WebNovels

Chapter 472 - Chapter 472

A violent tempest tore through the New World as if the heavens themselves were at war. Thunder cracked like cannon fire, and the sea foamed with fury under a heavy downpour that seemed determined to drown the world.

Lightning seared across the sky in jagged lines, briefly illuminating the vast formation of ships belonging to the Beast Pirates. Their massive war galleons, iron-clad and monstrous, weathered the storm with grim determination.

Amidst the maelstrom, seated at the edge of the forward deck of the flagship of the Beast Pirates, unmoved by the chaos around him, sat Kaido—the Beast. The rain drenched his powerful frame, cascading off his shoulders like rivers over stone, but he paid it no mind. His massive gourd of sake tilted effortlessly in one hand as he took a long, slow swig. Each gulp echoed with defiance.

A shadow stepped forward from the gloom behind him.

"Kaido-sama…" came King's voice, calm but edged with worry, "Is it wise to collude with the World Government? The moment they establish a foothold in the New World, things could become far more troublesome."

Kaido's eyes, half-lidded from the sake and boredom, opened slightly. Then came the low, thunderous laugh.

"Wororororo… Do you truly think I would collude with those rats? No… let them think they use me. In truth, I'm using them—to keep that damn bastard Newgate off my back."

Kaido's gaze burned as he spoke the name. Whitebeard. The humiliation of their last battle still smoldered deep in his soul, a wound that had never quite healed. He'd nearly died—nearly. To this day, he hadn't learned who had saved him in that crucial moment or why.

But now, everything was different. Since the awakening of his Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit, Kaido had tapped into a well of power so deep it dwarfed everything he once thought he understood. What he once wielded was only a glimpse—the tip of the iceberg.

He stood slowly, muscles rippling as steam rose off his rain-soaked body. He was no longer the Kaido who had lost to Whitebeard. No. He was awakened. Ascended.

King hesitated before speaking again. "But… Doflamingo. The World Government has goaded you into acting against him. And to do so, you've risked Wano—our safe haven. Kaido-sama… That man is not the same pirate you crushed in North Blue. He now holds the title of Emperor, as you once did."

Kaido turned, eyes narrow. "Are you afraid, Alber? Do you doubt our strength—our right to rule?"

King, known to few by his true name, inclined his head. "No, Kaido-sama. My faith in you is unshakable. But we must tread carefully. Doflamingo's power is vast. And his brother—he is the real danger. The one who moves in the shadows."

Kaido scoffed, letting out another rumbling laugh.

"Worororo… They are ants. If they want war, I will give them extinction."

But suddenly, Kaido's laughter stopped. A tingle surged through his body—Observation Haki flared. He turned sharply toward the horizon just as a massive galleon at the outer edge of the fleet slammed into something—something impossibly large.

With a horrendous crash, the ship splintered like a toy, fragments of timber and steel tossed skyward as if by an invisible hand.

From the depths of the storm emerged a colossal shape, shrouded in mist and rain. The seas themselves parted as the monstrous shadow pushed forward—its size eclipsing anything in the vicinity.

The crew scrambled. Alarms rang. Commanders barked orders. Kaido narrowed his eyes.

"That's no island..."

The shape grew clearer, rising like a continent from the depths of hell. It was a ship—but not a ship. A massive amalgamation of steel, stone, and bones. Towering spires of decayed architecture twisted in macabre silhouettes against the flashing lightning. Cannons protruded like ribs, and grotesque statues leered from its flanks.

It was Thriller Bark. Then came the roar.

"ROOOOOAAAAARRRR!!"

The sound ruptured the air, shaking the very ocean. The clouds themselves seemed to retreat.

The Beast Pirates' fleet descended into chaos. Kaido didn't hesitate. In a flash, his body expanded and twisted, scales emerging across his skin as he rose into the sky. He transformed into a massive Azure Dragon, his now-awakened Devil Fruit form dwarfing even his previous monstrous self. With a snarl, he coiled above his fleet, wings spread wide and eyes burning with bloodlust.

From the spire of Thriller Bark, a voice bellowed through the storm.

"KAIDO! COME ACCEPT YOUR DEATH! I WILL SEND YOU TO THE AFTERLIFE MYSELF!"

Kaido's eyes locked onto the spire.

"Worororo… Oi… it's you." His voice, amplified by dragon lungs, rolled like thunder. "Gecko Moria... You still live? I thought the seas would have claimed your worthless corpse long ago. But if you've come to die, I'll oblige."

From the ship's dark bowels came a surge of shadowy movement. A tidal wave of figures surged toward Kaido's fleet—millions of zombie soldiers—their vacant eyes glowing faintly, their movements unnaturally fast and synchronized. They poured across the water on makeshift crafts, leaping from Thriller Bark's decks like a plague.

King, Queen, and Ryuji—Kaido's top commanders—sprang into action, rallying the Beast Pirates to form a defense.

"BOLO BREATH!!" Kaido roared.

A pillar of incinerating flame erupted from his maw, slicing through the zombie ranks and turning thousands into ash. But for every horde he destroyed, a thousand more rose to take their place.

Kaido growled in irritation, his eyes turning toward the spire again. "This ends now…"

He opened his maw again to deliver a second attack—but then, his Haki screamed. A split-second flash—movement in the clouds. From the churning sky beside him, a gigantic figure lunged, riding the storm like a predator unleashed.

"TOUGEN TOTSUKA!!!"

Kaido turned his massive head just in time to see a behemoth descend upon him. It wasn't Moria. It was something far more dangerous. A monster of legend. It was Oars. Or something that had once been Oars.

His massive form had been remade, re-forged. His arms, now covered in stitched plates of metal, wielded two enormous, crude weapons—patchwork rods made of fused bones and jagged steel. They weren't swords. They were bludgeons of destruction—infused with Haki. And worse—faint traces of Conqueror's Haki danced across them like black lightning.

The moment the rods slammed into Kaido's armored dragon head, the sky itself split.

BOOOOOOM!!!

Kaido staggered back in the air, a roar of pain tearing from his throat. Even with his scales cloaked in Armament Haki, even with his awakened form—he felt that blow.

He spiraled once before stabilizing, golden eyes wide with something rare—doubt. He felt something familiar about the attack.

He landed on the floating edge of Thriller Bark, shaking the monstrous ship to its core. Across from him, the giant stood—towering, breathing heavily, weapons in hand. Oars. Now a creature of steel, flesh, shadow, and vengeance.

The rain sizzled off his body. His crimson eyes glared at Kaido with ancient rage.

"This... is your reckoning, Kaido," Moria's voice echoed from somewhere within Oars. "You took everything from me. Now, I take everything from you."

Kaido grinned, blood dripping from his snout.

"Worororo… Finally… someone worth killing."

The stage was set. The skies raged. The undead swarmed. And at the heart of it all—Kaido, the Azure Dragon, faced a nightmare reborn.

The heavens cracked as the rain became a deluge, thick as iron nails. The sea heaved and screamed beneath the weight of titans. Waves surged into mountains, only to be cleaved apart by the roars and strikes of two beings beyond human comprehension.

Standing atop the rotting spires of Thriller Bark, surrounded by the swarming undead, Oars loomed like a forgotten god. His body—stitched, bolted, and bound in shadow—forged anew in the crucible of vengeance. A titan of steel and corpse-flesh, his every breath expelled steam like a furnace.

But it was the presence within him that made the storm tremble. Kozuki Oden—the shadow of the once-mighty samurai—burned behind those blood-red eyes. His spirit twisted with Moria's will, wearing Oars like armor. But Oden's fury had not dimmed. It blazed like a sun in the darkness.

Above, the sky curled around an immense dragon—a coiling, endless serpent of azure scales and malice. Kaido, the King of Beasts, soared on hurricane winds, each beat of his wings hurling gales that split clouds apart. His eyes narrowed, flames curling from his fanged maw.

Then—motion. A blur, a flash of steel. Oars moved. Leaping into the air with terrifying velocity, Oars spun, wielding his two massive bladed rods like twin divine hammers. Wind warped around him as he swung.

"Paradise Totsuka—Heaven-Cleaving Flash!!"

The twin rods, now glowing red-hot with friction and Armament Haki, collided with Kaido midair. A blinding burst of light exploded across the storm, a shockwave so massive it parted the sea below for miles.

BOOOOOOOM!!

Kaido was hurled back, spiraling into the clouds with a thunderous snarl. His scales mildly cracked where the rods had struck, bits of blood and broken sky trailing him like comets. He steadied in the air, snarling.

"Worororo… Not bad for a walking corpse. Let's see how you like this—"

He curled his massive form and unleashed.

"DEMON THUNDER: HEAVENFANG STORM!!"

From his mouth came a spiraling column of compressed wind and fire, twisted into a beam of searing death. It screamed toward Oars, warping the air and turning raindrops to steam in its path.

Oars didn't dodge. He charged straight into it. The blast struck him full-on—and still he came. Oars roared with the voice of Oden himself, raising both rods overhead as they flared with a crackling shroud of black lightning—traces of Supreme King's Haki, melding with Armament into something raw and unchained.

"Nitoryu Ichi ren: YAMA GIRI!!"

Chained strikes—Oden's legendary swordsmanship executed through monstrous limbs—tore the massive breath attack apart in midair, slashing through the elemental storm. Kaido's breath ended, and he snarled, already diving. Thunder rumbled behind him.

They met in the air again. This time, it was brutality. Kaido's tail end—long as a ship's mast—swung around and smashed into Oars's side. Bone crunched. But Oars retaliated instantly, both rods slamming into Kaido's underbelly. Lightning and blood danced through the sky.

They fell together, clashing as they descended, shattering the storm clouds like glass. They struck the ocean—and the sea split.

A column of water over a hundred meters high erupted outward as the impact cratered the ocean surface, a tsunami racing in all directions. Ships were tossed like driftwood. The undead were vaporized in the shockwave.

Kaido rose first, twisting his coils around Oars, dragging him into the sky. He bit down on Oars's shoulder, flames erupting from his mouth. Oars bellowed in rage as he felt no pain—but his rods twisted, slamming into Kaido's flank. Kaido released, snarling, and coiled high above.

"Dragon Twister: Gale Destruction!"

From his body burst a tornado of cutting winds, blades of compressed air slicing in every direction. Dozens of zombie ships around them were shredded to splinters, and Oars's chest was lacerated in a dozen places. Yet still—he stood. And he smiled. The Oden in him laughed.

"Yes... YES!! That's it! Kill him! Bring me his HEAD!!"

Gecko Moria's voice cracked like thunder across the battlefield, rising above the howling wind and sea. He stood atop the spire of Thriller Bark, framed by forked lightning and the swirling storm, his laughter manic, twisted with years of buried hate.

His grotesque silhouette swayed in rhythm with the living corpse below—Oars, now fully possessed by the burning shadow of Kozuki Oden, locked in an apocalyptic duel with Kaido across the storm-ravaged sky. Moria's body trembled, not from fear or exertion, but from ecstasy.

Even though the puppet strings had long snapped—Oden's will had consumed Oars completely—Moria didn't care. Not anymore.

"If Kaido dies… it's worth it. All of it!"

Below the gods' battle, chaos reigned. The Beast Pirates' fleet was under siege—completely surrounded. The waters churned with the wreckage of torn ships and drifting corpses. All around, millions of zombies, stitched together by shadow and death, surged across the sea on makeshift rafts, shattered wreckage, and even the floating bodies of their fallen. The undead army poured out from Thriller Bark like an unstoppable tide of rot and rage.

For every hundred that sank into the ocean, a thousand more took their place. They came in grotesque waves—twisted warriors from the ocean's depth, chained gladiators from the coliseums, fallen marines, dead kings, skeletal giants, and stitched monstrosities created by Moria's demented genius. Some dragged with them ancient weaponry. Others moved like beasts on all fours, eyes hollow but hateful.

And they all had one purpose: overwhelm the Beast Pirates. Flames bloomed in the dark sky as King streaked through the battlefield, his massive black wings spread wide, his body cloaked in an inferno that turned rain to steam before it touched him.

"You want to dance with fire, corpses? Then burn in it!"

With a wave of his flaming katana, a column of heat erupted downward, incinerating hundreds of zombies mid-air, their ashes spiraling like dead leaves in the storm. But even as they fell, more came.

Below, Ryuji, one of Kaido's commanders and wielder of a Mythical Zoan dragon fruit, had taken on his full dragon form—a massive serpentine beast with wings clad in emerald black scales and crowned with ethereal horns. He twisted in the sky and unleashed a breath of black-green flame toward the sea, aiming to cleanse the waves.

The result was... unnatural.

The corpses struck by the flames didn't burn. Instead, their bodies swelled with dark energy, bones creaking as they stood taller, faster, and more aggressive. Some even began to speak in mangled words as the flames licked across their flesh.

Down below, Queen roared from atop a partially wrecked dreadnought as he witnessed the grotesque transformation.

"You bastard, Ryuji! Cease that attack—NOW!" he bellowed, retracting his dinosaur jaws to morph his body into a grotesque hybrid form, massive metal cannons emerging from his back and arms. "Don't you see?! That cursed breath is empowering them, not burning them!"

"They're absorbing the energy…" Queen growled as he blasted volleys of Haki-laced plasma into the approaching horde. Each blast tore apart dozens of zombies, but for every line of corpses obliterated, three more rows surged forward.

Farther down the line, over a hundred new-generation Beast Pirates, enhanced by the perfected artificial Zoan fruits, battled with feral fury. Roaring beasts of all shapes and sizes—lions with flame manes, rhinos with armored hides, pterodactyls, insectoid humanoids, and reptilian titans—fought in brutal, primal combat.

But even with their ferocity, they were losing ground. The undead were unrelenting. They didn't tire. They didn't scream. They didn't flinch at wounds or pain. They clawed and bit and stabbed and strangled with inhuman persistence, their cold hands dragging even the strongest zoan beasts into the sea of corpses.

"We're chained to this damn island!" one of the cadres from the Beast Pirates screamed from the helm of a shattered warship. "They've bound our ships to that floating monstrosity! We can't sail—we're sitting ducks!!"

Indeed, heavy, grotesque iron chains, some dozens of meters thick, had been cast by the zombies from within Thriller Bark. Like black tendrils of doom, they wrapped around the masts and hulls of Kaido's fleet, locking them in place. Escape was no longer an option.

Suddenly, the water beneath the fleet began to glow. Queen's eyes widened.

"Now what?!"

Out of the depths emerged the next wave: underwater zombies covered in massive coating bubbles—preserved corpses of deep-sea predators, long-drowned warriors, and ocean beasts bound by shadow. Some were riding skeletal sea kings; others were fused with coral and barnacles. They rose and latched onto the hulls from below, dragging whole ships downward.

"We're being attacked from above AND below?!" Queen barked, slamming his massive fists into a horde of leaping undead. "This is a damned nightmare—!"

A massive explosion erupted from above as King descended like a comet, crashing into a newly resurrected Zoan-beast corpse who had gone feral under the influence of Ryuji's flame. King's blade severed its head clean from its shoulders in one clean slash, his face cold beneath his spiked mask.

He turned toward Ryuji, who hovered above, uncertain and panting.

"Control your flames, or I'll put you down myself. We are being overrun!" King growled, wings igniting once more. "These corpses don't follow the rules of life—they eat your cursed flame, they twist it. This is not a battle. This is a flood of the dead."

Ryuji nodded grimly, reverting to his humanoid form, blood pouring from slashes across his chest.

Far behind them, Queen bellowed over the transponder snail.

"What the hell did you just say…? Tell him to bring the rest of the armada—NOW! We're being swallowed!"

The battlefield had become a maelstrom of chaos. A burning ship lurched sideways as zombie chains pulled it from both ends, splitting it apart. From its decks, warriors leaped into the fray, only to vanish under waves of corpses. Explosions rocked the sea as ammunition ships detonated in desperation.

Zombie giants, their bodies armored in iron plating and embedded with weaponized bones, waded through the sea toward the fleet, each one a siege engine of death. And through it all, Moria watched, eyes gleaming madly, his laughter echoing through the storm.

"You feel it, don't you, Kaido? The weight of a thousand deaths pressing down on your precious empire... THIS is what it feels like to be HUNTED!"

Above, the battle between Kaido and Oars continued to split the heavens. Thunder screamed. Skyfire rained down. Each blow sent shockwaves that flattened entire fleets, tearing the ocean asunder.

The main warship, Kaido's personal flagship, cracked under the strain of the incoming undead. Several of his elite lieutenants fought side by side, carving a path through zombies who refused to die even after being split in two.

A thunderous stomp shook the decks as one of the zombie sea kings dragged itself partially onto the hull, its gaping maw opening to release dozens of smaller, scuttling undead, insect-like creatures with human hands and screaming skulls.

Oars planted his feet on the floating wreckage of a galleon, then launched himself into the sky again, body spinning, rods extending.

"DAIKAITEN—SAMURAI'S WRATH!!"

Like a cyclone of steel, Oars flew toward Kaido, carving the air into ribbons. The sky flashed red, then black, as their Haki clashed once more. The impact triggered a second explosion in the clouds, sending shockwaves that lit the sky like a second sun. Lightning arced out in spiderwebs from the epicenter, igniting parts of the sea.

Kaido reeled—but this time, he caught Oars.He twisted his serpentine body, wrapping around the titan, constricting with impossible strength.

"FLAME DRAGON'S INFERNO!!"

His entire body burst into fire—conjured from the depths of his Mythical Zoan. Like a living sun, Kaido encased Oars in flames, crushing and incinerating him at once. But the laughter did not stop.

Inside the fireball, Oars moved—spinning one rod like a propeller, dispersing the flame with sheer force—and then, with one devastating bellow—

"ODEN'S WAVE—CLEAVING MOON!!"

He sliced through Kaido's grip, cleaving through coils of armored scale. Blood sprayed across the heavens. Kaido roared in pain, breaking away, his eyes blazing with wild glee.

"Worororo… YES! YES! That's it! FIGHT ME!!"

They clashed again, and again. Each collision between them birthed new storms. Ships were ripped in half. Tidal waves devoured entire battalions. Mountains of the undead were reduced to splattered shadows under Kaido's tail and Oars's strikes. Kaido's roar echoed across the world.

"RAIMEI HAKKE!!!"

He lunged in a blink, materializing before Oars and crashing into him with his thunder-coated head. The world shattered—the very clouds split apart in rings of thunder.

Oars was sent flying for miles, skimming the ocean surface like a stone, tearing massive gouges in the sea. He came to a halt against the shattered remains of an island, now barely above sea level.

Kaido flew after him, crashing down like a meteor. Oars, bloodied but grinning, stood—and dropped one of his rods. Now wielding a single bladed rod like Enma, he assumed Oden's signature stance. His entire body began to radiate an unnatural pressure. The spirit of the samurai surged through the corpse, amplified by the monstrosity that carried it.

Kaido landed hard enough to shatter what remained of the islet beneath them. A moment of silence.

Then—"TATSUMAKI ODEN-NAGASHI!!"

Oars spun in place, unleashing a whirlwind of slashes, each infused with Haki and laced with the deadly edge of Oden's own techniques. The attacks came from every direction—Kaido braced—

But even the dragon couldn't block them all. Wounds opened across his flanks. His scales, once invulnerable, were peeled back by the strength of legacy. Kaido bellowed, rising once more as the wounds closed as fast as they appeared.

"DRAGON'S DESCENT—WORLD SPLITTER…!!"

He shot into the sky, coiling the storm around him, gathering his power. The clouds turned black and violet, sparking with thunder. Then he dropped. A straight vertical dive, his body like a divine spear from the heavens.

He struck Oars like a cannon of gods, burying the giant deep into the sea floor. Water evaporated instantly. A crater opened in the ocean itself. The seas screamed. A silence fell. For a breath.

Then— The ocean erupted. Oars rose from the depths, body cracked and mangled—but defiant. He pointed the remaining weapon at Kaido.

Kaido, now breathing heavily from sheer excitement for the first time in the fight, chuckled.

"Worororo… You're strong. Even in death, you never stop being a thorn in my side."

The two titans stared across the battlefield. Around them, the fleet was decimated. Ships burned. Waves crashed against ruined hulls. The undead, still pouring out of Thriller Bark, gave them space—even they feared the storm between gods.

The sky churned. Lightning danced. And they charged. No words. Just rage. Just legacy. Steel met scale again, and the storm roared louder.

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