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Rowen scanned his surroundings, the crimson-black light of his Conqueror’s Haki intensifying in his eyes.

The Room of Flowers.

The place where Imu resided. Before today, only Rocks D. Xebec had ever breached this place to face Imu directly.

Rowen had long wanted to see it for himself.

He had, in fact, landed on Egghead with Luffy and the others in person. But after meeting Vegapunk—he had been silently replaced by a string-and-human puppet—a fusion of the String-String and Human-Human Fruits.

Rowen’s true body, using the combined power of the Clear-Clear Fruit and Kamui, had long since departed Egghead. Then, using the Paw-Paw Fruit, he set his destination for the Holy Land, Mariejois.

Kuma, as a Buccaneer, was fated to be a slave to the Celestial Dragons. As a child, he and his father were slaves in Mariejois. It was during that time that his father told him of the Buccaneer faith—of Nika—shaping Kuma’s own beliefs.

The Paw-Paw Fruit, obtained from Kuma, naturally held the ‘coordinates’ for Mariejois.

Combined with the Clear-Clear Fruit and the Door-Door Fruit, infiltrating the unprepared Room of Flowers was effortless.

Even Rocks had managed it during the Reverie.

Rowen’s current strength far exceeded Rocks’s—and with so many additional powerful Devil Fruit abilities at his disposal, pulling off such a feat was even easier.

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“Imu.”

Rowen looked at the King of the World and smiled with immense power.

Imu’s appearance was completely concealed within a voluminous, airtight black robe. It obscured Imu’s face and figure entirely, leaving only a pair of red, inhuman eyes visible.

And this Room of Flowers…

Rowen surveyed the space, the place where Imu had lived for so long.

It was, as its name suggested, like a world of flowers. No, more than a world of flowers, it resembled a Western-style lawn wedding. Flowers, a lawn, floral arches… it possessed all the elements of a ceremony.

Interesting…

Rowen looked at Imu and smiled.

“No wonder when Rocks came here, he knew he couldn’t do anything. This space is affected by a Devil Fruit ability. A spatial Devil Fruit ability. Is this the power you used to allow the Five Elders to teleport using the Pentagram Circle?”

Rowen looked at Imu, his eyes shining with the enhanced intellect of the Human-Human Fruit.

Imu’s Devil Fruit possessing a Space-type ability was already an open secret. The fact that the Five Elders and the God’s Knights could teleport using a Pentagram Circle was proof enough.

But in this Room of Flowers—no, in Pangea Castle in Mariejois, Imu’s entire sphere of activity—was affected by this spatial Devil Fruit ability.

As someone who also possessed a Space-type Devil Fruit and could control space, this could not be hidden from Rowen.

This space—it seemed not to exist in this dimension, and at the same time, it served as an anchor.

An anchor for Imu to exist in this world.

His previous guess… was completely correct.

Imu’s true body couldn’t leave Pangea Castle—he was trapped here. This wasn’t a Devil Fruit ability. It was a Devil Fruit SIDE EFFECT!

And the Devil Fruit that caused all this was—

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“The Op-Op Fruit, isn’t it? You… underwent the Immortality Operation, didn’t you, Imu?”

Rowen smiled.

A spatial Devil Fruit ability, and near-immortality.

The only Devil Fruit that could achieve all this was the Op-Op Fruit.

Without a doubt, Imu was an immortal who had undergone the Immortality Operation performed by another Op-Op Fruit user!

But all Devil Fruits had their pros and cons. To obtain an immortal life came at an extremely heavy price.

The person who underwent the Immortality Operation could only use a fixed area as a spatial anchor.

This resulted in Imu being completely unable to leave this anchored space. He couldn’t even exert his power normally, because Imu, at this moment, was no longer in this dimension.

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“I see… The secret of the Immortality Operation is to place the soul of the recipient in a different dimension. Since you’re not in this dimension, you naturally cannot die… cannot be injured!”

Rowen smiled.

Possessing the intelligence enhancement of the Human-Human Fruit, the soul abilities of the Soul-Soul Fruit and the Revive-Revive Fruit, plus the spatial ability of the Door-Door Fruit, Rowen had quickly reached this conclusion after experiencing it firsthand.

No wonder the Op-Op Fruit had a Space-type ability—everything was a precursor to its ultimate power, the Immortality Operation.

But after obtaining immortality, one could not leave the anchored space. Even to exert power required special preparations, to slowly seep power from the space where the immortal’s true self was located, into this space.

This was also why, despite Imu’s incredible display of Haki and power, someone like Sabo could still escape from Pangea Castle right under the noses of Imu and the Five Elders.

Because at that time, the power of Imu and the Five Elders had not fully returned to this dimension.

An outrageous ability like the Immortality Operation had an even more terrifying side effect.

Rowen had long anticipated this.

It was because he understood the true nature of Devil Fruits that, even after bringing Law under his command, Rowen had never pursued the Immortality Operation.

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“As expected of the one who understands Devil Fruits best, Sky Sovereign,”

Imu’s bizarre, genderless voice sounded. Even with Rowen revealing the truth of the Immortality Operation, there was not a single flicker in Imu’s gaze.

“Since you know the truth of the Immortality Operation, you should also know—you can do nothing!”

Imu looked coldly at Rowen.

“That’s right. Because your soul and true body are not actually in this dimension. So even if I fight you, what I destroy is just the manifestation of this space. Even super-strong Conqueror’s Haki can only stop the repair of your physical body in this space—”

“—In essence, it’s just using Haki to destroy the anchor point of the Immortality Operation in this space. Though the anchor point being destroyed by Haki will cause you pain and prevent regeneration for a short time… in reality, there is no substantial damage. When the Haki dissipates, the anchor point will be repaired, and your physical body in this space will recover as well,”

Rowen smiled.

This was the real reason Gaban’s Haōshoku Coating appeared to break the immortality of the God’s Knight, Shepherd Sommers.

It didn’t truly wound him—it only stopped his immortal body from regenerating, forcing him to feel every ounce of agony. The display was terrifying, but in truth, the damage was superficial.

And sure enough, once Gaban’s Haki faded, Shepherd Sommers body knit itself back together as if nothing had happened.

This was also why, when Rocks entered the Room of Flowers and stood before Imu, he did nothing—because he knew there was nothing he could do.

Because no matter how strong his Haki was, even if he destroyed every anchor point in this space, he still couldn’t harm Imu’s true body. That body had been placed in another, fixed space by the Op-Op Fruit’s Immortality Operation.

That space had no concept of time, so naturally, one could not age or die—one would be immortal.

But if one truly left that space and entered the real dimension, they would be bound by this dimension’s concept of time. Under the weight of years, those so-called immortal monsters—who had lived for centuries—would wither away into dust.

Just like Saturn, who was punished by Imu for letting Luffy escape.

The secrets and abilities of the Immortality Operation—Rowen had completely figured them out.

BUT—

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“Your Devil Fruit ability is not the Op-Op Fruit, is it, Imu?”

Rowen looked at Imu with interest.

These abilities—were less abilities, more the curse of those who had undergone the Immortality Operation.

Immortality, with one’s true body permanently trapped in a fixed space—was not a pleasant thing.

It meant losing freedom!

Exchanging freedom for immortality.

And this was Imu’s personal limitation after undergoing the Immortality Operation.

As for the members of the God’s Knights and the Five Elders, who were granted immortality by Imu, and whose true bodies were also hidden in the Immortality Operation’s space, and unlike Imu, they were not confined to the fixed anchor point of Pangea Castle—

—That was due to Imu’s own Devil Fruit ability!

This ability could sign a Demonic contract with others. Using the power of the contract, it could drag the true body of the signatory into the Immortality Operation space where Imu’s true body was located.

Because the actual anchor point was Imu himself, not the members of the God’s Knights and the Five Elders who had signed the demonic contract—their range of activity was not just in Pangea Castle in Mariejois—they could go to various places to carry out missions.

Because they themselves were not the anchor points of this space.

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“Remarkable. Just as I’d expect from someone not of this world,” Imu said, acknowledging Rowen’s deduction.

At this point, both sides had laid their cards on the table.

Knowing that Sky Sovereign Rowen was from another world, and a world that was very familiar with this one, there was no need for denial.

“But from your deduction… it seems that world doesn’t know my true power yet—” Imu looked at Rowen.

“That’s right. It hasn’t been revealed yet…”

Rowen also did not hide it.

Both sides were fighting with their cards on the table—such concealment was meaningless. And the truth of Imu’s Immortality Operation was not the only truth Rowen had discovered upon arriving in the Room of Flowers.

“No wonder Rocks told you he’d be back one day before he left here,”

Rowen suddenly burst into laughter, the crimson-black light in his eyes incredibly thick.

“So he went to find that Devil Fruit ability that could pull your true body out of that Immortality Operation space.”

Rowen smiled.

Imu’s eyes were utterly grim.

“I originally thought it was the power of the Nika Fruit’s Drums of Liberation that could break your immortality. But after coming here, I discovered that what can break the Immortality Operation is not Nika—”

Rowen’s smile became even more wanton.

“—But that fruit, which is an anomaly even among Logias, that can give its user the terrifying gravitational power to pull everything out. The most evil ability—the Dark-Dark Fruit.”

Rowen smiled.

THE DARK-DARK FRUIT!

No wonder Rocks’s son—Blackbeard—was so desperate to find Dark-Dark Fruit. If he hadn’t found this Devil Fruit, Blackbeard would have rather died of old age on Whitebeard’s ship.

Because without the Dark-Dark Fruit’s gravity, it was impossible to truly pull Imu’s true body out of that space of the Immortality Operation—It was impossible to defeat Imu.

Without the Dark-Dark Fruit, the dream of becoming King of the World was impossible. No matter how strong your Haki was, it couldn’t harm Imu—or the Five Elders and God’s Knights bound to him by contract.

This was a meaningless battle.

As a person who could control space, the moment Rowen discovered Imu’s true body was in a different dimension, he knew exactly how to shatter Imu’s immortality.

This also made Rowen find the situation incredibly interesting.

What he had thought was the key—the Nika Fruit—had turned out to be its complete opposite, the Dark-Dark Fruit.

This war was destined to be inconclusive.

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“Impressive. But what you really want to see… is my true power.”

Imu turned, facing Rowen directly.

“Can you let me see? Though I’ve already guessed,”

Rowen smiled.

Imu had revealed enough abilities, enough clues.

The Pentagram Circle, the demonic contract, the arrowhead-like tail, not a human, but a beast-form Mythical Zoan’s ability, like Satan descending on the world, and those demonic bat wings.

There was only one Mythical Zoan ability that fit all these clues.

VMM!

Imu’s form began to change.

It transformed into—the Beast Form of Imu’s Devil Fruit.

“SO IT REALLY IS THAT ABILITY!”

Rowen burst into laughter.

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