Katakuri felt that something was very off about Roa these past few days.
That brat was practically inseparable from those two women from the former Kuja Pirates, glued to them every moment.
It was a consensus among everyone that Roa was a little pervert.
And Nico Robin and Boa Hancock of the former Kuja Pirates were indeed breathtaking beauties, especially Hancock.
But they had been in Roa's possession for quite some time now. Even if Roa wasn't the type to tire easily of new things, he shouldn't still be so utterly obsessed with them even now, should he?
Just like now, he had a rare desire to invite his good brother for a donut party, but the brat still brought those two women along.
They were draped over each other, unbearably affectionate.
"The perfume today... is quite special."
Roa ignored the mountain of donuts piled before him, instead burying his face deep in Hancock's elegant neck.
His warm breath feathered over her delicate skin as he inhaled the delicate fragrance, as if savoring a fine vintage wine.
"Specifically chosen for you,"
Robin, sitting on the other side, took a sip of red tea, a slight curve on her lips. "We've been changing our makeup and fragrance every day for the past few days. Hancock was quite reluctant at first; it took a lot of persuading."
"Mind your own business."
Hancock's ears were flushed, and she awkwardly turned her head away.
She had already shared all kinds of intimate moments with Roa, but at this moment, the world's most beautiful woman was acting like a young girl experiencing first love.
When Roa's fingertips traced her collarbone, she suddenly grabbed his lapel and glared at him, feigning ferocity. "Since... since I've gone this far for you, you'd better surrender your heart quickly!"
"Hasn't my heart already been captured by you?"
Roa chuckled, looking up to place a feather-light kiss on her slightly parted lips.
Gazing at her suddenly crimson cheeks, he mischievously rubbed his nose against her burning earlobe. "However, this feigned defiance makes me even more infatuated."
"...Insolent fool!"
Hancock turned away in embarrassed annoyance, yet she allowed his hand to linger on her waist.
The white camellia in her hair trembled slightly with her movement, mirroring her current fluttering emotions.
Robin had said that pretense was pointless.
What they needed to do was forget everything that came before and truly fall in love with Roa.
This monster had never felt love since childhood. If they could truly teach him what it was, then perhaps this born devil might experience some change.
So, Hancock was trying hard to show her true self in front of Roa.
The real Hancock, besides being a powerful pirate, was also an innocent woman in love.
Although Roa had already done all sorts of intimate things with her countless times, her heart was indeed still pure.
Robin, at this point, grabbed Roa's hand. Her eyelids fluttered gently, and a suggestive glow shimmered in her moist eyes. "Won't you sample this side of me? Roa."
Roa let out a soft laugh, seizing her wrist and pulling her into his embrace, giving her a quick kiss. "Mmm, much sweeter than Katakuri's donuts!"
The mingled breaths of the three permeated the cloying aroma of the sweets.
Only Katakuri, across the table, wore a long face. He kept stuffing donuts into his mouth while speaking in an utterly flat tone. "Roa, what the hell are you doing? Are you looking down on the donuts I meticulously prepared?"
"Can't help it, good brother,"
Roa managed to look up amidst his preoccupation, saying with a smile, "I'm already savoring something much sweeter and more wonderful."
Katakuri's mouth was stuffed full, but he still tried to maintain a poker face. "So, the dessert I meticulously prepared is inferior to your lovey-dovey spectacle over there?"
"It seems you completely fail to understand, my friend,"
Roa said teasingly. "The sweetness released by love is beyond the reach of any dessert."
"Love?"
Katakuri twitched his lips. "Is this some new form of torture?"
"What are you talking about? It's genuine, honest romance."
Roa said seriously. "It's pointless talking to an old bachelor in his forties like you. The pure affection between a boy and a girl is truly a treasure of this world."
"What kind of nonsense are you spouting!"
Katakuri couldn't help but roll his eyes. "You, who were orchestrating battle royales on Hachinosu Island and taking pleasure in torturing people when you were just a few years old, are talking about affection? Does the word 'pure' have even a millimeter of relation to you?"
"That's comparing apples and oranges."
Roa argued. "Besides, how old was I back then? I was just a child. God forgives a child's mistakes!"
"Well, God must be merciful indeed,"
Katakuri scoffed. "Forgiving you from childhood up until now."
"Wait, Roa, battle royale, what was that?"
Robin grew a little anxious, seeing Roa completely engrossed in conversation with Katakuri.
Though he spoke of being infatuated with them, and his every gesture was indeed affectionate.
She knew very well that making Roa truly fall in love with them was still a long way off.
Through the truly intimate contact of the past few days, she had realized that Roa lacked empathy for humans.
Simply put, humans were not the same species in his eyes.
Or perhaps, everything in this world was insignificant to him.
However, Roa was not entirely emotionless.
At least, Katakuri before him was a genuinely recognized friend.
Even if the fellow was being quite a hindrance right now.
"Oh, that,"
Roa instantly fell into a reverie because of Robin's question. "That was when I was six years old!"
"I found four pirate crews on Hachinosu Island, then announced to all the pirates on the island that they were the prey. After that, all the pirates on Hachinosu Island began a thrilling hunt."
"I'll never forget the sight of those guys crying, running, and desperately resisting. Thinking about it now, I feel a bit nostalgic."
Roa sighed. "But I can't go back. Humans are truly greedy creatures. I used to be able to find happiness so simply when I was a child."
"But growing up, even destroying a country can't give me that same happiness anymore. Irrecoverable childhood."
"Hahahaha!"
Katakuri burst into laughter, shaking his head as he laughed. "You haven't changed a bit over all these years!"
"Was it... solely to become stronger?"
Hancock subconsciously tightened her grip on Roa's hand.
Human suffering made Roa stronger; that was what he had told them himself.
"Mhm, mhm, mhm, mhm."
Roa nodded repeatedly, complaining slightly. "My ability is quite troublesome, isn't it? Only human suffering can make me evolve! I can't help it."
"However,"
He seemed to think of something and added with a grin, "On the other hand, a part of it was because I was quite bored back then."
"Bored?"
Robin felt a genuine sense of helplessness in that moment.
Could this guy really change?
But in the next instant, Robin reaffirmed her conviction.
There was no other way!
"In the future, we will always be by your side,"
Robin leaned gently on Roa's shoulder and whispered, "We won't let you feel bored again."
"Oh?"
Katakuri, who was currently munching on a donut, raised an eyebrow. "I finally get it. Hey, Roa, are these two women counting on 'love' to change you?"
"When you love someone, you strive to become a better person. They hope I become better."
Roa smiled. "It's a simple logic, isn't it?"
"Hahahahaha!"
Katakuri doubled over with laughter.
Such a thing existed?
These two women were truly hilarious!
How could a born bad seed like Roa ever change?
Even death probably couldn't erase the malice deeply etched into his soul!
Robin and Hancock showed no reaction to Katakuri's mockery.
This was all they could do.
"Seriously, as a good brother, can't you wish me some good fortune, Katakuri!"
Roa said irritably. "Just eat your donuts and stop disturbing my sweet romance!"
"I don't care about romance or not,"
Katakuri sneered. "Are you going to eat this donut or not?"
"You bastard—"
Roa sighed helplessly. "I can't do anything with you."
With that, he picked up a donut and put it in his mouth, not forgetting to mumble to Robin and Hancock, "You two try it too. This guy has decent taste only when it comes to donuts."
"Then I must try it."
Robin said this and picked up a donut as well.
It was clear that Katakuri was a very special person to Roa.
Even this born monster had normal human emotions!
It was just that he paid too little attention to others, not viewing anyone else in the world as the same species, which was why he was so cold and ruthless!
His innate power had warped his worldview!
Robin thought that perhaps Roa was actually a very pitiful person?
Just as they were quietly enjoying their donuts, Dylan rushed in. "Boss! Wano Country has arrived!"
"Oh?"
The gigantic City of Calamity and the equally immense Ancient Weapon Uranus floated silently over Wano Country.
Roa stood at the edge of the sea of clouds surrounding the City of Calamity, quietly looking down at the country below.
Wano Country. It had been many years since he last returned. Come to think of it, conquering this country with Big Brother Kaidō... how many years ago was that? Oh, it was only about five or six years ago.
"So, Roa,"
Shiki the Golden Lion spoke with interest. "How do you plan to retrieve Pluton?"
The high-ranking members of the Pirate Alliance gathered around Roa.
They were not heading out for battle.
Instead, the high-ranking Marines who had been turned into Gaki (Fiends) were leading the troops out. Roa found that more entertaining.
"Mama mama, Pluton is buried deep underground in Wano Country,"
Charlotte Linlin grinned too. "Are you going to just smash the whole island?"
Robin, standing to Roa's right, was visibly tense.
There was no need to go to that extent. With Roa's current power, wouldn't it be an effortless task to simply 'open' Wano Country?
But she didn't say that.
She wanted to give Roa her wholehearted love, so she couldn't do anything that would displease him.
"Smash it?"
Roa chuckled softly. He swept his Observation Haki, and almost immediately, "Oh! Found it! In that case, there's a faster way, but I wonder if Big Brother Kaidō is willing to part with it?"
"Hmph,"
Kaidō sneered. "What is this country now anyway? Do whatever you want!"
"Then it's no problem."
Roa raised his hand and lightly pressed down on the empty space. "Wano Country, I hope you're not too fragile."
At first, nothing happened.
On the streets of the Flower Capital, scattered pedestrians still hurried about their business.
In the factories outside the city, thick smoke still billowed into the sky.
In the Udon mines, laborers continued to toil, mining ore.
But in the next moment, the entire Wano Country began to shake violently.
"An earthquake?"
People all over the country screamed in terror almost simultaneously.
However, the real disaster had just begun.
Here, in the Flower Capital.
The ground in the center of the city suddenly arched upward, forming a mountain peak. The flagstone roads cracked and shattered, and houses were ripped apart like paper.
This peak only existed for a moment. The next second, the mountain shattered, and a column of crimson fire shot up into the sky, illuminating the dim sky blood red.
This was no ordinary volcanic eruption.
The entire land was erupting upwards.
Lava shot out from the ground like a geyser, reaching thousands of meters into the sky, then raining down like torrential drops.
The newly formed volcanic crater instantly swelled. In the blink of an eye, more than half of the Flower Capital became a fountain of magma, and everything within the area was instantly consumed.
But this didn't mean that the people outside the crater were safe.
"Run!"
Screams erupted instantly.
But where could they run?
Lava fell densely like a heavy downpour. Houses were instantly smashed to pieces, and people who were touched by it were instantly melted.
The entire Flower Capital was destroyed in an instant.
Accompanied by volcanic ash shooting into the sky, the magma rain began to spread to the surrounding areas.
Yet, this was not even the main source of destruction.
The earthquake.
At the moment of the volcanic eruption, Wano Country experienced an unprecedented super-earthquake.
The earth cracked, and mountains collapsed.
Wano Country's land, encased by the inland sea, had already shattered into pieces and began to sink.
"Ah, I forgot that Wano Country's current landmass is a later-built floating island!"
A look of sudden realization flashed across Roa's face aboard the City of Calamity.
Wano Country's original landmass had long been submerged due to the formation of the inland sea. The current land was built using the large central mountain as a foundation, and it was inherently fragile, being situated halfway up the mountain.
Now, with both the volcano and the earthquake, the land had completely collapsed.
"Gyahahaha! Truly worthy of you, brat! Now, this country is completely finished!"
Shiki laughed heartily.
Robin and Hancock simultaneously turned their heads, refusing to look at the country below that had fallen into a state of destruction.
To destroy a country with just a simple gesture.
Roa—indeed, trying to save this world by confronting him was fundamentally impossible.
"Oh?"
It was at this moment that Roa's eyes suddenly lit up. "It's here!"
Just as the country fell into ruin, the eruption column at the very center of the volcano suddenly grew fiercer.
A huge, pitch-black object was suddenly flushed high into the sky by the lava.
Pluton, the Ancient Weapon, had appeared!