One Piece : Kaido Brother

Chapter 501 501

"Who's there?"

Caesar was startled.

He hadn't expected anyone to dare approach during his and Imu's world-shattering battle.

Immediately, Caesar tightened his grip on Imu's neck and glanced sideways.

In the distant sky, a streak of light approached rapidly.

With a howling wind, a woman hovered before Caesar.

She had black wings sprouting from her back, demon horns on her head, three eyes, long limbs, stood twelve meters tall, and had fish gills on her cheeks.

Her voluptuous figure was clad in a white bodysuit with "00" emblazoned on the chest.

A somewhat ferocious dragon tail extended from her rounded hips.

The moment Caesar saw this bizarre woman, his brow furrowed.

Just from her visible features, she combined traits from over ten different races: Dragon tribe, Oni tribe, Lunaria tribe, Fish-Man tribe, Three-Eye tribe, Long-Limb tribe...

The woman held a large bundle of black rod-like objects in her hand, but when she spoke, her voice was that of an aged man.

"Greetings, the strongest of our planet. It's our first meeting. I am Vegapunk."

Caesar's pupils contracted slightly.

"Holy shit, you're old man Vegapunk?"

The woman blinked her eyes—which were identical to Imu's—and replied, "Yes, you may call me that."

"Holy shit, I thought the world's greatest scientist would be a venerable elder, but it turns out to be a pervert. Or are you a mad scientist who transformed yourself into a woman? No, this doesn't even count as a woman anymore, does it?"

Caesar was bewildered.

There were many scientists in Tottoland.

Queen, Judge, Indigo, and the scientific talents Doflamingo recruited from around the world.

But so far, even the most experimentally obsessed Indigo had no intention of transforming himself into a monster.

"Hey hey, what's with that look! This body is my masterpiece! It combines the lineage factors of over a hundred races on this planet, perfected through tens of thousands of experiments before achieving successful fusion. Ah, damn, is this really the time to discuss this? Hurry up and use this to nail her down!"

Upon hearing Caesar's words, Vegapunk initially felt angry and wanted to argue.

But soon, her expression changed.

Imu, who had been severely injured by Caesar, was rapidly recovering.

Her aura was gradually returning to its peak.

Even Caesar felt he was about to lose control over her.

As she spoke, Vegapunk threw over the black rods.

Whoosh—over a dozen one-meter-long, one-centimeter-thick black rods flew toward Caesar.

"What the hell is this?"

With his left hand gripping Imu's neck, Caesar instinctively grabbed one of the black rods with his right hand.

Thud!

The black rod was unexpectedly sharp, piercing straight through Imu's abdomen.

"Ah!"

Imu let out a painful groan, her cold, authoritative pupils flashing with disbelief.

"How is this possible? How is this possible? My Chaos Physique has been broken? Vegapunk! You... you... what is this thing?!"

Seeing the black rod actually work, Caesar was overjoyed.

He quickly scooped up the remaining dozen or so rods, intending to pierce them all through Imu's body.

"Pierce them separately!"

Vegapunk urgently shouted.

Thud, thud, thud...

Over a dozen sounds of flesh being pierced echoed.

In mid-air, Imu's limb joints, heart, spine, and even the center of her skull were impaled by the black rods, making her look utterly miserable.

When all the black rods were used, Imu's screams abruptly ceased.

"Is she dead just like that?"

Caesar floated in mid-air, clutching Imu's motionless body, somewhat dazed.

Imu's strength was undeniable.

Alone, she possessed hundreds of Powers of Rules.

According to what Joy Boy said, Devil Fruits were used to cultivate awakening power for Imu to absorb and refine.

After eight hundred years of absorption, Imu might have already absorbed all the demonic awakening powers they had released.

Thinking about it this way, the number of abilities Imu possessed could be the sum total of all Devil Fruit abilities on this planet.

And now, Imu was only interested in the Power of Rules. The power of awakened fruits no longer had any effect on her.

Yet, such a god-like, ultimate being was killed so easily?

Vegapunk's eyes emitted an arc of light waves, scanning Imu from head to toe.

"No breath, heartbeat stopped, no soul fluctuations—she should be dead."

Caesar frowned and flicked a black rod.

"Is this thing... Seastone?"

Vegapunk nodded.

"You're right, but not entirely."

She pointed at the black rod.

"Half of it is Seastone, while the other half is a combination of the Lineage Factors from tens of thousands of species across the entire planet. When these two are combined, they can inflict damage on Imu. It seems my hypothesis was correct."

...

After killing Imu, Caesar finally relaxed his tense heart.

Now, he had the mood to chat casually with Vegapunk.

For this scientific genius he had never met before, Caesar held great admiration.

No matter how strong one person is, they cannot change the world alone.

But an outstanding scientist can.

Without a doubt, Vegapunk was such a scientist.

Yet all along, he had been hidden away by the World Government, secretly conducting weapons research.

If he could focus on civilian technology for this world, this planet's so-called cosmic civilization level probably wouldn't be stuck below even the first tier.

Having reached B-Class, Caesar could float in the air even without wings growing from his back.

He sat cross-legged and asked curiously.

"What's your speculation? Let's hear it."

Seeing Caesar's inquiry, Vegapunk didn't beat around the bush.

"Devil Fruits, well, what the extraterrestrials call Rule Fruits, also have things that counter them."

Caesar raised an eyebrow: "Seawater, Seastone?"

Vegapunk nodded.

"Yes, though I don't know why. My personal speculation is that when facing alien colonization, this planet specifically generated this substance to protect itself."

"The planet, protecting itself?"

Caesar listened in astonishment.

He was somewhat skeptical.

"Old Vegapunk, you're a scientific researcher. How can you believe in something as absurd as a planet having consciousness?"

"Pirate ships can develop ship spirits. This world has existed for billions of years - what's so surprising about it developing consciousness?"

Vegapunk curled his lips and suddenly pointed at Caesar.

"Why isn't your Kunpeng ability afraid of seawater or Seastone?"

"The extraterrestrials landed nine hundred years ago."

"Your fruit appeared over a thousand years ago. Since it didn't bring danger to this world, the planet wouldn't specifically target it."

"But those extraterrestrials are different - they came to colonize, to plunder resources, to destroy the world!"

"So the planet targeted them, using the most abundant substance on its surface - seawater - to counter them!"

"And Seastone is the essence of seawater."