Kael's boots crunched softly in the thick snow.
The Ringo region of Wano Country was buried in ice year round. This was a land of graves, where even a person's breath felt like it would freeze into shards in the air.
The hot sake he had casually bought in town was tucked inside his coat, giving off a warmth that was better than nothing.
Following the slope upward, Kael found a massive boulder with an excellent view and sat cross-legged on top.
From here, the snowy plain below lay completely exposed to his gaze.
On that field of white, two groups faced each other with a clear dividing line. The killing intent between them was so heavy it felt like the falling snowflakes might freeze midair.
Kael uncorked the gourd and took a deep pull. The sharp liquor burned down his throat and drove back some of the chill.
He took out the oden he had bought along the way, speared a piece of daikon with a bamboo skewer, and studied the lineup below with interest.
On the left, their flag bore a bat and fangs. At their head stood a tall, lanky man in a fashionable black leather jacket. His purple hair was slicked back in wild spikes and his face was full of cocky confidence.
Gecko Moria.
He was not yet the bloated, lazy shut-in he would become. His eyes still burned with hope for the future and the sharpness of a captain.
Bro might lose, might feed, but he never backs down.
His crew behind him, though, left much to be desired.
They were all putting on a fierce front, but their gear was a mess and their formation was loose. They looked more like a bunch of pirates thrown together at the last minute than a disciplined crew.
Now the right side.
The pressure rolling off that camp was obvious even from hundreds of meters away.
At the head stood a man in a simple green shirt, corded arms resting a brutal spiked kanabo on his shoulder. Horns jutted from his head. His presence was overwhelmingly domineering.
Kaido, sensei of pain.
Behind Kaido, three figures were just as eye catching.
A man in a black mask with black wings spread behind him, an ominous aura leaking from his whole body. Wildfire King.
A big-bellied man with a topknot and a cigar hanging from his mouth, looking frivolous and unserious. Plague Queen.
And a young brute whose face still held a hint of immaturity. Drought Jack.
The All Stars.
Right now, Moria's face was full of youthful pride, his eyes blazing with the fire of ambition and a captain's confidence.
"Ji hihihihi. Kaido. Hand over your head and let it be my stepping stone to the throne."
Kael glanced over the mismatched crowd at Moria's back and could not help shaking his head.
A few of them looked decent, but compared to those three monsters opposite them, they were fireflies against the full moon.
How was this supposed to be a fight.
Captain one versus the world?
"Wororororo." Kaido's laughter boomed like thunder. He pointed the tip of his kanabo at Moria.
"With you and that trash behind you. Moria. The New World is not a place for kiddie pirate crews like yours to play."
"Save your breath." Moria drew his blade, the point leveled straight at Kaido. "My crew is not trash. We will beat you down together and take Wano."
His pirates roared behind him, whipped up by their captain's bravado.
"For Captain Moria."
"Crush the Beasts Pirates."
Up on the cliff, Kael could only keep shaking his head.
War was not a game. You did not win on slogans alone.
"Everyone, charge." Kaido could not be bothered to keep talking. He bellowed and launched forward.
His massive body thundered across the snow, every step making the ground tremble.
"Bastards. Show them what we can do." Moria was not to be outdone. He raised his blade and rushed to meet him.
In the whirling snow, the two pirate crews slammed into each other.
Clang.
Moria's great blade smashed into Kaido's kanabo and a spray of sparks exploded between them.
An expanding ring of white shockwaves blasted out from their clash, kicking the snow around them several meters into the air.
Within that snowstorm, blue veins bulged along Moria's arms. The easy confidence on his face twisted into strain.
It felt less like he was clashing with a man and more like he was trying to stop a mountain.
"Wororororo." Kaido's laughter rumbled out of his chest. He still had enough energy to mock him. "What is it, Moria. Is that all you have."
Before the words had fully fallen, Kaido's wrist snapped with explosive force.
Moria felt a crushing power travel up through his blade. He lost control of his body and skidded back, feet plowing two deep furrows in the snow. He smashed through several gravestones before he finally staggered to a stop.
"Ji hihihihi…" Yet Moria's grin only grew wilder. "Now that is more like it. If you were too weak, killing you would be boring."
In terms of the captains alone, the two of them were trading blows on even ground.
Moria's sword style was wide open and sweeping. Every swing tore the air itself.
Kaido was simpler. Every hit of that kanabo carried world-breaking brute force.
Their duel was a pure collision of power. The sky dimmed, the snowy plain shook.
Outside that center, however, the battlefield told a completely different story.
Wildfire King's black wings beat once and his whole body turned into a streak of darkness as he shot into the ranks of Moria's crew.
He did not even bother to draw his sword. He simply passed among them at high speed.
Wherever his wings brushed, pirates burst into inextinguishable flames, screaming as they rolled in the snow. In moments they were nothing more than charred husks.
Plague Queen took it almost lazily. He pulled a pair of massive Gatling guns from his back and opened up on the crowd.
"Feel the pain, you trash."
Bullets poured down like a storm. Moria's men fell like wheat before a scythe, whole swaths collapsing at once. Blood soaked the pristine snow in an instant.
The youngest All Star, Jack, showed a cruelty far beyond his age.
He rampaged through the crowd with his weapons, every swing tearing away several lives.
Moria's treasured comrades rushed to block him, but in front of the All Stars they were as fragile as paper.
One exchange and they were cut down on the spot.
This was a slaughter, nothing else.
On the cliff, Kael watched in silence.
Moria's personal strength was indeed formidable. Being able to stand toe to toe with Kaido meant he had the potential to be one of the true monsters of the sea.
Unfortunately, he had made a fatal mistake.
He trusted his companions too much. Or rather, he had never understood that so called "companions" also came in tiers.
He had led a flock of sheep into a den of tigers and expected them to fight by his side.
"Ji hihihihihi. Kaido, you are nothing special."
In the middle of the field, Moria drove Kaido back a step and laughed wildly, utterly unaware of the tragedy unfolding behind him.
All his focus was locked on his duel with Kaido.
He believed that if he defeated Kaido, the battle would be over.
Kaido, forced back a step, did not look angry at all. If anything his grin widened.
"Wororororo. Maybe try looking behind you first, idiot."
Moria reacted on instinct and glanced back over his shoulder.
The smile on his face froze instantly.
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