After successfully driving off the Beasts Pirates, the Marines settled temporarily in Migo Town.
The gravely injured Kuzan was sent to the hospital, but when they arrived, all the medical staff had already collapsed from the aftershocks of the Conqueror's Haki unleashed during Yoriichi and Kaido's battle.
Yoriichi had no choice but to let the half-trained ship doctor perform emergency treatment. With the guidance of his Transparent World, even such crude treatment was effective enough, what Kuzan needed now was simply time to recover.
People in this world had a frightening resilience. Even Usopp, a supposed "ordinary man," had survived blows far beyond him. For someone like Kuzan, a hardened warrior, recovery was only a matter of months.
While the Marines rested in Migo, Kaido and King, stripped of their men, flew desperately toward Lodestar Island. Fortunately, King always carried their log poses. Without them, the two might have drifted at sea for weeks before reaching land.
Night fell. A blue dragon sliced through the cloud sea, moonlight painting its scales in silver. Upon its head sat a white-haired youth, mask removed at last, King, in rare unguarded silence.
"Big brother Kaido, what do we do now?"
His thoughts drifted as he stared across the endless sky. For the first time in years, he felt lost about the future. Since Kaido had broken him free from the World Government's lab, they had fought, risen, and fallen together, but now, it was just them again.
King had always believed Kaido could change the world. Yet after their defeats in Wano and now at Migo, even he began to waver.
"Back to Lodestar first," Kaido's gravelly voice rumbled from the dragon's throat. "A few men remain there. We'll regroup, leave the island, then recruit stronger fighters. Those Marines are too powerful, we can't win as we are. But revenge…" His tone sharpened. "Revenge will come. I won't let it go!"
As he spoke, pain lanced through his claws. The slash Yoriichi had carved into him still burned, unhealed, as if branded with fire. It wasn't a mortal wound, but its constant sting stoked his fury. Only because it was King beside him did Kaido restrain his temper at all.
King looked up at the moon and nodded slightly. Kaido's vow gave him a new goal, a flicker of purpose amidst the haze.
Lodestar Island
After the Beasts Pirates' plunder, Kaido had stripped the island bare, leaving only scraps of food for his garrison. Those scraps had long been devoured.
Ten days' supplies were gone in half the time. Hungry and desperate, the dozen men left behind gathered and marched toward the town. Their reasoning was simple, some villagers must have hidden food. After all, they had lasted weeks without starving, proof of hidden stores.
They stalked the ruined streets. Once-bustling shops stood gutted, doors hanging by hinges, walls scarred with blades and blood. The air stank of ash, salt, and rot. Even hardened pirates wrinkled their noses.
"What the hell happened here?"
They had not stepped ashore since the raid. In their minds, they had been merciful, taking goods without payment, killing only those who resisted. They never expected to return to such desolation.
Charred houses, blackened corpses in rubble, skeletal bodies gnawed by dogs in alleyways… the town was a graveyard.
Then, creak.
From a shattered window, a small face appeared. A boy, cheeks sunken, eyes hollow, skin stretched tight across bone. And yet, when he saw the pirates, his gaze lit with desperate hope.
"A kid? Damn, you scared me, brat!" one pirate barked, relief breaking into laughter. They ignored him and pushed on.
But the door creaked open. Another boy, wrapped in a threadbare blanket, bare feet dragging, staggered toward them.
"Get lost, brat!"
He didn't stop. He stumbled closer, and the pirates' hands drifted to their hilts. Suddenly, he dropped to his knees with a crash, forehead slamming the ground. His voice rasped:
"Please… take me with you!"
When he raised his head, the emptiness in his eyes had transformed into a feverish light.
What happens when hunger devours reason? When society collapses? Survival instinct drowns all else.
"Take you? Hah! What nonsense." They sneered and turned away.
The boy's light dimmed instantly. A grotesque smile spread across his gaunt face. He lunged, arms clamping around a pirate's leg, teeth sinking deep into flesh.
"AAAAHHH!" the man screamed, pummeling the child's skull with his fists. But the boy clung tighter. The pirates froze as they heard the sound, the wet suck of blood being drawn.
"He's… drinking blood?!"
Terror flickered across their hardened faces. Blow after blow split the child's scalp, blood running into his eyes, yet he laughed, lips filled with the taste of iron. Alive… I can live again…
He never let go, not even as his consciousness fled. The pirate, crazed with horror, drew his blade and hacked through the boy's arms before breaking free.
He collapsed, gasping, staring at the mangled corpse with lingering dread.
"Let's get you out of here," his comrades urged. Supporting him, they limped back toward the docks.
When they were gone, silence reigned again, until doors creaked open across the street. Gaunt figures poured out, rushing the corpse like starving beasts.
"That's mine! I got here first!"
"Bastard, steal my food and you die!"
The sounds of shrieking and tearing filled the air. Soon, only a pool of blood remained where the boy had been.
Kaido and King reached Lodestar in three days, far swifter than any ship could. Their garrison was gone. The docked vessel lay empty, food stores stripped.
"They must've gone scrounging," Kaido muttered.
"Big brother, the supplies are gone. Nothing left but water," King reported grimly. Their stomachs growled with the same emptiness.
Kaido said nothing. His Observation Haki swept across the ruined town. After a long silence, he waved a claw. "Forget them. King, fetch the eternal log pose. We're heading for Ridgeland Island."
Ridgeland, one of three routes leading from Fish-Man Island into the New World. A hub where countless rookie pirates gathered, dreaming of greatness.
That was where Kaido would rebuild. If he wanted revenge on Yoriichi, he needed more than fury. He needed an army.
King returned with a handful of eternal poses, each won in raids past. Kaido filled his gourd with water. A moment later, a dragon surged skyward, King perched atop his head. Together, they vanished into the clouds.
Two Days Later
A long, lean Marine warship glided into Lodestar's harbor.
Before the anchor dropped, a lone figure leapt ashore. Yoriichi. His gaze swept the empty docks, and his Observation Haki unfurled. What he felt there froze him.
His calm face tightened with shock.
He stepped forward into the ruined streets. Issho, Mihawk, and the Marines followed soon after. Issho, sensing the same thing, grew pale.
Dead silence.
The town was nothing but death.
At the first crossroad, a door creaked. A young man stumbled out, leg bound in bloody rags, knife dripping red in his hand. Murder clung to him like smoke.
Their eyes met. Yoriichi saw the madness in his face, excitement, hunger, frenzy. But when the youth recognized the Marine uniform, all that drained away, leaving only disbelief.
"Ma… Marines?" he whispered.
Steel sang.
The next instant, his head fell, body crumpling to the dirt as blood seeped into shattered stone.
Yoriichi stepped over him without pause, voice flat as he scanned the ruins.
"My Observation wasn't mistaken." His tone grew grim. "There are no survivors."
He walked on, silence pressing in. At the edge of the ruined street, Yoriichi stopped, gazing out at the broken town. A sigh escaped him.
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100 P.S = 1 Extra Chapter
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