Wano Country, Onigashima.
Thousands of laborers were carrying giant stones, working frantically under the lashes of overseers to reinforce the grim skull-shaped fortress. The air was thick with the smell of sweat and misery as the slaves struggled to meet the demands of their captors.
Inside the fortress, however, the scent of wine permeated the luxurious banquet hall. The contrast between the suffering outside and the decadence within was sharp and sickening.
"Hahahaha! That fool Oden is still dancing in the mud right now!"
Orochi sat with his bloated upper body bare, hugging two shivering geishas while his fatty flesh trembled with laughter. He felt untouchable, basking in the ruin of his enemies.
"The Kozuki bloodline has been severed. Now, in all of Wano Country, no one can threaten my position as Shogun."
At the head of the table, Kaido sat cross-legged, holding a massive sake gourd. He tilted his head back for a deep gulp, wine dripping down his beard onto his solid pectoral muscles. He looked every bit the king of beasts, radiating a raw and terrifying power.
"Hmph, Orochi, don't get too ahead of yourself. Wano's current labor force is far from enough! The foundation for the weapons factory over in Udon is moving too slowly! Go capture more people!"
Kaido set down the sake gourd, his bloodshot eyes glinting with a beast-like ferocity. To him, people were nothing more than fuel for his war machine.
"Once these factories are finished, the munitions produced in Wano Country will be sold all over the world. Then, I will form a legion consisting entirely of Ability Users and completely overturn this boring world!"
Kaido's words triggered a frenzy among the gathered pirates. They didn't care about the world; they only cared about the violence and the loot.
The lackeys raised their weapons and roared, their voices nearly blowing the roof off. The sound of their cheering was like a wave of thunder crashing against the walls of the hall.
"Boss Kaido is right! We're going to be the overlords of the sea!"
Queen, with his round belly protruding and a thick cigar in his mouth, twisted his hips frantically in the crowd: "Leave the kidnapping to me! My newly developed Plague Rounds happen to need live testing on those samurai. If they don't listen, poison them and bring in a new batch!"
In the corner, King, wearing his black mask, silently wiped his long blade while the flames on his back burned quietly in the dim light. He had no interest in such crude festivities, his mind only calculating the troop deployment for the fortifications. He was the cold, sharp edge of the Beasts Pirates.
The banquet was in full swing, a celebration of cruelty and greed.
A sudden, jarring noise erupted from directly overhead.
Boom—!
A bolt of lightning as thick as a barrel pierced the clouds, accurately striking the highest point of Onigashima. The sheer force of the strike lit up the dark sky for a split second.
The great hall shook violently, and countless dust and debris rained down. The ground groaned under the pressure of the impact, throwing several pirates off their feet.
"What's going on? What happened?!"
The pirates in the hall were in chaos, some drawing swords, others grabbing guns, looking up at the ceiling in shock and suspicion. Their drunken joy had instantly turned into a panicked confusion.
Kaido slowly looked up.
His thick eyebrows lowered slightly, and a stifled sense of crisis instantly spread through his entire body. His instincts, honed through countless life-and-death battles, were screaming at him.
This was a feeling he hadn't experienced in a long time, not since the end of the Rocks era. It was the feeling of a predator meeting something even more dangerous.
Crack—!
The sound of shattering glass exploded directly above the hall.
The indestructible dome of Onigashima was forcibly torn open right from the center. It wasn't a natural disaster; it was an intrusion by a force of nature.
Violent wind pressure slammed into the banquet hall, and the noisy, decadent music came to a screeching halt. The pressure was so intense it felt like the air itself was being crushed.
Hundreds of tables instantly shattered, sending wine and wood splinters flying everywhere. The once-grand banquet was turned into a scrapyard in an instant.
Dozens of pirates near the center didn't even have time to scream before being blasted into the ground by the shockwave falling from the sky, their fates unknown! They were crushed into the stone floor like insects.
Dust filled the air, and cold wind poured in.
In the center where the rolling dust dissipated, a tall and slender figure emerged from the ruins, walking slowly with one hand in his pocket. He looked completely out of place in the chaos, as if he were simply taking a stroll through a park.
When that handsome yet indifferent face was fully exposed under the firelight, the atmosphere of the entire banquet hall instantly shifted from shock to extreme panic!
"That... That's..."
A Shinuchi's teeth were chattering, and the wine cup in his hand shattered with a "pop." Fear had paralyzed his very soul.
"Impossible... Absolutely impossible..."
"That's... the man who personally shackled the Pirate King Roger!!"
This sentence instantly ignited the entire room. The name alone was enough to drain the color from the faces of everyone present.
"A Marine Headquarters Admiral?! That monster codenamed 'Calamity'?!"
"Are you kidding me! This is Wano Country! How could a Marine Admiral appear here?!"
"It's over... we're finished! Even the Pirate King fell to him, what are we compared to him?!"
Those pirate lackeys, who usually killed without blinking, were now retreating like startled quails. Some even had their legs give way, collapsing in a puddle of their own urine. The legendary status of the man before them was a death sentence.
It wasn't just the lackeys who were terrified.
At the seats of the Three Disasters.
"Pfft— Cough, cough, cough!"
Queen's eyes nearly bulged out of his head, and his fatty flesh trembled violently: "Hey, hey, hey! For real?! How could a monster of this level charge in alone? This is totally cheating!"
The usually calm and cold "Wildfire" King's pupils also constricted into needlepoints under his mask. He could feel the sheer weight of the power radiating from the intruder.
Clang!
He instinctively drew the long sword at his waist, and the flames on his back instantly flared to their limit. It was a stress response born of instinct—if he didn't go all out, he might be killed in an instant!
As the nominal ruler of Wano Country, Orochi's performance was even more pathetic.
"A M-M-Marine Admiral?!"
Orochi was so scared that snot and tears flowed freely. He scrambled to hide behind Kaido's massive frame, his finger shaking wildly as he pointed at Kane:
"Ka-Kaido! Didn't you say not even a bird could fly through the outer defenses! Why did the Marine's highest combat power drop directly onto your head!"
A man's reputation follows him like a shadow.
At this point in time, Kane, who had just ended the Great Pirate Era, held a level of deterrence in the eyes of pirates that even surpassed Garp and Sengoku. He was a veritable "Living Yama"!
Amidst the universal trembling.
Kane merely brushed the dust off his collar nonchalantly, his deep eyes not even glancing at the lackeys who were nearly scared to death. They weren't even worth his notice.
He pulled a cigar from his coat pocket and unhurriedly bit down on it.
"Quiet down, trash."
Kane spoke calmly, his voice laced with Haoshoku pressure that instantly drowned out the noise of the entire hall. The weaker pirates felt their hearts stop as the invisible force crushed their will.
Click.
A lighter flickered with a flame, lighting the cigar.
He exhaled a thick cloud of white smoke. Through the haze, his gaze finally fell upon the demon-like figure at the head of the hall. He looked at the strongest creature in the world with total boredom.
Kaido slowly stood up, his massive shadow completely enveloping the hall. He was a mountain of muscle and malice, ready to explode.
He stared intently at the [Justice] cloak fluttering in the dust, his gaze locked onto Kane's young yet oppressive face.
After a brief, dead silence.
Kaido's broad shoulders suddenly began to heave violently.
"Wororororo! Wororororororo—!!!"
The deafening laughter echoed wildly within the ruined hall. It was a sound that promised destruction.
"Calamity Admiral... Kane!!!"
Kaido grabbed his mace, [hassaikai], and smashed the wine table in front of him. Black and red Haoshoku lightning, like a frenzy of dancing snakes, instantly erupted from his body, tearing through the surrounding air!
On his hideous face covered in veins, there was unmasked brutality and a chilling sense of longing. He wasn't afraid; he was thrilled.
"I've been waiting for you for a long time! Ever since that waste Shiki fell and Roger was captured, I've dreamed of testing this storm of yours that can overturn the sea!"
Kaido's massive frame took a heavy step forward, the intense pressure forcing even King and Queen to retreat several steps. The ground cracked under his weight.
He spread his arms and opened his mouth wide, letting out a roar like a giant beast from the abyss seeking death:
"Come! Don't you dare disappoint me! I hope that today... you can finally kill me here!!! Wororororororo!!!"
Just as Kaido's fighting spirit reached its peak and he prepared to go all out.
Kane pulled a small blue booklet from his breast pocket. He looked like an accountant arriving to do an audit rather than a warrior about to fight a god.
He flipped to a page, his tone becoming entirely bureaucratic.
"Kaido of the Beasts, leader of an illegal armed force in Wano Country."
Kaido's laughter froze mid-air. He blinked in confusion at the sudden change in tone.
Kane continued reading: "According to the World Government's 'Non-Affiliated Nations Resource Protection Act,' you have been mining minerals without authorization, illegally expanding heavy industrial facilities, and severely polluting the environment."
"Furthermore, this Onigashima of yours is an illegal structure. It has no Construction Permit, and you haven't paid the annual Environmental Protection Deposit of three hundred million Berries."
Kane looked up, his eyes filled with the coldness of routine business. He didn't care about the lightning or the killing intent.
"According to the latest Marine amendment, I am now representing Marine Headquarters to impose a fine of fifty billion Berries on you."
"Additionally, given that you murdered my dear son Momonosuke, whom I have never met."
Kane closed the booklet, his tone matter-of-fact. He delivered the news with the same emotion one might use to read a grocery list.
"An additional two hundred billion Berries will be charged as Compensation."
"Will you pay this amount now, or should I take it from your armories myself after I beat you to death?"
The brains of the pirates present short-circuited. They couldn't wrap their heads around what was happening.
The Three Disasters were stunned. The tension in the room had evaporated, replaced by a bizarre sense of absurdity.
"You're saying... you want to fine me?"
Kaido's eyes bulged, his tone filled with a sense of absurdity: "And since when did Momonosuke become your son?"
Kane took a deep drag of his cigar, his expression becoming incredibly serious.
"The Lady's son is my son."
"Although Lady Toki and I only met last night, our feelings evolved rapidly. We've already shared an extremely intimate connection."
"As an upright Marine, collecting debts for my family—that's perfectly logical, isn't it?"
Kaido's fingers creaked against his mace, the fury in his chest nearly becoming physical. He had been looking for a grand battle, but he was being mocked with taxes and infidelity.
"You bastard... you actually touched that woman?"
Kane spread his hands with an innocent expression. He looked like a man who was simply doing his duty to the community.
"Don't put it like that. You were the one being inhuman first. As an upright Marine, I was merely providing a bit of warmth and support to a lost widow in the night."
"Now, let's talk business."
The wind pressure around Kane surged instantly, and Zangetsu let out a crisp dragon-like hum. The atmosphere snapped back to lethal readiness.
"Your money, or your life?"
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