— — — — — —
"Oh man~ You don't even wanna dance."
"But still can't let you run now, can I?"
"Otherwise, where would that leave the reputation of me, the great Uchiha Madara? You'd better stay put!"
As he said that, Renzo vanished from sight, instantly reappearing above the CPO agent's head. Then he came crashing down with a fierce punch.
At the last second, the CPO transformed into a massive rhinoceros—but…
BOOM!
Even so, Renzo's punch drove him straight into the ground, blasting open a crater several dozen meters wide.
"Cough, cough!"
Thanks to his animal transformation, his size and defense had both increased considerably. So while he wasn't killed instantly, the CPO was still heavily injured and coughing up blood.
"H-How is he this strong?!"
The agent stared at Renzo, completely stunned. This guy was like some kind of monster. Even an Admiral wouldn't be able to wreck him this easily!
"I have to escape from this Madara guy... maybe I can—"
But Renzo didn't give him the chance to think or act.
"Sage Art: Ultra Ice Fist!"
With a sharp dive, Renzo came down like a comet. His ice magic—merged with the power of the Poké Ice Energy—was now enhanced even further by Sage Mode, reaching terrifying new levels.
The CPO barely managed to raise his fist for a counterattack—just enough for their fists to collide—before he was instantly frozen solid by the extreme cold.
CRACK CRACK—BOOM!
The frozen statue shattered on the spot, exploding into glittering ice shards that vanished into the wind.
"Dōjutsu: Takamagahara!"
The moment the CP0 agent died, Renzo didn't waste a second. His Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan activated immediately, casting Takamagahara—his domain ability—enveloping the surrounding ten meters of space.
His goal was simple: to capture the Devil Fruit that should appear upon the user's death.
Suddenly, Renzo's eyes sharpened as he sensed something unusual nearby.
"Hm?"
With a single thought, he extended his control over the domain—and finally detected a strange presence bouncing around at the edge of his space, trying to escape but failing to break through.
Renzo reached out his hand, and the mysterious entity was immediately pulled toward him.
What he caught was the core of a Zoan-type Devil Fruit—the essence of the rhinoceros transformation.
Activating his [Dōjutsu: Omniscience], Renzo began analyzing it.
"Hmm… so that's how it works. Still, fully decoding it is gonna take a while. Might as well restore it now."
After a couple of minutes of trying to analyze it, he gave up temporarily.
Instead, he went to a nearby street, grabbed a banana, and directly infused it with the energy of the Devil Fruit core.
Moments later, strange swirl patterns began to appear on the banana's surface. Its color started shifting toward a silvery gray.
Before long, a brand-new Zoan-type Devil Fruit had formed right before Renzo's eyes.
"Heh. Just as I thought."
With a slight smirk, Renzo flipped his hand and stored the fruit in his spatial ring. Then, he dismissed the Takamagahara domain and ignored the approaching CP9 members, flying off into the sky without a care.
Truth was, this had just been a test. He'd wanted to see whether his domain ability could truly block and capture the essence of a Devil Fruit after its user died.
And the result? It worked.
Takamagahara really could seal off space and catch the Devil Fruit's essence before it escaped.
Which meant… if Renzo wanted any specific Devil Fruit in the future—even if someone had already eaten it—he could just kill them inside his domain and grab the essence before it respawned somewhere else.
Then, by fusing it into a fruit, he could recreate the same Devil Fruit on the spot.
"Aha… This is huge! Hahahaha!!"
— — —
Meanwhile, back on the other side, the CP9 agents had already discovered the corpses of two high-ranking CPO officers.
Panic immediately set in, and they rushed to report the incident.
Not that it mattered—because the CPO headquarters had already received real-time intel through the surveillance Den Den Mushi on the CP0 agents.
Within moments, the entire upper command of CPO was in an uproar.
The news quickly reached the Five Elders.
"What did you say? Spandine and the two CP0 agents were killed… by someone calling himself Uchiha Madara?" The bald Elder's eyes glinted coldly as he questioned the CP0 captain who had come to report.
"Sir, we're still not sure who he really is! There was no prior intel on anyone like this."
"He appeared… out of nowhere. But I've already mobilized the entire CP network to search for any information related to this 'Uchiha Madara' across the globe!" the CPO captain reported, head bowed.
He really had done everything he could—but just like he said, this "Uchiha Madara" felt like he came out of nowhere.
And the moment he showed up, the bastard went completely nuts—beating the crap out of Spandine before finishing him off with a kick.
Even more outrageous? He didn't run or hide afterward. Instead, he casually wandered around Water 7 like it was a vacation spot, until he was finally located by two CPO agents.
Then…
That bastard displayed power on a whole other level. He easily wiped out both of the agents like they were nothing.
This wasn't just an attack—it was a direct challenge. A challenge to him. A challenge to CP0. Hell, a slap in the face to the entire CPO system!
The CPO captain gritted his teeth and looked to the Five Elders. "Elders! This man is extremely dangerous. He appears to have some form of spatial teleportation, and his physical strength and Haki might be Admiral-level or even higher."
"Also, he seems to wield ice-based powers and has the ability to fly!"
"I request permission to lead a team personally to hunt him down!"
He wanted to take back the humiliation with his own hands.
"Approved," said the sword-wielding Elder with a nod.
"His power definitely seems to be at least on par with an Admiral. He also shows clear hostility toward the World Government. He cannot be allowed to roam free. Capture him if possible—or kill him on the spot."
"Also, issue a bounty on his head. Set it at one billion Berries. Dead or alive."
"List the charges as the murder of high-ranking World Government officials and defiance of the World Government."
"Go."
A starting bounty of one billion—an unusually high number.
But the Elder had a plan: put such a massive bounty on him that the whole world would be hunting for Uchiha Madara. Force him into the spotlight.
Then, once he surfaced, CP0 would take him out in one decisive strike—to send a message to anyone else who dared challenge the World Government.
Even if they couldn't catch him immediately, a bounty that high would stir up countless pirates and bounty hunters, all eager for a piece of the prize.
Eventually, he'd slip up. They'd wear him down. One way or another, he wouldn't escape.
"Yes, sir!" The CPO captain bowed and left to carry out his mission.
Once he was gone, the Five Elders began to murmur among themselves.
"More monsters crawling out of the woodwork..."
"Indeed. People like that must be eliminated immediately. The authority of both the World Government and CP cannot be challenged."
"If I remember right, wasn't Spandine in Water 7 to investigate the blueprints for Pluton?"
"Yes, that's right. They're said to be in the hands of that fish-man shipwright who built the Pirate King's ship—Tom, I believe. But no matter how we threatened or pressured him, he wouldn't talk. Stubborn old bastard. Heh."
"Wasn't his name Jerry?"
"Does it really matter what the damn fish's name was? Either way, he was asking for it."
"True enough... I don't know why, but these two names just feel very connected."
"Ok, then it's decided."
...
That very same day, a wanted poster for Uchiha Madara was issued from the World Government headquarters and rapidly distributed across the seas.
Carried by flocks of News Coo birds, it spread to countless hands in record time.
"Hey Pops, take a look at this!"
On Whitebeard's ship, Marco the Phoenix had just picked up the day's paper and spotted Madara's bounty. His eyes widened in surprise as he handed it over to Whitebeard.
"Oh?" Whitebeard raised an eyebrow after a quick glance. "Killed World Government officers? A billion right off the bat? That's no ordinary official he killed."
"Still, this kid's got guts. The seas are about to get lively again! Gurararara..."
(Renzo used the young version of Madara.)
Marco nodded. "Yeah. The details are vague, though. They didn't say who exactly he killed. You think it was someone from CP?"
"The report says it happened in Water 7," Marco added. "If I recall, there was some buzz a while back about Tom the shipwright—you know, the one who built the Oro Jackson—being there."
"CP was already poking around back then. Something tells me their objective wasn't so simple."
"You think the guy Madara killed might've been a CP higher-up?"
Marco was starting to convince even himself.
"Quite possible," Whitebeard said, taking a deep swig from his enormous sake gourd.
"Gurarara~! If that's the case, the World Government just took a serious hit to the face. No wonder they slapped such a high bounty on him right away."
At this point in time, bounties hadn't undergone any crazy inflation yet. A billion was huge.
Even Marco, the Whitebeard Pirates' number two, only had a bounty slightly over a billion.
.
.
.