"Borsalino—!!!"
Witnessing this scene, Kaido flew into a towering rage, his roar exploding like thunder:
"You bastard, when the hell did you follow me here? Who gave you the nerve to interfere in my fight?!"
"Ooooh, scary~"
Kizaru raised his hands in mock surrender, grinning cheerfully:
"Now now, don't get so worked up, Mr. Kaido~ I'm just following orders. When a Sea Emperor barges into the first half of the Grand Line, someone's gotta keep an eye on things."
Kaido's face darkened: "You're saying you've been tailing me from the start?"
"Of course. Keeping up with you while avoiding your Observation Haki detection was quite the challenge."
Kizaru scratched his head with an exaggerated look of distress. "Not my idea of fun, but what can you do? At Marine Headquarters, I'm the only one who could pull it off."
Kaido stared at him blankly.
Suddenly, his eyes reddened, tears welling up.
"WAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"
He collapsed to the ground, bawling like a child. "Xiano, kid... it was me! I got you killed!!!"
The realization that Kizaru had only found Xiano by following him—and that he'd been too distracted to intercept that sneak attack—sent him spiraling into deeper despair. Snot and tears streamed down his face as his massive fists pounded the ground, making all of Enies Lobby tremble.
His grief was so raw, so childlike—like watching a toddler whose favorite toy had been stolen.
"Still drunk, are we?"
Kizaru arched an eyebrow, unsurprised by the display. Having dealt with Kaido several times over the years, he was well acquainted with the man's drunken antics.
But...
This level of distress over Xiano's death confirmed his suspicions.
Marine Headquarters had initially misread Kaido's intentions, assuming he'd entered the first half to assassinate Xiano—which was why they'd turned a blind eye to his movements.
Kizaru had thought the same.
But after tailing them, he'd noticed something odd: Kaido didn't seem intent on killing the boy. If anything, he clearly wanted to recruit him.
That couldn't be allowed to happen.
The Beast Pirates were already troublesome enough for the Marines.
Adding an 18-year-old with All-Star level combat prowess to their ranks? That could destabilize the entire balance of power in the New World.
So he'd suppressed his presence, moved in close, and struck with everything he had.
As one of the Marine's top brass, ambushing a rookie was... undignified, to say the least.
But if it meant eliminating a future threat to the world's equilibrium...
He'd do it again in a heartbeat.
"Hmm?"
Kizaru's expression shifted abruptly.
Kaido had stopped crying.
Slowly, the massive pirate rose to his feet, gripping his Spiked Club. His eyes locked onto Kizaru's, pupils burning with unrestrained violence.
"Hey now... you're joking, right?"
Kizaru let out a dry chuckle and took a few steps back. "So I'm the target now? This old man has no such intentions. Perhaps we should meet another day..."
"Run then!"
White steam snorted from Kaido's nostrils as his face twisted ferociously. "Of course you can run! Who could possibly outrun you? I can't be bothered to chase. Might as well tear this Enies Lobby to the ground and see if the World Government drags you to Mariejois for punishment!"
Kizaru's footsteps halted.
Kaido gave him no time to react, stomping the ground violently as he roared and charged into the sky.
"Subjugation of the Three Worlds · Pulling into Hell!!!"
The Spiked Club flipped violently in his grip, carrying world-shattering momentum as it came crashing down!
Kizaru's expression changed abruptly. His body instantly underwent Elemental Transformation, attempting to disperse into countless light particles to evade.
But Kaido's enraged strike sent shockwaves of Conqueror's Haki Infusion radiating outward, covering an immense area and forcibly interrupting Kizaru's light-speed movement.
"Damn—"
Kizaru barely had time to cross his arms before being smashed deep into the ground.
Enies Lobby's foundation crumbled layer by layer. The shockwaves continued unabated, piercing through the entire island and even cleaving a vacuum trench thousands of meters long across the distant sea surface.
"Cough!"
Kizaru climbed out of the rubble, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth.
Watching Kaido's menacing approach, he finally shed his lazy demeanor, rubbing his temples with a headache.
"Really now... I didn't want to fight a monster like you to the death..."
With a sigh, Kizaru spread his arms. Countless golden lights converged into the shape of a sword as his expression turned impassive.
"But since you insist... this old man has no choice but to see it through."
————
Gurgle...
Seven thousand meters beneath Enies Lobby, in the sunless abyss where no light could penetrate.
Xiano's body drifted silently in the icy currents, carried outward by the deep sea flow.
His body bore wounds everywhere, with the gaping hole in his chest particularly gruesome.
Yet any observer would have been shocked to see all his injuries regenerating at visible speeds.
Soon, his body was completely restored.
"Hah..."
Xiano suddenly opened his eyes, looking upward.
"That old bastard Kizaru actually thought an attack of that level could kill me..."
He smirked coldly.
How naive.
Testing his wrist with a few movements, he found his condition largely unaffected, with ample stamina remaining.
Combined with his partially mastered Deep Sea Breathing Method, staying submerged for days posed no issue.
What a pity—he'd barely begun fighting Kaido, just getting into the rhythm for a proper battle when this interruption came.
Originally, he could have learned much more from this fight.
Now, he had no choice but to fake his death to escape.
No helping it.
Getting ambushed by that perver—no, flashy light-speed fruit user left no room for escape. No joking matter there.
Had Kizaru not appeared, he could have fought Kaido to the finish without concern. After all, he'd sensed no killing intent from Kaido.
At worst, he'd have just passed out and been taken to Wano Country.
The vast sea stretched endlessly. Even in his dragon form, Kaido would need several days to fly across it, with plenty of opportunities and methods to escape along the way.
But Kizaru was different.
That sly old fox was truly intent on sending him straight to the grave—sneaking up silently, lurking nearby, and then going all out in his attack without a shred of shame.
Both were teenage prodigies, so why did Kizaru just lazily shoot around Nika like it was target practice?
Damn it, so unfair!
Though, in the end, things turned out alright.
Kizaru's interference actually came at the perfect time—it didn't hinder Xiano from mastering Conqueror's Haki Infusion and even gave him a chance to retreat unscathed…
But he had a long memory when it came to grudges!
"Don't bully the young and poor"—just wait, Uncle Kizaru. Next time they met, they'd have a heartfelt chat!
Grumbling resentfully, Xiano suddenly remembered something.
Revenge could wait. For now, he couldn't forget to take advantage of the situation while he still could.
He immediately swam toward the outer edges, keeping himself pressed to the deepest part of the seabed to conceal his presence as much as possible.
Only after swimming dozens of kilometers did he finally surface, gazing at the two figures on the distant horizon, now barely visible as tiny black dots.
Still fighting?
Kaido was really sticking his neck out for him…
Almost made him feel bad about taking advantage.
—Of course, that was impossible.
The "Opportunistic Plunder" card set materialized in his hand. He had used one on Aokiji back in Gourmet City, leaving four remaining. Staring at the two distant figures, Xiano activated two in quick succession.
Snap!
Two flashes of golden light vanished in an instant. The next moment, Xiano found himself holding two new items—one in each hand.
One was a crisply ironed pinstripe suit pants.
The other was an oversized pair of light-blue cotton trousers.
"What the hell?!"
The teenager furiously flung both pairs of pants onto the sea's surface. "Where's my Supreme Sunglasses?! Where's my Supreme Spiked Club?!"
His luck this time was just terrible!
He didn't notice.
The moment those two pairs of pants appeared in his hands, the two figures battling in the sky far away suddenly paused.
The next second, Kaido's aura flared with even greater fury…
———
Five days later.
Two major headlines, after days of relentless newspaper coverage, rapidly spread and shook the entire world.
The first—
The sinking of Enies Lobby.
One of the World Government's iron symbols of absolute authority, this island was completely obliterated in an earth-shattering battle between Emperor Kaido and Marine Admiral Kizaru.
Their clash reduced the entire island to rubble, sending it sinking into the sea!
The World Government was humiliated, and Kizaru, overwhelmed by Kaido's rage, was severely injured. Only when the Gates of Justice opened, allowing Admiral Akainu to arrive via the Whirlpool Current, was Kaido finally forced to retreat.
As for why Kaido had appeared in the first half of the Grand Line—and why he and Kizaru had fought to the death…
That led to the second major headline.
June 1516 of the Sea Calendar—the death of the greatest rookie in history, the 1-billion-Berry bounty Master Swordsman Xiano!
The World Government publicly declared that both Kaido and Kizaru had gathered at Enies Lobby in pursuit of Xiano. Admiral Kizaru, acting before Kaido, successfully upheld justice by eradicating Xiano once and for all.
Kaido also turned his spearhead toward Kizaru after having his spoils snatched away.
The truth was another matter, but in any case—
Xiano's bounty was revoked, and the Falling Stars Adventure Pirates were declared annihilated by the World Government!
The impact of this news was almost as shocking as the first.
That infamous Pirate Xiano, who had once slain two of the Royal Seven Warlords of the Sea, who had even evaded capture when a Marine Admiral personally intervened…
Just like that… dead?
It didn't sound entirely impossible.
Facing the pincer attack of a Four Emperor and a Marine Admiral, how many people in the world could possibly survive?
Reactions varied.
Some secretly gloated, while others sighed in regret, lamenting that such a rising star had met his end in the first half of the Grand Line—what a waste.
Others remained skeptical, arguing that without seeing Xiano's corpse, declaring his death so decisively was reckless.
Opinions swirled, and the storm of public debate refused to settle.
———
Meanwhile.
On the boundless sea, the Sunset sailed on as usual, gliding leisurely under the morning sun.
"Ugh! Shameless! They couldn't even pull off a sneak attack properly, yet they're acting all righteous about it!"
Nami angrily tossed the newspaper aside and turned to Xiano. "Bro! The papers these days are all saying you're dead. Aren't you gonna clarify?"
"How?"
Xiano was lounging under a parasol, sipping orange soda. He glanced at her.
"Send Morgans a selfie holding a sign that says, 'I'm not dead, lol'?"
"Eh?"
Nami blinked, then brightened, smacking her fist into her palm. "I didn't even think of that! You're a genius, bro!"
"Genius your head!"
Xiano tugged her ear in annoyance. "Don't you think I've been fighting nonstop lately? Let me enjoy this rare peace and quiet for a while."
Since entering the first half of the Grand Line, he'd run into all three Marine Admirals, plus Kaido and Garp…
One high-stakes battle after another. Only his array of survival tricks had kept him alive—anyone else would've crumbled.
Now, with the World Government convinced he was dead, he'd been removed from their high-priority watchlist—at least until his next big move.
This rare lull was the perfect chance to consolidate his gains and strengthen himself further.
...
Come to think of it.
He'd returned to Water Seven four days ago, reuniting quietly with his crew.
Mayor Iceberg, grateful for Xiano's life-saving aid and his accidental role in exposing CP9's spies, had gone out of his way to help.
As the top shipwright on the island—Tom's first apprentice, with Franky still absent—he'd personally overseen the Sunset's repairs.
Donning his work clothes, he led a team of skilled foremen, fixing all the ship's damage in just a day and night.
He'd also reinforced the training room as Xiano requested.
Even Smoker's long-troublesome Flame Thruster had been swiftly upgraded and installed at the Sunset's stern.
As long as Nami infused Flames, it could unleash a powerful impact, increasing the speed of the Sunset by more than double. It was undeniably practical.
Such a versatile technical talent made Xiano want to recruit him onto the ship.
Unfortunately, that was impossible.
The City of Seven Waters' revival of prosperity relied not only on the Sea Train but also on Iceberg's prestige.
Years ago, it was he who single-handedly completed the integration of seven shipyards. Only as the company's president could he unite the shipwrights, aligning their efforts toward a common goal.
Iceberg couldn't leave the City of Seven Waters, just as the city couldn't do without him.
However, Franky's senior brother had, over the course of two days, developed a rapport with Smoker. He generously handed over all his accumulated notes and knowledge on ships and machinery to Smoker.
The latter happened to be extremely interested and spent the following days studying them from morning till night.
Xiano figured that if Smoker could fully grasp this material, he might actually evolve into a competent shipwright. So, he abandoned his plan to linger in the City of Waters for a few more days to recruit shipwrights.
The Sunset, now fully repaired and upgraded, set sail from the City of Waters, continuing its journey toward the end of the first half of the Grand Line.
As for the two CP9 agents, Kuina had already dealt with them mercilessly before Xiano even returned.
The young Master Swordswoman's reasoning was simple: since they had already killed Lucci and Bruno, the two sides were now sworn enemies. Naturally, they couldn't let them off easily—roots and all must be eradicated.
This aligned perfectly with Xiano's own thoughts.
It had to be said that as the vice-captain, Kuina was becoming increasingly reliable. In his absence, she had gradually developed the ability to handle things independently.
...
Snapping out of his memories, Xiano lazily drained his orange soda and opened the system panel to check the refreshed information stream.
Over the past few days, he had been focused on consolidating his practice of Conqueror's Haki Infusion, making slight progress in mastering it.
He had almost forgotten that the trading market had likely refreshed—it was time for a satisfying shopping spree.
But before that, he needed to confirm his Points balance—
[You sacrificed Kizaru's striped pants and obtained 3,600 Points.]
[You sacrificed Kaido's cotton pants and obtained 4,000 Points.]
[You sacrificed Jack's ivory and obtained 1,800 Points.]
[You sacrificed Lucci's pigeon and obtained 1,500 Points.]
Additionally, the remaining CP9 members and Iceberg contributed another 1,100 Points, bringing the total to a whopping 12,000 Points!
With this massive surge, Xiano's remaining Points balance skyrocketed past the 40,000 mark, reaching 44,500.
"Perfect."
Xiano nodded in satisfaction. With ample Points at his disposal, he could shop with confidence. Without wasting any more time, he directly opened the trading market.
Sure enough, new items had refreshed.
And the very first entry made Xiano pause, his eyes lighting up with excitement—
[Flesh Furnace Method, Core Chapter]
[Type: Cultivation Manual]
[Price: 4,800 Points]
[Description: The core chapter of the Flesh Furnace Method. Through extreme internal and external tempering, it achieves perfect unity between flesh, bones, organs, and even cellular activity. Before practicing this secret manual, all four remaining fragments must be mastered to perfection.]
[Upon mastery, the strength of your internal organs will greatly increase. Additionally, with all five chapters assembled, your physique and bodily endurance will receive a comprehensive enhancement.]
[Seller's note: The Dark Archmage set is complete!]
It's finally here!
The final core chapter!
I remember first coming across the Flesh Furnace Method before even defeating Arlong, right?
Do you have any idea how many years I've waited for this?!
Xiano's mood instantly soared, his grin so wide it wouldn't fade as he unhesitatingly added it to his cart.
Seems luck is on my side this time.
Next!
...
[Otose's Kuchikamizake]
[Type: Consumable]
[Price: 400 Points]
[Description: Kuchikamizake brewed by Otose during her youth when she temporarily served as a shrine maiden at a mountain shrine in the Gintama world. Drinking it will swap bodies with Otose for one month. Only affects the host.]
[Seller's note: Couldn't find anyone else's. Make do with this.]
Make do my ass!
Who in their right mind would buy this crap?!
A vein visibly throbbed on Xiano's forehead as he immediately skipped past it.
Next!
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