Kaido and Charlotte Linlin were no ordinary figures. After the initial shock, they seemed to regain their composure almost instantly.
"It's his ability! That strange dark power!" Kaido bellowed, his voice serving as a sharp warning to Big Mom.
Linlin was just as quick on the uptake. From the way Diarmuid had "emerged from the cocoon," it was clear he hadn't tanked that Hakai with his bare physical body. Instead, he had used a new, unseen power, that darkness, to wrap around himself and completely negate the strike.
From this, they could deduce one thing: Diarmuid's physical constitution hadn't undergone a massive transformation; rather, he had mastered a new force. This power had elevated him to a level where their combined assault failed to leave a mark.
Suddenly, a thought struck Big Mom. Her eyes widened with shock. "Has your ability... awakened?"
The Gravity-Gravity Fruit was already one of the top-tier powers among Paramecia types. In essence, Diarmuid's rise to the top truly began after he acquired it. But precisely because it was so powerful, it had never shown signs of awakening. No one even knew what a Gravity Fruit awakening would look like; in fact, many scholars theorized that such a fundamental force couldn't be awakened at all.
Linlin and Kaido had shared that belief. Linlin, a top-tier Paramecia user herself, knew better than anyone how difficult it was for someone of their caliber to achieve an awakening. At their level, they were already at the peak. If they awakened further, would there even be a path left for others to walk?
She was fundamentally skeptical, yet Diarmuid's overwhelming display of strength forced her to consider it. If it wasn't an awakening, how else could he have become this strong? She recalled the moment he had simply reached out his hand and she was pulled toward him, that irresistible force. Was that the true power of an awakened Gravity-Gravity Fruit?
In truth, the Gravity-Gravity Fruit and the Dark-Dark Fruit shared certain similarities. As for the color, Diarmuid's previous ultimate move, Abyssal Devourer, was already pitch-black, so the new darkness didn't immediately stand out as a different power. Furthermore, since the Dark-Dark Fruit lacked the typical Logia intangibility, it made Diarmuid's state look even more like a Paramecia awakening.
"An awakening?" Diarmuid's lips curled into a smirk. It was a mocking grin. He replied nonchalantly, "If that's what you want to call it, then let's go with that."
He had no interest in explaining himself to them, nor did he intend to voluntarily reveal the secret of his dual-fruit powers.
Linlin and Kaido's expressions grew grimmer. To them, Diarmuid's non-denial was a confirmation.
"You, Kaido... all of you... you really do love your sneak attacks. Truly the mark of despicable pirates," Diarmuid sneered.
First, while he was "playing" with Katakuri, Linlin had burst from the magma to strike him. Then, while he was hammering Linlin, Kaido had played the "hidden blade" role. Diarmuid felt perfectly justified in his criticism.
Kaido and Linlin, however, were fuming. Sneak attacks?You and Sakazuki were the ones who dropped a meteor on us out of nowhere! You've turned the entirety of Hachinosu into a bonfire and now you're taking the moral high ground? Typical hypocritical Marines, masters of the double standard.
But before they could argue, Diarmuid's grin widened. "It doesn't matter. Since you failed to take me down immediately, it means your chances of winning have evaporated. Are you ready... for your final defeat?"
"Don't get cocky, you brat!" Big Mom roared.
Before she could move, Diarmuid threw his arms wide in the air, looking as if he were trying to embrace the entire world.
What was he doing?
The answer came as a limitless, abyssal darkness began to spill out from his body. It seemed eternal and boundless, erupting from within him and surging in every direction. Within moments, everything within a ten-kilometer radius was shrouded in gloom.
Big Mom felt the very magma she was submerged in vanish, as if it had been swallowed by an insatiable void. Then, the sky began to be stained by this darkness, which crawled up through the invisible air like it was constructing a massive, sealed dome. Light faded, and their vision plunged into total blackness.
"This feeling..." Big Mom swallowed hard, a knot of anxiety tightening in her chest.
Logically, they should have fled before the darkness completely sealed them in. But she didn't dare move recklessly. If she bolted, Diarmuid might strike. Besides, what if this grand display was just a bluff meant to scare them off? A way to break their fighting spirit?
After considering their options, neither moved. They allowed the darkness to finish its enclosure. In reality, they simply didn't trust each other enough; Kaido had wanted to avoid the zone, but seeing Linlin stay put, he didn't dare leave her side for fear of being the one to "trigger the trap" alone. At least together, they could watch each other's backs.
However, as the dark aura rose and the fires died out, Kaido suddenly realized something. He cried out in fury, "This isn't an awakening! This spread... this isn't how a Paramecia works. This is the application of a Logia!"
Indeed, Kaido noticed that the way the darkness flowed felt elemental, not like the conceptual force of gravity. It was a familiar sensation, like the trademark of a Logia user.
Darkness... Logia...
Kaido's mind stalled for a second, but Big Mom's eyes filled with dawning horror. "The Dark-Dark Fruit! The one Lucci from the Whitebeard Pirates was searching for... you? You ate it? How is that possible!?"
Linlin knew about the Dark-Dark Fruit. Her investigations into its whereabouts were what had originally prompted her to ally with Whitebeard. She hadn't considered the "dual-fruit" possibility because it was fundamentally impossible. But with Kaido's realization, the pieces fell into place: the nature of the dark power, the rumors of the fruit's disappearance, and their own failed plots.
"Ahahaha!" Diarmuid laughed. "As expected of the emperors of the sea. You figured it out quite quickly."
He wasn't going to volunteer the information, but now that the cat was out of the bag, he saw no point in hiding it.
"Forbidden Domain of Darkness: Abyssal Arena!" Diarmuid growled.
The darkness, which had been slowly consuming the area, suddenly accelerated. In the blink of an eye, it sealed every direction—top, bottom, north, south, east, and west—transforming the space into a colossal black box.
Kaido, Big Mom, and Diarmuid were now trapped inside.
It was pitch black, a void without a single glimmer of light. Diarmuid, as the master of the darkness, was unaffected. He could see everything clearly.
To his surprise, two orbs of azure flame ignited in Kaido's eyes. After a brief moment of stiffness, Kaido turned his head and looked directly at Diarmuid. Clearly, the dragon form possessed some form of dark-vision.
Meanwhile, Big Mom didn't seem to change, but as Diarmuid shifted his position, she tracked him perfectly with her head. It was uncanny.
What he didn't realize was that while Linlin couldn't "see" in the traditional sense, she could see human souls! This was the power of the Soul-Soul Fruit. No matter how fancy Diarmuid's darkness was, as long as he couldn't hide his soul, she could track his every move. This was why they hadn't bothered to run. They weren't blind. Furthermore, with their high-level Observation Haki, they weren't without a means to fight back.
"What's the point of this creepy setup?" Kaido asked grimly.
"To kill you both, obviously," Diarmuid smiled.
The moment he spoke, he thrust his hand toward Kaido.
Kaido's eyes narrowed. He opened his mouth without hesitation, and a Boro Breath instantly condensed. Moving with incredible speed, he spat out three consecutive blasts of heat. They carved streaks of light through the dark arena, momentarily illuminating Diarmuid's silhouette as they hurtled toward him.
Just then, Diarmuid's palm released a burst of dark energy that expanded like a net. It snared the Boro Breath, and in an instant, the flames were swallowed whole. Not a single spark remained.
"What!?" Kaido was shaken. He finally understood how his earlier attacks had vanished.
"Universal Pull!" Diarmuid whispered.
As the words fell, Kaido felt a supreme force of attraction. His massive dragon body twisted as he tried to struggle against the pull, but it was futile. He was forcibly dragged through the air toward Diarmuid.
"LINLIN!!!" Kaido roared.
"Stop shouting!" Big Mom snapped.
A flicker of fire appeared in the boundless dark. Linlin was now wreathed in Prometheus's solar flames, the homie merging with her long hair. Her Cognac blade was also ablaze.
While Kaido was being pulled in passively, Big Mom stepped off into the air, actively charging Diarmuid with her flaming blade!
At that exact moment, Diarmuid's palm made contact with Kaido's massive form. The potent power of the Dark-Dark Fruit surged out, suppressing the Mythical Zoan power. To his horror, Kaido found himself being forcibly reverted from his Dragon-Human form back to his base human state! It felt as though the power within him had simply evaporated.
In an instant, he was back to normal, his wrist caught in Diarmuid's iron grip.
Before he could react further, Big Mom's Cognac came whistling toward Diarmuid's head.
"Shinra Tensei..." Diarmuid murmured.
An unparalleled force of repulsion exploded from his body. The blast was so powerful that Big Mom's blade couldn't descend an inch further, and her massive frame was forced backward.
Kaido had it the worst. He was being pushed by the repulsion of the technique, yet he couldn't fly away because another mysterious attraction was still locking him in place...
The two opposing forces collided within his body, leaving him in a state of agonizing, helpless frustration.
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