Queen's massive body suddenly plummeted down, crashing onto the ship originally belonging to the Hundred Beasts Pirates. The railing couldn't hold his enormous figure, and he fell straight into the sea.
"That useless fool... A few of you, go fish him out!"
"Yes!"
Queen exited the scene at an even faster speed, leaving King speechless as he fought on the ship. He could only send people to rescue him since Queen was a Devil Fruit user and couldn't swim, and King was still engaged in battle, unable to free his hands.
Fortunately, the Hundred Beasts currently had the upper hand, so sending a few people wasn't an issue.
Moreover, Queen had a little something to do with this advantage. Thanks to Queen having dealt with some enemies, a pirate was freed up to rescue him; apart from Devil Fruit users, nearly no pirates were unable to swim.
On the vast sea, swimming is a must-learn skill.
Only Byrnndi Wald himself could knock Queen into the sea with one strike. The battle among the ship officers had come to a pause, and King looked up at Wald in the sky with some wariness.
It was a technique called Moonwalk, and Wald had somehow learned this skill.
His condition wasn't good; one eye was swollen shut, and the Armament Haki covering his entire body had dissipated, a sign of depleted stamina.
Though he was panting heavily, King didn't let his guard down. A skinny camel is still bigger than a horse; even pirates monstrous like this could unleash a final attack in a dying state.
Judging by his blow against Queen, though Wald was in bad shape, he hadn't yet lost his fighting abilities.
The crucial question was, with Wald reappearing here, what had happened to Kaido, who was battling him?
However, Kaido's pursuit put King's doubts to rest.
"Hey! Don't run away! I was just getting into it. It's been forever since I've had a worthy opponent for an all-out fight!"
With John before, he hadn't had much action and only reaped the benefits.
After John, he hadn't encountered an enemy of this caliber again. If not for the Protect skill being as overpowered, dealing with Wald at this time would require significant effort, possibly stretching the battle over days and nights.
Though Kaido had just dominated Wald, at this level, if the opponent was determined to escape, stopping them would be incredibly difficult.
Not long before, Wald feigned an attack, pushing body to its limits with Doubling·Hundred Times Speed, breaking away from the fight with Kaido. In such a high-speed scenario, Kaido fell short of Wald.
Wald's body couldn't withstand a second round of Doubling·Hundred Times Speed. He did it partly because he wasn't sure if an attack would get blocked by Kaido's Protect and partly because he saw his underlings at a disadvantage.
He hadn't yet experienced betrayal and still held some affection for his subordinates. Even if he could defeat Kaido, his pirate crew, including his older brother, would be gone if this continued.
Thus, he decided to retreat.
After years together, Bingjack understood Wald's plan.
"Sebastian, get back here! Gaielam! Emergency plan!"
Kaido didn't know what Bingjack's emergency plan was, but he certainly wouldn't let it happen. Flames engulfed his body as he charged towards Wald's ship.
"Omori: Kaen Daiko!"
The flames were augmented with a Protect barrier, and given its impregnable nature, there's no reason it couldn't be used offensively.
Seeing this, the Hundred Beasts members hurried back to their ship, and King quickly disengaged from battle to evade. But facing the descending dragon, Wald had nowhere to retreat.
"I am... Byrnndi... Wald after all! Doubling·Hundred Times Speed!"
His body couldn't handle the added intensity; such a power-up was a burden, which was one reason he trained to apply Armament Haki all over his body.
Confronting Kaido's strike, he had already pushed his body to the limit. Even before contact, cracks appeared on his skin, and blood flowed from his mouth and nose.
His fist clashed with the massive dragon head; after a brief stalemate, Wald was ultimately knocked down. However, he successfully blocked Kaido's strike, and just as Kaido intended to continue his assault, Wald's ship underwent an enormous transformation.
In Kaido and Wald's brief skirmish, Sebastian had already returned, and Gaielam directly activated Cubic Space, causing the ship to disassemble and reassemble into a new structure.
"Doubling·Fifty Times Faster Ship."
The ship's engine revved up to the maximum, and it dashed forward at an exaggerated speed. In a blink, all that was left on the sea was the white wake left by the ship.
This was Bingjack's emergency plan, the Wald Pirates' retreat strategy. Gaielham strengthened the ship's structure with his ability to withstand the acceleration-induced strain.
Then, the engine's overload allowed the ship to break through to safety. However, the downside was it could only move in a straight line and would incur irreversible damage to the ship.
Even the Golden Lion's abilities couldn't pin down Wald; thanks to this ability, he always managed to break through before the Navy encircled him fully, which made more and more people resent the Wald Pirates.
With few people, they couldn't win; with many, they couldn't stop them. Yet, he was powerful and eager for destruction.
Watching Wald Pirates' escape, the members under Hundred Beasts looked at one another.
"Does this mean... we won?"
"What a stupid thing to say, of course, we won. Boys, get ready for a banquet!" Kaido, having reverted to his human form, admonished his men discontentedly, while also finding a reason to throw a banquet.
Despite casualties in battle, these pirates were used to it; after all, where there are pirates, there are deaths.
They mourned but never dwelled on it. A banquet was always the perfect place to vent emotions.
There were few casualties among the officers, though their stamina was greatly expended. The most miserable-looking was Queen, who had fallen into the sea and, being so heavy, required her underlings significant effort to haul her back up.
Arceus's supply ship had also pulled alongside, but it seemed like the supplies wouldn't be needed for now.
"After so many months, you finally came out of it. Have you completed that thing?"
"Yes, I did. I'll tell you all about it after your banquet." Speaking now would mean repeating himself after Kaido sobered up, so Arceus didn't waste his effort.
On the other side, the Wald Pirates also withdrew to a safe distance, but compared to the Hundred Beasts Pirates, their condition was much worse. Wald collapsed outright, and several officers were severely injured.
Just as they were planning to rest, gunshots rang out, and more bullet holes appeared on the badly injured Wald.
"What are you guys doing!"