On the coast of Migo Town, everyone felt the overwhelming surge of Conqueror's Haki sweeping across the sea.
Even though Kuzan wasn't the direct target, he still felt a jolt of unease in his chest. Kaido and King both turned their eyes toward the sea, their attention locked on the source of the pressure. Kuzan, after a brief pause, reacted swiftly. He stabbed his long blade into the ground, raised his gaze to King above, and in the next moment his body dissolved into icy mist, vanishing from sight.
The sea wind howled under the weight of that Haki. King felt an icy chill at his back and his instincts screamed. Without thinking, he ignited flames to shield his body and swung his sword behind him. But before his counterattack could land, a cold hand pierced through the fire and pressed firmly against his back.
A wave of freezing power surged into him. In an instant, King was trapped once more inside an ice sphere, which plummeted toward the ground under its own weight. Kuzan's half-formed body materialized in the air, eyes fixed coldly on his falling prey. He had struck precisely when Kaido and King were distracted by the distant Conqueror's Haki.
Kuzan didn't care for pirate notions of "honor." He was a Marine, his duty was to strike whenever the chance presented itself, no matter how underhanded.
"King!"
Kaido's eyes widened as he saw his subordinate crash toward the ground, encased in ice. Rage surged through him. He bent his legs and launched upward, his kanabo swelling with crackling Conqueror's Haki as he swung it toward Kuzan.
But before the blow could land, a terrible hum split the air. From the distant sea, a black crescent slash wrapped in crimson lightning carved across the waters, towering tens of meters high. One-third of the attack cleaved beneath the waves, splitting the sea in two as it roared forward.
In a blink, the slash tore through a pirate ship sailing toward the port and then raced for the shore, aimed directly at the frozen King.
Kaido's eyes hardened. Abandoning his strike at Kuzan, his dragon tail whipped violently, changing his course. He shot in front of King. For anyone else, Kaido wouldn't have lifted a finger, but for King, he would.
If that attack struck King in his current frozen state, even a Lunarian would die.
Kaido gripped his kanabo with both hands, thunder crackling furiously along its length. He charged forward, planted his feet, and swung to meet the incoming slash.
The world fell silent. The two surging tides of Conqueror's Haki clashed, sending a tempest roaring skyward.
The strike and the kanabo never actually touched, held apart by nearly ten centimeters of pure willpower. The shockwave exploded outward, sweeping across the island. Civilians collapsed instantly, their eyes rolling back white, unable to endure the clash. Even Marines guarding them turned their heads in dread toward the harbor.
Kaido's muscles bulged as his veins writhed like coiling dragons. He strained under the crushing force of the slash.
"What kind of monster… can wield power like this?!"
He roared, shifted his grip, and with a savage heave redirected the crescent skyward. The slash ripped into the heavens, tearing the clouds asunder and briefly revealing a gray void beyond before fading from sight.
"He's here… and stronger than ever."
Kuzan's half-frozen form landed on the ground, a faint smile tugging at his lips as he watched the aftermath, then turned his gaze toward the sea.
There, on the horizon, a black speck grew steadily larger, a massive, slender battleship unlike any Kaido had ever seen. What made it unmistakable were the twin Marine seagull flags snapping proudly on either side of its prow.
"A Marine ship?!" Kaido muttered in surprise. He hadn't expected the wielder of such monstrous Conqueror's Haki to be a Marine at all. In his experience, only a handful of Marines possessed it, and none of them fought with a blade like that. Yet here it was.
Still, he quickly set aside his shock. Hidden powerhouses within the Marines weren't impossible. If anything, that explained why they would come here, and why King had been targeted.
"Stopped already?"
"Didn't expect to run into the Beasts Pirates in Migo Town. Seems we made it just in time."
On the deck of the Dawn, Yoriichi Tsugikuni stood calmly at the bow, sheathing his blade with a faint smile as he looked toward the island. Behind him, Issho, Mihawk, and Kyros stood shoulder to shoulder, their eyes fixed on the battlefield ahead.
After a moment, Yoriichi glanced back. "Issho, let's pick up the pace. Don't want to keep the Beasts Pirates waiting too long," he said lightly. "If we're late, they won't make it in time… for reincarnation."
Issho inclined his head, hearing the murderous intent beneath Yoriichi's calm tone. He tapped his cane-sword, drawing its edge, and the Dawn rose from the sea, hovering into the air before racing low and fast toward the island.
On the Beasts' ships, pirates stared wide-eyed.
"What the hell is that?!"
"Those flags, it's the Marines!"
"A Marine battleship?! But… why is it flying?!"
Even the veterans among Kaido's crew, those still standing after the clash of Conqueror's Haki, gasped in disbelief.
Kaido himself laughed heartily. "Hahaha! What kind of Marine are you? Now this is interesting!"
For the first time in years, Kaido felt his heart pound with anticipation. Whoever unleashed that slash, he wanted to fight them, to feel the thrill of true battle again. Drinking dulled the emptiness of his world, but only pain and combat reminded him he was alive. And now, such a chance stood before him.
The Dawn descended into the harbor with a thunderous crash, settling atop the floating ice. No sooner had it landed than a dozen slashes burst from its prow, ripping through the Beasts' ships. One after another, the vessels split apart, their crews screaming as they plunged into the sea.
Those few who resisted the earlier Conqueror's Haki scrambled ashore, barely twenty souls from a crew of nearly a thousand. Kaido's massive pirate armada had been obliterated in an instant.
"Trash is still trash," Kaido muttered, unfazed by the deaths of his men. What he mourned was not their lives but the loss of the ships themselves. Those cost real effort and coin to replace.
Still, as captain, he couldn't simply ignore such a massacre.
He jabbed his kanabo toward the Dawn, his voice thundering across the coast.
"Oi! Marines! Get down here! You slaughtered my men, I'll never forgive you for that!"
Four white-cloaked figures leapt from the ship, landing at the shore. Kaido's eyes narrowed as he sized them up: a blind man with a cane-sword, a bare-armed swordsman carrying a plain blade, a hawk-eyed swordsman with a black blade, and a young red-haired Marine whose handsome face seemed strangely familiar.
The pressure rolling off the blind man and the hawk-eyed swordsman was immense. The bare-armed fighter was weaker, and the red-haired boy at the back… seemed like an ordinary civilian.
But Kaido's instincts screamed. That face, he had seen it before.
"Where… have I seen you?"
Cracks spread across the ice sphere imprisoning King, flames leaking through. Moments later, it shattered. Wreathed in fire, King stepped out to stand beside his captain, eyes locked on the new arrivals.
Yoriichi stepped forward with a serene smile. "Mihawk, does that swordsman suit your taste? I'll leave him to you."
Without a word, Mihawk unsheathed Yoru and sent a slash screaming toward King. Though far weaker than the earlier Conqueror's Haki strike, it was still enough to split the terrains.
"That's not the same one as before!" Kaido growled, swinging his kanabo to intercept the blow before it could hit King. The impact roared, scattering wind across the battlefield. Mihawk's eyes lit with quiet intrigue.
"Worororo…" Kaido's laugh rumbled, but Yoriichi's voice cut through it.
"Don't worry, Mihawk. I'll make sure you get your one-on-one," he said, one hand resting lightly on his sword hilt. Then his smile sharpened. "Just now, didn't you say you'd never forgive us? Then by all means, don't."
In the blink of an eye, Yoriichi vanished from Kaido's senses entirely. Shock jolted through the Emperor. His knees bent instinctively, and he launched into the sky just as a black flash cut clean through where he had stood.
On the ground, Yoriichi reappeared, his red hair lifting in the sea breeze as he gazed calmly up at Kaido's dragon form.
King bristled under Yoriichi's eyes. Though he couldn't sense any aura from him, the instant their gazes met, cold dread stabbed into his spine. He unfurled his wings to flee, but Mihawk was already upon him, Yoru slamming down. King barely managed to block, the ground beneath him shattering under the force. Mihawk's lips curved faintly, satisfied.
Above, Kaido roared as his body twisted fully into a colossal azure dragon, coiling over the island.
"King! Don't get tangled up with them! Retreat!"
He summoned storm clouds and flame, lifting chunks of shattered ice into the air. Pirates scrambled aboard the makeshift rafts as they began to rise.
"Don't get cocky, Marines! I'll be back for you!"
His voice thundered as King broke free from Mihawk, soaring skyward. The two fledgling rafts of Beasts Pirates followed.
But Yoriichi's eyes narrowed, his voice calm and cutting.
"Leaving so soon? That would trouble me."
He turned his head slightly.
"Issho. Bring them back down."
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100 P.S = 1 Extra Chapter
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