It was now certain.
The World of Law — Elden Ring stood at the absolute peak of the Golden Order, the era when the Golden Dynasty was at its most flawless and terrifyingly complete.
Faced with a world overflowing with opportunity yet brimming with mortal danger, Xiao decisively abandoned any thought of stepping inside for now. Instead, his gaze shifted to another gate standing beside the golden door.
The Ocean Gate.
Its surface was carved with a massive skull-and-crossbones banner, vivid and lifelike. Around it were reliefs of colossal Sea Kings twisting through waves, and countless strange fruits embedded into the design like jewels.
Piracy.
The sea.
Devil Fruits.
There was no mistaking it.
This gate led to the world of One Piece.
Xiao inhaled slowly, then pushed the door open without hesitation.
He had avoided this world before for one simple reason—his ability had not yet matured.
Back then, the Munch-Munch Fruit within him was still undergoing digestion and restructuring, evolving toward the direction of the God of All Machines. Entering the One Piece world too early would have been reckless.
But now?
The fruit had been fully absorbed.
The awakening was complete.
What once was the Munch-Munch Fruit had transcended its original limits, transforming into a far more terrifying existence—the God of All Machines Fruit.
At this stage, Xiao was no longer restricted.
He could devour more Devil Fruits.
And conveniently—
Someone else had already paved the way.
Blackbeard.
A man who stole power from heaven and blamed fate for it.
If someone was going to break the taboo of Devil Fruits, Xiao saw no reason not to take advantage of the chaos.
With that thought, he stepped through the Ocean Gate.
The moment Xiao entered the world—
Time resumed.
The frozen timeline shattered like ice underfoot, and the flow of causality surged forward once more.
Almost instantly, a piercing siren echoed across the snow-covered land.
The Drum Kingdom was under attack.
"Hahahahaha!!!
Let you taste the power of darkness!!!"
A wild, unrestrained laugh thundered from the harbor.
Above the port, endless blackness poured forth like a living tsunami. The sky dimmed as darkness swallowed the clouds, rolling forward with unstoppable momentum.
Where it passed, everything withered.
People screamed as their bodies were crushed by gravity-like force. Beasts howled before being torn apart. Buildings twisted, collapsed, and disintegrated as though reality itself were being dragged into a bottomless abyss.
This was not destruction by explosion.
This was annihilation by absorption.
At the center of the storm stood a man with a broad grin and burning eyes—
Marshall D. Teach.
Blackbeard.
"Zehahahahaha!!
Amazing… it's perfect!!"
Darkness coiled around his massive frame as he stretched his arms wide, savoring every second.
For this fruit, he had endured decades of humiliation.
For decades, he had hidden beneath Whitebeard's shadow, playing the role of a harmless subordinate, suppressing every ounce of ambition in his heart.
Now—
He finally held the Dark-Dark Fruit.
The power to pull everything into nothingness.
At this moment, Blackbeard could no longer restrain himself. He needed to destroy. To loot. To conquer.
He needed to remind himself who he truly was.
Because pretending to be weak for too long came with a price.
Sometimes, you forgot that you were never prey to begin with.
"This country…
Its treasures…
And that fruit…"
Blackbeard's grin widened.
"The Munch-Munch Fruit belongs to me."
If the Darkness Fruit was a unique Logia that defied common sense, then the Munch-Munch Fruit was its perfect counterpart—
a Superhuman-type Devil Fruit capable of plundering other abilities.
Blackbeard would never allow such a fruit to fall into anyone else's hands.
Only he was qualified to wield multiple Devil Fruits.
"Men!"
His voice roared across the port.
"Women! Treasure!
Take everything this country has!!"
"Yes, Captain!"
Lafitte, Van Augur, and Jesus Burgess answered in unison, immediately moving to carry out the slaughter.
At the same time, the Drum Kingdom Army mobilized.
Cyber-enhanced rifles, armored vehicles, and mechanized equipment roared to life as they launched a desperate counterattack.
But the gap was absolute.
Against the seamless fusion of Haki and Devil Fruit abilities, technology alone meant nothing.
Soldiers fell in droves.
No matter how advanced their weapons were, they were nothing more than crops waiting to be harvested.
"Just as expected…"
Xiao observed calmly from afar, his Observation Haki capturing every detail of the battlefield.
"In the world of One Piece, an army without strong individuals is meaningless."
The Drum soldiers were disciplined. Their equipment was formidable.
But they lacked will.
They lacked dominance.
Blackbeard had not even released his Conqueror-like pressure yet.
If he did, most of the battlefield would collapse instantly.
Numbers meant nothing here.
Only personal strength mattered.
Just as the slaughter reached its peak—
A powerful figure charged into the fray.
Dalton.
His body expanded as he transformed into a massive bison-man, gripping a giant bladed weapon as he slammed directly into Jesus Burgess.
The collision shook the ground.
Two monstrous physiques clashed head-on, fists and blades colliding in a storm of brute force.
For the first time since the invasion began, the battlefield stabilized—if only slightly.
Xiao's eyes narrowed.
"The real show," he murmured,
"is just beginning."
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