A sharp, greasy voice came from behind the crowd, its drawn-out tone making people's teeth ache.
Everyone in the plaza looked toward the source of the voice.
A very fat man was slowly squeezing his way through the crowd.
He wore sunglasses and a metal jaw guard, and two ivory-like braids swayed behind his head with each step.
As he walked, he kept stuffing snacks into his mouth, the crunching sounds completely out of place in the dead atmosphere.
It was one of the Beasts Pirates' All-Stars, Queen the Plague.
Jack's blood-red eyes snapped toward him, his teeth grinding together as he forced out a growl from his throat.
"Queen! Are you trying to pick a fight?"
"Well, well, well, don't get so worked up, Jack." Queen exaggeratedly waved his hand, his plump face squeezing out a helpless expression.
"I'm only telling the truth. Anyone can boast, but now your face has already been slapped swollen from halfway across the Grand Line, hasn't it?"
The words were merciless, and Jack's face burned.
"You!"
Jack suddenly stood up, his enormous body bringing with it a terrifying pressure. He looked ready to attack.
"Both of you, shut up!"
A roar mixed with Conqueror's Haki exploded.
Kaido finally spoke.
He did not even turn around.
The invisible pressure alone pinned Jack and Queen in place, making them unable to move.
The air across the plaza seemed to solidify. Every pirate felt their heart being gripped tightly, and even breathing became unbearably difficult.
Kaido slowly turned around. His now fully awakened gaze carried a bloodthirsty light that made people shudder.
He looked down from above at Jack, whose entire body was trembling from humiliation, and the smile at the corner of his mouth grew even more cruel.
"Worororo... Jack, if you talk big, then you have to make it happen yourself."
Jack's body shook violently.
He raised his head, and a bloody light erupted in his eyes.
"Queen is right." Kaido's tone suddenly shifted again. His enormous shadow completely covered Jack.
"This time, the face of the Beasts Pirates was stomped into the dirt. And you, Jack the Drought, were the first one to stick that face out for him to stomp on."
Jack's expression froze instantly.
"So," Kaido said, his voice growing low and slow, every word striking everyone's heart like a heavy hammer.
"I'll leave this matter to you."
"Go. Bring me back the head of that Marine brat called War Demon Zaraki. If you can't..."
Kaido grinned, revealing a mouthful of terrifying white teeth. His tone was as casual as if he were discussing the weather.
"...then leave your own head behind."
After saying that, he did not look at Jack again.
He turned, picked up his massive kanabo, and walked step by step back into the depths of the castle, leaving only a string of wild laughter behind.
"Wororororororo!"
Jack froze in place, cold sweat instantly soaking his back.
Kaido's order was both an opportunity and a final ultimatum.
He glanced at Queen, who was taking pleasure in his misfortune, and at King, who remained expressionless from beginning to end.
Then he clenched his teeth hard, turned around, and roared.
"Men! Prepare the ship! We sail!"
...
By the time confirmation of Kaido's kill order reached Marineford, Zaraki's warship had already been chased across the sea for two days and two nights.
Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
Fleet Admiral's office.
"Bastards!"
A furious roar shook the documents on the desk.
Fleet Admiral Sengoku the Buddha slammed his fist onto the desk, veins bulging on his forehead, his goat-like beard trembling slightly from anger.
"A kill order from one of the Four Emperors! And against the Marine rising star we just pushed into the newspapers! Kaido of the Beasts, that lunatic—is he declaring war on the entire World Government?"
On the sofa in the office, a tall, sturdy old man in a white Marine uniform sat with his eyes closed, eating rice crackers as if no one else were there.
Each bite made a crisp crunch.
Marine Hero, Garp.
"When has he ever cared about the World Government's face?" Garp did not even bother lifting his eyelids, speaking indistinctly through the crackers.
"That bastard would love nothing more than fighting every day. Zaraki really kicked a hornet's nest this time."
His tone sounded completely casual, but the fingers that were almost crushing the rice crackers betrayed the unrest in his heart.
Standing nearby, Staff Officer Tsuru held a cup of hot tea and sighed softly.
"The problem is that, according to intelligence from Cipher Pol, Joker—Donquixote Doflamingo—is secretly fanning the flames. He has been continuously leaking War Demon Zaraki's location through underworld channels. At this rate, both the first half of the Grand Line and the New World factions watching from behind the scenes have likely begun moving."
"This is outrageous!"
Sengoku paced back and forth in fury.
"A Warlord of the Sea dares collude with an Emperor and scheme against a Marine under Headquarters protection! Once this matter is over, I will definitely—"
"What use is saying that now?"
Garp finally opened his eyes.
He swallowed the last bite of rice cracker, patted the crumbs from his hands, and slowly stood up.
His seemingly lazy gaze had now become extremely sharp.
"Sengoku, give me the fastest warship you have."
Sengoku froze, then suddenly turned to look at him.
"Garp! What are you planning? With your current status, you can't leave headquarters casually! And Zaraki is already strong enough to handle most threats himself. He—"
"He's my grandson."
Garp cut him off, his voice not loud, but every word landed with force.
"My grandson can poke a hole through the sky if he wants. It still isn't the turn of a bunch of pirate scum to hunt him down!"
He turned and strode toward the door. His broad back looked incredibly dependable.
"Don't worry. I won't interfere as the Marine Hero. I'm just... an ordinary grandfather going to visit his disobedient grandson."
"You bastard..."
Sengoku watched his back, his clenched fist slowly loosening.
In the end, it became a helpless sigh.
"...I'll have the science unit send the latest Seastone weapons and supplies onto the ship. Remember, come back alive!"
Garp did not turn around.
He merely waved casually and pulled open the heavy door of the office.
...
The Grand Line, somewhere at sea.
Boom!
A black cannonball dragged a long tail of flame through the air, screaming past the warship's port side before exploding on the sea surface not far away, sending a towering water column into the sky.
The violent blast raised huge waves, shaking the entire ship fiercely.
Salty sea wind mixed with the smell of gunpowder rushed toward them.
Zaraki stood at the bow, letting the wild wind whip through his short black hair and the Justice cloak on his back.
His expression was calm, his deep gaze fixed on the densely packed pirate fleet along the horizon behind them.
On the sails, all kinds of savage skull flags bared their teeth and claws.
"Zaraki! They've caught up again!"
Gion quickly walked to his side, her beautiful face grave.
"These bastards won't stop chasing us! We've already been sailing for two days and two nights. If this continues, the crew will collapse before anything else!"
"There's no helping it. The name of a Four Emperor is enough to make ninety percent of the madmen on this sea lose their minds."
Zaraki's voice was calm, without the slightest ripple.
A Four Emperor's kill order.
The news had already reached his ears through the excited roars of his pursuers.
Kaido, that monster standing at the very top of the world, had personally ordered his head taken.
What an unexpected gift.
He could already imagine how many bounty hunters, gangs, assassins, and pirates dreaming of reaching the top in a single leap were now surrounding him from every direction, all chasing after this "moving treasure."
Gion drew the famed blade Konpira at her waist, her sharp gaze sweeping over the pursuers behind them.
"Then let me cut down the rudder of their flagship! At least that'll buy us some time!"
"There's no point."
Zaraki shook his head and pulled a slightly wrinkled sea chart from his coat.
He spread it across the railing at the bow and slowly traced a finger over it.
"Kill this batch, and another batch will come. If we do nothing but run, we'll only burn through our stamina and supplies until they drag us to death on this sea."
His finger finally stopped on an island circled heavily in red ink.
"Gion, change course. Full speed ahead."
He raised his head and looked toward the northeast.
"Our destination is here—Oles Island."
Gion looked where he was pointing, and her expression instantly changed.
"Oles Island? Are you insane?" she cried out. "That place is a famous lawless zone! A pirates' den, a gold sink, and an intelligence relay point! If we go there now, aren't we basically throwing ourselves into the net?"
"Exactly. We're throwing ourselves into the net."
A faint, unreadable curve appeared at the corner of Zaraki's mouth.
He raised his head and gazed toward the seemingly empty sea, as if he could already see the outline of that chaotic island.
Rather than being chased around by a pack of hyenas, it was better to jump straight into the fiercest arena himself.
There, he would not only shake off the pursuers, but also hook a real big fish.
He could feel it.
A powerful presence was crushing straight toward this stretch of sea from the direction of the New World.
A man known as a "Calamity."