The dragon breath Kaido spat out lit up half the sky.
His azure-blue dragon body stood out vividly in the firelight, but soon vanished again into the clouds and night.
Everyone on the island saw the commotion.
The ones who paid the most attention were Katakuri, Garp, and Shanks.
All of them recognized the outline of that dragon shadow.
Kaido had come in person, and their expressions immediately turned grave.
…
At that moment, above Totto Land, Morgans' airship was hovering among the clouds.
His subordinates hurried over and shouted, "BOSS, DO WE REALLY HAVE TO ARRIVE THIS EARLY? THE BANQUET DOESN'T START UNTIL TOMORROW!"
"You don't know shit."
Morgans unhurriedly packed his luggage as he spoke.
"After I wrote Cain up like that last time, who knows where all those family members connected to him are crouching, waiting to screw me over? If we all go over together, won't we get wiped out in one shot?"
Morgans strapped on a parachute, tied ropes around himself, gripped his camera equipment tightly, and continued,
"I need to go down first and test the waters. Maybe I'll even dig up some incredible exclusive headline!"
"Boss, that's too dangerous. Let someone else go!"
"No. News of this level must be handled by me personally. None of you are stealing it. If anything happens, I'll send the photos and draft to the fax machine right away."
"You don't need to worry about me. After all, in our line of work, sacrifice is necessary."
As soon as he finished speaking, Morgans leapt from the airship.
But before he had fallen far, a wild wind wrapped in heat swept over and blew him off course.
By sheer coincidence, he crashed straight into the Boro Breath Kaido had accidentally released while drunkenly belching.
Even though this was not a full-powered attack from Kaido, that terrifying heat was still enough to kill most ordinary people.
Fortunately, Morgans had the enhanced physique of a Zoan user.
Not only did he survive, he was roasted to about medium-well on the spot.
It even fulfilled the threat Cain had once made about dealing with him.
Dizzy and dazed, Morgans fell from the sky, only for another gust stirred up by Kaido to catch him and send him drifting straight toward Whole Cake Island.
Shanks noticed the abnormal movement immediately. His figure flashed, and in the blink of an eye, he rushed into the sky and steadily caught the half-unconscious Morgans.
Seeing this half-human, half-bird fellow burned by Kaido's dragon breath, Shanks' expression grew serious.
He quickly brought him to his ship's doctor, Hongo, for treatment.
But before long, a dragon shadow began flickering in and out above his head.
Not far away, Garp's brows were knotted tightly as he stared at the enormous dragon figure half-hidden in the clouds, his expression growing even more solemn.
He did not want that bastard Kaido ruining Cain and Uta's wedding!
If anyone was going to crash the place, it should at least be him, the grandfather, doing it personally!
Garp stomped hard beneath his feet and shot straight into the sky.
Using Geppo for a second burst of speed, he instantly smashed through the thick clouds.
The moment that thought passed through his mind, Conqueror's Haki and Armament Haki had already wrapped around his fist.
He had long since thrown the Marine order forbidding unauthorized war with an Emperor into the back of his mind, and he drove a solid punch straight toward the head of the dragon shadow above him.
"GALAXYYY IMPACT!"
With a thunderous explosion, the entire cloud layer was torn apart by the force of his fist, fully exposing the dragon shadow behind it.
The instant Garp saw the dragon's face clearly, his eyes nearly popped out of his head, and he shouted in disbelief, "CAIN?! WHY THE HELL IS IT YOU, BRAT?!"
At this moment, Cain had just copied Kaido's method and broken free from the seawater, shooting into the sky above Whole Cake Island in the blink of an eye.
Kaido had already vanished among the clouds, and Cain was still dizzily wondering how he should land when the aftereffects of all the alcohol he had drunk finally surged up completely.
His vision instantly blurred into a mess.
This was the first time in his life he had ever drunk this much.
The grogginess of a hangover mixed with the force of the alcohol and churned violently through his body, making him feel absolutely awful.
He had barely managed to steady himself and was about to charge downward when the clouds in front of him suddenly exploded.
Cain did not have Kaido's skill of incorporating drunkenness into battle.
Even though his Observation Haki had predicted the incoming heavy punch in advance, his body could not keep up at all.
Garp's heavy fist landed solidly on his jaw. His head, already muddled by the alcohol, spun even harder.
His massive dragon body lost control and plummeted straight down from the sky.
Garp was so frightened his soul nearly flew out of his body!
He quickly lunged forward, grabbed Cain's dragon body, and sprawled across his back while shouting.
"CAIN! BRAT, WAKE UP! YOU'RE FALLING!"
The two of them dropped rapidly, wrapped in violent wind.
In his panic, Garp remembered the old method of using a heavy strike against the ground to cushion a fall.
He immediately clenched his fist and prepared to punch downward.
"Fist Bone Clash!"
But he was still one step too late.
Cain's head smashed hard into the ground first. His massive dragon body was forcibly bent into an S-shape by Garp, who was still clinging tightly to him.
And Garp's fully charged punch, with no bias whatsoever, landed solidly on the back of Cain's head.
Cain had already gone six days without proper sleep.
Although he had later slept for half a day and barely recovered some energy, that condition made him extremely easy to numb with alcohol.
Now, he only felt drowsiness surging toward him like a landslide.
The hangover had already blurred his consciousness, and after taking two solid punches from Garp, not only did he fail to sober up, his vision went black and he passed out completely on the spot.
Fortunately, most of the impact was forcibly absorbed by Cain's giant dragon body, so the surrounding buildings did not suffer too much damage.
Shanks, who had been watching from a distance the whole time, felt his temples throbbing painfully.
They had just landed and already caused such a huge commotion!
Wasn't this basically announcing their arrival to everyone under Big Mom?
…
Ten minutes later…
Cain gradually regained consciousness.
The alcohol in his body was also slowly being metabolized. Although his head was still a little dizzy, he was no longer as confused as before.
He opened his eyes in a daze and looked around vaguely.
He seemed to be lying on a huge bed.
But in the very next second, he came face-to-face with Big Mom's enormous face.
He was being held tightly in her palm!
"What's wrong, child? Are you hungry? Come, have some dessert."
As Big Mom spoke, she reached to lift her nightgown.
In an instant, Cain jolted awake and let out a heartbreaking scream.
"BIG MOM!"
Cain shot upright from the bed, gasping heavily as he looked around in lingering terror.
A familiar room.
A familiar bed.
It was the temporary guest room he had been given on Whole Cake Island, not some bizarre candy bedroom.
'Thank goodness.'
'It was just a nightmare.'
He clutched his wildly pounding heart.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw half a head of smooth white hair peeking out beside his pillow, while the other half was hidden tightly under the pillow and blanket.
Only a small section lay against the pillow.
The person beside him breathed softly, carrying a faint sweet fragrance.
It was Uta.
His suspended heart instantly dropped back into place.
He was just about to call out to her when the person beside him slowly turned around and spoke in a familiar, concerned tone.
"What's wrong, my good grandson? Had a nightmare?"
Cain's pupils shrank to pinpoints.
The person in front of him was not Uta at all.
It was clearly his grandfather Garp.
His white hair had grown all the way down to his waist, and he was bare-chested, picking his nose while looking at Cain with a kindly expression.
"GRANDPA!"
Cain let out another soul-tearing scream and jolted awake again.
The moment he opened his eyes, he finally realized that he had just been trapped in a dream within a dream.
He gripped the blanket tightly and did not dare look beside him at all. First, he held his breath and strained his ears.
There was a steady breathing sound beside him.
A girl's breathing.
It was definitely Uta.
There was no mistake this time!
He slowly let out a breath of relief and turned his head with trembling movements.
Inside the blanket, a head was buried, with only half of its red hair falling across the pillow.
The other half was wrapped entirely inside the blanket, the face completely hidden.
Only that small section of familiar red hair could be seen.
This time it had to be Uta, right?
Right?
It definitely was, right?
Cain reached out with shaking fingers.
Just as his fingertips were about to touch that red hair, the blanket was suddenly pulled aside, and a familiar, calm voice rang out.
"What's wrong, Cain? Had a nightmare?"
There was Shanks, with his flowing red hair and similarly bare upper body, looking at Cain with concern.
"SHANKSSSSSSS!"
Cain felt his soul almost leave his body.
Screaming in terror, he opened his eyes once again and saw Garp right in front of him.
He was already used to it by now.
This situation was clearly still a dream within a dream.
No, it should be a dream within a dream within a dream!
He immediately squeezed his eyes shut and even made his breathing as light and slow as possible.
He did not dare look.
He did not dare move.
He was afraid he would see another scene ridiculous enough to shatter his sanity!
Then he heard a loud shout.
"BRAT, YOU'RE AWAKE AND STILL PRETENDING TO SLEEP? GET UP ALREADY! ATATATATA!"
---------
Read 30 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator