Kaido's fury became action.
The azure dragon body jolted, and that enormous form, large enough to blot out the sun, came diving straight toward Zaraki with the force of a falling mountain.
Boom—!
The air compressed beneath him until it burst with thunderous explosions.
Where the dragon's head passed, the atmosphere warped under the pressure, dragging visible white shockwaves through the sky.
Kaido was a moving natural disaster!
Right behind him, a black figure wrapped in flames came screaming down from Kaido's flank, moving even faster than the dragon's massive body.
King the Wildfire had transformed into his pteranodon form. His black-clad body drew a sharp line through the air, his target locked directly on Zaraki's throat.
Kaido's dragon body was a crushing frontal assault, like a mountain dropping from the sky.
King was the blade striking from the side.
Together, their coordination formed a perfect hunt.
But the smile on Zaraki's face only grew stronger.
From the Den Den Mushi in Yamakaji's hand below, he could hear Sengoku's voice roaring so hard it had gone hoarse.
"Hold him off, Zaraki! Kizaru and Garp are already on their way! Buy them time, no matter what it takes!"
'Hold him off? What a boring phrase.'
Zaraki lowered his body slightly.
The air beneath his feet gave a dull boom, and he shot backward like a cannonball, precisely avoiding King's fierce beak strike.
His destination was the shattered beach at the edge of Dressrosa, a stretch of coastline scarred by battle and covered in jagged reefs.
This was the battlefield he had chosen.
The city, the evacuation routes, the newly restored citizens, and the wounded Marines were all behind him. If Kaido wanted to chase him, then the dragon would have to turn away from the civilians first.
The wild wind swept up sand and seawater, striking Zaraki's face with a cold sting.
Kaido pursued relentlessly. His enormous dragon head nearly filled Zaraki's entire vision, the smell of heat and blood rushing from his breath.
King wheeled once above the beach, flames burning behind him, but he did not immediately strike again.
Kaido's killing intent had changed.
Once his captain found prey he wanted to crush personally, stepping in carelessly would only draw Kaido's anger.
In that split second of pursuit and retreat, Zaraki suddenly glanced toward the shadow behind a reef half as tall as a person.
His movements did not pause at all, yet his voice reached that place clearly.
"Still not coming out? Or are you waiting for me to cut you and that rock in half together?"
The shadow froze.
Then a tall figure wearing an exaggerated top hat and a suit stepped out from behind the reef, looking slightly awkward.
His body carried obvious bird-like features.
In his hand, he was holding a Camera Den Den Mushi whose lens flashed with a red light.
Behind him, half-buried among the rocks, several reinforced relay crates had been hastily set up, their small Den Den Mushi receivers trembling under the pressure from the sky.
The president of the World Economic News Paper, "Big News" Morgans.
He adjusted his top hat, and beneath his lenses, his eyes burned with sick excitement.
"As expected of War Demon Zaraki! To notice me even in a situation like this—what a monster!"
Morgans's voice was high-pitched and sharp, filled with the thrill of discovering the scoop of the century.
"This is big news! A Marine special envoy challenging an Emperor of the Sea head-on! How confident are you? Say something! Let viewers across the New World hear your bold declaration!"
He was clearly treating this life-or-death battle as a live interview.
Zaraki landed steadily on a flat reef. Behind him, Kaido came roaring closer, but Zaraki did not even look back.
He merely turned his face slightly and gave Morgans a contemptuous glance.
"Hmmm.. you're too weak."
"Hah?" Morgans froze.
"My blade is meant for cutting down that big guy."
Zaraki's gaze locked once more onto the huge open maw ahead, his tone calm.
"Cutting you would only dirty my sword."
"You...!"
Morgans's face instantly flushed red, enraged by Zaraki's undisguised contempt.
He was one of the emperors of the underworld. His newspapers could turn rumor into truth and shake nations with a headline!
And this madman actually called him weak?
"Good! Very good!"
Morgans laughed from sheer anger and pointed the Camera Den Den Mushi at Zaraki's back, shrieking loudly.
"Zaraki! You listen to me! Whether Kaido beats you half to death or you somehow crawl out alive, I'm going to fight you in the headlines! I'll make the whole world remember who Big News Morgans is!"
His sharp shouting, mixed with the roaring wind and the dragon's howl, was faithfully captured by the Camera Den Den Mushi.
The signal jumped through Morgans's hidden relay network, spreading from ship to ship and island to island across the New World.
With Morgans broadcasting, this was no longer just a Marine report or an underworld rumor.
It had become a public execution ground for the balance of the sea itself.
...
New World, aboard the Moby Dick.
The atmosphere on the enormous deck was extremely tense.
The pirates who would usually be drinking and shouting were now silent.
Hundreds of eyes were fixed on the slightly trembling image projected into the air by a giant Visual Den Den Mushi.
The footage shook violently, full of the chaos of being right there on the battlefield.
The main figure in the image was a black back with his coat snapping wildly in the wind. Behind him, filling the entire screen and looking as if it might burst out of the image at any moment, was a ferocious roaring azure dragon.
That overwhelming pressure, even from across such a distance, weighed heavily on every heart.
"Gulp..."
Someone swallowed with difficulty, breaking the silence.
"That madman... he really went up against Kaido of the Beasts..."
"One-on-one?"
"Hey, hey, what kind of joke is this? Does he not know whose territory that is?"
"Ace."
A calm voice sounded.
Marco had appeared behind Ace at some point, hands in his pockets, brows tightly furrowed.
His expression was unusually serious.
Ace did not turn around. His gaze seemed welded to the screen, and his fists were clenched so tightly that his nails dug deep into his palms.
Sparks of hot flame leaked uncontrollably between his fingers, only to quickly fade.
He knew that back on the screen far too well.
Zaraki was strong.
But the opponent on the screen was Kaido.
An Emperor who stood alongside Pops, ruling over this sea.
"Don't worry too much, yoi," Marco said, trying to offer some comfort, though his eyes were just as grave.
"That guy isn't the kind of idiot who throws his life away for nothing."
"But that's Kaido!" Ace's voice was hoarse, forced out between his teeth. "And... that battlefield is in the worst possible place."
"That's right."
Not far away, Diamond Jozu sat with his glittering diamond arms folded across his chest and spoke in his deep voice.
"Dressrosa... That's the kingdom of the Heavenly Yaksha, Donquixote Doflamingo. That Marine, Zaraki, is basically standing in the territory of two enemies at once."
Jozu's words made the faces of the surrounding pirates turn even uglier.
Kaido of the Beasts alone was already enough of a nightmare.
And now there was also a scheming Warlord of the Sea involved?
This was practically suicide!
"Gurararara..."
A familiar, bold laugh rang out, instantly suppressing all the discussion and unease.
Whitebeard sat on his massive chair, one hand holding his naginata and the other lifting a bowl of sake.
His blazing eyes were fixed on the image, and the sheer presence radiating from him seemed to steady even the shaking projection.
"Don't underestimate that brat, my sons."
Whitebeard's voice was not loud, but it reached everyone clearly.
"That bastard Garp's eye for people is sharper than you think."
He paused, then shifted the topic.
Marco looked toward him. "Pops?"
"The Beasts Pirates' fleet shows no sign of any large-scale movement," Whitebeard said slowly, his voice carrying the weight of someone who had seen countless wars. "In other words, Kaido appeared in Dressrosa either on his own, or on a sudden impulse."
He lifted the huge sake bowl to his mouth and drained it, then let out a satisfied breath.
"If Doflamingo is still sitting in that palace and letting Kaido rampage through his own country without showing any hostility, then that is far more interesting than a Marine monster challenging an Emperor."
Whitebeard grinned, showing his white teeth. There was a trace of cold mockery in his smile.
"Gurararara... An Emperor and a Warlord in the same place, chasing the same Marine brat. What do you think that means?"
The moment his words fell, silence swept the deck.
Then Marco, Jozu, and the other division commanders all showed shocked expressions.
Ace's body jolted.
He was not a strategist like Marco, nor was he a warlord-like figure who could see the whole board the way Whitebeard could.
But now, with Whitebeard linking every clue and laying it out in front of him, an icy possibility surfaced in Ace's mind, making his whole body go cold.
An Emperor.
A Warlord.
Both in the same place, attacking the same person.
What that meant behind the scenes... Ace's face instantly turned livid!