Hearing that dull, inhuman sound, Kaido abruptly turned toward the direction it came from.
There, a column of water with a radius of about ten meters erupted violently, and with a speed even swifter than the lightning, it slammed directly into the storm clouds Kaido had gathered.
BOOM!
Lightning and seawater collided, as if heaven and earth were crying out in anguish.
From that single collision, the power of the lightning Kaido unleashed was reduced by more than ten times.
Those weakened bolts were seized at the right moment by Dragon, who used his ability to easily neutralize or deflect them so they fell onto uninhabited ground.
"What the hell is that?"
Kaido held his breath and stared intently at the direction of the attack.
He had expected new obstacles to appear, but he didn't expect them to show up so promptly.
"Heh, worthy of destiny, so hard to kill even before it's born."
Kaido snorted in displeasure. Under his watch, a black shadow nearly thousands of meters long slowly rose from the sea to the surface.
Seeing the shape, Kaido narrowed his eyes and spat out a name, "Giant island whale!"
This special whale counts as a kind of Sea King; at maximum it can reach ten thousand meters in length.
Although the one before him was only around seven thousand meters, with that thick, tough body and the ability to use seawater for ranged attacks anytime, even Kaido found it troublesome.
After all, this wasn't some Elephant Whale that couldn't dive, the island whale could swim freely in the sea, though Kaido himself couldn't linger in the water for long.
He also noticed beside the giant island whale a smaller one of about two hundred meters, seeming to be part of a pod.
"Laboon!", Crocus cried out excitedly.
"WOO!"
The smaller island whale made a sound, its voice carrying a hint of joy and a desire for credit.
"Is that the whale's name?", Seeing this, Kaido gazed down deeply, then flicked his tail without another look and left.
If that island whale had been an accidental arrival, he would certainly have attacked.
Perhaps the whale's presence might even have aided him.
But if that whale was an accomplice, then there was no chance today.
Rather than wasting effort here, it was better to consider the aftermath.
If this really was destiny, then Kaido would accept it.
But for now, he still needed to confirm whether it truly was destiny.
———
The seven days Kuma had expected passed in the blink of an eye.
On that day, Rosse had the three of them brought up onto the deck.
"You've heard what's happened these past few days, right?"
Rosse smiled as he looked at them, a teasing glint in his eyes.
Things had been pretty lively over in Windmill Village these past days.
After being stopped three days ago, Kaido hadn't rested, whether sneaking attacks or blind, brute-force clashes. If not for his conspicuous size, Kaido had even considered disguising himself to get closer.
But in the end, all of that was wasted.
Judging by Kaido's demeanor, he wouldn't be giving up anytime soon; they'd probably be entangled with him for a long time.
Rosse didn't mind. Kaido was stuck in the East Blue; as long as he could find time to finish the employment guild matters, Rosse didn't care what else happened.
Because of the Kaido–Dragon incident, everyone now knew the two had been fighting in Windmill Village for nearly three days.
Strangely, Dragon hadn't fled this time, he'd been trading blows with Kaido the whole time.
It was only today that Dragon, with his wife and Crocus, had escaped the sea by entering an island whale's belly.
Whether he discovered Kaido's target or simply feared World Government reinforcements was unknown.
"You were the one who passed on the info to us, and Kaido's your man, who knows if you didn't intentionally trick Dragon over there?", Ivankov retorted.
The fact was, Dragon hadn't come in those seven days.
Although there was no agreed time, if he didn't arrive within seven days, it was even less likely he would later.
From their position at the time, seven days would have been enough to get them to the Holy Land.
Even if Dragon had guts, he wasn't going to the Holy Land to save people.
After the Holy Land incident, its defenses weren't just a little tight anymore.
"Stop making excuses."
Ivankov's words were enough to make even Moa lose patience; she crossed her arms and snorted, "If Dragon really planned to save you, would he be drawn out to the East Blue?"
"Couldn't it be that something more important was happening over there?", Ivankov shot back again.
He vaguely felt Moa had a point, but he couldn't accept that answer.
You couldn't say Dragon would rather do nothing, even fight Rosse's people for something else, than come save them.
"So the question is this: why was Dragon in the East Blue? Weren't you supposed to be covering for him? Whether he's in the New World or the Grand Line at this time could be reasonable, but why the East Blue?", Moa asked, her question hitting like a soul strike.
No matter the reason, this couldn't explain Dragon appearing in the East Blue, especially having shown up at Windmill Village three days earlier.
Remember, the East Blue is in the complete opposite direction to the New World.
Think about it and you'll see how absurd it is.
Dragon had simply used Kuma and the others as bait and fled alone.
"..."
Ivankov was completely speechless, not knowing how to defend Dragon.
But he didn't really blame Dragon.
Dragon had saved him more than once, those things weren't fake.
Even if Dragon died today, it wouldn't matter much to him.
It would just be returning the life Dragon once saved for him.
In fact, he was almost relieved Dragon hadn't come.
Even if Rosse swore by his family, who knew whether it was true. If they'd walked into a trap because of Dragon, that would've been catastrophic.
"What about you? What do you say?"
Moa crossed her arms and stared at the dejected Kuma and Ginny, her eyes devoid of any pity.
From the moment she was captured by Saint Arlin, she was no longer who she used to be.
At Rosse's place back then, she had truly lived in hell.
Almost every day she had nightmares.
Every morning when she woke, she could still feel physical pain.
Nearly every inch of her skin had been violated by Rosse in various perverted ways.
Back then, like Kuma and the others now, she had had a chance to be rescued.
From what she knew of Rosse now, if Dragon had come then, Rosse would have happily let her go.
But Dragon hadn't come, he hadn't cared, letting her be abused at will.
She admitted Dragon had no real reason to save her. After all, she was just a Revolutionary, not someone close to him.
But perhaps because of the filter of memory, she no longer wanted to reason it out.
Hate Dragon. Hate Rosse. Prove that even without Dragon, the Revolutionary Army can succeed.
She hoped to see others, like her, be betrayed by believing in Dragon and thus be vi*lated by Rosse.
These perverted thoughts had become her whole life now.