Several hours later, Biscuit Island.
The island's residents had already been fully evacuated, and after the fierce battle between Kaido and Cain earlier, most of the island had long since been reduced to charred ruins.
So…
There was no need to hold back here.
"RED-HAIR! HOW DID YOU GET HERE SO QUICKLY?! IKOKU SOVEREIGNTY!"
Big Mom roared angrily.
Napoleon swung down, releasing a circular air slash toward Shanks.
Shanks turned sideways to dodge the slash while raising his knee to block Kaido's sweeping Thunder Bagua.
Even in the middle of that, he found time to shout back at Big Mom.
"HOW CAN A CHILD'S MARRIAGE BE DECIDED SO CASUALLY? WHAT FATHER WOULDN'T WORRY?! BIG MOM, YOU WENT TOO FAR THIS TIME!"
Before he had even finished speaking, the kanabo Shanks had blocked turned with the momentum and smashed straight toward Big Mom with a sharp sound of tearing wind.
Big Mom reacted extremely quickly, raising her sword horizontally to block the heavy blow as she roared, "KAIDO! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TRYING TO DO?!"
"WHAT AM I TRYING TO DO?! IF I HADN'T WOKEN UP FAST ENOUGH, YOU OLD HAG WOULD'VE SUNK ME TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA TO FEED THE FISH!"
Kaido increased the force behind his swing and roared furiously.
Although he had been drunk earlier, he had not completely lost consciousness.
He had still heard Big Mom ordering her children to tie him to a giant stone and sink him into the deep sea.
And judging by the half-broken chains still wrapped around him, they had clearly already started doing it.
Right now, Kaido was holding back a bellyful of rage.
"That's because you barged into my territory and caused trouble! You even roasted my most important guest into jerky!"
In order to make her plan go smoothly, Big Mom had specially invited Morgans here.
And what had happened?
Not only had Kaido caused chaos in her territory, he had also roasted Morgans to about medium-well.
Fortunately, the subordinates on Morgans' airship had already been controlled by the Charlotte Family.
Otherwise, if the terrible situation in Totto Land right now had been discovered, things would truly have gone bad.
And so, three Emperors began fighting fiercely atop the ruins of Biscuit Island.
At the center of the battle were Big Mom and Kaido, both burning with anger.
The three of them had clashed once before, but none of them had gone all out at the time.
Kaido and Big Mom had both been holding a grudge ever since.
Now that they met again, old and new grudges piled together, and they fought without restraint.
Shanks was caught between the two of them and attacked from both sides.
There was nothing he could do about it.
Kaido still remembered Shanks blocking his path before the Summit War, while Big Mom resented him for ruining her marriage alliance.
Of course, Big Mom had been the one using Red-Hair's daughter Uta to try and use the Red Hair Pirates in the first place.
But once a fight started, even if she had no reason, she would make one up.
Why bother thinking so much?
Just fight!
And so, Shanks ended up being focused down by both of them.
While the two locked onto Shanks and attacked him fiercely, giving him no chance to break away or catch his breath, they also did not let go of their resentment toward each other.
Whenever their attacks crossed or they had a spare moment while defending, they mercilessly threw punches and kicks at each other, using vicious moves without holding back in the slightest.
Shanks' situation could only be described as unbearably awkward.
While defending against two Emperors at once, he also kept getting distracted for one particular reason.
There was a headset on his head, fitted with a Tone Dial.
Inside, the recorded loop of Luffy's demonic singing was blasting straight into his brain.
It did not stop him from hearing other people, but it truly gave him a headache.
This was Uta's little revenge.
No matter what, Shanks was still the captain.
She had to leave him some dignity.
Letting him receive the punishment after his crew was good enough!
…
On the Red Force.
At this moment, the ship was docked on the shore of Biscuit Island.
With Kaido and Big Mom both awake, conflict was unavoidable, so everyone had come to this temporarily uninhabited island.
Morgans had already been taken away by Hongo and transferred to Law's ship for treatment.
According to Shanks, he still needed Morgans for something on his end, so they had to get him healed as soon as possible.
Cain and the others were watching the aftershocks of the battle on Biscuit Island as storms and Conqueror's Haki continued battering the ruins.
"So… are we really just going to let them fight like this?"
Cain's entire body was tense as he desperately held onto the thing in his arms, squeezing with all his might and not daring to loosen his grip even a little.
"The boss will handle it. It's fine!"
The Red Hair Pirates nodded from the side, watching Cain struggle with obvious glee.
"Cain, you look pretty tired holding him down like that. Want us to help you? Don't worry, we'll hold him real tight and definitely won't let him get past."
"Yeah, yeah! We're the most honest pirates around!"
Although they had not heard Cain's description of the future wedding he wanted to give Uta, that did not stop them from opposing Cain and Uta being together.
In short, if Cain wanted their approval, he still had a long, long road ahead of him!
For now, as long as they could make trouble for him, they would.
"YOU'RE PIRATES, SO DON'T TALK ABOUT HONESTY! YOU GUYS DEFINITELY STILL WANT TO SCREW ME OVER, RIGHT? YOU SAY YOU'LL HELP ME HOLD HIM DOWN, BUT YOU'LL ABSOLUTELY LET MY GRANDPA THROUGH, WON'T YOU?!"
Blue veins popped on Cain's forehead as he desperately held onto Garp's thick waist and shouted,
"SO… GRANDPA, STOP MAKING TROUBLE! IS IT REALLY APPROPRIATE FOR YOU TO FORCE YOUR WAY IN THERE TOO?!"
At this moment, Garp was being hugged tightly by Cain, yet he was still yelling.
"DON'T LOOK DOWN ON THIS OLD MAN JUST BECAUSE I'M OLD! MY IRON FISTS ARE STILL HARD! I'LL FIGHT TO THE END! FIGHTING FEELS GREAT!"
Besides, he was not wearing his Marine coat right now.
He had come as a grandfather, not as a Marine, so joining in as a family elder did not count as Marine interference!
This made Cain's head ache.
All he could do was hold him tightly and refuse to let go.
Just then, Uta walked out from the cabin.
She looked at the familiar surroundings, at the people who were just like they had been back then, and at Cain desperately trying to stop his grandfather.
Smiling, she opened her mouth to help Cain hold Garp back.
"Grandpa Garp—!"
Her voice drew the words out for a long moment, making Garp shiver instantly.
He subconsciously turned to look at his future granddaughter-in-law, and immediately stopped struggling.
"Ah! Uta! What's wrong?!"
"If Grandpa wants to interfere in Shanks' fight with those two Emperors…" Uta twirled a lock of hair around her finger and spoke casually, "then should I also consider leaving Cain's side?"
In that brief instant, the eyes of the Red Hair Pirates lit up.
They rushed in front of Garp one after another, grabbed his arms, and tried to drag him toward the island!
"Come, come, this way, please. Right this way!"
"Exactly, exactly! We'll send you onto the island right now. Don't worry, you don't even need to walk. We'll personally carry you there!"
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
After several dull knocks, Garp backhanded every crew member who had crowded over, giving each one a solid knuckle to the head.
Then he said, "Ahaha, fighting and all that is far too crude. Fighting feeling great, that was the old days. These days, this old man thinks drinking tea and eating doughnuts is pretty nice. Best of all would be if I could hold…"
Halfway through speaking, Garp abruptly covered his mouth.
Cain's mouth twitched, and he mentally laughed dryly.
'Your attitude changed way too fast, old man…'
'And what was that "hold" supposed to mean? There was definitely more after that, wasn't there? A great-grandchild, right? You absolutely meant a great-grandchild, didn't you? Do you want to hold a baby that badly?'
Garp did not care about any of that.
He quickly pushed Cain in front of Uta and said, "You two should communicate properly. Have a good talk about getting married in the future!"
"Let me say this first. As for the wedding venue, I'll apply to Sengoku for it. When the time comes, we'll hold it at Marine Headquarters! This old man will prepare a huge performance for you!"
'Old man, by "performance," you don't mean putting on a show in front of the whole world and every Marine where the in-law Marine arrests the in-law pirate, do you?'