From within the frozen wreck of a pirate ship sealed beneath a glacier, Kuzan stepped out, his expression cold as the ice around him. A thin line of blood slid from the corner of his mouth.
He wiped it away with the back of his hand—calm, almost casual.
"You cowards who ran off... get back here!"
"Kuzan's been fighting that demon spawn at full strength for ages. His stamina's already been drained! Get back here and help us finish him!"
Jack the Drought bellowed his fury at Who's-Who and the others who had fled, his mammoth trunk letting out a thunderous roar that echoed across the newly frozen sea.
Even Cracker, who was in the middle of hacking apart the glacier to escape, heard those two roars.
Kuzan was running out of stamina?
A flicker of revenge stirred in his mind again.
Maybe… just maybe, if he cooperated with Jack and the other top fighters of the Beasts Pirates, they could surround Kuzan and kill him. He could avenge his younger brothers, Snagg and Barbarua.
"You bastards! I'm telling Kaido about this!" Sasaki, now in his triceratops form, immediately joined Jack's shouting, cursing loudly at Who's-Who and the others.
But in the next instant, a colder, more terrifying chill burst out across the battlefield.
Kuzan walked forward one step at a time, like an ice demon rising from the abyss, heading straight toward Jack and Sasaki.
Sasaki swallowed hard. Was this man actually low on stamina?
He was starting to seriously doubt Jack's judgment. How could he have believed that brute's nonsense?
Who's-Who and the others who had originally planned to regroup with Jack abruptly stopped in place.
Even without Conqueror's Haki, the frigid pressure rolling off Kuzan's body was enough to make Page One and the others tremble.
"What do we do?!" Ulti tore her hand away from her brother Page One. She had really intended to charge back in.
But the sheer force Kuzan released was the kind of cold that tasted like death.
"We call King back. Now." Who's-Who didn't want to take this risk at all. If they could get King the Wildfire here, they might really stand a chance of killing Kuzan.
He didn't trust Jack at all. Jack could take hits and recover like a monster, but his speed and attack power were nothing special.
Just because Jack had landed a hit earlier didn't mean he could hit Kuzan again.
As a former CP agent, Who's-Who understood exactly how terrifying a Marine Admiral was.
"If we can get Cracker too… then it's even safer." Black Maria narrowed her eyes, a dangerous glint flashing through them. With the combined power of a Calamity and a Sweet Commander-tier fighter, they could absolutely take down an Admiral who was already exhausted.
"Fine. Ulti, Page One—go call King. Maria, go get Cracker!" Who's-Who barked the order. As the leader of the Tobiroppo, he had just enough authority to give commands, even if they didn't really respect this ex-CP traitor.
"Tch. If the situation weren't this bad, you wouldn't be giving me orders." Ulti shot him a glare, but she still accepted the command, dragging Page One with her as she sprinted toward the other battlefield to summon the strongest force they had—King.
Black Maria gave Who's-Who one calm glance before skittering away on her six spider legs toward Cracker's location.
Ulti, Page One, and Black Maria had all grown up under the Beasts Pirates. Their loyalty to Kaido was absolute.
Ulti and Page One were the children of one of Kaido's old comrades. Black Maria had been brought into the crew in Wano and raised under Kaido's gaze, around the same age as Yamato.
But unlike Yamato, Black Maria treated Yamato like her daughter—and held a complicated, deep loyalty toward Kaido.
Who's-Who and Sasaki, on the other hand, had once been powerful pirate captains in the New World.
Kaido had simply taken notice of their Ancient Zoan powers and effortlessly bent them into his ranks.
The Calamities and the Tobiroppo all earned their status through raw strength.
The Headliners could challenge the Tobiroppo and steal their positions.
But the Tobiroppo could only challenge the Calamities with Kaido's permission.
During the Fire Festival in another timeline, Kaido granted that chance by using Yamato as the excuse.
Who's-Who had wanted to challenge Jack back then. He always hated that stubborn brute.
...
Seeing Who's-Who and the others scattering instead of rushing in, Sasaki felt his fear spike.
"Jack! Sasaki! Hold him off! We'll bring King and Cracker!" Who's-Who called out to steady them—but he didn't move to help.
His fear of a Marine Admiral was no less than his fear of a Yonko.
"Calling King and Cracker, huh… Fine! I can hold out!" Jack roared. Full of raw confidence, he believed absolutely in his defense and strength.
Sasaki, however, was drenched in cold sweat. His mind cursed Who's-Who for abandoning him.
Jack might survive Kuzan.
He wouldn't.
"As expected of one of the Calamities. Your strength truly isn't something a lower Sweet Commander could compare to," Kuzan spoke lightly, but his eyes didn't acknowledge Jack as a real threat.
"But I don't have time to waste on you."
Ice Ball.
Kuzan vanished with Soru, reappearing above Jack in an instant. A flood of freezing cold engulfed the mammoth.
Zoan users with monstrous regeneration were hard to kill quickly.
But slowing them down was easy.
Kuzan needed to go reinforce Garp and Momousagi. Trapping Jack was enough to give the other Marines time to escape.
"JACK!!"
Sasaki watched, horrified, as the arrogant Jack was frozen solid in seconds.
He stumbled back, desperate to put distance between himself and this monster.
"Your recovery can't match Jack's. So you can stay here." Kuzan's killing intent flared.
If he could kill a pirate along the way, he would.
Just like he had with Snagg.
"No!!"
"Jack! Break out!"
"Who's-Who! HELP ME!!"
Sasaki, with a bounty of 472 million berries, was weaker than Snagg.
For a Marine Admiral to kill him was as easy as Kaido flattening Luffy and Kid in seconds.
Just like Kizaru wiping out the Supernovas at Sabaody.
Under Kuzan's focused kill intent, Sasaki froze mid-flight—an ice sculpture of terror.
Kuzan formed an ice spear and drove it straight through Sasaki's heart.