In truth, Kozuki Sukiyaki had been murdered long ago.
"Dead men tell no tales" was a philosophy Kurozumi Orochi and Kurozumi Higurashi lived by. Sukiyaki had been an obstacle to their control of Wano, so they saw no reason to keep him alive. The trap set for Kanata had been meticulously built around Kozuki Sukiyaki's own corpse.
In the region of Ringo, the unique climate ensures that bodies buried in the earth do not decay, remaining preserved for centuries. Orochi and his conspirators had hidden Sukiyaki's body beneath the frozen soil of Ringo until it was time to use it.
Higurashi, who had once sailed on the same ship as Octavia, used her Clone-Clone Fruit to take on Octavia's appearance and committed the crime in broad daylight. Even someone who knew the mother and daughter well might have been fooled by the mimicry; the samurai of the capital, seeing the face for the first time, stood no chance of discerning the truth.
"It went perfectly," Orochi mused, seated in the Flower Capital's castle. "But was it truly necessary to use the body?"
"Ni-kyokkyokkyokkyo! Pretending to be Sukiyaki in person carries too much risk," Higurashi laughed. "I originally intended to use this scheme against Oden, but if it serves to drive that troublesome girl out of Wano, it is a small price to pay."
The two felt a surge of relief. A direct confrontation with Kanata would have meant certain destruction. But by branding her the "Shogun's Assassin," they had turned the entire nation against her. No matter how strong she was, they gambled that she wouldn't try to clear her name by slaughtering the very samurai she respected.
Orochi had broken into a cold sweat when Kanata effortlessly dismantled the army at the gates, but her decision to flee confirmed his victory.
"She won't dare show her face in Wano again," Orochi sneered. "Now, we must prepare for Oden's return. We will ensure the name of Kozuki is dragged through the dirt."
They laughed together, reaching for their tea—only to notice the cups rattling against the table.
"An earthquake...?"
Higurashi's face went pale as a terrible thought crossed her mind. She remembered the other pirate currently staying in Wano. The rattling stopped for a heartbeat, and Orochi dismissed it, reaching for his drink again.
Then, the world shattered. A massive earthquake, powerful enough to level mountains, tore through the foundation of Wano.
***
"Whitebeard" Edward Newgate was an Earthquake Human, user of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit. While an average man might only produce a mild vibration, a monster of Newgate's caliber could shatter the very air.
When he swung his fist, the atmosphere cracked like glass. Shockwaves tore through the earth, tilting the very island itself. A single strike from his naginata, Murakumogiri, focused the energy of a tectonic shift into a single point of impact. He was a man who stood equal to Roger and Shiki—the strongest man in the sea.
And right now, that man was scowling through a fresh cut on his shoulder.
(This brat... she's young, but her strength is absurd. It's like she's rushing toward her own death.)
Newgate hadn't grown soft. He parried her lightning-fast spear thrusts with clinical precision. When her bone-chilling frost threatened to overtake him, he neutralized it with vibrations. The Chill-Chill Fruit was a terrifying power, but even absolute zero could not freeze a vibration.
In terms of compatibility, Whitebeard was Kanata's natural enemy. But a woman who could be broken by simple disadvantage would have died in the New World years ago.
"Step aside, Newgate!" Kanata hissed.
"I can't do that. I owe Kin'emon and his boys a favor. I can't let their Shogun's killer walk away."
They had traded so many blows that counting them was a waste of breath. Even when their weapons didn't touch, the clash of their Haki was constant and suffocating. The earthquake, which had started as a series of tremors, had now reached a magnitude that threatened to sink the coast.
"This is insane! Is that man trying to sink the entire island?!" Gloriosa shouted, shielding her eyes.
"We have to move, Nyon-sama! This whole area is a death trap!" a subordinate yelled.
The Whitebeard Pirates had already retreated to a safe distance, knowing the nature of their captain's power. But in the presence of a serious Whitebeard, no distance was truly safe.
Kanata leaped into the air to escape the tilting ground. Newgate parried a spear strike and then grabbed the air itself, yanking the atmosphere downward as if pulling a tablecloth off a table.
"WHAT—?!"
The world flipped. The horizon spun, and Kanata's sense of balance was violently uprooted. She gasped in shock as the very laws of physics seemed to bend to the old man's will.
"I'm the strongest man in the world," Newgate grunted. "I don't know how to hold back!"
In that split second of disorientation, Kanata's reaction lagged. Newgate coiled his arm like a bow and unleashed a horizontal punch. The shockwave hit her center mass, the sheer pressure enough to vaporize a mountain in the distance.
"Gugh—! Cough!"
Kanata's Armament Haki held, but the impact sent her reeling, blood spraying from her lips. She didn't fall to her knees. Realizing her spear was too slow for this range, she manifested claws of absolute-zero ice and drove them into Newgate's forearm.
Blood sprayed as she felt another heavy strike coming and immediately used the momentum to create distance.
"Tch... you're a tough one," Newgate noted, looking at the bloody puncture wounds on his arm. The ice claws shattered as he flexed, his blood half-frozen by the residue. "Taking a direct hit like that and still standing... you've got some nerve."
Kanata's leaked cold was rapidly altering the local climate. As her Conqueror's Haki flared, Newgate couldn't help but see the resemblance again. The face was identical to Octavia's, but the aura was entirely different.
Then he looked at her eyes. Crimson.
(Red eyes and that face... I see. So that's how it is.)
If you knew the inner workings of the Rocks Pirates, the truth was undeniable. Shiki had been blinded by his obsession with Octavia, and Big Mom by her grudge, but if the Navy ever learned this truth, the World Government would move every resource to erase her. They would never allow a Second Rocks Pirate Crewto exist.
To be this strong at her age, to command such a fleet, and to face him without a shred of fear... If he viewed her as a threat, he should kill her here. But Newgate wasn't that kind of man.
"Tell me, brat. Do you know who your father was?"
"I know," Kanata replied, her voice steady despite the pain. "But I've never met him."
"Do you know what he tried to do to this world?"
"I don't care. Was it something you were trying to protect?"
"No," Newgate chuckled, leaning on his naginata. "I didn't care much for his dream either. But I see... you have no intention of becoming him."
Looking at the Twilight Pirates, Newgate saw loyalty, not fear. It was a family, not a hierarchy of slaughter. Kanata was fundamentally different from Rocks D. Xebec. If she wasn't seeking "Domination," then she wasn't Newgate's enemy.
"Are we finished talking? Zen has arrived," Kanata noted.
"Yeah. I've heard what I needed to hear. Now, I just have to beat you."
The two shadows collided once more. Kanata froze the tremors at their source; Newgate shattered the frost with his fists. The battle was a stalemate of titanic proportions—until Kin'emon and the other samurai began to close in.
Newgate's strikes began to shrink in scale. Unlike his own sons, the Wano samurai didn't understand the danger of his fruit. If he unleashed his full power, he'd kill his allies along with his enemy.
"That power is a burden, isn't it?" Kanata mocked.
"Don't get cocky, snot-nosed brat!"
Newgate used his decades of experience to press the advantage, his Haki and technique far more refined than her own. He was slowly backing her into a corner.
***
(She's adapting,) Newgate realized. (She's learning the rhythm of my strikes in the middle of a death match.)
Kanata was a sponge. Once she saw a move, she memorized it. Twice, and she had a counter. The longer the fight lasted, the more of Newgate's "invincibility" she absorbed. She was the perfect legacy of two monsters.
"Whitebeard! We are here to assist!" Kin'emon shouted, leading the charge.
"Stay back, you fools! You'll get caught in the crossfire!" Newgate roared.
Kanata saw her opening.
"Divine Slaughter!!"
She unleashed a hurricane of absolute-zero wind, a white-out that blinded everyone on the field. While Newgate was forced to manage the sudden blizzard to protect the incoming samurai, Kanata barked an order to her crew.
"TO THE SHIP! I'LL BE RIGHT BEHIND YOU!!"
Led by Zen, the Twilight Pirates sprinted toward Mogura Port, slipping past the distracted Newgate. The samurai tried to pursue, but Kanata manifested a massive wall of reinforced ice, sealing the path behind her people.
"You let them get away," Newgate noted, the blizzard finally subsiding.
"I'll be gone soon too. If you want to stop me, be prepared to sink this island."
The roles had reversed. Kanata was now the gatekeeper, and Newgate was the one who had to break through. The samurai wanted to help, but they were only a liability to him now. Newgate wasn't cruel enough to kill the men he called friends just to settle a score with a pirate.
***
The Twilight Pirates escaped Wano without losing a single soul.
Kanata caught up to the ship by running across the surface of the sea, collapsing onto the deck the moment she boarded. She was immediately taken to the infirmary. With Skura absent, his lead assistant—a skilled female doctor—took over her treatment.
As she recovered, Kanata summoned Gloriosa and Zen.
"Did I kill Sukiyaki? Don't be ridiculous," Kanata spat. "He was my only link to the Poneglyphs. I had every reason to keep him alive."
"Then who?" Zen asked.
"Someone who hates the Kozuki, or someone who wanted me out of the picture. Either way, Oden needs to know."
She ignored the doctor's orders to rest and had a subordinate bring a Transponder Snail. She dialed the frequency for the Oro Jackson.
『This is Roger! Who's calling?』
"It's Kanata. Is Oden there?"
『Oh! Long time no see! You have a message for the big guy? Hold on!』
A moment later, Oden's boisterous voice filled the room. 『It's me! Sorry about the errand, Kanata!』
"I doubt you're actually sorry... but I have news."
『Yeah? What is it?』
"Lord Sukiyaki is dead."
There was a long silence on the other end. 『...I see. I knew his health was failing...』
"It wasn't illness, Oden," Kanata said, her voice like iron. "It was assassination."
The Transponder Snail mimicked Oden's face perfectly: his eyes went wide, his jaw tightening so hard the shell of the snail began to creak. 『...What?』
"He was killed while I was in Wano. I've been framed for it. I've been chased out of the country as a regicide."
『Assassinated?! You... did you do it?』
"Don't be a fool. I had no motive. This was a trap meant for you. If you had returned on schedule, you would have been the one standing over his body with a bloody sword. Someone is trying to erase the Kozuki line."
Oden was silent. The implication was clear: someone in Wano was playing a very long, very dangerous game.
"You should come home, Oden. The country is in chaos."
There was a pause. 『...No. I don't have my answer yet. I can't go back. Not yet.』
"I figured you'd say that," Kanata sighed. "The message is delivered. Don't say I didn't warn you."
『I won't. And Kanata... I won't forget this.』
She hung up and sank into the pillows. Clashing with Whitebeard had been a revelation. She finally knew exactly how far she had to go to reach the peak of the world.
"Head for Fullalead," she ordered. "I'm going to sleep."
***
Two years passed.
The shipping routes were profitable, the Twilight Pirates had become an undisputed superpower, and Kanata's influence touched every corner of the New World.
Then, a call came from Rayleigh.
Roger had fallen ill. The end of an era was approaching.
***
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