Most of the Big Mom Pirates that remained on the battlefield were made up of her former husbands and a handful of her older children. Those who stayed knew they had to prove themselves otherwise they'd end up forgotten, nameless footnotes in someone else's story. For them, fighting was the only way to leave a mark.
High above the chaos, Tesoro stood atop his towering golden colossus, a hundred meters tall. His gilded coat whipped fiercely in the storm winds as he gazed down at the battlefield below. His eyes narrowed, a smug grin curling at the corner of his lips.
"So this is the so-called Conflagration of the Beasts Pirates," he muttered, raising his hand.
Beneath his command, golden particles stirred across the land and sea, drawn from the very bedrock itself. Tesoro could not create gold from nothing, but his reach was vast every trace of the metal within the earth answered his call.
"Let's see," he continued, voice carrying through the winds, "if your flames can melt my gold."
From the horizon, a black shadow streaked across the sky, wings like twin blades cleaving the heavens. King, in his fearsome pteranodon form, descended like a thunderbolt, his eyes burning with cold fury.
"Golden Emperor…" King's voice was sharp, merciless. "Your arrogance ends here!"
His wings snapped wide, torrents of fire surging forth in a blazing storm.
"Imperial Blaze: Fire Rain!"
A storm of fireballs rained down like falling stars, igniting the sea itself into a boiling cauldron.
Tesoro sneered. The golden giant raised its hand, and from the waves erupted countless golden tendrils, weaving together into a vast net that caught the inferno mid-descent.
The clash detonated in a thunderous blast. Several ships shattered into wreckage, swallowed by fire and wave. Yet Tesoro's giant remained unbroken, glittering defiantly.
"That's all the heat you can muster?" Tesoro taunted.
King's pupils contracted. His wings sliced the air as he accelerated, claws wreathed in Armament Haki, striking straight for Tesoro's throat.
"Sky Terror: Razor Talon!"
The golden giant answered with a mighty punch.
"Divine Judgment: Golden Fist!"
When claw met fist, the heavens shook. Shockwaves split the clouds, the sea recoiled, and the very air screamed as two titans collided.
King was hurled back dozens of meters before regaining his balance. His mask cracked as his eyes glared with renewed ferocity.
"Interesting…" he muttered, his tone ice-cold. "But don't forget I'm one of the All-Stars."
Tesoro grinned wider, his voice dripping with arrogance. "Good. Then you might actually be worth my time."
King's wings ignited with dark crimson fire, so hot the air itself wavered and distorted.
"My flames…" he whispered, "are no ordinary fire."
He roared, unleashing a pillar of searing heat that lanced through the golden giant's chest. Molten gold dripped like liquid sunlight, streaming down in a rain of fire.
Tesoro frowned briefly before his grin returned, sharper than ever. "Molten or not, gold remains gold."
The liquid metal coiled like serpents, wrapping around the flames, twisting and constricting until they smothered King's attack.
"What?!" King's eyes widened as he darted back, wings thrashing.
Tesoro pressed forward. The golden giant shattered into fragments, every shard forming deadly spikes that rained down from all sides.
"Divine Judgment: Thorned Prison!"
King's Observation Haki screamed in warning. He weaved between the storm, but several lances carved across his wings, crimson splattering through the air.
"Tch…" He glanced at the blood and his gaze turned murderous.
"You're tougher than I expected," King admitted, voice low and venomous. "But now you'll see what true disaster looks like."
His mask cracked apart completely, revealing a face both stern and scarred, yet undeniably fierce. Behind him, hundreds of fire dragons coiled into being, each one roaring with his rage. One among them dwarfed the rest, its infernal body like a living sun.
"Guardian Dragon King!"
Tesoro's eyes narrowed, admiration tinged with challenge. "Finally, you're serious."
His hands clapped together, summoning every ounce of gold around him. The fragments merged, sculpting themselves into a colossal golden dragon, scales gleaming like polished armor.
In the skies above, fire dragon and golden dragon locked eyes. Their auras alone warped the battlefield, pressing down on every soul below.
Then they charged.
The clash of dragon against dragon tore the world asunder. Fire and gold exploded outward in a storm that evaporated waves and ripped apart the heavens.
When the smoke cleared, King's wings were half-pinned by hardened gold. Tesoro stood bleeding but grinning, his victory clear.
Both men panted, locked in an unyielding standoff.
"Not finished yet," Tesoro spat, wiping blood from his lip. The gold trembled, ready to strike again.
King's flames flared brighter, his expression unshaken. "Good. I wouldn't want it any other way."
Just as they were about to clash again, a tide of crimson fog swept between them, forcing them apart.
Tesoro turned, startled, then smirked. "Looks like you're lucky today, Calamity."
From the mist came Ritter's voice, calm but commanding. "That's enough, Tesoro."
King snorted, his wings folding back as his fire dimmed. His mission wasn't victory here it was survival for the Beasts Pirates.
"Next time," King growled, his gaze like steel, "I'll kill you myself."
Tesoro only laughed, mocking and triumphant.
The mist thickened, swallowing their figures until they vanished, leaving behind only scorched earth and molten wreckage where their battle had scarred the world.
The war itself raged on without pause. The battlefield was no child's play it was a grinding machine that devoured all in its path.
Cannons roared. Explosions shook the seas. The sky choked with smoke.
The waters, once calm, were now littered with shattered planks, burning flags, and countless bodies. Blood dyed the sea a murky crimson, each wave carrying death back to shore.
"Third squad! Hold the breach! Don't let them land!" A samurai roared, his armor torn to shreds, his left arm gone. With his remaining hand, he clenched his blade tight and charged forward with a voice that trembled yet never broke.
"Kill these samurai! Lord Kaido's orders leave none alive!" snarled a Beast Pirates zoan-user. His arms twisted into monstrous claws, rending through a young warrior's throat. Blood splashed his face, but instead of flinching, he grinned wider, intoxicated by the slaughter.
Even without their artificial fruits, Kaido's crew fielded real zoan users fewer in number, but dangerous nonetheless.
The only reason Wano had not fallen completely was because of its samurai, trained in Ryuo, their unique flow of Haki. Other nations might have collapsed already under such an onslaught.
But this war was not merely soldiers clashing it was kings against kings, captains against captains. Ritter's crew was small, elite, barely eight in number, yet each was a living weapon. Even combined forces like Big Mom's and Kaido's could not dismiss them.
Still, the ground war fell to the samurai and ordinary pirates. While the titans hovered, waiting, men fought and died by the thousands.
If this dragged on without the Emperors themselves intervening, Ritter's alliance might have the upper hand. For one reason: Moria.
No longer the shadow of his former self, Moria had grown into a nightmare. Every corpse that fell became his soldier, twisted into an undead puppet bound by his shadows.
Each of Ritter's companions was devastating in their own right. Their presence was like wielding weapons of mass destruction on the field.
"Die! The more of you fall, the stronger I become!" Moria's guttural laugh echoed, shadows stretching to devour the fallen.
Yet even as the dead rose again, the samurai did not waver.
They screamed their defiance, voices breaking through the clash of steel and the thunder of cannons.
"For Lord Oden! For Wano!"
Blades gleamed in the smoke. A warrior cut down a pirate, his strike swift and true. But before he could breathe, pain blossomed in his chest a bloodied spear impaled him from behind.
"Urgh…" His mouth filled with iron. He collapsed, vision fading, the last thing he saw the chaos of golden fire and the torn bodies of his comrades.
The war had only just begun. And it promised nothing but ruin.
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