Sky Island, Ballon.
Kaido stood on his ship, gazing at the now-deserted island. He was a colossal man, standing at eight or nine meters tall, much like Charlotte Linlin. His body was a mass of bulging muscle, covered in dragon-scale tattoos, and two horns grew from his head. His overall aura was wild and volatile. At first glance, he seemed like a reckless brute.
In reality, while Kaido often did reckless, chaotic things and challenged people to duels, he wasn't a true fool. On the contrary, he was a cunning and meticulous strategist beneath his rough exterior.
"Why is there no one here?" Kaido murmured to himself, a hint of displeasure in his eyes.
"Boss, why did we come here?" a tall but slender man asked from behind him. That was King the Wildfire, or simply King. He hadn't yet earned the title of "Wildfire" at this point in time.
The Beasts Pirates had not reached their peak yet. While Kaido's individual strength was probably on par with Charlotte Linlin, his crew's power was far weaker. He didn't have many powerful fighters under his command, with only King and Queen being notable. The later Jack the Drought was still in his teens and hadn't joined the Beasts Pirates yet.
Of course, Kaido had plenty of underlings, but their quality was poor. It was only thanks to his reputation as the "Strongest Creature" that the Beasts Pirates were considered a threat.
Because of this, Kaido had recognized his crew's weakness and wasn't in a hurry to cause chaos in the New World. For the past few years, he had been biding his time. To make up for his crew's lack of fighting power, he had set his sights on the samurai-rich land of Wano Country. Kaido believed that if he could conquer Wano Country and gain the loyalty of its samurai, he could quickly make up for his crew's deficiencies.
Moreover, Wano Country had some excellent forging techniques, which helped him open up a path in the black market for weapons. He had made a good amount of money from that recently. He had achieved his goal of taking over Wano Country; Kozuki Oden was dead, and the main Kozuki family was practically extinct. The entire country was now under his control. The Beast Pirates were finally growing stronger.
However, Kaido's mood was still sour because he hadn't been able to recruit any high-end fighters from Wano. Most of the samurai were highly resistant to him, so no strong fighters had come to serve him yet. He could only control the samurai through the Kurozumi family.
In addition, Kaido had realized that Wano was a bit "overhyped." The samurai had a great reputation, but other than Kozuki Oden, there weren't many truly strong fighters. And the few that were strong were loyal to Kozuki Oden. They wouldn't serve Kaido, let alone seek revenge against him. They were just burning incense in hopes of not getting their dragon heads chopped off.
So even though the Beasts Pirates had grown much stronger, made a lot of money from weapons, and even had a secluded, hard-to-infiltrate base like Wano Country, Kaido's mood remained sour. It was probably because of this that the future Kaido put so much emphasis on recruiting talent. He would beat people like Kid and Luffy but wouldn't kill them. Instead, he would lock them up to break their pride and see if they could be useful to him.
Hearing King's question, Kaido sighed. "I've been feeling restless staying in Onigashima. I just came out for some fresh air. No other reason." He waved his hand. "Alright, you guys go on and handle your business. You don't have to wait for me here on this Sky Island. I want to be alone for a bit."
Due to a lack of manpower and because their business with the Donquixote Family hadn't fully taken off, the Beasts Pirates' weapons trade was still quite "primitive." King himself was in charge of every shipment. To keep a low profile, he would use Kaido's ability to fly to a Sky Island, where they would travel to their destination and then use the balloon octopuses to fly down and deliver the goods.
It had to be said that Kaido was suffering a lot for the sake of his crew. This was why Kaido was here, and Sakazuki had somehow found a clue that led him to this conclusion.
Seeing his boss talk like that, King stopped talking and just asked, "Should I leave a ship for you?"
Kaido waved his hand. "No need. It's been a long time since I jumped from this high up..."
King: Is that something a human should say?
But he knew his boss could be crazy sometimes, so he just nodded, said nothing, and left. Soon, the Beasts Pirates' fleet left the Sky Island Ballon, leaving only Kaido alone on the shore, watching the distant sun.
He stood motionless as if in a daze, and only when the sun had sunk below the clouds and the sky had begun to darken did he snap out of it and stretch.
Just then, a dark, fiery figure suddenly flew toward him from the distant sky. Kaido was taken aback and asked, "Why are you back?" As he finished speaking, the figure got closer, and Kaido realized that King, who had left just a few hours ago, was in a state of disarray. He looked like he had been in a fight and lost.
As soon as King landed, he said, "Boss, we have to go! The Marines are here!"
"The Marines???" Kaido looked at King, then at the vast white sea in the distance. "Did you say the Marines came all the way to a Sky Island to catch pirates?"
He knew that Sky Islands weren't under the World Government's jurisdiction and had always been independent. The World Government couldn't be bothered with these Sky Islanders. The Marines would occasionally come up, but it was impossible for them to come all the way up just to catch pirates. That was precisely why Kaido chose the Sky Island route to smuggle weapons! It was safe!
"Where's my fleet? Where's the cargo?" Kaido asked, not waiting for King to answer. He suddenly remembered his weapons and asked.
"They all sank… Boss, it was Admiral Diarmuid! I don't know why he's on a Sky Island, but we have to go!" King said quickly.
"They all sank?" A hint of rage flashed in Kaido's eyes. "My entire fleet's cargo? My 300 billion Berries in weapons, all of it sank? That's enough to arm tens of thousands of people!"
King didn't dare say anything, seeing how angry Kaido was. A few hours ago, he had left here with an entire fleet of weapons to deliver to the North Blue. He had only been sailing for a while when he suddenly saw a single Marine warship.
Just one. King didn't think much of it at the time. He was ready to sink it and be done with it. He even considered ignoring the warship since the entire Beasts Pirates' fleet was there and they were 10,000 meters in the air. The warship probably wouldn't dare attack them.
But the warship immediately charged at them the moment it saw them. King still didn't take them seriously and was about to teach them a lesson. But before he could even act, a massive gravitational pressure instantly enveloped the entire Beasts Pirates fleet.
It was at that moment that King realized something was wrong. Gravity was one of the Marines' signature powers. The one who used it was none other than Marine Admiral Rodriguez Diarmuid, one of the World Government's strongest fighters! He was rumored to be incredibly difficult to deal with. Even Charlotte Linlin, who was as famous as their boss, had suffered a loss at his hands!
As expected, the fleet had no chance to resist. Diarmuid sent them all into free fall. Falling 10,000 meters... they were basically done for. Only King, who could fly and was quite strong, was able to break free from the gravity and escape. He quickly flew back to warn Kaido.
Seeing that King had stopped talking, Kaido's angry aura gradually subsided. He said in a low voice, "An Admiral? The guy who stole something from Linlin, right? I didn't go looking for a fight with the Marines, but they came looking for me? Fine. I'm going to see just how strong this Admiral is!"
Just as Kaido was speaking, three warships quickly entered his line of sight on the surface of the White-White Sea.
To be honest, Kaido wasn't scared at all. What was one Marine Admiral? He had fought Admirals before and was still doing well. He had fought Sengoku and Zephyr for a long time and was still alive. This Diarmuid guy had a big reputation, but Kaido hadn't tested his strength yet. This was the perfect time to size him up.
With that, Kaido grabbed the club leaning against him and said, "He's just an Admiral. I'll send him to hell myself!"
King wasn't worried, either. He knew how strong his boss was. Besides, compared to Diarmuid, a newly appointed Admiral, his boss had been a top-tier fighter for years. There was no way he would lose. The title of "Strongest Creature" wasn't a joke! And even if they lost, they could just run away. Both he and Kaido could fly!
With that in mind, King said nothing and stood beside Kaido, his hand on his sword, ready to fight the Admiral.
Kaido also held his club, his eyes burning as he watched the warships get closer. He was getting excited. It had been a long time since he had caused a major commotion. He had been looking for a chance to vent his frustrations, and now the Marines had come to him. What a coincidence!
But just as Kaido was getting ready for a big fight, the warships got closer, and he finally saw the figures on the deck. He froze, rubbed his eyes, and looked again.
What the hell!? Kaido turned to King, his eyes full of suspicion. Are you a spy sent by the Marines to infiltrate my crew? You said there was only one Admiral?!
King was also completely baffled, cold sweat beading on his forehead. This is crazy! On that deck, there's Admiral Rodriguez Diarmuid, Admiral candidate Sakazuki, the Marine Hero Monkey D. Garp, and even the rumored Marine Vice Admiral Gion, who ate the Rumble-Rumble Fruit! Are you people insane?! You're all on one warship? Why didn't you show yourselves earlier?
"Boss, should we… should we run? Is it too late?" King asked quickly.
Kaido's eye twitched. Too late? Too late my ass! But he couldn't say that. To save face, he pretended to be fearless and waved his hand. "Run? Why would we run? Who do you think I am? Bring your ship…" He suddenly realized he didn't have a ship. He paused for a moment, then continued. "Tell them to bring their ship over here!"
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