"What's happening? Did they both hit their limit?"
On the ice, both men lay flat on their backs, chests heaving, but neither moved to stand.
No one understood what was going on.
No one—except Whitebeard and Big Mom.
The two Emperors stared at Kaido without blinking.
They'd both seen Zoan awakenings before, in that age, on that ship. Almost all of them had ended in failure.
But they still remembered exactly what it looked like when it worked.
On the Marine side, Garp's eyes never left White Ghost.
"Garp-san…" Aokiji hesitated. "Should we—"
"Wait."
Garp said only one word.
If an animal-type Awakening failed, the user turned into a rampaging beast with no mind. If either one of them exploded now, hitting friend and foe alike, the battlefield would become hell.
Until they knew, the smartest thing anyone could do… was stay right where they were.
Suddenly, black flame-like clouds began to coil around Kaido's body.
"…That's…?"
All eyes widened.
Kaido was awakening.
Before that shock settled, wisps of golden flame-clouds began to rise around White Ghost as well.
"Hahahahaha! The brat did it!" Garp roared with laughter.
"Vice Admiral Garp, what's going on?" Chaton asked quickly.
Garp pointed with his chin.
"I may not be a Devil Fruit user, but I know this much. If an animal-type Awakening fails, they lose their minds and go full beast, attacking everything in sight. If it succeeds…"
He jerked his thumb at the two figures.
"They get those flame-clouds circling them."
On the ice, both men slowly pushed themselves up, staggering to their feet.
Black fire-clouds coiled around Kaido's shoulders.
Golden fire-clouds wrapped around White Ghost like a cloak.
"Wororororo… You awakened too, brat," Kaido rasped, looking him over. "Not bad. Looks like I've got a rival from now on."
As he watched, the wounds on White Ghost's chest crawled together, golden fire licking along the edges and knitting them closed.
"Heh. Honestly, I'd have been more surprised if you'd failed," White Ghost replied, eyeing Kaido's own injuries as they slowly sealed.
On a nearby ship, Dracule Mihawk stood up straight.
His hawk's eyes locked onto the Great Treasure Sword in White Ghost's hand.
"…That is…"
"Mm?" More and more eyes began to notice. Something about the sword was… different.
"Fufufu…"
Mihawk suddenly laughed, eyes blazing.
"Good. Good. The sea won't be lonely after all."
He drew Yoru, his own black blade, with a soft shing.
"From today on… you have a rival."
"Wahahahahahaha! That damned brat… Awakening wasn't enough, he had to go and do that too!" Doflamingo crushed his wine glass in his hand, jealousy twisting his grin.
On the battlefield, every swordsman's gaze zeroed in on White Ghost's sword.
Gion's eyes went round, her gaze burning.
"Oi, oi… Did I just witness the birth of a black blade?" Vista's hands tightened on his twin swords, voice shaking.
"What?" Marco and Jozu turned toward him, confused.
"Look at the sword," someone said.
They all looked harder.
It was black. That alone wasn't surprising—any blade coated in Armament turned black.
"He's not using Haki," Whitebeard said with a soft chuckle.
"What?!"
"Dear viewers," Morgans nearly shrieked, feathers fluffed out to maximum, "today you are not only witnessing the awakening of two Mythical Zoan abilities—you have also just seen the birth of a Black Blade!"
Kaido was the first to truly feel it.
His face darkened.
"…A black blade?"
"No."
White Ghost held the sword across his chest and flicked the flat with a finger.
The blade rang with a deep, hungry hum.
"This is a Black Sword."
"Wororororo… You damned brat. So you awakened and forged a Black Sword?" Kaido snarled. "So what!?"
Black lightning crawled over his kanabo as he coated it in Conqueror's.
"Heh. Why don't you come find out?" White Ghost's sword answered with a rising buzz as he wrapped it in his own Conqueror's. The golden flame-clouds churned more violently around him.
"Let's finish this, Kaido."
"Wororororo! Come then! Let's see which of us falls first—and who gets to be called the strongest creature in the world!"
Garp, Whitebeard, and Big Mom all frowned at the same time.
"That stance…"
"Oi, oi, you've got to be kidding," Kizaru's face twisted. "I heard Kuzan mention it before, but I thought he hadn't pulled it off…"
Old, unpleasant memories surfaced in Sengoku and Zephyr's minds.
"What is that?" Saturn barked, gripping his cane hard enough to make it creak. "Is he Roger's descendant? Does he carry a D?"
"No," Warcury shook his head. "We've been through his file. Several generations of ordinary ancestors—small merchants at best."
Nusjuro frowned.
"Intelligence said that move was inspired by Red-Hair Shanks. But Shanks' version was modified."
On the ice, Kaido glared ahead.
That stance… he remembered it. The wound it had left.
White Ghost's gaze was cold and steady.
"You know, Kaido… At first, I thought it was just a big slash with sword-qi and Armament mixed together."
The Black Sword hummed louder in his hands.
"But when the blade turned black… I finally got it. Why bother mixing in sword-qi at all? If Haki is strong enough, why not just throw the Haki itself?"
"Worororororo… Shut up and die!" Kaido exploded into motion, his speed almost unreal.
"Enel-Call: Third Descent!"
Lightning and force gathered at his kanabo's tip.
White Ghost laughed softly.
"Divine Departure."
Whitebeard and Big Mom's faces both turned grim.
Garp, on the other hand, threw his head back and cackled.
"Gegehahaha! So it was that move! Well done!"
BOOOOOOOOOOM—!!
Thunder ripped open the sky.
The sea heaved.
Winds howled.
Kaido's kanabo carried crushing, overwhelming force.
White Ghost's Divine Departure, born purely from Haki, carried the will to wipe out everything in its path.
"Look! Their weapons aren't even touching!"
All around the world, viewers gaped at their screens.
"This is what a real battle between monsters looks like, huh… Mom, I'm scared…"
Others, however, grinned like lunatics.
"So this is a clash between the strong…! One day, I'll be even stronger than them!"
In a casino VIP room, Crocodile watched through a haze of cigar smoke, expression dark.
"When I find Pluton… let's see if there's anyone in this world who can stop me."
On Thriller Bark, Moria ground his teeth so hard they creaked.
"Kaido…"
Absalom, Perona, and Hogback huddled nearby, not daring to speak. Their captain had exploded the moment Kaido appeared on screen.
Bzzzt… bzzzt…
At the point of collision, Kaido felt himself pushed back—inch by inch.
"…He's… losing ground?" Whitebeard's eyebrows rose.
On the Marine side, hope surged like a rising tide.
White Ghost's eyes narrowed.
"Kaido… You feel a little light."
"Shut up! You're the one who's out of juice!" Kaido snarled back, forcing more power into his swing.
White Ghost had been waiting for that.
For that flash of anger. That tiny slip.
He exploded forward.
"It's over, Kaido. From now on, I am the strongest creature!"
"Divine Departure!"
The Black Sword screamed.
It tore through the kanabo's guard—
—and carved straight into Kaido's chest.
"GRAAAAHH!"
A pitch-black crescent of sword pressure carried him away, launching him into the sky before he came crashing down onto the deck of his own ship.
"Kaido-sama!"
The Beasts Pirates panicked, rushing to his side.
"Kaido-nii!" King swooped down, checking him over in a blur.
Unconscious. Body intact, but his stamina was completely gone.
He was done.
"No way… Kaido-nii lost…" King whispered.
In his mind, Kaido was invincible—one swing per small-time pirate, a handful of swings for someone like Oden.
The flames behind King's back flared higher and hotter.
"Impossible… There's no way Kaido-nii could lose!"
He drew his blade, murder in his eyes, and took a step toward White Ghost—
Then stopped dead.
Because in front of the golden dragon-man now stood:
Garp.
Chaton.
Gion.
Ain.
Kuro.
Jango.
All of them covering White Ghost, eyes locked on King.
"King-sama, we have to go," Who's-Who shouted behind him, watching the other two Emperor crews already pulling back. "If we don't, we're dead!"
King looked at the withdrawing Whitebeard and Big Mom fleets, then back at the Marines—and finally, at his unconscious captain.
Frustration boiled in his chest.
In the end, he sheathed his blade.
"…Retreat."
The Beasts Pirates began to pull away.
Far off, on another ship, a certain man gritted his teeth.
In the original flow of fate, his Cat-Cat Fruit, Saber-Toothed model, had been taken from him by White Ghost and given to Jango. After Shanks had stolen the Gum-Gum Fruit, he'd deserted the Government.
This time, he'd snatched up a White Tiger Zoan on his way out and used it to secure a place among the Beasts Pirates.
He'd sold plenty of Government secrets, climbed fast on sheer strength, and earned a seat among the Flying Six.
For now.
Watching the golden dragon-man standing victorious on the shattered ice, Who's-Who swallowed hard.
This sea… had just gotten a new monster.
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