A few minutes later, with Captain John and Silver Axe urging him on, Slardar ferried the two across the water to the treasure's hiding place only to find Kaidō and a handful of survivors already waiting on a cliff ledge, craning their necks toward the sea.
"Eh?!"
"Captain John!"
"Silver Axe!"
Kaidō's eyes went wide with surprise and relief. Then he clocked the figure traveling with them.
"Nani?!"
That sea monster from before was now… with John? Weren't they just trying to kill each other?
His shout drew John and Silver Axe's eyes at once.
"Kaidō?!"
"It really is Kaidō!"
Clamping John under one arm and Silver Axe under the other, Slardar surged through the waves and scaled the cliff. Up close, Kaidō barked, furious, "Sea-devil! Put them down!"
"It's a misunderstanding Slardar isn't the enemy," John said quickly. Of course Kaidō would think they'd been taken hostage.
Once everyone was on the ledge, Kaidō eyed John and Silver Axe's battered armor and split lips. "You were so banged up, I thought he'd nabbed you both."
John rattled off what had happened how they'd fought the gorgon-haired siren, how Slardar had turned up, and why he'd saved them. Then he turned, barely hiding his impatience. "Slardar, where exactly is the treasure?"
"Right beneath that stretch of water." Slardar pointed below the cliff.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Silver Axe chimed in. "We grab it, regroup with Ares, find Riku Yo and get the hell out."
Kaidō listened, face going odd. The "treasure" they wanted… surely it wasn't the thing he'd just
Before the thought finished, Slardar plunged back into the sea with a clean splash, lantern-lure flaring as he dove for the seabed.
John and Silver Axe stood taut with excitement. After everything, they could practically taste victory. One Mythical Zoan would tip Rocks' hand even further turn a monster into a king the World Government couldn't check.
John's mind filled with visions of wealth and power; Silver Axe's with a sprawling luxurious bed piled high with the rarest beauties from every race on the seas. The image hit so hard he didn't notice the hot trickle from his nose.
"Come on, come on…" John stared unblinking at the water, praying Slardar surfaced with the prize.
Beside them, Kaidō looked like a man sitting on a thorn. "There's no way… it can't be…"
A swell rolled. Slardar's brutal, lamp-crowned head broke the surface, urgency written plain even on that fearsome face.
"Well?!" John's eyes lit. "Did you find it?"
"Nothing. It should be right here." Slardar shook his head. He scoured the bottom twice, then a third time. Nothing.
John and Silver Axe felt their hearts plummet. Silver Axe's steamy daydream popped like a soap bubble.
"Check again!" John's toes curled in his boots. He couldn't accept it.
"I'll try once more," Slardar said, and vanished beneath the chop. The lantern haloed the dark as he combed the seabed with his trident.
Once.
Twice.
A third sweep.
Still nothing.
He surfaced again. "It's gone."
Had some creature dragged it off? Impossible… but he couldn't explain it.
John and Silver Axe traded a hollow look. Finished?
Kaidō cleared his throat, sheepish. "Uh… is this what you're looking for?"
He held up a jewel-studded chest. The sight yanked John and Silver Axe out of the abyss in an instant whiplash from hell to heaven.
John snatched the box, raising it high. "Slardar, is this the one?"
The gems on the lid flared in the sun. Slardar's eyes widened. "That's it. The treasure's inside."
A blossom of joy burst in John's chest. He dragged it down, heart pounding then froze. The lock was smashed. He cracked the lid. Empty.
"This, uh…" Kaidō rubbed the back of his head. "I ate the treasure."
"Nani?!"
"You ate the Mythical Zoan?!" John and Silver Axe stared, jaws unhinged.
"You're telling me you ate the Mythical Zoan…" John croaked.
"Yeah. Tasted like crap," Kaidō said, going a shade green at the memory.
Silver Axe slumped, soulless, as if seven spirits and three souls had fled his body. Slardar climbed onto the ledge, a complicated look crossing his brutal features.
"Perhaps… that was fate." Once a Devil Fruit is eaten, it only reincarnates when the user dies and who knew where it would reappear?
He shook it off. "If the treasure's gone, we regroup with Ares and Riku Yo."
"Nothing else for it," John sighed, hollow. Silver Axe eyed Kaidō with naked envy.
"So… what Mythical Zoan did you eat?"
"Some kind of ape," Kaidō said. He didn't know the formal name, only that his full-beast form was a monstrous gorilla with terrifying power.
"Things seldom go as planned," John murmured, wincing. "But a Mythical Zoan in your belly still strengthens the Rocks Pirates. That's good for us."
Kaidō grinned. "Worororo… it's a huge boost. And Ares-aniki's squad is always undermanned. With this power, I can finally stand beside him in a real fight instead of being a load he has to protect."
Slardar was curious too. He knew the "treasure" was a Mythical Zoan, but not what model. For someone who lived in the sea, eating a Fruit was the last resort.
"Kaidō, can we see it?"
"Sure."
At last, a chance to show off.
"Watch closely."
He shifted Beast Form.
Sable bristles erupted over his skin, long and coarse as horsehair. Lumps swelled along his ribs and spine like budding tumors then split into thick, corded arms.
And the horror didn't stop there.
Two simian visages bulged out left and right from his head, a fourth blooming at the back: four faces, glaring to the four directions.
Being pinned by those stares scraped the soul.
"One, two, three… eight eight arms?!" Silver Axe's eyeballs almost fell out. The eight-limbed giant ape was nightmare fuel; even the other pirates shook.
Slardar flinched despite himself. "Four faces, eight arms… if this thing fights, that's obscene." Near-no-blind-spots vision everything but straight up and straight down covered and eight cudgels of flesh to match.
"How strong is that combined force…?"
Unthinkable.
"My memory's back Zoan, Model: Monkey-Monkey Fruit, Mythical Type Hanuman!" John yelped. The four-faced, eight-armed demon-ape glowered like a god of war. John's thoughts tangled into a knot.
"Worororo… I like this power." Kaidō bared a grin. With that brutal mask and the forest of arms, he looked every inch a demon king.
He struck a bodybuilder's pose. Biceps rose like hills under the black hair, raw explosive strength coiling in every line. Just looking at him made scalps prickle.
Savoring the flood of power, Kaidō's mouth nearly split his face. Perfect.
John drew a steadying breath. "Looks like the Rocks Pirates have birthed another monster."
Everyone stared, rattled speechless. Only after a long beat did they gather themselves and talk next steps.
They set to felling trees every man a lumberjack. Slardar couldn't ferry this many by himself, not with a seven-meter "little giant" Kaidō among them. They didn't need a ship, just a massive raft. The sea-devil could handle the tow.
Elsewhere, the gorgon-haired siren princess Stylla rode a colossal Sea King toward the thunder of battle. The pressure boiling out of the sky made her pupils contract.
"So it isn't just that little band from before," she hissed. "A whole other force has invaded these waters."
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