia-Type: Board Fruit
Legendary Superhuman-Type Crystal
Three different Devil Fruit Ability Crystals.
And Kairos intended to synthesize them into something greater.
"Synthesize."
He closed his eyes, holding the crystals in both hands.
Golden Finger's synthesis ability activated.
He felt his stamina draining rapidly.
At this rate, even his Imperial Body's strength wasn't going to be enough to complete the process.
Still, it wasn't over yet. So he didn't panic.
When his stamina hit two-thirds, he quickly drank an Epic Physique Crystal.
The moment he drank it, his strength replenished. His body grew even stronger.
But this synthesis was clearly special.
It was consuming far more stamina than usual.
So Kairos popped another.
And then a third.
Three Epic Physique Crystals consumed in a row.
Finally—just as he was getting nervous—the synthesis process finished.
He opened his hand.
A crystal radiating multi-colored light lay in his palm.
There was no doubt—the level of this crystal exceeded Epic. It had reached Mythical.
Text began to appear before his eyes:
[Mythical Zoan-Type Alpaca Fruit: Arceus Form Crystal – Creator God of the Pokémon World]
An extremely rare Zoan-type Devil Fruit. Upon consumption, the user transforms into Arceus, the Creator God from the Pokémon universe.
Allows absorption of other ability crystals to generate elemental plates.
Boosts Devil Fruit evolution potential.
All traditional Devil Fruit side effects are removed.
Crystals can be used for further synthesis.
(Evolvable Special Devil Fruit Ability Crystal)
Kairos' eyes widened with excitement.
Evolvable.
This was exactly the kind of Devil Fruit he had been hoping for.