The shadow of the blue dragon completely blotted out the shattered remnants of the Kozuki estate. Above, hundreds of thick, reptilian scales scraped against one another with a sound like grinding tectonic plates, dropping massive embers and sheets of displaced air onto the burning courtyard below. Kaido coiled his massive, serpentine length through the churning black storm clouds, his glowing yellow eyes fixed entirely on the bleeding, broken figure of Norwell D. Giovanni.
"Do you hear that, brat?!" Kaido's voice boomed from the heavens, causing the loose stones on the ground to vibrate violently. "The roar of the sky! The absolute thrill of a real battle! It has been never that anyone has managed to carve something so beautiful into my flesh! But you and Oden managed to do it only a few days apart. I haven't enjoyed myself this much ever! I want more!"
Giovanni coughed, a thick line of crimson spilling past his gritted teeth as he leaned heavily on the golden hilt of Ace. His breath was shallow, his lungs screaming for oxygen through a cage of cracked ribs. He lifted his head, his piercing golden gaze piercing straight through the smoke to look directly into the eyes of the Emperor.
"Cut the crap, lizard," Giovanni rasped, his voice strained but utterly devoid of fear. "Where are the Daimyo? What did you do to those old men back at the Flower Capital?"
Kaido let out a low, mocking rumble that escalated into a thunderous laugh, his massive dragon jaw splitting wide. "Wororororo. Worried about those old relics? Don't waste your breath thinking about them, brat! They made their choice, and they died like the outdated samurai they were! But you... you declared yourself capable of fighting me! You proved you possess the color of a true Sovereign! A monster like you cannot be allowed to wander freely across the seas! I am not letting you leave this island alive!"
Despite the agonizing wave of exhaustion threatening to pull him into unconsciousness, Giovanni's jaw tightened. He shifted his weight, his boots dragging through the dirt as he slowly, deliberately began to walk back toward the towering perimeter where the dragon's shadow was heaviest.
"Marco," Giovanni muttered over his shoulder, his eyes fixed on the sky. "Take Toki and Hiyori. Use your wings and fly out of here right now. Get them to the ship."
Before he could take a third step, a heavy, feathered hand slammed firmly onto his good shoulder. Marco stepped up beside him, his expression completely devoid of his usual lazy demeanor. His eyes were deadly serious behind his glasses.
"Stop right there, yoi," Marco commanded, physically halting the pirate's advance. "You're not buying time for anyone, Giovanni. You are the one who is taking Toki and Hiyori, and you are running right now."
Giovanni snapped his head around, glaring at the first mate. "Don't be an idiot, Marco! You can fly! Your mobility is ten times better than mine right now! I'll buy you a few minutes to get them clear of the airspace!"
"And how exactly are you going to do that with a walking corpse of a body, yoi?!" Marco snapped back, his voice rising in rare anger. "Look at yourself! Your left arm is completely useless, your ribs are shattered, and your stamina is entirely bottomed out! You wouldn't be able to buy us a single second against Kaido in that condition! You have Sky Walk, Giovanni. Use whatever pathetic scrap of energy you have left in those legs to get over the waterfall and get out of here!"
Before Giovanni could argue, the sound of heavy footsteps crunched through the brush. Izou, Diamond Jozu, and Vista stepped into the cleared center of the courtyard, their expressions grim but unyielding as they formed a protective wall between the dragon and the survivors.
"He's right, Giovanni," Izou said, smoothly cocking his twin flintlocks and aiming them toward the sky. "You've already pulled off two miracles today. Leave the rest to us. Do not forget what we came to this island for in the first place."
Jozu's right side instantly transformed into glittering, unbreakable diamond, reflecting the harsh orange light of the burning mansion. "We are at full strength, rookie. We can fight off an Emperor long enough for a retreat. You're the one who needs to go."
Vista drew his dual sabers with a theatrical flourish, though his eyes remained deadly sharp. "Go on, young man. A true swordsman knows when to hand the vanguard over to his comrades."
From the dirt below, Kawamatsu the Kappa forced himself onto his knees, tears streaming down his round face as he looked up at Giovanni. "Please, Norwell-san... I beg of you! Take Lady Toki and young Hiyori away from this nightmare! Ensure the future survives! We trust only you to protect them!"
Giovanni looked at the unyielding expressions of the Whitebeard Pirates and the weeping samurai. He let out a sharp, deeply irritated sigh, recognizing the absolute, undeniable logic in their words. His body truly was at its absolute limit.
"Fine," Giovanni muttered, turning his back to the sky.
He leaned down, using his single working right arm to gently but firmly scoop the crying Hiyori against his chest. The little girl clung tightly to his tattered coat, burying her face into his chest. Giovanni then looked up at Toki, his expression shifting into a slightly awkward, formal grimace.
"Get on my back, Lady Toki, and grab onto my neck as tight as you can," Giovanni ordered bluntly. "I have to go a little fast, and I only have one working hand to steer. My deepest apologies for forcing a noblewoman of your stature to do something so completely embarrassing as riding on the back of another man."
Toki offered a soft, incredibly weary smile, entirely brushing past the breach of etiquette. "Do not be ridiculous, Norwell-san. You are risking your life to save my daughter and me. Status and embarrassment mean absolutely nothing when our lives are in your hands."
Without another second of hesitation, she climbed onto his back, wrapping her arms securely around his neck.
Up in the sky, Kaido's massive eyes locked onto the movement. "How incredibly cute!" the dragon roared, the air around his maw bursting into violent violet flames. "But I already told you. I am not letting a single one of you get away!"
BOOM!
The ground beneath Giovanni's boots completely imploded as he instantly detonated whatever remaining Haki he had left in his calves. He launched himself straight into the sky, utilizing a hyper-accelerated sequence of Sky Walks that turned him into a golden streak of light, rocketing directly toward the outer boundaries of Wano.
Kaido's massive head swung around to pursue the golden blur, his scales shifting rapidly. In a flash of blinding light, his massive draconic form compressed, shifting into his towering, muscular Hybrid form. He raised his massive iron kanabo, preparing to leap into the stratosphere to swat the escaping rookie out of the sky.
"You're looking the wrong way, yoi!"
Marco's voice echoed directly in front of Kaido's face. The Phoenix erupted into a colossal tempest of blue and yellow regeneration flames, his wings spanning dozens of feet as he slammed his reinforced, talon-shaped legs directly against the side of Kaido's jaw. The sheer kinetic force of the kick diverted the Emperor's trajectory, sending a massive torrent of destructive purple fire blasting uselessly into the distant unpopulated mountains.
"Brats of Whitebeard!" Kaido bellowed, his hybrid form skidding across the upper atmosphere as he swung his club in a furious, wide arc.
CLANG!
Jozu materialized directly within the path of the swinging iron club, his fully diamond-coated torso absorbing the apocalyptic impact. The shockwave shattered the clouds for miles, but the diamond commander held his ground, his teeth gritted as he anchored his feet into the air.
"Now, Vista! Izou!" Jozu roared.
"Rose Rondo!" Vista shouted, appearing from the left flank as a massive storm of sharp, razor-like red energy petals swarmed Kaido's eyes, obscuring his vision.
Simultaneously, Izou unleashed a continuous, hyper-extended barrage of Armament-infused bullets from his pistols, targeting the fresh cross-shaped scar on Kaido's chest to aggravate the wound Giovanni had left behind. Kawamatsu leaped from the ground below, using the wind currents to deliver a powerful, two-handed Ryou slash against the back of Kaido's leg.
The coordinated onslaught of four top-tier New World combatants successfully pinned the Emperor down, completely gridlocking him in the airspace above Kuri.
Kaido's face twisted into an expression of absolute, murderous rage as he realized Giovanni's aura was rapidly fading past the horizon. He brought Hassaikai down with a thunderous, black-lightning-infused strike that forced the commanders back, his breathing heavy as he glared at the line of defenders.
"Are you all truly ready to die here today... just to let that single rookie escape my wrath?!" Kaido roared, his voice shaking the entire island.
Marco hovered at the front of the formation, his blue flames burning brighter than ever, a fierce, defiant smirk playing on his lips.
"If you think you can take us all down before the dawn arrives, Emperor..." Marco said, his eyes flashing with absolute steel. "Why don't you try it, yoi?"
---
Miles away, far beyond the visual perimeter of Wano's jagged cliffs and roaring waterfalls, Giovanni was pushing his body through an absolute living hell.
Step. Step. Step.
Every single invisible platform he kicked into existence felt like a physical iron spike driving upward through his shins and directly into his fractured spine. His vision was blurring at the edges, a constant, dizzying ringing echoing in his ears as the sheer physical backlash of overusing Advanced Conqueror's Haki systematically shut down his nervous system.
He was traveling at an incredible, supersonic speed, the wind roaring past them so violently that it tore his tattered coat entirely from his shoulders. He held Hiyori tight against his chest with his trembling right arm, his fingers locked onto her clothes with a death grip.
"Norwell-san..." Toki whispered closely into his ear, her voice filled with deep distress as she felt the violent, irregular tremors shaking his entire frame. She could feel the warm, fresh blood soaking through his bandages and spilling onto her own hands. "Please... you are going to destroy yourself at this rate. If it means saving your own life... you can leave me. Drop me into the sea below. As long as you can keep Hiyori safe... that is all that matters."
Giovanni let out a sharp, guttural laugh that immediately dissolved into a rough, bloody cough.
"Shut... up, lady," Giovanni rasped, his eyes wide and bloodshot as he kicked the air once more, launching them further out over the open ocean. "I didn't... I didn't trade blows with a twelve-foot oversized lizard and break half the bones in my body just to let you drop into the water. I said I'm saving both of you. I don't break my word. This is... nothing."
Toki's eyes widened slightly as she looked at the side of his stubborn, blood-stained face. A thousand questions rushed through her mind. She wanted to ask him who he truly was, why a pirate from the outer seas possessed such an intimate, protective drive for the remnants of a closed nation, and why he was willing to break his own body to pieces for a family he had never met.
But as she looked at the unyielding, fierce determination burning in his golden eyes, she decided against it. She simply tightened her grip around his neck, burying her face into his shoulder, and allowed herself to be rescued by the sovereign monster of the new era.
---
Meanwhile, several hundred miles away from the chaotic borders of the Grand Line, the sea was completely calm.
The dark, glassy waters of the New World rippled gently under a clear, starlit sky. Moving slowly across the open ocean was a singular, unnerving vessel. A small, black boat shaped like a gothic coffin, powered by a single dark sail and flanked by flickering green candles that defied the ocean wind.
Sitting crossed-legged on the small deck of the Hitsugibune was Dracule Mihawk.
The world's strongest swordsman sat in absolute silence, the pale moonlight reflecting off the pristine, dark steel of the blade, Yoru, strapped securely to his back. In his leather-gloved hands, he held a freshly printed World Government bounty poster. The face on the paper belonged to Norwell D. Giovanni, sporting a massive, arrogant smirk beneath a high bounty figure that had been rapidly escalating across the months.
Mihawk's hawk-like, yellow eyes scanned the details of the poster with cold, analytical precision.
Just a week prior, Mihawk had crossed blades with Red-Haired Shanks on a remote island in the New World. Their legendary duel had ended, as it so often did, in a flawless, spectacular draw that left the surrounding landscape completely leveled. Over a bottle of shared sake amidst the ruins, Shanks had laughed heartily, casually mentioning that the reckless kid from three years ago had set his sights on the isolated kingdom of Wano.
Mihawk had considered navigating toward Wano immediately after hearing the news. But his logical, calculating mind had deduced that by the time his small coffin-boat managed to scale the violent waterfalls of the isolationist country, a chaotic storm like Giovanni would surely already be gone, chasing whatever path lay ahead.
'If he survives the dragon's territory... where will a beast like that head next?' Mihawk thought, his eyes narrowing slightly as he stared out into the dark horizon.
Based on the current geopolitical movements of the New World and the specific patterns of the log poses, there were realistically only three options for a pirate of Giovanni's caliber to seek refuge or resources after a clash with an Emperor.
The first was Winner Island, a strategic but heavily monitored outpost. The second was a desolate, highly classified winter government research laboratory hidden deep within the naval sectors. And the third... was the ancient, giant-inhabited kingdom of Elbaf.
Mihawk slowly folded the bounty poster, sliding it away into his coat pocket. He rested his hand lightly on the crossguard of Yoru, his sharp gaze fixing on the northern star. Out of pure, unadulterated combat instinct. A psychological intuition that had never failed him throughout his entire career. He reached down and adjusted the rudder of his small vessel.
He was heading directly toward Elbaf.
He wanted to see it with his own eyes. Shanks had claimed, with absolute confidence during their last drink, that the blonde rookie had finally reached their level of strength.
Mihawk found that highly difficult to believe. The image of the weak, predictable kid he had completely embarrassed and utterly humiliated on a random island three years ago was still fresh in his mind. To bridge a gap of that magnitude in such a short span of time was a feat that completely defied the natural laws of swordsmanship.
'We shall see, Norwell D. Giovanni,' Mihawk thought, a rare, incredibly sharp smile tugging at the corner of his lips as the small boat sliced through the calm waters. 'I will need to cross blades with you once more to see if your sovereign spirit can match the weight of your reputation.'
---
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