It was Sabo who had been hidden for quite a while.
The wall of fire that had been restraining Sasaki vanished.
More precisely, the flames that made up the wall gathered into Sabo's hands.
A massive fireball burned in the hall above.
And it was still growing at an insane rate.
But the rapidly expanding flames weren't coming from Sabo's own body.
They were flames taken from the scorching breath that Kaido had just unleashed in his hybrid form.
Even Kaido himself was dumbfounded by this scene.
So stunned that not only did he let Sabo absorb the heat breath flames into the fireball, he also got slammed by Yamato's freezing "Nameless Ice Fang."
In an instant, Kaido, in his hybrid form, was frozen into a massive ice sculpture.
Normally, Kaido being frozen like this would have shocked all the Beasts Pirates.
But right now, the enormous fireball in Sabo's hands was so blindingly bright that the Beasts Pirates couldn't even open their eyes.
From this day forward, if someone claimed the sun was made by Sabo, the Beasts Pirates would raise both hands and feet in agreement.
The most agreeable of them all was the triceratops-form Sasaki, now collapsed on the ground.
"Bro! You didn't need to go this hard, did you?!"
But Sabo, who had sworn not to fall on Onigashima and to reach Marineford to save Ace, was taking things very seriously.
He slammed the massive fireball, Flame Emperor, toward the triceratops-form Sasaki.
In a flash, the entire hall was engulfed in blinding flames.
Onigashima itself shook violently.
It was five or six minutes before Sero could barely open his eyes again.
What he saw above was the clear moonlight.
Had he not known he was still conscious, he would have thought he'd been out cold for hours.
He had just been fighting so intensely that he'd lost track of time; it was night already.
"Moonlight? Why can I see the moon? Oh! There's a giant hole in the roof!"
Most likely caused by Sabo's Flame Emperor explosion.
The entire hall was now engulfed in fire as far as the eye could see.
Many Beasts Pirates were running around in panic, aflame.
"Sero! Sero! Sero!"
At that moment, a familiar voice drew Sero's attention.
He turned and saw Hancock approaching with two burlap sacks slung over her shoulders.
Hancock had obediently waited to come until this moment, truly following Sero's plan.
"Sero, you're not hurt, right? I was so worried!"
She quickly ran up to him, dropped the sacks on the ground, and anxiously checked Sero for injuries.
Only after thoroughly examining him and confirming he was unscathed did Hancock finally let out a sigh of relief.
"I'm fine, but Sabo's the one who's in bad shape!"
Sero had scanned the burning hall several times without finding Sabo.
It wasn't until Koala appeared and rushed to the collapsed Sabo that Sero noticed him.
Judging by the look of it, Sabo hadn't sustained any serious injuries, just completely exhausted from using the overloaded Flame Emperor.
"Cough, cough! So much smoke! I'm gonna pass out!"
Yamato, still in hybrid form, hopped down beside Sero, seemingly fully healed from Kaido's earlier blows.
Her recovery speed made Sero both envious and amazed.
"Where's that black-faced gorilla, Kaido? Watch me, tonight, I'll beat him flat!"
Now that her HP bar was full again, Yamato was feeling invincible.
Sero rolled his eyes and stopped Yamato from charging off to resume the fight.
He motioned for Yamato and Hancock to follow him over to Sabo and Koala.
"What's the matter, Sero? I'm still ready to smash Kaido!"
"There'll be plenty of chances to beat Kaido in the future. But if we don't escape now, we might miss the chance to save Ace at Marineford!"
Without hesitation, Sero tossed the unconscious Sabo onto Yamato's shoulder.
Then he grabbed the two burlap sacks and signaled Yamato, who was local to Onigashima, to lead the way out.
"Uh… alright, follow me!"
After a brief internal conflict, Yamato decisively chose to go to Marineford and rescue Ace.
She agreed with Sero.
There'd be many chances to defeat Kaido in the future.
But if they missed the opportunity to save Ace, he'd be gone forever.
"Where's that lazy little sparrow of mine? Why hasn't she come back to find me yet?!"
On their way out, Sero couldn't help but think of Little Sparrow, who had disappeared since last night.
He'd bribed her with two sea fish feasts to lure King away, and it had been nearly a day with no sign of her.
Sero knew Little Sparrow well; two fish dinners shouldn't have lasted this long.
He began to suspect she might have eloped with King.
"Chirp!!!"
Maybe there was a psychic bond between Sero and Little Sparrow.
Just as he thought of her, her chirp echoed from the sky above.
Looking up, he saw her in her Vermilion Bird form diving toward the coast of Onigashima.
Behind her, flapping furiously to catch up, was King in his pterosaur form.
But by the time Little Sparrow reached Sero, King was still in the sky, roaring in frustrated rage.
He was the embodiment of the word "infuriated."
"Go, go, go! Don't look back, just go!!!"
Sero hurried Hancock and Koala onto Little Sparrow's massive Vermilion Bird back, over a hundred meters wide.
As for Yamato, carrying Sabo, Sero gave her a literal kick up there.
Yamato, having never seen a fire-breathing giant bird before, had frozen in awe.
But Sero, having sensed Kaido's aura drawing near, had no time for her to stare blankly.
Just as the whole group jumped onto Little Sparrow's back, a colossal blue dragon over 300 meters long coiled atop the giant skull.
Compared to Little Sparrow's 100-meter form, the dragon was more than twice as massive.
Not even the same league.
That's why Sero was yelling so frantically to get moving.
Originally, Little Sparrow wasn't taking Sero's urgency seriously, planning to tease King a bit more from the air.
But the moment she saw Kaido's dragon form, she booked it, flying several kilometers to the edge of Wano in the blink of an eye.
You can joke about anything, but not your own bird life!
"Yamato!!!"
Kaido, now in dragon form, roared and fired an insanely powerful heat breath at the fleeing group.
He didn't seem to care that this could hurt Yamato.
But then he called out her name, as if there was some parental bond. Maybe. Hard to say.
"Kaido! I will come back and defeat you!!!"
Standing on Little Sparrow's back, Yamato transformed into her wolf deity form.
Facing Kaido's oncoming breath attack, she launched a counterblast of cold, Nameless Ice Fang.
The two powerful attacks clashed in the sky.
The massive shockwave pushed Little Sparrow to fly even faster.
In the blink of an eye, they vanished from Kaido's sight.
"Phew…"
Kaido, still smoking from his breath attack, stared blankly in the direction they had disappeared.
At that moment, King, now back on Onigashima, landed beside Kaido atop the giant skull.
"King, gather the brats of the Beasts Pirates. We march on Marineford!"
"Kaido… That could undo everything we've worked for over the years…"
"Yamato alone is more important than the entire Beasts Pirates!"
"…Understood!"
Only Kaido and King heard this conversation.
Sero, already long gone, had no idea that his two unfinished missions were about to be completed themselves.
What he did know was that the mission to escape Onigashima alive had been completed, because he heard the reward system's chime.
[Ding! Mission "Escape Onigashima Alive" completed. Reward: Tsunade issued!]
"Tsunade… Tsunade… don't tell me Tsunade is a person?!"
Sitting cross-legged on Little Sparrow's back, Sero was deep in thought over what this reward was.
He hadn't had time to consider it during the chaos on Onigashima.
Now that the system had announced the reward, he was still empty-handed.
If his guess was right, this Tsunade might just be that gambling, overly youthful-looking old lady from next door (i.e., another anime universe).
But he wasn't sure.
He kept waiting, yet Tsunade did not appear.
Sero even started to suspect the reward was "steel hands" instead.
But his hands didn't feel like steel either.
He was completely stumped.
"Chirp chirp chirp?!"
"Where are we heading now? …Let's fly straight to Dressrosa, Little Sparrow!"
Little Sparrow's booming voice snapped Sero out of his thoughts.
After a brief hesitation, he decided to head straight for Dressrosa to ambush Doflamingo.
After all, the reward for having someone as powerful as a peak-level Golden Lion under his command for a full day was far too tempting.
Plus, it would keep Doflamingo from interfering at Marineford.
"Ready for the surprise I've prepared just for you, Doflamingo?! Hahaha!!!"