As the Beast Pirates' massive fleet sailed openly and boldly out from Wano Country, everyone watching this conflict realized one thing—
War was about to begin.
No, scratch that. The war had already started.
New World, Chagos Island.
This island was like countless others in the New World. Barren, desolate, and resource-poor, with barely a soul in sight on most days.
But today? Today it was where the entire world's attention focused.
The Red Hair Pirates in full force and the Beast Pirates deploying nearly half their strength faced each other like two massive iron curtains across these waters. From high above, both sides' dense masts and sails looked like dark clouds, nearly obscuring the entire sea with their oppressive atmosphere.
Even with the Red Hair Pirates at full strength, though, their total numbers still seemed dwarfed compared to the massive Beast fleet.
Rayquaza's deck.
Violet activated her Clairvoyance, her gaze crossing the sea surface to lock onto the distant Red Hair fleet. With her 4000-kilometer vision range, she was hands down the strongest lookout they had.
After roughly counting the people standing on their decks, she blinked in surprise. "They... their numbers across all ships seem to be only around eight hundred people?"
This few people dared challenge the Beast Pirates?
"Eight hundred? That's enough." Kai spoke calmly. "On these seas, wars aren't decided by numbers alone."
Even in his previous life, there were legendary battles where smaller forces defeated much larger ones. Numbers meant something, sure, but they weren't everything.
Just as Violet widened her eyes trying to gather more detailed enemy intelligence, she suddenly cried out in alarm, her face going pale.
"What's wrong?" Kozuki Hiyori asked with concern.
"Just now... Red Hair looked right at me!"
Violet swallowed nervously, her hand pressing against her rapidly beating chest. Even knowing the other guy couldn't possibly attack across such a vast distance, that intimidating presence still startled her.
"Of course he noticed."
Kai wasn't surprised at all. "How could a top-tier expert like Red Hair not sense someone spying on him?"
So using Violet for full-time surveillance of a powerful opponent was basically impossible.
Aboard the Red Force, Shanks slowly withdrew his gaze from the distance, not paying much attention to that fleeting spy attempt.
Today, intelligence has lost its meaning. They could only rely on their trusted companions and whatever power they held in their hands.
At the bow, Ben Beckman held a cigarette while observing the Beast fleet's formation through binoculars.
"Roughly estimating... the Beast Pirates' total forces this time probably approach ten thousand. Worthy of a veteran Emperor crew that's dominated the New World for years. This foundation's pretty damn impressive."
"Beast Kaido, Plague Queen, Natural Disaster Kai, Oni Princess Yamato..." Beckman continued scanning. "Aside from King the Conflagration, all the Beast Pirates' notable officers are here."
Yasopp, with the best eyesight among them, also held binoculars. Suddenly, he smiled and added, "Oh, there's our old pal Who's-Who too."
Their old nemesis. They'd stolen the Rubber-Rubber Fruit from Who's-Who, forcing him to defect from CP9 and join the Beast Pirates.
"Looks like we'll really need to give our all this time."
Lime Jones, with yellow hair and wearing a hat bearing the Red Hair Pirates' symbol, grinned without any trace of nervousness. Instead, he was full of eager fighting spirit.
"Comrades!"
Shanks' right hand steadily gripped his sword hilt, his black cloak fluttering in the sea breeze.
"Prepare for battle!"
"OHHHH!!!"
With the command given, the Red Hair Pirates' fleet instantly erupted in earth-shaking cheers and roars, their fighting spirit soaring to the sky!
At the same time, at the Beast Pirates' main ship's bow, Kaido crossed his arms, showing a fierce and wild smile. "You lot! Raise hell for me!"
Under their respective captains' orders, both massive fleets awakened like slumbering giants, almost simultaneously beginning to move and slowly arrange into battle formations.
The great battle was about to erupt!
"Well then, let me say hello first!"
Kai grinned. Missing this opportunity, once full-scale chaos erupted, large-scale intimidating attacks would be tough to pull off.
He leaped up, his body soaring into the air as brilliant green light suddenly burst from around him.
Whoosh!
The green light exploded like a small sun, transforming into countless crystalline light points. A dreamlike green light rain fell upon the sea surface.
The deity ruling the sky was born within this light rain!
Rayquaza, entering the battle!
Kai's dragon body shuddered, becoming green lightning that shot into the high clouds. At the same moment, the originally clear blue sky visibly darkened with dense clouds, becoming gloomy as storm water.
Thick lightning serpents writhed and exploded wildly in the dense clouds with deafening roars!
The emerald divine dragon appeared and disappeared within the thundering dark clouds.
"That damn brat, stealing my thunder."
Kaido at the main ship's bow saw this and snorted coldly. In past large-scale battles, wasn't he always the first to transform into a dragon and ascend, using his disaster-like appearance to intimidate opponents?
This time that brat Kai had stolen his show.
Aboard the Red Force, all Red Hair Pirates members looked up at the sky, where wind and clouds changed color.
"So that's Natural Disaster Kai's beast form? Looks pretty similar to Kaido."
Yasopp held binoculars, grinning. "Just by appearance, compared to Oni Princess, he looks more like Kaido's biological child."
"Not just similar looks. Their abilities are probably alike too."
Beckman exhaled a smoke ring, gravely watching the heavy clouds rapidly gathering and surging with lightning in the sky.
"Not good!"
Shanks' eyes flashed red. Foreseeing the immediate future, he didn't hesitate for a moment, instantly drawing his famous blade Gryphon from his waist.
His figure shot skyward like red lightning!
At the same time, Kai, frantically gathering lightning power within the dark clouds, immediately noticed the movement from the Red Force below. He kept part of his attention on Red Hair Shanks' actions.
"So accumulating maximum power really isn't possible?" Kai thought with regret.
Opponents with top-tier Observation Haki, like future sight, was truly troublesome. They wouldn't give him perfect casting time.
No time to waste.
"Ten Thousand Thunder!"
Kai's emerald dragon head emerged from the clouds, releasing a deep dragon roar. Following his will, that long-accumulated terrifying lightning energy exploded forth!
Countless bucket-thick bolts of lightning tore through the sky like divine judgment spears, carrying world-destroying fury as they blanketed the Red Hair Pirates' fleet below.
"Kai-sama's made his move!"
On the Beast fleet's side, pirates cheered fanatically upon seeing this, their morale skyrocketing. This was their boss! Look at this tremendously powerful technique! Did anyone else have such a boss?
In stark contrast to the Beast Pirates' fanaticism, the Red Hair fleet pirates stared dumbfounded at this apocalyptic scene, faces full of shock.
"Dodge quickly!" Officers on each ship roared desperately, calling for comrades to save themselves.
Was this really a Mythical Zoan ability? Sure it wasn't the Rumble-Rumble Fruit?
However, even facing such terrifying attacks, the Red Hair Pirates members didn't fall into complete panic. Because they had their captain, Red Hair Shanks!
As if responding to his comrades' complete trust, before the sky-covering lightning could fully descend, the soaring Shanks' gaze flashed like lightning as he swung his sword at those sky-obscuring heavy clouds!
"Disperse!"
An incomparably condensed, dozens-of-meters-long dark red sword energy, like bloody silk tearing through the sky, shot upward into the cloud center.
BOOM!
The moment the sword energy entered the clouds, it exploded. The heavy cloud layer was instantly blown open with a large hole, clouds frantically retreating along the hole's edges.
A massive, pure cylindrical beam of sunlight, like a stage spotlight, fell through the forcibly opened gap onto the sea surface, enveloping the Red Hair fleet in a sacred and magnificent scene.
Though Shanks moved with godlike speed, he ultimately couldn't block every falling lightning bolt.
Boom, boom, boom!
That first and final wave of lightning still fell like a net toward the Red Hair fleet.
"Block them!"
Officers and elites on each fleet ship roared in unison, showing their abilities! Swordsmen sent flying slashes, gunners fired bullets, and ability users displayed their powers... but the lightning bolts far exceeded their expectations. Even blocking most of them, over a dozen still slipped through, striking down viciously.
Boom! Boom boom!
Deafening explosions rang out successively across the Red Hair fleet's dozen-plus ships. Wood chips flew, and scorching smoke filled the air.
The surrounding waters suffered worse, with lightning bolts crashing into the sea, exploding into water columns tens of meters high.
Fortunately, officers blocked in time. Only a few unlucky souls lost combat ability in this lightning rain. Two ships were unlucky enough to have their ammunition stores hit, causing chain explosions and completely sinking.
Shanks and Kai each returned to their respective bows, robes fluttering in the sea breeze.
Shanks quickly scanned his fleet. Seeing ships damaged but structurally sound, with core fighting power unharmed, he slowly breathed easier.
However, just taking hits without retaliating wasn't Red Hair Shanks' style!
He slowly raised Gryphon, dark red Conqueror's Haki instantly coiling around it like substance, adding heart-stopping intimidating pressure to the already magnificent blade.
"Returning the favor..."
Shanks' voice carried unquestionable power within its calm. "Let me say hello too."
"Divine Departure!"
As he swung his blade, a black-red griffon phantom emerged from the sword. It released a soundless roar, spread its wings, and charged toward the Beast fleet with momentum to tear through everything.
Before the sword energy truly arrived, the massive wind pressure preceding it had already struck Rayquaza's bow like an invisible tsunami. Those with weaker strength—Violet, Zoro, Ace, and others—were pushed and swayed by this pressure, almost unable to stand steady!
"Such powerful slashing! Almost equal to Hawkeye!"
Zoro hugged the flagpole tightly, showing no fear on his face, instead radiating fighting spirit.
Finally seeing this technique firsthand... The ultimate move that instantly defeated Kid.
Kai stood unmoved, his lips curving into an excited arc. However, he had no intention of personally experiencing this technique.
Kai very naturally turned his head, shouting toward the main ship. "Kaido-san, it's up to you!"
Captain versus captain, officer versus officer. These were the pirate world's battle rules.
"Don't think you can order me around, you brat!"
Kaido roared back angrily, his tone irritable, but his right hand obediently pulled out his kanabo Hassaikai from his cloak. His wrist suddenly exerted force, muscles bulging as black-red Conqueror's Haki instantly coiled around the weapon.
"Raging Thunder Hakke!"
Kaido roared, swinging this mountain-crushing, sea-splitting strike. An incomparably condensed massive shockwave shot out, precisely meeting the incoming griffon sword energy.
The next second, slash and club energy collided without ceremony in the ocean's center.
Unexpectedly, these two attacks didn't immediately explode upon contact, instead intertwining and eroding each other. Black-red electric arcs frantically jumped and exploded at the collision point.
Then—BOOM!
Heaven lost color! All things fell silent!
An indescribable, ultimate light and energy finally erupted completely. Time seemed frozen in this moment.
An explosion—unimaginably massive—erupted at the two attacks' intersection. Terrifying energy shockwaves spread outward frantically in spherical form.
Affected by this, the originally turbulent sea surface suddenly sank dozens of meters deep, forming an enormous, inverted-bowl-like depression!
Surging seawater was irresistibly pushed aside, becoming several hundred-meter-high tsunami waves frantically spreading in all directions.
Simultaneously, a massive black-red light pillar shot upward, piercing the heavens!
The sky cracked open.
Within mere seconds, the clouds Kai had created to cover the entire battlefield vanished completely, disappearing into the horizon.
"This is a collision between Emperors."
Countless people on the battlefield silently marveled.
But the aftereffects of Kaido and Shanks' first clash were far from over.