A loud bang echoed in the sky as "Kaido" once again descended upon Onigumo's warship.
Onigumo, having been flung earlier, was already embedded in a cabin wall and likely unconscious.
The Marines on Onigumo's ship surrounded "Kaido" with weapons drawn. He didn't even spare them a glance. A burst of Conqueror's Haki erupted from him, sending an entire ship's worth of men sprawling, unconscious.
Scanning the deck, "Kaido" moved toward Onigumo's quarters. From the Vice Admiral's memories, he already knew the Op-Op Fruit was stored in a cabinet in the office.
At that moment, Chiga, Tsuru, and several others arrived on the ship.
"Kaido" raised an eyebrow, looking at Chiga with amusement.
"It's you again. Your strength's decent, but you don't look so hot right now. What, you wanna try again?"
Chiga said nothing. His arm darkened with Armament Haki as he charged forward.
"Kaido" grunted in amusement and also coated his arm in Haki. Their fists collided.
Boom!
A powerful shockwave exploded outward, spiderweb cracks spreading across the deck beneath them.
Behind them, Momonga and Yamakaji, who had intended to assist, were blasted back by the impact. They looked at Chiga with growing awe.
Momonga muttered, "Is this really Vice Admiral Chiga's strength? Even while he's clearly still recovering..."
Yamakaji nodded, impressed. "With power like that, I doubt he'll remain a Vice Admiral much longer."
Momonga fell silent. Above Vice Admiral was Admiral — the top of the Marine combat hierarchy. There were many Vice Admirals, but only a few Admirals, each one a legend.
Both Momonga and Yamakaji, despite not being old, had already acknowledged their own limitations. Becoming an Admiral was no longer in their future.
Thinking of Chiga's youth, they could only sigh. "The heavens really are unfair."
Standing nearby, Tsuru folded her arms, watching Chiga battle "Kaido." She suddenly called out,
"Chiga, watch your body!"
Chiga, in the heat of battle, briefly paused. Truthfully, it felt surreal — fighting himself. Every clash was almost like testing a mirror image.
But he couldn't keep this up. This clone only had half the strength of the original. Soon, it would lose.
Chiga gave Tsuru a subtle thumbs-up. Then, feigning a mistake, he left himself open. "Kaido" took the chance and sent him flying back toward Tsuru and the others.
Before Tsuru could move, Momonga and Yamakaji rushed to support him.
To them, Vice Admiral Chiga risking his already weak body to protect the mission — that was the ultimate sense of duty.
Seeing their concern, Chiga's face flushed slightly.
But he reminded himself: the Op-Op Fruit couldn't fall into the hands of those nobles in Mary Geoise. Momonga, Yamakaji — I'm sorry. This is for justice.
Seeing the flush in Chiga's face, Momonga assumed it was internal damage and quickly asked,
"Vice Admiral Chiga, are you alright?"
Cough cough "I'm fine. It's just... things got more complicated than expected."
He turned his eyes to "Kaido," now looming over Onigumo's fallen body.
"Kaido" ignored Onigumo and instead scanned the office.
Sure enough, the cabinet door had broken open in the earlier crash, revealing the sealed box — the Op-Op Fruit inside.
"Kaido" exhaled with relief. He had deliberately hurled Onigumo toward the office to avoid wasting time — and it had worked.
Had he not found it, he'd have had to start threatening lives — forcing Chiga and the others to hand it over. That would've caused too many consequences.
Now that he had it, he smirked and looked over at Chiga and the others, their faces grim.
"I'm taking the Op-Op Fruit. If you want it back, come find me in Onigashima."
With those words, he activated the Deva Path ability and shot into the clouds — gone in seconds.
Chiga and the others stared at the sky in silence.
Finally, Tsuru spoke.
"This changes everything. I didn't think Kaido knew about the Op-Op Fruit. It must have been Doflamingo... I'll report this to Fleet Admiral Sengoku when we return."
Everyone nodded grimly.
Just then, a Marine rushed out of the ship's lower deck, clearly panicked.
"Officers! Five members of the Donquixote Family have lost all vital signs!"
"What?!"
Momonga and Yamakaji turned sharply to the Marine, stunned.
Tsuru, however, remained calm. "They were criminals. Likely died from internal damage during Vice Admiral Chiga's earlier assault. Let it be. Who's still alive?"
"Only Baby 5... and Señor Pink!"
"Understood. Keep them under watch."
"Yes, ma'am!"
Once the soldier left, Tsuru gave Chiga a sideways glance. She didn't need confirmation — this was his doing.
She was right.
If she could access Chiga's Door-Door Space, she'd find four Devil Fruits lying quietly: the Ton-Ton, Stone-Stone, Pop-Pop, and Art-Art Fruits.
Their former users were dead. Chiga had deliberately finished them.
As for Diamante and his fluttering Hira Hira no Mi, Chiga didn't consider it worth the trouble. After defeating him, he simply walked away.
Baby 5, still a young girl abandoned by her mother and sold into the Donquixote Family, hadn't committed unforgivable crimes. Chiga spared her.
Señor Pink, the Swim-Swim Fruit user... well, his fruit wasn't exactly useful — you could swim through anything, except actual water. Still, the man was a romantic fool and something about him had earned Chiga's respect when he watched the anime.
So, Chiga let him live.
But he was still a criminal. Avoiding the death penalty didn't mean avoiding consequences.
Impel Down would be his new home — maybe one day, he'd walk free again.
_____________________________
Name inconsistency?
Tell me, I'd keep note to avoid it