Crash!
The sound of collapsing ice echoed through the air.
Esdeath shattered the iceberg she'd been using as a shield, then leaped forward, stepping onto floating ice chunks to join Uchiha Hikari in mid-air, standing side by side above the chaos.
"Is that guy dead?" Esdeath asked, her tone sharp.
"…Probably not," Hikari replied after a moment, her eyes briefly closing as she focused.
She was referring to Kaido, of course. With Onigashima reduced to a pile of rubble, spotting him with the naked eye was impossible. But Hikari, using a trick she'd picked up from the Cat Sage, sensed a faint trace of his "ki" from the direction he'd fallen. It was weak but far from flickering out like a candle in the wind.
Kaido was heavily injured, no doubt, but dead? Not even close. With the miraculous recovery abilities of people in the pirate world, he'd probably be back on his feet, bouncing around, in no time.
"…Man, that guy's tough," Hikari muttered under her breath.
She wasn't all that surprised, though. Kaido's strength might not be the absolute top in the pirate world—after all, the other three Yonko were on par with him, and the World Government likely had some secret weapons up their sleeves. But when it came to defense and sheer endurance? Kaido was hands-down number one. Decades as a pirate, from the Rocks Pirates to the Beast Pirates, surviving countless battles, getting captured by the Marines, and enduring execution attempts dozens of times—yet the only marks on his body were two scars left by Kozuki Oden.
That kind of durability was straight-up monstrous. Even in the Dragon Ball world, he'd be a force to reckon with. And if he were reborn in the Naruto world? He'd probably be like Might Guy, capable of opening all Eight Gates up to the Gate of Death.
"Well, looks like he's not crawling out of that mess anytime soon," Hikari said, stretching her neck. "Let's call it a day for now. Time to check on Yamato—she's been awfully quiet. Hope she's okay…"
With that, Hikari used her Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, sending a dozen or so copies of herself to rummage through the ruins of the skull-shaped castle. After a bit of digging, they found Yamato buried under the debris.
She was banged up but not too badly—mostly some damage to her back and shoulder blades from a fallen beam. After swallowing half a Senzu Bean Hikari tossed her, Yamato was back to full health in no time.
"Thanks, Miss Hikari! You guys okay?" Yamato asked, brushing herself off.
"We're fine," Hikari replied with a nod.
"Good…" Yamato's expression softened, but a faint worry creased her brow as she thought of her father. "What about my dad, Kaido…?"
"Don't worry, he's still alive," Hikari said with a small smile. "No matter how you slice it, he's your dad. I held back a bit. With his toughness, he might already be climbing out of the rubble before we even leave this place."
Truth be told, Hikari had no intention of killing Kaido.
For one, there was Yamato to consider. No matter how lousy Kaido was as a father, he did raise her, despite all the rocky moments. Beating him half to death was enough to blow off some steam—killing him outright would've been too much.
The other reason was Esdeath. After watching Hikari's fight with Kaido, Esdeath had given a nod of approval to his strength and expressed a desire to take him on herself. As her boss, Hikari figured she should let her subordinate have some fun.
She even toyed with the idea of tossing Kaido a Senzu Bean to patch him up first. After all, the injuries he'd taken were heavy, and she didn't want him missing an arm or leg when he recovered—it'd ruin his fighting potential. A sparring partner of his caliber was rare in the pirate world.
Plus, there was Bulma's plan for a long-term journey through this world. Hikari figured they'd likely end up clashing with the Celestial Dragons or the World Government eventually. Having Kaido out there stirring up trouble and drawing the Marines' attention would save them some hassle.
She didn't voice all these thoughts, but it didn't matter. Esdeath always followed her lead on big decisions, and Yamato wasn't about to object either.
Right now, though, Hikari was dealing with another issue.
"Ugh…" she sighed. "It's really busted, huh?"
She raised her right hand, inspecting the half-broken Dragonbone Blade she was holding. Yup, just half.
The blade, forged by Totosai himself, was incredibly durable, but the nuclear-explosion-level clash with Kaido's club had pushed it past its limits, snapping it right in the middle. The upper half had shattered into countless bone fragments, now scattered across the ruins. The lower half, still attached to the hilt, remained in her hand.
To be fair, Kaido's spiked club had fared even worse—probably reduced to nothing but splinters by now.
The Dragonbone Blade had some self-repairing properties, but broken this badly? Fixing it would be a tall order.
"Guess I'll have to swing by Kikyo's place and ask Totosai to reforge it," Hikari mused. "Good timing, actually. I've got some high-quality materials lately. If we mix in Bulma's restored Orichalcum and some of those super-dangerous species materials from the Akame ga Kill world, this blade might come out even stronger…"
She was lost in thought, planning her next steps.
---
[Bulma: So, how's it going, Hikari? Yamato? Everything sorted out over there? How'd the talk with Yamato's dad go? Did it turn into a fight?]
[Nameless: …It's all settled.]
[Nameless: Mr. Kaido was pretty reasonable, actually. He's agreed to let Yamato sail with us. Plus, he lent me a map of the New World with all the major islands marked. We just need to follow it to navigate.]
[Bulma: Oh, really?]
[Bulma: From what Yamato said about her dad, I thought Kaido was some shady, hot-tempered guy… So it was just a misunderstanding? Guess he does care about his daughter after all. Not as cold as I thought!]
[Nameless: Yup, just a misunderstanding.]
[Demon Princess: …]