"What an awe-inspiring presence!"
At that moment, despite standing on opposite sides, Barobar couldn't help but voice his admiration.
"But don't expect me to go easy on you because of that. I hate pirates more than anything..."
As his words fell, the air around Barobar began to scorch. His skin gradually flushed a deep red.
"Muscle Enhancement·MAX!"
"Arm Strength Enhancement·MAX!"
"Leg Strength Enhancement·MAX!"
"Skin Enhancement·MAX!"
"Bone Enhancement·MAX!"
...
Thirty years earlier, when Barobar was still a child.
His hometown was a small island in the New World called Barobar.
That's right. Barobar was not his real name, but the name of the island where he was born.
As for his real name, he had long since forgotten it.
After all, as a member of CP0, a name was unnecessary. A codename was enough.
No one would have imagined that the man who would one day become a CP0 agent, a spy of the World Government who despised pirates with all his heart, once dreamed of becoming a pirate himself.
And his idol was the man whose very existence had been erased by the World Government.
Rocks D. Xebec.
It couldn't be helped.
"What could stop a man from setting sail?"
That saying applies not only to the present, but to the past as well. In fact, it applies to every era.
Otherwise, why would so many strong and ambitious men take to the sea and become pirates throughout the centuries?
If the present era belongs to Roger, then the Grand Line thirty years ago belonged to Rocks.
In fact, the Rocks of that era was even more terrifying than Roger. Rocks truly ruled the Grand Line. Even the World Government had to avoid confronting him directly, until he was finally brought down at God Valley.
If Garp and Roger had not joined forces, no one knows how it might have ended.
So what man wouldn't want to become someone like Rocks? A man who dominated the Grand Line, wielded overwhelming power, and possessed endless treasure.
Young Barobar was no different. He too grew up listening to stories about Rocks.
Until one day, everything changed...
That day became both the most exciting and the most painful day of Barobar's life.
The excitement came from seeing his idol, Rocks D. Xebec, up close on Barobar Island.
The pain came from the fact that his hometown was destroyed that very same day.
The reason was simple. In order to recruit the rising pirate Shiki the Golden Lion, Rocks fought a massive battle in the waters near Barobar.
Everyone on Barobar Island witnessed that battle.
Barobar was no exception.
Whether it was Rocks or Shiki, the power they unleashed in that fight could only be described as world-shattering. Watching it filled the young Barobar with boiling blood and boundless admiration.
"So this is what a real man looks like!"
"One day I'll become a pirate like that!"
Those thoughts remained in his mind—
until the moment his hometown, Barobar, was suddenly seized by Shiki.
Under Shiki's power, the entire island rose into the sky and was hurled straight toward Rocks.
In that instant, admiration turned into terror.
After the battle ended, Barobar was pulled from the ruins by Marines.
But his hometown, Barobar Island, was gone forever.
Out of a population of over one hundred thousand people, fewer than a hundred survived.
From that moment on, Barobar could never forget the sight.
The island that carried more than one hundred thousand lives had been seized by Shiki, thrown toward Rocks—and shattered by a single punch from Rocks.
Whether it was Rocks or Shiki, the indifference in their eyes was exactly the same.
To them, that island containing one hundred thousand lives was no different from a stone casually tossed aside and smashed.
What made it even more absurd was that when Barobar later infiltrated the Golden Lion Pirates under the name "Barobar" as an undercover agent, Shiki had absolutely no memory of it.
Not even the slightest trace.
That was when Barobar understood a truth.
Pirates were evil.
The so-called freedom of pirates, no matter how beautifully it was described, was nothing more than a system built on the law of the jungle.
The strong devouring the weak.
Nothing more than the strong bullying the powerless.
Only by eliminating pirates could the world truly achieve stability.
With that conviction burning inside him, he grew stronger and stronger. Eventually, he became one of the most outstanding agents within CP0.
Because of his unique background, the World Government sent him to infiltrate Shiki's forces as an undercover operative.
When a person carries hatred while completing a mission, they can unleash astonishing potential.
Barobar was exactly that kind of person.
From a mere trainee crew member, he rose all the way to become the commander of the Third Fleet under the Golden Lion.
Although he never killed Shiki with his own hands, after Shiki was imprisoned in Impel Down, Barobar used the intelligence he possessed to betray his former "brothers" one by one.
Some were killed.
Others were sent to Impel Down.
In a sense, that was his revenge.
And the final move he was preparing now—was originally meant to assassinate Shiki, even if it meant dying together with him.
…
Inside the massive bubble, as Barobar's aura continued to rise, Yemu felt his own excitement surge.
Through his Observation Haki, he could clearly sense that the power inside Barobar had now surpassed his own.
"So his strength can still climb this high? Then I can't just sit here and wait to lose!"
Flames suddenly erupted around Yemu's body, twisting and gathering until they formed nine blazing fire dragons coiling around him.
But the technique did not stop there.
As the technique of Demon Bind took shape, black Armament Haki emerged and fused with the nine fire dragons. The blazing dragons instantly transformed, their bodies now streaked with crimson and black as they roared around him.
This was the result of Yemu's training on Rusukaina Island.
With his body strengthened through relentless training, both his mastery of the Mera Mera no Mi and his control over Haki had reached an entirely new level.
This power surpassed the Flame Dragon Prison Fire Fist.
Each of these fire dragons now carried the same destructive force that a single Flame Dragon Prison Fire Fist once possessed.
And now Yemu controlled nine of them.
In other words, this technique carried nine times the power of the Flame Dragon Prison Fire Fist.
And that was still not all.
The temperature and intensity of these flames were on an entirely different level compared to before.
At the same moment, Barobar underwent a terrifying transformation of his own.
Empowered by his Devil Fruit, his entire body took on the form of a demon from hell.
Pitch-black Armament Haki covered his entire body. Only his face remained blood-red, heat waves rising from it like boiling steam.
"Thank you!"
"I'm ready!"
"I'll pour every last bit of power I have into this strike!"
"Rokushiki Secret Art · Maximum Wheel · Diamond Demon Subjugation!"
At that moment, Barobar's entire body seemed to fuse together, as if he had turned into an immovable mountain.
Seeing this, Yemu slowly drew in a deep breath.
"How brilliant. In that case, I'll give it everything I have too."
"My newest power."
"Demon Bind · Nine Dragon Fire God Robe!"
The moment the two moved, the giant bubble surrounding them could no longer withstand their overwhelming auras.
It exploded instantly.
...
What does it look like when two mountains collide?
At that moment, whether inside Fish-Man Island or in the surrounding sea outside it, everyone felt it.
Even those far away from the battlefield suddenly felt their blood surge violently.
The shockwave rippled through the water and air, crashing into their bodies.
Then came the thunderous roar.
The deafening sound forced everyone to cover their ears in fear.
No one could see what was happening at the center of the battlefield anymore.
The violent explosion and the blazing sea of flames swallowed everything.
At the very center of the clash, the instant their attacks collided, both Yemu and Barobar spat out a mouthful of blood.
The overwhelming force shattered their Armament Haki defenses immediately.
The impact tore through their skin, their bones, and even their internal organs.
Yet neither of them stepped back.
Both continued pouring out their strength without the slightest restraint.
Until the final dazzling explosion erupted.
"Boom..."
Yemu's body shot through the seawater like a falling meteor, crashing violently into the Sunlight Tree Eve behind them.
In that instant, a massive hole was blasted through the trunk of the Sunlight Tree Eve.
...
Fish-Man Island, Coral Bay
A man wrapped from head to toe in a robe and wearing a mask watched the scene unfold, then pulled a Den Den Mushi from inside his clothes.
"Purururu..."
As the call connected, the voice of an old man came through.
"How did the mission go?"
"Regrettably, Five Elders-sama, Barobar failed."
"!!! Are you joking? How could Barobar possibly lose?"
"I am not joking, Five Elders-sama. Barobar failed. And he failed even after using the final stage of the Enhancement Fruit."
"!!! Has that pirate really grown that far already? Did his Mera Mera no Mi awaken?"
"No. From the beginning of the battle to the end, the pirate Yemu rarely used his Devil Fruit ability, except at the very end..."
"You mean he defeated Barobar through physical strength alone?"
"That is what it looks like so far. There is one more thing I need to report. Even while wearing Seastone, the pirate Yemu was still able to fight Barobar, who was under fiftyfold enhancement, to a standstill."
"That's impossible... A Devil Fruit user who isn't afraid of Seastone? I've never heard of such a thing."
"I know. But I saw it with my own eyes."
"We understand. Keep observing. Barobar may be dead, but his corpse is still useful. If anyone in the Sky Pirates appears with the ability to use the Enhancement Fruit, report it at once..."
"Understood!"
...
"Bright... so bright..."
"I'm not dead, am I?"
"If I'm still conscious, then I should be alive. But where is this?"
At that moment, Yemu felt pain all over his body. Still, compared to his fight with Bullet, his condition should have been a little better. At the very least, even though he felt weak and completely drained, he had not passed out.
But where exactly was this?
Everywhere he looked was filled with light, as though he had entered heaven.
Just then, two strange voices rang out.
No, calling them voices was not quite right. It was more like some kind of consciousness echoing in his mind, as if something was calling to him.
"Who's there?!"
Nothing answered him.
Then suddenly, Yemu felt that this seemed strangely familiar.
Right, wasn't this the same feeling as when he communicated with the Netsu Netsu no Mi?
As though responding to his thoughts, that consciousness sent back a sense of delight and excitement.
"Could it really be? Is this the consciousness of the Mera Mera no Mi inside me?"
Did the Mera Mera no Mi have a consciousness of its own? Some kind of devil power?
But what use was that?
Just then, another thought came from that consciousness.
"Hungry! Eat!"
"Hungry? Eat?"
Yemu froze.
Could a Devil Fruit feel hungry? And if it could, what was it supposed to eat?
Yemu had no idea, so he could only let a thought drift back in response.
"It's fine. If you're hungry, then eat. Eat whatever you want..."
The moment it received Yemu's response, that consciousness became joyful again. Then, before Yemu could even react, he felt a warm stream of energy flowing into his body.
...
The outskirts of Fish-Man Island
"Is it over?"
After enduring the shockwave from the explosion, King Neptune steadied himself and looked upward.
The sea quickly calmed down again, but both Yemu and Barobar had vanished.
Then he saw two figures leap from the Twin Goddess and dive into the sea.
One was Tiger.
The other was Erik.
The two of them swam off in different directions.
Following their movements, Neptune was the first to spot Barobar in the sea. There was not a single patch of intact skin left on his body, and it was impossible to tell whether he was dead or alive. Erik grabbed Barobar's body and quickly swam back toward the Twin Goddess.
As for Tiger, he kept swimming forward without stopping.
"What is he heading for?"
At that moment, Neptune suddenly heard a guard beside him cry out nervously.
"Hey, look, the Sunlight Tree Eve is hurt!"
Neptune hurriedly looked over, and sure enough, a hole had appeared in one of the Sunlight Tree Eve's enormous roots, with thick liquid seeping out of it.
"This is bad. The light from the Sunlight Tree Eve seems to be getting weaker!"
"No... if that tree dims, then Fish-Man Island will lose part of its light..."
"Is there any way to repair it?"
...
After all, the Sunlight Tree Eve was the life tree of Fish-Man Island. How could they not panic at the sight of this?
"Eh... it looks like it's getting brighter again..."
"That scared me to death..."
"It really is the life tree of Fish-Man Island..."
At that moment, Neptune also realized what had happened.
"Was that hole smashed open by Captain Yemu?"
"Tiger went to save Captain Yemu..."
"The price was a little high, but in the end, we won..."