Chapter 243

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Kaido sat on his throne, his right cheek resting on his knuckles and his hand leaning on the throne’s dragon-shaped arms.

Using his right eye, the only one he had left, the other being destroyed years ago by the hands of a “Fool”, Kaido stared at the bounty posters in his other hand.

Amon had surpassed not only his; but also Whitebeard’s bounty.

He now had a whopping 5.46 billion number over his head. Kaido also got a boost in his bounty, but it wasn’t worth mentioning. Not even a billion boost so he was still at the 4.6 billion mark.

This would have infuriated Kaido greatly—if not for the fact that he had seen what Amon can do with his own remaining eye.

Amon was stronger, far stronger than Kaido could ever imagine.

Kaido could never imagine one-shotting Whitebeard, old and weakened or not. But Amon did it, he did it when 3 additional more-or-less Emperor level fighters were behind him.

What stopped him from doing the same to Kaido…?

His defence?

The draconic scales covering his skin?

No, Kaido couldn’t put all his trust in that. Because he was against a person who had the 2nd stage of Conqueror’s Haki, «Conqueror’s Coating».

For all he knew, Amon could come to Onigashima right now at lightning speed, and shove his palm inside his chest.

...Kaido was never scared, since the time he witnessed Xebec fight Roger and Garp decades ago. In that fight, when Xebec died, the fear of death was nothing but a blown-out candle flame in Kaido’s heart.

But now, thinking about Amon coming to Onigashima to kill him, Kaido felt a strange clutch in his gut.

Fear.

Truthfully, the reality of being scared of death frightened Kaido even more.

He slowly looked at the poster in his hand. Amon's new bounty poster.

He had his hand raised, towards the camera, his red eyes cold and his horns shining because of the blood of Ace. At this sight, seeing his cold eyes but mischievous grin, Kaido got the impression of his old captain.

Rocks D. Xebec.

There were zero similarities between the two men’s appearance, but there was that one something similar between them that Kaido couldn’t quite point his finger into.

Knowing that fact…

…The King of the Beast, The Strongest Creature Alive, Kaido the Oni, felt a trail of cold sweat run down his back, his eyes focused at the gaze of the Strongest Man.

—★—

As Amon finished taking in the [Devil Fruit Mastery] bubble that had left the dead Trafalgar Law, he all of a sudden had the 11-year experience of Op-Op no Mi that Law had cultivated all his life for.

After consuming Marco’s Fruit, Amon also devoured the fruit of Law, the fruit he was most excited about. There were reasons for that of course, he knew the people of this world just saw this as a simple ticket to Immortality and nothing more.

‘Fools.’

But they were fools, but Amon wasn’t. It wasn’t a Theory this time, no, it was a logical deduction. If things were according to plan… He doubted if even an old monster like Imu could kill the current him.

Right now, he was excited to mix his «Room» with his other two fruits’ powers, but before that...

He turned his head to Raki with a smile.

“You see, Raki, I lied about my possible death.”

Raki gave him a dry stare but said nothing.

“There is actually something I have for you.”

Saying so, he vanished, teleporting, and reappeared with someone beside him. A copy of… Raki.

A clone.

Raki’s eyes widened before her face went red. Not by rage, but by shame as she stared at her naked clone.

“This-”

“Cover it up!”

She interrupted Amon who had started to say something and ran to his side. She quickly materialised an armour of condensed light around the body of her copy.

Sighing at her covered-up mindless clone, she turned and gave Amon a narrowed-eyed look.

“You didn’t do anything weird to my body… right?”

Amon blinked at her thrice but said nothing. He instead smiled and strolled around the clone just as a fruit, a devil fruit, flickered on his palm.

He flung it in the air, juggling, as Raki stared at it.

It was a blue fruit. Raki almost doubted it for a copy of Amon’s Goro-Goro no Mi, but she recalled Amon’s was a shining pineapple, and this was a pale guava.

Then, as she glanced at the white cracks encircling around the fruit as if it was made of broken glass, Raki suddenly carried a… different idea.

"Brother," She scowled. “What are you planning this time?”

Why the hell was he giving her the strongest paramecia?

The fruit fell back to Amon’s hand and he gave her a smile that Raki hated quite a bit. Because it was a smile she couldn't see through.

Amon's lips stretched.

"Whatever it is… you will love it."

—★—

The next day, in the early morning, Amon stood by the window with an expressionless face.

The God’s Shrine was a 10-story building now, with each story compact with things Amon needed daily. On the top floor, just below the roof, Amon stood beside the window while wearing a casual white shirt.

His eyes were low on the ground where a celebration was happening.

'Even so early in the morning…'

His people really took this as a massive victory. He knew why. The number of people joining the Wingless Valkyries and allying with Enherjars was almost 4 times more than before.

From the spot God's Shrine stood, meaning a few hundred metres up in the sky, Amon could still see everything clearly with not only his eyes but with the stretched out electromagnetic field present in the atmosphere as well.

He could see everything in a circle of 1,000 kilometres from his body.

It felt strange, seeing things like this in his brain. It’s been almost 3 months since he first awakened his fruit, yet it still felt odd. Unusual. He guessed it would need a bit more time to get used to it completely.

Then a small smirk formed on his lips all of a sudden. One of his clones was observing a group of people who called themselves the "New Roger Pirates".

‘Those old idiots.’

They were the relics of the past and they should have stayed like that. Yet, there they were, trying to take revenge. Amon couldn’t help but laugh a little. Then again, he would have hunted down and killed them anyway as soon as he got the chance.

So he guessed he would play with them a little, more so since they seemed so eager.

Before that though, he had... more things to worry about.

The two remaining Emperors of the Sea must die.

A part of him hoped otherwise. He could have taken them in as underlings and made them his executives when he ruled over the world just 3 or 4 years later. But they were stubborn people of the old Era, even Shanks. They would rather die than bow down and accept orders.

He didn't need such people.

He planned to attack Kaido just a month from now on, and then Shanks. There was no need to keep canon like before, no need to wait for the 9 Scabbards, no need to wait for anyone. Amon was strong now, he could handle any butterfly effect with a smile on his face.

Evaluating the grand scheme of things, he was about to take his first step towards Absoluteness by taking over this whole planet. After that… he would need to up his game a little.

Amon chuckled instinctively and groaned at the same time. A part of him wanted to destroy things. The part that taking in Big Mom's blood brought in him. But it was suppressed, and he believed it would vanish in a few years or so. He was, after all, not fond of being chaotic without any reason.

Then he sensed someone close to his room.

Footsteps came forward and then two knocks fell on the door.

"Bro?"

He turned to the door, his back leaning against the window and used his electricity to open the door from here.

The door creaked open, and Raki stumbled as if she was leaning on the door frame.

"Oh, uh…"

She steadied herself quickly before shaking her head and taking a graceful step forward.

She was being graceful. Amon almost deadpanned.

...He did deadpan when he saw her face.

"Why are you dressed like a clown?"

Raki, with light make-up on, blinked rapidly before frowning.

"Hey, I put in the effort to look good, don't make fun of me!"

Amon smirked at her. "Why? Are you not confident in your natural beauty?"

She seemed to almost start an argument, but she held back and cleared her throat. She then took a pose with her finger on her face.

"Anyway, how do I look?"

Raki wore a black kimono with colourful flowers sewn on it. There was yellow nail polish on her fingertips, and a small red pig hung from her ear like an earring. Her previously messy hair was cut straight and hair strands loomed over her cheeks from her head.

Spoiler: Image Here

"...You look bad. I am not lying."

He was indeed lying. She looked so beautiful that he would have been surprised if Raki had suddenly come in front of him like this. But he saw her dress up with his awakened senses already before, so there was no room for surprise.

But of course, Raki didn’t know that. Her pose dropped, she gave him a disapproving look, and turned around to leave the room.

"Wait, hey! I was joking!"

Amon laughed on the window, almost tumbling down twice just as one of his clones returned by grabbing Raki by the shoulders.

Raki grumped at him.

"...It took me 7 hours to put this on, you know."

Amon still couldn't fathom why she needed to do it. But he apologised, but before he could do so, she interrupted.

"It's my birthday. Don't tell me you forgot."

"..."

Amon shrugged immediately. "How could I? Remember, I gave you a 2nd powerful devil fruit as a birthday gift just yesterday."

Raki narrowed her eyes, but shrugged her shoulders and walked closer, standing by his side on the window.

"Brother…" she turned to him. "What would you do after… taking over the world and everything? I wanna know all of a sudden."

She stared at his eyes just as Amon did the same.

He wondered what made her so curious.

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Author’s Note: For anyone who forgot, Raki’s appearance was already changed by the time she returned from Moon. If she doesn’t wear the makeup, she would look like this (with golden eyes):

Spoiler: Image Here