Needs flesh and blood to open? What on earth is that?
Taro was stunned. The Origin Factory required 'purity' to open—meaning as long as one wasn't a Devil Fruit Ability user, it was fine. There was absolutely no need for missing limbs.
Aokiji and the others also felt their skin crawl, looking at Crocodile and Rocks with strange expressions.
Crocodile's face was blurred with anger, covered in sand, looking quite terrifying.
"You piece of trash...!"
"Roar hahaha! Cough cough!"
Rocks laughed frantically, coughed twice, and then continued laughing wildly for a while.
"Do it, come on, kill me!"
"You think I don't dare to kill you?"
Crocodile grabbed the gold hook he had tossed aside and fitted it onto his hand. With a jerk of his arm, the gold hook fell off, revealing a dagger at the tip, which he thrust straight toward Rocks' neck.
"Clang!"
A block of ice appeared, blocking Crocodile's attack.
"Hey, he was defeated by Taro. Even if he's to be killed, it's not your turn!"
Aokiji clearly didn't want Rocks to die so quickly; he hadn't obtained any useful information yet.
Taro was indifferent. Although he was curious about those secrets, Rocks was deliberately provoking Crocodile and seeking death, so he obviously wouldn't speak easily.
He glanced at Aokiji and said indifferently,
"I just want him dead!"
Aokiji's gaze darkened upon hearing this. "Taro, aren't you curious?"
"There are many things I'm curious about! Kuzan!"
Taro chuckled.
"The truth of the God Valley Incident, the altar Blackbeard built near a Winter Island, the hidden historical taboos—there's too much!"
"However, it's too hard to get people who know these things to talk! Besides, this guy is stubborn; you won't get anything out of him!"
Aokiji frowned. He also understood that Rocks wouldn't talk easily, but he still wanted to try.
Taro stepped forward, walked up to Rocks, and looked down at him with disdain in his eyes.
"I don't know what you actually got at God Valley, but there..."
He pointed toward the center of the island. "I've been in there; it doesn't require any flesh and blood at all!"
"So, the thing you got is either a fake!"
Saying this, he looked at Crocodile. "Or, you've deceived many people!"
Crocodile was shaken to his core. "Bastard...!"
Rocks' pupils contracted. "What nonsense are you talking about? I don't know!"
The corner of Taro's mouth curled up. He stepped on Rocks, the chill of the ice seeping through his sole, making his gaze even colder.
"Joy Boy!"
When Taro spoke the name, Rocks' eyes widened suddenly, and he roared,
"You can read the poneglyphs?"
As soon as these words came out, Aokiji, Crocodile, and Marco were all bewildered. They didn't understand what Joy Boy was.
But they knew about the poneglyphs.
Everyone present knew that only Nico Robin, who hailed from Ohara, could decipher them.
Taro could too?
They looked at Taro with extreme shock, as if they had seen a ghost.
Taro ignored their gazes and just stared at Rocks.
"Your crew found out about Joy Boy through the poneglyphs, right?"
He curled his lip in a sneer.
"Then do you know that the thing in the center of the island was led by Joy Boy?"
"No matter what you got on God Valley, if that thing is truly related to this place and Joy Boy, then it's definitely not some evil creation that requires flesh and blood to activate!"
Taro shouted sternly,
"You are lying!"
Rocks' expression changed drastically, his cloudy eyes flickering.
"No, impossible, impossible! That thing exists; it's the core! It has a purpose!"
The core? Has a purpose?
"You mean the 'Implantation' core?" Taro raised an eyebrow.
"You really do know!" Rocks roared, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
"Who exactly are you?"
Taro, however, glanced at Crocodile.
"You've seen that thing? It eats flesh and blood?"
Crocodile rubbed his severed wrist, and some of the sand on his face fell off involuntarily.
"I've seen it. After consuming flesh and blood, that thing regained its vitality!"
Taro frowned. "What does it look like? How did you judge that it 'regained vitality'?"
"I couldn't see it clearly. It was bound by a mass of eerie mist, with energy constantly dissipating, making it hard to maintain. It seemed... it seemed like something was missing, as if it were incomplete!"
Crocodile answered without hesitation.
"I said it regained vitality because... it is alive!"
This time, it was Taro's turn for his expression to change drastically!
He had originally thought Rocks had snatched some unknown object or just a fake.
However, Crocodile's description of the thing matched the part missing from the rift Taro had seen in the Origin Factory.
The 'Implantation' core is alive?
In an instant, all the information in Taro's mind tangled together and then slowly began to untangle.
The Origin Factory had lost its 'Implantation' core, losing its function of granting Devil Fruit Ability to ordinary people.
From the perspective of the 'Implantation' core, it had lost the supporting facilities of the Origin Factory and could not function completely.
The deficiency was mutual!
So, that thing was actually the real deal?
What the hell? How could this be?
Would the Giant Kingdom and Joy Boy allow such an evil thing to exist?
That's absolutely impossible!
Taro hesitated for only a moment before rejecting the idea!
In the promotional video he saw at the Origin Factory, regardless of how much 'promotion' was involved, those little people were physically intact when they received their Devil Fruit Ability, without any damage!
Moreover, he absolutely did not believe that Joy Boy's character would allow for such a wicked thing!
While one shouldn't fully trust character, sometimes it's the most important factor, transcending everything else!
There must be a problem somewhere in the process!
Taro's expression shifted several times, and everyone could see his uncertainty.
Finally, Aokiji spoke.
"Taro, what exactly do you know?"
Taro was filled with suspicion and didn't speak for a moment.
Aokiji added, "You're the only Marine here. You don't need to worry about your position. I just want an answer. As for them..."
Marco and the others looked at each other. "We just want to know the matter of Pops!"
Taro took his foot off Rocks, stepped back a few paces, and sat down cross-legged.
"No, I was just thinking just now!"
He lifted his eyelids, looking at Crocodile, his tone low.
"At that time, what you lost... it shouldn't have been just this hand, was it?"
Crocodile's body trembled violently, and he instantly turned into a pile of sand.
Immediately after, the sand regathered, and Crocodile's voice was filled with terror.
"You... how do you know that?"
---------------------------------
I hope you're enjoying the fanfiction so far! If the story has you hooked and you can't wait to see what happens next, you can unlock 30 chapters in advance over on my Patreon: patreon.com/TLHimejima1
Every bit of support means the world to me so if you're loving the ride, don't forget to drop a Power Stone and let me know.