Flap-flap-flap…
"Hmm~ This place~ is so gloomy~ and creepy~"
Borsalino raised a hand to shield his eyes as he looked up at the sky, where swarms of bats flew across the darkened clouds. The sunlight had long since vanished.
"Huh~ but it's not even evening yet~"
"Ara ara… wasn't the intel saying that the old man's been frequenting places like this lately?"
Aokiji yawned. Ever since Wright had risen to power, the Admiral known for his "Lazy Justice" had actually become… just a little more diligent.
Still…
"This kind of weather… really makes me want to nap…"
Smoker twitched at the corner of his mouth. Seriously, was it a requirement for Admirals to have such weird personalities?
"Tanuki, what exactly is Redfield looking for?"
Smoker turned to the creature perched on his shoulder. Pato frowned slightly, uncertain.
"Boss said… he's looking for a Devil Fruit, but what kind, I'm not sure..."
"A Devil Fruit?"
Smoker thought back. Patrick Redfield was indeed not a Devil Fruit user. Was he now seeking one to increase his strength?
"What kind of Devil Fruit could make a man like him search relentlessly for two whole years?"
Aokiji furrowed his brow.
"The old man already stood among the world's top-tier fighters without a Devil Fruit. If he's deliberately trying to acquire one, then it must be something… truly extraordinary."
"Mmm~ he's investigated so many~ ancient ruins, could it be~ that this Fruit~ is from a bygone era?"
Borsalino pouted slightly.
"Devil Fruits taste awful to begin with~ this one~ probably tastes even worse~"
"Ah… that might be true, but… who cares about the taste?"
A sinister voice echoed out. Borsalino, Aokiji, Smoker, and Pato looked up. At the very top of the ruins stood the unmistakable figure of Patrick Redfield.
"Old man~ you move pretty fast~"
As one of the fastest Devil Fruit users, Borsalino narrowed his eyes. Yet Redfield's speed… had rivaled his own. And he didn't even have a Devil Fruit.
"Old man… unless my eyes deceive me, are you really stooping to something as low as kidnapping now?"
Aokiji's expression turned cold. His gaze locked on Redfield—at the man's feet lay a young, unconscious civilian girl.
"Boss!"
Pato leapt from Smoker's shoulder and ran toward Redfield.
"Boss, we've been together for so long, being apart isn't an option!"
"I… I have to be the one by your side! I want to help you!"
Climbing the crumbled stone steps, Pato fell to his knees and bowed deeply before Redfield.
"Please, Boss! Let me stay with you!"
Redfield gazed silently at Pato, then down at the three Marines below, his expression unreadable.
"To become Pirate King… one must possess unshakable resolve."
"Ever since returning from the war at Marineford, I came to understand something… Even a man as mighty as Edward Newgate—what did he amount to in the end…?"
"Family, comrades, bonds? Hmph… what a pity. The man closest to becoming the Pirate King—an entire era's symbol—was shackled and slain at Marineford over such meaningless sentiment."
"I watched him die. I heard him cry out that he had no regrets… Heh, of course. He was never the kind of man who sought the title of Pirate King to begin with."
"And that… proves my point. To become Pirate King, emotions like that are the greatest weakness."
Redfield slowly turned, revealing a Devil Fruit in his hand—deep purple in color, veined with eerie, intricate patterns.
"You've already found it?"
Smoker muttered, "...What kind of Fruit is that?"
"Curious, aren't you? I've searched for it so long… and luck truly favors me. To think I'd find such an exceptional… ah, top-tier archaeologist…"
Redfield's lips curled into a wicked smile.
"Whitebeard—Edward Newgate. The Golden Lion—Shiki. Sengoku the Buddha. Garp the Hero. Zephyr the Black Arm..."
"Those legends ruled during the peak of the Great Pirate Era. But they're all past their prime."
"If I'm to surpass them… then I must be prepared to cast aside everything. Naïveté. Sympathy. Every last bond."
"Pato… I'll admit it. Keeping you around all this time, even now, has been my own weakness."
"Boss!"
Tears welled up in Padto's eyes, but Redfield raised the Devil Fruit before him.
"Abandoning innocence. Discarding sympathy. And at last… casting you aside."
"I have finally obtained this—Bat-Bat Fruit, Mythical Zoan Type: Vampire Form!"
"What?!"
Aokiji, Borsalino, and Smoker all stiffened—a vampire?
Redfield bit into the Fruit, devouring it in one swift motion before tossing away the rest. He closed his eyes, letting the strange sensations flood his body, a twisted grin creeping across his face.
"At last, I become… the undying vampire."
"And now… it's time to cast aside the final thing."
"Stop!"
Smoker shouted, but Redfield vanished—reappearing right beside Pato. With a cold, merciless kick—
"Ah!"
Pato's wide, disbelieving eyes lost all light. Redfield's face showed only the cruel indifference that followed his earlier smile.
"That… is what it means to be human."
BOOM—
Pato flew through the air, crashing into the ancient stone walls. At the same time, Redfield dissolved into a wave of blood-red mist, dodging both Borsalino's lasers and Aokiji's ice spikes.
"Hehehe… Kidnapping? Foolish boy. To me, this is simply… feeding."
He reappeared in a burst of crimson. The unconscious girl was now in his arms.
Redfield's wicked grin turned monstrous. His canines elongated, fangs glistening as he lowered his mouth toward the girl's pale neck.
"You bastard!"
Aokiji's eyes burned with a rare, white-hot rage. It had been a long time since he'd felt this—perhaps not since Ohara.
He leapt forward, both hands coated in surging frost.
"Ice Time Capsule!"
A storm of glacial energy surged toward Redfield—but Borsalino's laser was faster.
"So~ you really have a death wish, old man~"
BOOM—
An enormous explosion erupted in the distance. But neither the ice nor the laser hit their mark. Redfield had become a crimson blur again—vanishing faster than ever before.
Smoker rushed to Pato and then toward the girl—only to recoil in shock. The once-youthful girl was now white-haired and wrinkled, her youth drained away in an instant.
"What… did you do to her?!"
Smoker's shout was drowned out by a surge of intense blood-red light. Aokiji and Borsalino turned grimly toward its source.
As the light faded, Redfield's new form emerged.
His knees bent backward, arms now twisted into claw-like talons, chest bare and brimming with power. Most horrifying of all—
His once-grey hair and beard had turned a deep, glowing blood red.
Long, bat-like ears stretched from his skull, and his face now bore a mask-like transformation.
"This is…"
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