"No!" Dock jerked his head up, his eyes bloodshot, filled with a hatred that all the waters of the five lakes and four seas could not wash away.
"I'd rather twist his head off with my own two hands!" Dock growled, the blood-red light in his eyes surging.
He fumbled through his tattered clothes, eventually pulling out an object carefully wrapped in a dirty cloth.
He unwrapped the cloth bundle, revealing the item inside—
It was a pale gold fruit, its surface covered in spiral patterns, with small protrusions resembling bird wings extending from both ends.
"I'll trade this... how about it?" Dock passed the fruit through the gap in the cage.
"A Devil Fruit?!" Charlotte Linlin was genuinely surprised this time.
She had been searching for a Devil Fruit for so long, and she actually encountered one here.
"You actually have something like this?"
"Yes! A Devil Fruit..." A bitter curve pulled at the corner of Dock's mouth.
"About ten days ago, it was mixed into the last bit of 'food' they threw at me. Although I don't know exactly what its ability is, it should be of considerable use to someone like you, right?"
Dock handed the fruit through the gap in the cell.
Charlotte Linlin took the unexpected harvest, her fingertips feeling the strange fluctuations contained within the fruit.
"Fine, I agree to your terms."
She spoke decisively, and then... under Dock's stunned gaze, she skillfully "installed" the cell door components she had just destroyed back into place. It looked as if it had never been broken, and she was once again "locked" inside.
"Why didn't you eat it yourself? If you had, you would have at least had a chance to escape," Charlotte Linlin asked through the cell door.
Dock smiled bitterly and shook the dark shackles on his wrists. "These... are all Sea Stone. If I ate it, I would instantly lose my strength and become even more helpless Fish on their chopping block."
"If you hadn't come... I originally planned to swallow it before I died, even if it only caused a little chaos... but now,"
He looked at Charlotte Linlin, his eyes filled with absolute resolve. "There's no need."
"Since this is the first Devil Fruit I've gotten my hands on," Charlotte Linlin spoke again.
"I can bring your enemy here directly and let you deal with him personally. Afterward, I can even rescue you and heal your injuries."
Dock slowly shook his head, a bleak smile on his face. "No... thank you for the kindness. Yesterday, as a precaution, they forced poison down my throat... I've long lost any possibility of surviving."
"It was also then that I learned from a talkative guard... my wife, Urti, had already been tortured to death by them. Now, I only want revenge! I only want to... kill!"
He eye's blood-red color almost overflowed; it was a madness born of a desire for destruction after being stripped of everything.
A resolve to die?
Charlotte Linlin's Observation Haki clearly sensed the emotions of the Oni man before her.
"Then..." Charlotte Linlin's voice softened slightly. "I shall see you off."
As she spoke, a deep and noble purple light suddenly flickered around her.
Within the light, her body began to change—layers of dark purple feathers shimmering with starlight covered her arms.
The purple feathers spread from her shoulders to her elbows, making her arms retain their original fair beauty while adding a sense of inhuman mystery and power. Her aura became more elegant and mysterious.
With a flash of purple light, her figure appeared inside Dock's cell.
"Want a drink?" Charlotte Linlin asked.
At the same time, the small mirror in her hand rippled. She reached into it and pulled out portions of fragrant, sumptuous food and a large cask of fine wine.
Dock watched this incredible scene in shock, only snapping out of it after a long moment.
Hearing the question, a long-lost, heartfelt smile appeared on his face, though it looked somewhat grotesque on his scarred countenance.
"Yes! Hahaha!!"
He laughed heartily because he knew that whether or not he could take revenge personally, Duke Ditet, the man who brought him endless pain, was as good as dead!
"Good wine! Good food! Come, cheers!" Dock grabbed the wine cask and tilted his head back to drink deeply.
"Forget the 'cheers',"
Charlotte Linlin glanced at him with disgust, and using the mirror, she produced an exquisite wine glass for herself.
"I don't want to drink wine tainted with your spit."
"Hahaha! Then I'll drink it myself!"
Dock didn't mind. The strong liquor burned his throat, but it gave him an unprecedented sense of satisfaction.
"Ah, refreshing—! I haven't tasted wine in so long! And this food... it's a delicacy I've never tasted in my life!"
While devouring the food, he couldn't help but ask curiously, "What kind of Devil Fruit is this? I've never heard of it. This teleportation and mirror manipulation feel like two different Paramecia-type abilities."
"Ah, if it's inconvenient, you don't have to say."
"There's nothing to hide." Charlotte Linlin took a sip of wine.
"It's a Devil Fruit that has never appeared before, so of course you haven't heard of it." Charlotte Linlin gently swirled her wine glass.
"I call it the Bird-Bird Fruit, Mythical Zoan Type, black swan Form. As for its abilities, besides the basic Zoan-type enhancements, it mainly involves divination, traveling through space within my line of sight, and... reading memories."
"As for taking things from the mirror, it's because the mirror connects to a different dimension where I can store things."
"It's probably a space left behind by some previous user of the Mirror-Mirror Fruit. You certainly lucked out."
Dock understood. Then, as if thinking of something, his chewing slowed, and his voice deepened.
"But divination... can you... can you help me divine my son's fate? I want to know if he... is still alive."
Charlotte Linlin glanced at him and didn't refuse. "Fine."
She closed her eyes, and a purplish-black aura pulsed slightly around her.
The next moment, twenty-four phantom Tarot cards, their edges shimmering with dark purple light and their faces painted with mysterious, profound patterns, appeared out of thin air. They rotated slowly around her as if they were alive, creating a faint draft.
Finally, all the cards settled. Charlotte Linlin reached out with her purple-feathered hand and drew one from directly in front of her.
On the card was a vibrant, naked youth. He stood tall and spirited, his right hand gently brushing a pure white flower, while his left hand casually shouldered a rod symbolizing a scepter.
He stood on a vibrant green field, with a clear stream and distant snow-capped mountains behind him. The entire card was filled with fearlessness, innocence, vitality, and infinite possibilities.
—The upright "The Fool".
"He is still alive."
Charlotte Linlin looked at the card and gave a definite answer. The Fool represents the beginning of a journey and unknown adventures, but it also symbolizes the existence of life and the blooming of potential.
Dock's tense body relaxed instantly, as if a heavy burden had been lifted. He exhaled a deep breath of murky air, a glint of tears in his cloudy eyes, and murmured:
"That's good... that's good... as long as he's alive..."
After a moment of silence, he looked up at Charlotte Linlin—the woman he had just met but who possessed terrifying power—with an imploring gaze: "If... if you're out at sea in the future and happen to meet my son... could you... please look after him a little? Consider it... the final request of this useless father..."
"What is your son's name?"
Dock looked up at the water-seeping stone ceiling of the cell, as if he could see through it to the distant sea. His voice was low, yet carried a trace of pride and longing that was hard to detect as he said word by word:
"My son is named—Kaido."
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