sea calendar 1495.
After the Beasts Pirates defeated the Victoria Pirates with overwhelming force,
especially after King defeated Victoria, a Pirate renowned across the seas, the World Government increased King's bounty.
King's original bounty of 410 million Berries had now reached 500 million Berries, which was rare in this era.
Moreover, King was only 20 years old and had much room for improvement; if he continued like this and acquired a powerful Devil Fruit, reaching Admiral-level combat power was a certainty.
In the original work, King's strength was not to be underestimated; he was undoubtedly the strongest subordinate of a Four Emperors, but he was limited by his Devil Fruit. If he had a different Devil Fruit, King's strength could rise another level.
Now, this opportunity was right before him.
While scavenging for spoils, they found a box containing a Devil Fruit in Victoria's room.
Such a precious item as a Devil Fruit naturally had to be handed over to Boss Kaido to decide, and they didn't recognize this Devil Fruit. What if it was a bad one?
When Kaido saw this Devil Fruit, he was first shocked, then overjoyed, because this Devil Fruit was too perfect for King!
King hadn't eaten a Devil Fruit until now, which was also Kaido's intention. He had obtained the Ancient Zoan Pteranodon-form Devil Fruit two years prior.
At that time, King had wanted to eat this Devil Fruit, but Kaido stopped him. Ancient Zoan Devil Fruits were already very rare, but Kaido wanted something even better. King was his, Kaido's, second-in-command!
Just from the name 'King' (ember), one knew his English name 'King' meant 'King.' For a King, an Ancient Zoan couldn't match his status!
But this search lasted two years, and they couldn't even find one of comparable quality to the Pteranodon.
King often mentioned wanting to eat that Devil Fruit, but Kaido always told him to wait. He thought they wouldn't find anything, but unexpectedly, this Devil Fruit appeared before him today!
Mythical Zoan: Blazefire Dragon form!!
Kaido had an inexplicable obsession with Zoan Devil Fruits, especially dragon forms. When he was captured and sent to Vegapunk for experiments, conversations with Vegapunk were inevitable.
He asked Vegapunk to find him a Devil Fruit encyclopedia, especially one for Zoan dragon forms. Vegapunk had the support of the World Government, and the World Government's Devil Fruit encyclopedia was far more complete than those of other factions.
After getting the encyclopedia, Kaido immediately took a liking to several Devil Fruits, including the 'Mythical Zoan: Blazefire Dragon' form.
Kaido had initially thought Karl ate the 'Mythical Zoan: Frost Dragon' form.
However, the description stated that both these Devil Fruits transformed into the form of a Western giant dragon, while Karl's form was an Eastern giant dragon, just like his own, and it wasn't recorded in the encyclopedia.
Perhaps it was a Devil Fruit that had not yet been recorded.
Shaking off his thoughts, Kaido handed the Devil Fruit to King without much further ado.
"King, eat it!"
King looked at the Devil Fruit before him, a wave of emotion washing over him. Although he didn't know what kind of Devil Fruit it was, what Big Brother Kaido gave him surely wouldn't be bad!
King wasted no words or hesitation, taking the Devil Fruit and taking a bite. At this moment, no amount of talk was better than becoming stronger and helping Big Brother Kaido.
King endured the nausea and ate the entire Devil Fruit, his usually aloof expression becoming subtle.
After eating the Devil Fruit, King felt a sudden surge of power within him, and then his body began to transform uncontrollably.
In a moment, a dark red giant dragon appeared in the sky.
The moment he appeared, the surrounding temperature seemed to rise slightly, except for Karl's vicinity.
Dark red dragon scales, like a layer of armor, protected the flesh underneath. His thick limbs had perfect muscle lines, and his massive dragon head was adorned with ferocious spikes, which, far from being ugly, made him appear even more imposing. A pair of dragon wings, so vast they seemed to blot out the sky, flapped unhurriedly.
"Roar!"
The giant dragon couldn't help but let out a roar, the joy within him evident.
Soon after, King became familiar with this power and transformed back into his human form.
"Wurorororo..."
Kaido was in a great mood now; he had never been so happy. First, he found a young Oni with the potential of a King, and then he found the most suitable Devil Fruit for his most favored subordinate. It was truly a double blessing!
"King, get familiar with this power. Also, from now on, that brat Karl is entrusted to you. Train him well!" Kaido patted King's shoulder.
"Yes, Big Brother Kaido."
King readily accepted the task of training Karl. To be honest, he was quite interested in teaching others to train.
Hearing that King would be training him, Karl was actually a bit disappointed. He had wanted Teacher Kaido to teach him personally, thinking he might master Haki after a few hits.
But it was fine too; King was also a swordsman, and Karl happened to have some thoughts about becoming a swordsman.
"Brat, I won't go easy on you. Be prepared."
King maintained his unapproachable demeanor; he was like this with everyone except Kaido.
"Hmph, bring it on! The word 'fear' isn't in my dictionary!"
Karl snorted, somewhat displeased with King's dismissive attitude... The day after returning to the Beasts Pirate Ship, Karl began King's devilish training!
Karl wanted to practice swordsmanship, but King absolutely refused to teach him, simply saying, 'First, get your body in shape.' Then he resumed his inhumane torment of Karl.
It made Karl so angry he actually wanted to rip off King's black, feathery 'chicken wings' and taste them!
Every day his entire body ached from training. Ten thousand push-ups, ten thousand laps around the Beasts Pirates—these were daily basics. If it weren't for his Oni bloodline and the Ice Yi Devil Fruit, he didn't know how many times he would have died from exhaustion.
The most important thing was that Kaido, that dog, actually made him look after Yamato!!
If he couldn't beat him, Karl would really want to crack open Kaido's skull to see what he was thinking. Not to mention he was still a three-year-old child himself, tormented by King every day, he didn't even want to move, and then he still had to watch Yamato.
Before he arrived, Yamato was left to her own devices, but as soon as he came, Kaido thought of finding a babysitter for Yamato.
Little Yamato was indeed very cute, and Karl liked her very much, but being trained like this every day, he didn't have the energy to look after an endlessly energetic Yamato!
And Yamato, too. No one had ever accompanied her before; she always played by herself on the deck. Now that someone willing to play with her had finally arrived, she naturally latched onto Karl.
Alright, alright, Kaido, since you don't play fair, don't regret it in the future!!
...This life continued for a year!
On this day, the Beasts Pirates were holding a banquet on a deserted island when an old woman suddenly arrived on the island.