...
The shattering of the Dao Heart and the final domination
On the light screen, Imu witnessed Rocks' "Dao Heart breaking" once again due to the threat to Harald and the Giant Tribe. A trace of icy satisfaction seemed to flash through those spiral pupils.
It gave Rocks no further chance to struggle or hurl threats.
The two pitch-black tentacles piercing Rocks' chest suddenly writhed violently!
This time, what surged in was not only the cold torrent of corrosive will, but also a soul-freezing, all-annihilating killing intent!
"Urrraaahh!!"
Rocks' scream suddenly rose sharply, filled with unprecedented pain and collapse.
His struggles grew feeble; the last flicker of "human" rational light in his eyes wavered like a candle in the wind, on the verge of extinguishing.
"I order you to act swiftly…"
Imu's hollow voice echoed across the deathly silent battlefield like a final judgment: "Extinguish Davy's dream."
As the words fell, the black tentacles whipped fiercely!
"Boom!!!"
Rocks was hurled toward the ground like a broken doll, smashing into a massive crater as dust and smoke billowed skyward.
In the instant he crashed down, everyone could see that the two black tentacles had not detached—instead, they seemed to melt and fully merge into his body.
Domi · Reversi… complete!
"Rocks—!!!"
Whitebeard, Kaido, and Big Mom watched Rocks fall. Before the dust even settled, they called out urgently.
"Rocks! What just happened!"
Big Mom gripped Napoleon, staring at her captain in panic.
"Hey! Rocks! What the hell is going on?!"
Azure Dragon Kaido's face was full of shock and doubt.
"Rocks!"
Whitebeard tightened his grip on Murakumogiri, eyes sharply fixed on the monster not far away, veins gradually bulging on his hand.
Roger and Garp exchanged a glance, both seeing bewilderment in the other's eyes…
"Roar... grrr..."
Rocks' voice came out like the whimper of a trapped beast, or as though something was struggling in agony.
"Damn it… I'm… disappearing…"
This was the last cry of Rocks' remaining consciousness from the depths of the mire. He wanted to answer his comrades, wanted to control his body, but the dark tide had already drowned everything.
The dust finally cleared.
Big Mom was the first to see the scene at the bottom of the crater. Then her entire body froze in place.
What was that?
Was that… Rocks?
The once proud and untamed blue-white hair was now dry and disheveled, like scorched wild grass.
His skin had turned an ominous gray-black, twisted black patterns surfacing across it.
Most horrifying was that face—lips torn to the ears, revealing everted stark-white fangs.
His eyes had completely lost their pupils, reduced to two hollow pools of ghastly white.
This was no longer human.
This was a demon crawled out from the deepest nightmare.
"Waaahhh!!!"
Outside the light screen, at the God Valley site, little Teach—who had been lying quietly in Eris' arms—suddenly burst into heart-rending, soul-shattering wails the instant he saw his father's terrifying appearance in the light screen!
The crying was so shrill, so desperate, cutting through all the murmurs and clamor, stabbing straight into everyone's hearts.
The future Marshall D. Teach would become the insidious, ambitious "Blackbeard," hated bitterly by countless people.
But at this moment, the infant's cries held no scheming or pretense—only the purest, most primal fear and grief over his father's transformation.
That crying made countless hard-hearted pirates' hearts tremble and caused many Marine soldiers to show looks of reluctance.
Eris clutched her sobbing son tightly, her body shaking violently.
Tears poured down like a breached flood, silently soaking the ground beneath her feet.
She bit her lip hard to keep from crying out, nails digging deep into her palms until blood seeped out.
She had to stay strong—for the child in her arms, she could not collapse.
Yet the despair and heartache in her eyes rang louder than any cry.
"Damn it… this…"
In reality, Rocks stared at his "demonized" self in the light screen. For the first time, an uncontrollable… fear surged from the depths of his heart.
Not fear of death, but fear of "losing himself."
To have his will stripped away, his existence twisted, turned into a monster that knew only slaughter—one that could no longer recognize even his most cherished wife, child, and friends…
This was ten thousand times more terrifying than death.
In the light screen, Imu's hollow, icy voice rang out once more, like strings controlling a puppet: "Use those hands of yours… to exterminate the Davy bloodline."
"Then… kill everyone here."
This was the "god's" command—the final directive of the curse.
At the bottom of the crater, that demonic figure moved.
He slowly rose, movements stiff and twisted, as though adapting to this entirely new body brimming with destructive power.
As he stood, his form began to expand—eventually becoming a ten-meter-tall, muscle-bulging pitch-black demon!
The long sword in his hand was also enveloped and extended by black substance, transforming into a massive demonic blade wreathed in ominous black smoke!
Behind him, a pair of enormous black wings formed purely from dark energy slowly unfurled!
Domi · Reversi had amplified, twisted, and demonized the狂傲, conquest lust, and destructive instincts buried deepest in Rocks D. Xebec's heart…
All his most extreme "malice" forged into this frenzied Demon King!
Even the usually fearless Big Mom—Charlotte Linlin—felt an indescribable chill surge through her the instant she saw the fully formed "Demon Rocks."
Her hand gripping Napoleon trembled slightly despite herself.
"Get out of the way…"
Demon Rocks spoke. The voice was still Rocks', yet cold, hollow, devoid of any emotion.
"Some bloodlines… should be erased from history."
The moment the words fell, he moved!
With a leap, the demonic blade turned into a pitch-black lightning bolt that tore through space, stabbing viciously toward Kaido in the air!
"Pfft!!!"
The blade pierced straight through the Azure Dragon's snout with perfect precision, the tip emerging from the back! Black energy surged madly into the wound!
"Ugh!! Rocks, what are you doing!"
Kaido let out a pained roar. The attack had come too suddenly, too fast—he hadn't seen it coming at all…
Rocks' assault did not relent. He erupted with unimaginable terrifying monstrous strength.
He actually grabbed the Azure Dragon—who had been coiling across half the sky—and swung him violently toward the valley rock wall like a sandbag!
A deafening boom—earth and mountains shook!
Even with the Azure Dragon Fruit's powerful physique plus Kaido's own monstrous body, he was now being toyed with like a plaything!
Kaido's body embedded deeply into the rock wall, rubble cascading down. His eyes rolled back, blood pouring from his mouth and nose—he nearly passed out on the spot!
"Kaido!!!"
Seeing Kaido suffer such heavy damage, Big Mom exploded in complete fury!
Though she was still angry about the Azure Dragon Fruit, Kaido was after all one of the Rocks Pirates' "own people"—she regarded him like a little brother.
Rocks' indiscriminate, lethal attack on a comrade completely ignited her rage!
"Napoleon!!"
Big Mom raised the giant sword Napoleon high with both hands, gathering all her monstrous strength and Haki, and brought it crashing down toward Demon Rocks' back!
This strike could level a small hill!
However…
"Clang!!!!"
A deafening clash rang out.
Demon Rocks directly reinforced his right leg with Armament Haki and kicked Big Mom flying!
A terrifying shockwave exploded!
Big Mom felt an irresistible colossal force travel through Napoleon—then her entire body was struck head-on!
Her body flew backward uncontrollably, tracing a parabola through the air before smashing heavily into distant ruins, dust and smoke billowing!
In just two exchanges, Kaido was "severely wounded," and Big Mom was blasted away with one kick!
Edward Newgate took a deep breath. A vibration sphere condensed in his right hand. His gaze was incredibly grave—even carrying a trace of… heartache.
"You're treating us… as obstacles too, Rocks!"
"You think… we're in the way!"
Newgate asked in a deep, trembling voice—not from fear, but from anger and sorrow.
Demon Rocks slowly turned. Those hollow "eyes" coldly "stared" at Whitebeard.
Then he spoke, voice still ice-cold: "In the way!"
The moment the words fell, the demonic blade rose again—wreathed in destructive black flames—and slashed down toward Whitebeard's head!
"Boom!!!!!"
Whitebeard met it with a full-force right fist!
The power of tremor collided head-on with the dark demonic blade. This time's roar far surpassed any previous one!
A visible shockwave ring expanded madly outward!
The entire ground of God Valley rippled like waves, cracking apart! Distant ruins were completely flattened, and farther forests toppled in swathes!
The whole island trembled violently under the aftermath of this single clash!
Fortunately, after the earlier lesson from the combined attack and its devastating aftershocks, the surviving pirates and Marines had long fled far away to safer zones.
Thus this cataclysmic collision caused no additional casualties.
But everyone understood:
Within the Rocks Pirates, among their absolute top-tier combatants, a battle destined to be unimaginably brutal and unimaginably tragic…
A civil war had erupted.
And the one leading it all was their former captain.
Now transformed into a demon—Rocks D. Xebec.
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