With a thunderous boom from the sky, "Kaido" once again descended onto Onigumo's warship.
Onigumo, who had just been flung by him, had crashed into the ship's cabin and was likely unconscious by now.
The soldiers aboard Onigumo's ship surrounded "Kaido" with weapons raised. Without even glancing at them, "Kaido" unleashed a wave of Conqueror's Haki, instantly knocking them all flat to the deck.
Scanning his surroundings, "Kaido" searched for Onigumo's office. From Onigumo's memories, he already knew that the Ope Ope no Mi had been stashed in a cabinet in that room.
...
At that moment, Kaito, Tsuru, and the others also arrived on Onigumo's ship.
"Kaido" raised an eyebrow and looked at Kaito.
"You again? You're not bad, but you don't look so great right now. What's wrong? Still feel like fighting me?"
Kaito took a single step forward, saying nothing. His hands shimmered as he activated his Armament Enhancement and charged straight at "Kaido."
"Kaido" snorted coldly, coating his own fists in Armament Haki. Their fists collided with a deafening impact.
Boom!
A powerful shockwave rippled out from their clash, cracking the deck of Onigumo's warship in a web-like pattern.
Momonga and Yamakaji had been about to join in, but the shockwave forced them back. They could only watch in awe as Kaito squared off against "Kaido."
Momonga couldn't help but exclaim,
"So this is Vice Admiral Kaito's true strength? Even with his body still weak…"
Yamakaji nodded in agreement, eyes full of admiration.
"At this rate, I doubt the Vice Admiral rank will be enough to hold him for much longer."
Hearing that, Momonga fell silent.
What comes after Vice Admiral? Admiral—representing the Navy Headquarters' top combat power and the true pillars of the Marines.
There weren't many Vice Admirals, but compared to Admirals, the number was massive. After all, there had only ever been a handful of Admirals, and every one of them was a household name.
With their own talent, even though they weren't that old yet, both Momonga and Yamakaji knew they had no hope of ever reaching Admiral. That much was crystal clear to them.
And when they thought about Kaito's age…
The two of them could only sigh in resignation.
Damn it, Heaven really plays favorites, huh!?
Tsuru stood beside them, arms crossed, watching Kaito locked in battle with "Kaido." Suddenly, she called out,
"Kaito, watch your body!"
Kaito, in the heat of combat, paused for a split second. He had to admit, fighting a clone of himself was... weirdly entertaining.
The longer he fought, the more hyped he got. If he kept going, his clone—who only had half of his true strength—was bound to fall behind soon.
Thinking that, Kaito secretly gave Tsuru a mental thumbs-up. Then, he deliberately left an opening and let "Kaido" land a solid punch, knocking him back toward Tsuru and the others.
Before Tsuru could react, Momonga and Yamakaji rushed forward to catch him. In their eyes, Vice Admiral Kaito forcing himself to protect the mission objective, even in his weakened state, was deeply admirable.
Seeing the concern in their expressions, Kaito's face flushed slightly.
He consoled himself inwardly:
No way I'm letting that Ope Ope no Mi fall into the hands of those bastards at Mary Geoise. Sorry, Momonga. Yamakaji. Just think of it as serving Justice.
Momonga, seeing Kaito's flushed face, assumed he'd suffered internal injuries and asked urgently,
"Vice Admiral Kaito, are you alright?"
Cough, cough. "I'm fine... Looks like this one's going to be a real pain."
With that, Kaito turned a serious gaze toward the battlefield where "Kaido" stood.
...
"Kaido" laughed arrogantly, then shifted and appeared right where Onigumo had crashed earlier. He didn't spare the unconscious Vice Admiral a second glance, sweeping his gaze around the cabin instead.
Sure enough, a cracked cabinet came into view. The box containing the Ope Ope no Mi was now clearly visible.
Seeing the fruit, "Kaido" let out a breath of relief. He had deliberately thrown Onigumo toward the office, but wasn't certain of the exact location. He'd expected to have to search a bit. Things had gone much smoother than planned.
If he hadn't found it, "Kaido" had been prepared to threaten the lives of everyone aboard to force Kaito and the others to hand it over. But doing so could've caused all kinds of problems later.
Now, the mission was a complete success. "Kaido" nodded in satisfaction, then shot a smug look at Kaito and the others, who were all staring at him with grim expressions.
"The Ope Ope no Mi is mine. If you want it back, come find me!"
With that, he silently activated the Deva Path's ability. Empowered by its force, he leapt high into the clouds and vanished from sight.
...
Kaito and the others stood in silence, watching as "Kaido" disappeared into the sky. After a while, Tsuru spoke.
"This situation took an unexpected turn. I didn't think Kaido would also know about the Ope Ope no Mi... It must've been Doflamingo who tipped him off. I'll report everything to Sengoku once we return to Headquarters."
Kaito and the rest nodded in agreement.
Just then, a Marine soldier came running up from inside the ship, flustered.
"Sirs! Five of the Donquixote Family officers no longer show any signs of life!"
"What?!"
Momonga and Yamakaji stared at him in disbelief.
What the hell happened now?!
Tsuru remained composed and simply said,
"Whatever. They're criminals anyway. Probably got mortally wounded by Vice Admiral Kaito's earlier attacks. If they're dead, so be it. Who's still alive?"
"That girl called Baby-5, and Señor Pink."
"Understood. Go keep an eye on the remaining two."
"Yes, ma'am!"
After the soldier left, Tsuru cast a side glance at Kaito. Inwardly, she figured this was probably his doing too.
And she was absolutely right.
If she could open the spatial storage inside Kaito's Door Space, she'd see four Devil Fruits resting silently within.
They were: the Ton-Ton Fruit, the Stone-Stone Fruit, the Pop-Pop Fruit, and the Art-Art Fruit.
Clearly, their original users had already kicked the bucket.
Kaito hadn't bothered with Diamante's Flutter-Flutter Fruit—it didn't interest him. He took him out and left it at that.
As for Baby-5, she was just a poor little girl who'd been abandoned by her mother and sold to the Donquixote Family. She didn't deserve to die, so Kaito spared her.
And Señor Pink—well, despite being a user of the Swim-Swim Fruit (which honestly should be called the "Swim-Everywhere-But-Water Fruit"), Kaito had a soft spot for him.
He'd always liked Pink's tragic yet sincere backstory when he watched the anime. So he let him go.
But he was still a criminal. Death wasn't warranted, but punishment certainly was. Kaito decided to send him to Impel Down instead.
Maybe one day, the man would earn a second chance.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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