Chapter 520: Chapter 520: God Valley Arc — Sorry, Rocks
In God Valley, strange monsters appeared. Even Orin could now feel some pressure. These old-timers from the previous era were bullying him one by one for being young. Orin narrowed his eyes, then brought Keek over to Kuma.
"Let me send you somewhere else first, and then you can slowly head back to Duramos."
Orin looked back at the distant battlefield—that was where he should be. Keek clearly understood that at this level of battle he wouldn’t be of any help, so he could only smile.
"I know. You have to be careful!!!"
Confidence was written all over Orin’s face.
"Do you even need to ask?"
"I’m the strongest~"
...
After using Kuma to send the old man away, Orin took light steps and returned to the battlefield. The other captains arrived one after another. A grin spread across Rocks’s face.
"You’re here to help me? There’s no benefit in that!!"
Newgate held his naginata and stood resolutely beside Rocks. Beneath his white beard, he laughed heartily.
"Don’t mind it—after all, I’ve been mooching your booze all this time!!"
Orin sat at the front, holding a black gun in his hand, and quietly lit himself a cigarette.
"Yeah. You took care of Keek back when he was fighting as a combatant—that counts as me owing you a favor, Rocks."
Rocks laughed.
"I also have to thank that guy for saving my wife and child..."
As for Kaido, who had transformed into a huge qilin with a very sturdy body, he was showing off his Mythical Zoan ability.
"Look, look! I have an ability now too!!!"
Orin smiled and looked at Kaido, who had turned into a qilin. He wondered whether, in this Devil Fruit state, he could still take hits like before.
Garp and Roger looked at that enormous monster with excitement and confusion. Saint Saturn, who had transformed into an ox-demon, now had a mass of tall, thin black mist above his head. Circles upon circles of eyes opened within it, gazing down at everyone on this land.
"You just asked what this is, right?"
Facing Garp’s question, Rocks gave the answer.
"This is the ’world’..."
The marines also noticed that gigantic figure—the slender figure wearing a crown, its eyes full of cold indifference.
"Saint Saturn, what is this you’re..."
"An eyesore."
Indiscriminate slaughter—killing marines and pirates alike.
The scene grew even more chaotic, but Orin didn’t rush to act, because he knew the monster before them couldn’t be killed. And the first one Imu focused on was naturally Rocks, the strongest on the field and the one with the most important status.
"It’s you, Davy Jones."
(T/N: Davy Jones is the distant ancestor of Rocks D. Xebec. Xebec believed that Davy Jones was the King of the World at some point prior to being supplanted by Imu and the World Government.)
"I’m not, but the ’promise’ must always be fulfilled."
"That’s why you must be erased from history!!!"
After a bout of riddling dialogue, Orin more or less understood some of the inside story, but he wasn’t interested at all. He just found Imu unpleasant to look at.
Since coming of age, whenever Orin appeared, he was always the big boss. This was the first time he’d run into a boss dungeon he needed to grind himself. Thinking of this, Orin felt a faint urge to stir things up.
Sooner or later, he’d give Imu a big one.
But Imu’s abilities really were troublesome. How should he deal with it?
Orin had some vague ideas: at least king-tier strength, plus the ability to make "abilities" disappear...
On the outskirts of the island, Dragon, who was holding Shanks, was drawn by Captain John and flew into the pile of treasure, losing Shanks, who had been wrapped in a black cube. But at this moment Orin had no time to care about the whereabouts of the young emperor; instead, he focused on the enemy before him.
"Seriously annoying—this kind of mechanics monster..."
Facing Imu, the powerhouses at the center of God Valley almost without exception stood on the same side. If they weren’t facing Imu, the combined might of such a group of monsters could probably take Mary Geoise or Marineford without much trouble. But what they were facing was precisely an unkillable "monster."
Everyone swarmed in to attack, but Orin chose to keep his distance and raised his black gun. Just as Imu was about to say something, Orin aimed at the shadowed head beneath the crown.
"Bang—"
Under the attacks of countless powerhouses, Imu, along with the ox-demon body, was beaten into a tattered state. With attacks of this level of Conqueror’s Haki, in theory it should have been possible to break "immortality" or any Devil Fruit ability. But that old undead Imu—true to having endured the baptism of "Joy Boy’s" Conqueror’s Haki—seemed immune to Conqueror’s Haki of insufficient level, and his body was still slowly recovering.
As Imu slowly regenerated, he spoke to Rocks.
"I can see..."
"Running in that forest—that’s your wife and child, right, new Davy..."
Rocks was instantly filled with rage and roared:
"What are you trying to do?!"
"They’re struggling—struggling desperately just to live..."
"They absolutely must not be allowed to live..."
Orin’s eyelid twitched, and he instantly felt something was wrong.
"Hey!!! Rocks, don’t let that guy provoke you!!!"
But even as he said that, Orin knew Rocks couldn’t possibly not feel worried and furious for his wife and child. And it was at this very moment that two tentacles stretched out from Imu’s body and stabbed toward Rocks.
Orin wanted to aim at those two tentacles and fire a couple of shots to block them, but that wasn’t a physical attack. Even when it pierced the body, it didn’t hurt or itch—more like a kind of power that involved rules. Imu, who played with magic, couldn’t have his mechanics broken unless one’s Haki was strong to an extreme.
That was also the reason for Rocks’s failure. He was a powerhouse who used Haki, but when he met Imu—whose Conqueror’s Haki was no weaker than his and who also played with mechanics—he could only be slaughtered at will.
"Go slaughter your own family!!!"
During this time, Imu even kept up the trash talk. When giants and Harald were mentioned, Rocks’s emotions were clearly even more unstable. The transformation deepened; Rocks grew fangs and black wings.
At this time, the still-young Orin, facing Imu and Rocks—whose Haki were both a level above his—was powerless to turn everything around. All he could do was...
"Bang—"
Kaido, who had turned into a qilin, was knocked to the ground by Rocks in an instant. Just as Rocks was about to continue attacking Linlin, Orin appeared in front of her.
"Sorry, Rocks...."
Facing the demonized Rocks, Orin bore tremendous pressure, and his presence was also growing imperceptibly. He clenched his fist; black-and-red thunder raged and compressed around his knuckles, and the black power that twisted and shattered space coiled around his hand.
"Crack crack crack—"
Orin’s gaze was complicated. He locked horns with Rocks, who represented the pinnacle of the world, his expression unreadable.
"Let me be the one to send you off on your final journey."
