"W-Why would this monster show up here..."
Near the ruins were the remaining Navy soldiers. Even if this research institute wasn't as important as Punk Hazard back then, there were still some experimental facilities left.
Those facilities still retained some important data and needed manpower to guard them.
And the cost of building a lab was extremely high. Some experiments in the future might require these facilities to be restarted, so people had always been stationed here, along with some technical staff to regularly maintain the equipment.
Only utterly lawless pirates dared to attack the Navy. People like that went to sea purely to satisfy their own desires, most of which revolved around wealth, and there was no treasure in a research institute, so pirates had no reason to attack this kind of place.
The price for attacking the Navy was huge; only enough profit could drive them to such insane acts.
Reputation was also a form of profit for some pirates. Sometimes, just to make a name for themselves, they would do a lot of crazy things, but they had no need to attack such an obscure place. The cost and the gain were completely disproportionate.
Over the years, the garrison of this half-abandoned experimental base had turned it into a perfect place to slack off. Stationed in the First Half of the Grand Line, they had never encountered an attack in their daily routine.
Nor had they ever imagined that one day they would directly face a Sea Emperor of the New World.
Although the base's facilities had all been maintained on schedule and things like guns and cannons could be used normally, the only function those weapons served was to let Kaidou feel that atmosphere that belonged to war.
Cannonballs hitting him were no different from scratching an itch, in fact not even as good as scratching an itch.
To Kaidou, these people were like ants. He wouldn't care how many ants he crushed when destroying an anthill, nor would he go out of his way to stomp on those that ran away after his goal was achieved—provided those ants didn't provoke him.
The extreme disparity in force had already left them at a loss as to how to resist.
"Hey, brat, tell me: the thing that used to be here, where did it go?"
Amid the ruins, Kaidou saw some familiar-looking facilities, like a special recess. Roughly estimating its size, Kaidou felt that it was just right to hold a Plate.
He wasn't simply wrecking things. While tearing down the lab he had also discovered some of the installations inside. It looked like the intel he had received wasn't entirely fake—he had just arrived too late.
"I-It... it was moved to some other place a few years ago..."
Staring at the spikes on the Wolf Fang Club, each one bigger than his own head, the researcher who was still alive had no thought of resistance. Whatever Kaidou asked, he answered.
After questioning several survivors in a row, Kaidou lost interest and turned around to leave the island.
But he didn't return to Ghost Island immediately; instead, he contacted Queen.
"Big Bro Kaidou?"
"Queen, just how many experimental islands did you use back then?"
"Uh... a lot. The World Government and the Navy prepared quite a few sites."
"Give me the locations, all of them. I wanna see just where the hell they moved that thing."
According to Kaidou's newly obtained intel, a few years ago there really had been something like a Plate here, but it had been transferred away many years prior, and no one knew where it had ended up.
Since it wasn't here, he planned to search every place Queen knew of. After getting the specific locations, Kaidou began wandering randomly along the Grand Line.
This time, however, he didn't flaunt his destructive power, but roamed around with the radar, searching.
Flipping this island upside down had been to turn the fabricated news in the papers into reality; from then on it was all to make searching for the item smoother. He was merely too lazy to use his brain most of the time, not brainless.
...
Kaidou's attention was tied up by this matter, so he hadn't been able to return to Ghost Island for the time being. Leaving aside what attitude everyone else had toward that, for Yamato this was an absolute boon. As far as she was concerned, the longer Kaidou got entangled, the better—being stuck for a few years would be ideal.
Meanwhile, on Ghost Island, a battle had been raging for a full four days.
It was currently midnight, yet the fighting showed no sign of stopping.
In the more than ten years since Hundred Beasts had established the rotation-battle system, this was the longest-lasting and most intense fight yet.
Because this wasn't a simple match, it was Jack's promotion battle. As long as he defeated Setsuna, it would mean he had surpassed the current No. 0 and thus gained the qualification to obtain a new Disaster Level title.
Boom!
Jack's massive body crashed to the ground, his steel frame smashing a deep crater into the earth. Yet his consciousness remained clear; after shaking his head, Jack once again pushed himself up to his feet.
"The Fishman Race's physique really is tough."
"I should be the one saying that. The Fur Race's bodies are the real monsters."
Jack's fights often devolved into wars of attrition. Him being knocked down wasn't strange; in no time he would stand back up again. After that cycle repeated enough times, it was the enemy whose stamina would be exhausted.
But this rotation battle was different. Although Setsuna was also gasping for breath and clearly had burned through a lot of stamina, Jack's condition wasn't good either. This battle that had dragged on for several days was finally nearing its end.
"We're about at the end, right? Big Bro Mandfeish told me that you and he are both special cases."
"Yeah, it's just about time for the finale."
Setsuna raised her head to look at the sky. A full-moon night was when the Fur Race was at its strongest. Without needing to rely on the power of a Moonstone, just by lifting their head to gaze at the moon they could enter the Moon Lion state. That was also her biggest difference from Mandfeish.
Their normal combat power was close to the current Disaster Level, and in Mega State their strength was Disaster Level in the purest sense, just not for long.
Setsuna was even more special than Mandfeish. With the amplification of the Moon Lion and stacking it with Mega, she could reach, in a short burst, the combat power of a Disaster Level going all out.
The full moon was reflected in her eyes; under the moonlight, Setsuna's pupils began to contract, then completely turned blood-red.
Sparks of electricity crackled intermittently across her skin, and Aura Power likewise coiled around her body's surface.
Her fangs grew sharper, low growls rumbling from her throat.
As she growled, her hair began to lengthen rapidly, whipping wildly behind her. By this point she had turned into a very special pure-white Lucario.
"Awooo!"
The wolf's howl tore through the night sky, and in response Jack's body continued to swell.
He didn't enter Human-Beast Form, but simply straightened into a bipedal stance, transforming into an Ultra Gigantic Copperajah as tall as a high-rise building.
Since Copperajah was just the manifestation of his ability, his arms and legs were still in normal proportion and hadn't turned into comically tiny stubs.
With a heavy stomp of his right foot, countless metallic ridged spikes spread out, covering the entire battlefield.