With Gecko Moria already defeated by the Straw Hat Pirates, Kaido knew it wouldn't be long before the Marines announced their plan for Ace's public execution. Originally, he had been worried that his own actions in Paradise and the Sabaody Archipelago might make the World Government too cautious to execute Ace publicly. If that happened, they would have to face the threat of two unstable Yonko at the same time.
But now, things were different. The Marines and the World Government no longer needed to hold back. As long as the news from Wano Country got out, they would assume that the Beasts Pirates had stabilized. They would believe that for the foreseeable future, Kaido's crew would be focused on managing the internal affairs of their newly conquered territory.
This wasn't a trick Kaido had set up to deceive them. It was a necessary step he had to take. If he had missed this window of opportunity and waited until after the war at Marineford to make his move on Wano, the situation would have been far more unpredictable. Now, however, even after he killed a Celestial Dragon, the World Government could only swallow its anger. They had much bigger problems to worry about.
The Straw Hats were drawing all the attention at the front lines, and the captured son of the Pirate King, Portgas D. Ace, was a crisis demanding their full focus. This series of events gave Kaido a significant amount of time to operate freely. For him, the most urgent task was to bring Wano Country completely under his control.
Reflecting on the original timeline, many things that once seemed strange now made perfect sense. For instance, why had his past self fallen so quickly when Luffy and his crew finally arrived? On one hand, it was due to the unpredictable and frankly absurd power of the Straw Hats. On the other, it was because he had never truly controlled Wano in the first place.
A single, simple fact proved this weakness. The Straw Hats, along with Law's Heart Pirates, had managed to hide inside Wano for a long time without anyone from the Beasts Pirates discovering them. This wasn't because they were masters of stealth. A woman named Tsuru, the wife of Kin'emon, had recognized that Luffy and Zoro were outsiders the moment she met them, simply because of the flaws in their way of speaking. Yet, Kaido's forces remained oblivious until Luffy and Zoro started causing a commotion. It was a laughable failure. The Nine Red Scabbards who returned later had also hidden themselves throughout the country without being noticed.
All of this had given his enemies far too much time to prepare.
Things were different now. Kaido had taken complete and total control of Wano. The Beasts Pirates had moved their headquarters to the Flower Capital. Ulti and the others had been appointed as generals overseeing the different regions, with the exception of Udon. Udon had been transformed into the Beasts' primary quarry and armory. Combined with Enel's all-seeing Devil Fruit ability, the entire country of Wano was now under Kaido's strict surveillance. If the Straw Hats tried to infiltrate Wano now as they did before, Kaido would show them the meaning of true despair.
However, this also meant that the Beasts Pirates would not have the spare energy to participate in the upcoming war at Marineford. Thoroughly conquering a nation as stubborn as Wano required a long process, and most of his crew's attention was dedicated to that task.
Kaido didn't care. In the original course of events, the Beasts Pirates hadn't participated anyway.
This did not mean that Kaido himself would stay away. He would still go to the battlefield at Marineford and he would still fight Red-Haired Shanks. He just wouldn't bring his crew with him; he would go alone.
His purpose was simple. First, he needed to fight monsters of the same caliber as himself to measure the progress of his own strength, especially Shanks. Had he fought Whitebeard and Shanks before? Of course. Whitebeard was an old rival from the Rocks Pirates era, and the two had clashed countless times. Four years ago, when Shanks became a Yonko, he and Kaido had also fought.
But the results were embarrassing. Kaido had never won a single battle against Whitebeard. As for Shanks, the two had fought to a draw, even after the redhead had lost an arm. At the time, Kaido was already fifty-six years old, while Shanks was only thirty-three. The gap in their potential was obvious. This was why, in Big Mom's eyes, Whitebeard was ranked first among the Yonko, and Shanks was second.
Kaido's title was the "World's Strongest Creature," not the "World's Strongest Man." Neither the old Kaido nor the man he was now would ever be content with that result. This new Kaido had left his past self behind. The power he had gained from another world had given him a complete rebirth. After only four months of training, he could already feel the immense changes in his body. The nourishment of his ki had given him a younger, stronger physique, more powerful Haki, and a rekindled will to change the world. He had undergone a complete transformation.
His fighting spirit burned once more. He no longer clung to the title of a Yonko but was now aiming for the position of King of the World. Shanks was the perfect opponent to measure just how much stronger he had become.
Furthermore, a battle with Shanks would help him accomplish his second goal for this trip: advertising. It sounded strange, but it was a crucial part of his plan. In any world, talent was the most important resource. In the world of pirates, talent meant potential combat power. As a self-aware villain, Kaido had long prepared to challenge the entire world by himself. Therefore, everything he did now was a preparation for the future. He was building the Beasts Pirates into a force that could independently face the Straw Hats, Shanks, Whitebeard, the Marines, and even the World Government.
Currently, the combat power of the Beasts Pirates wasn't enough. Forgetting the Marines and the World Government, they couldn't even guarantee a victory against Whitebeard or Shanks, and a war with Big Mom was not a certain win either. Fortunately, his key fighters were all very young. In terms of potential, they were the greatest among the four Yonko crews.
People often overlooked the age of his commanders because of how mature and powerful they seemed. Jack, the All-Star known as "the Drought" who showed no fear against a Marine Admiral, was only twenty-six years old. Ulti, who possessed strength comparable to a Warlord and could still fight after taking a direct hit from an enraged Big Mom, was only twenty. Even the youngest of the Tobiroppo, Page One, was only eighteen and already had a bounty of 290,000,000 Berries, placing him among the top three Supernovas of his generation.
Kaido was very optimistic about their potential. Besides them, there was Enel at thirty-seven, Who's-Who at thirty-six, and Sasaki at thirty-two. Enel's potential was obvious; his Logia-type Devil Fruit alone gave him the ability to become a top-tier powerhouse. Who's-Who was known as a genius on par with Rob Lucci, and Kaido had no reason to doubt it. The fact that the World Government had trusted him to guard the Gum-Gum Fruit was proof enough of his former strength. Sasaki was the most low-key, but his ambition to challenge for an All-Star position showed his confidence.
Then there were King and Queen...
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