The battle continued, and before anyone realized it, an unknown amount of time had passed…
"Whew. We finally managed to save all the food. Uta, seriously, thanks for helping."
Yamato looked sincerely relieved as she thanked Uta.
"It's nothing. Honestly, if you hadn't mentioned it, I might've forgotten I could even do this."
Uta waved it off while directing her musical soldiers to stack the rescued supplies neatly.
"Though even I didn't expect Onigashima to have this much food stored away."
"I've been shogun long enough to understand Wano's situation pretty well by now. If we let all this sink into the sea, who knows how many people would go hungry? I definitely don't want that."
Yamato scratched her head with a sheepish smile.
"Is that so?"
Uta glanced at her and smiled.
"You really are starting to sound like a proper shogun."
She stretched, then held her hands toward the fire in front of them, enjoying the warmth.
"Ahhh… how long have those two been fighting now? Are they seriously still not done?"
Yamato also held her hands near the flames and looked toward the distant sky, which had been repeatedly torn apart by Conqueror's Haki and Flame Clouds.
"About… two days, I think."
She sounded genuinely impressed.
"They're really going all out. I can't believe they've kept fighting that long."
The two of them were sitting side by side on an enormous staircase made of ice, roughly a hundred meters away from what remained of Onigashima.
Originally, the structure had been the towering ice wall Bella created to stop the Beasts Pirates from escaping. Once the fighting below largely ended, it had conveniently been remodeled into a giant viewing platform.
From where they sat, the entirety of the Beasts Pirates had been neatly packaged.
Every captured pirate was frozen inside a large sphere of ice with only their head exposed, just enough to confirm that they were still alive. Many had already passed out from the cold, while the Zoan users were the only ones still managing to remain somewhat conscious.
Jack, whose earlier injuries still hadn't fully healed, had no chance of breaking free.
As for Queen—
he had once again been reduced to a head and a tail, both obediently frozen inside an ice sphere.
His body was long gone.
Bella had taken it with her to thaw the frozen waters elsewhere around Wano.
Uta and Yamato continued warming their hands while dull, thunderous impacts rolled across the distance one after another.
After a while, Yamato stared thoughtfully at the ruined island.
"Still…"
She frowned slightly.
"I've never seen Kaido like that before."
Uta nodded.
"Neither have I. I've never seen Cain like that either."
"That's Zoan Awakening!"
Queen suddenly shouted from inside his ice prison while frantically spinning his body until the sphere rolled toward them.
"Strength, speed, defense, regeneration—they all increase dramatically! That cloud ribbon around their bodies is the proof!"
He rolled a little closer.
Then his face suddenly twisted.
"Wait, why the hell am I explaining this to you?!"
Queen turned toward the figure sitting quietly nearby.
"King! Do something!"
"Why are you just sitting there?!"
King was seated perfectly upright with a pair of Seastone shackles around his ankles.
The restraints obviously didn't prevent him from moving, yet he made no attempt whatsoever to resist.
As for the warm fire Uta and Yamato were currently using to heat their hands—
it was very obviously the Lunarian flame burning from King's back.
King remained completely silent.
He had already accepted the situation.
The Beasts Pirates had effectively lost.
The only person still fighting was Kaido himself.
And King had absolutely no intention of interfering.
He understood better than anyone that this was Kaido's battle. Kaido had been waiting for a fight like this for far too long, and stepping into it now would only stain the duel.
Uta barely paid attention to either of them.
Instead, she remembered that Cain had also developed those ribbon-like clouds during his transformation and turned toward Yamato.
"So that really is Awakening?"
She pointed curiously.
"If the cloud ribbon is the sign, doesn't that mean you're already awakened too?"
"Huh? You mean mine?"
Yamato thought back to her hybrid form, where a band of pale blue freezing mist did indeed wrap around her body.
"No, that's just condensed cold air. It isn't Awakening, and the effects are completely different."
She smiled.
"Though now I'm curious what my Awakening would look like."
Yamato's eyes lit up.
"Maybe I'd finally be strong enough to beat Kaido."
"I see."
Uta nodded thoughtfully.
Then fell silent.
This was bad.
She had only just figured out that using multiple projections was the best way to survive Cain's absurd stamina.
And now the bastard had awakened his Zoan.
Should she create even more bodies?
No.
If she multiplied herself too far, she would only exhaust herself anyway.
What was she supposed to do now?
Then a wonderful idea came to her.
"Yamato."
Uta turned toward her with an extremely sincere expression.
"You should ask Cain how to awaken once this is over."
"Your fruit is a Mythical Zoan. If you awaken it, the result should be incredible."
"I'd really like to see that."
"Really? I can ask him?"
Yamato brightened.
"Thanks, Uta!"
"Haha, no problem."
Uta smiled brightly while the calculations inside her head moved at terrifying speed.
'Hehehe.'
If she couldn't escape Cain's ridiculous awakened stamina herself—
then someone else could experience it too.
What was that saying Cain liked?
Something about having gotten soaked in the rain, so you should tear apart everyone else's umbrellas too?
Close enough.
…
"Achoo!"
Ace, who had been left behind to recover, suddenly sneezed.
He rubbed his nose.
"Is someone talking about me?"
…
"Go, go, go!"
"Ace! Grandpa's coming to see you!"
Garp stood below Wano's enormous frozen waterfall, shouting enthusiastically toward the top.
Sengoku punched him squarely on the head.
"Enough, Garp! Stop yelling!"
He grew angrier the longer he thought about their situation and grabbed Garp's head with both hands, twisting it violently.
"Look at this ridiculous plan you came up with!"
"I asked you how we were supposed to get up there, and your answer was that each of us should carry a warship on our back while climbing the waterfall?!"
"This thing is frozen solid! We'd be exhausted before we reached the top!"
"And there are three ships! What exactly happens to the third one? Were you planning to make me carry two?!"
"How was I supposed to know the waterfall would be frozen?!"
Garp clutched his head and complained loudly.
"This is still the fastest way up!"
"If that doesn't work, I can throw everyone to the top and you catch them!"
"Absolutely not!"
The Marine samurai standing behind them all took a synchronized step backward.
None looked remotely interested in becoming human artillery shells.
Sengoku drew a long breath and forced himself not to punch Garp again.
"Forget it."
"Garp, you and I will go up first and check the situation."
"The Marines can't openly involve themselves in Wano's internal conflict. If necessary, we leave the ships down here and figure out another way to bring the men up afterward."
"Fine."
Garp scratched his head and immediately followed Sengoku.
Both men began climbing the cliff using Geppo.
Below, the Wano-born Marines stared upward and shouted after them, but the winds were too strong and the two elderly men had already become tiny dots in the distance.
What they had been trying to tell them was very simple.
Tokage Port existed nearby.
There was absolutely no need to climb the giant waterfall at all.
Unfortunately, both old men were already gone.
The soldiers could only stare helplessly after them.
…
"Hey, Sengoku! Do you hear something?"
Halfway up the waterfall, Garp suddenly perked up.
There was a faint, irregular sound mixed into the rushing wind.
He reached over and tugged at Sengoku.
Sengoku listened carefully.
"Water."
He nodded.
"Probably a section of ice blocking the flow. If we break it—"
"No, there's something else."
Garp interrupted him.
"I think I hear laughter."
Sengoku's expression sharpened.
"Laughter? An enemy?"
His fist tightened.
"Then we deal with them first."
He accelerated his Geppo and shot upward toward the top of the waterfall.
…
"Hahaha! This is so much fun!"
Bella was currently riding Queen's Brachiosaurus body down a gigantic slab of ice, sitting on it with her legs spread while laughing happily.
At Yamato's request, she had been traveling around Wano and thawing the waters she had previously frozen.
Leaving the entire region frozen for too long would eventually disrupt Wano's environment and economy.
Unfortunately, Bella couldn't remove everything at once while still keeping the ice around Onigashima intact, so she had to travel from place to place and carefully undo the freezing herself.
A sharp crack suddenly echoed.
The frozen waterfall instantly thawed and transformed back into a raging torrent.
Below, Garp and Sengoku both paused in midair.
A solid wall of ice had somehow turned back into water without warning.
Sengoku's Observation Haki immediately picked up an approaching presence.
"Enemy!"
He kicked hard against the air and shot upward, crossing the waterfall in an instant.
He had barely lifted half his body over the cliff when a hand suddenly grabbed his ankle.
"Wait, Sengoku!"
Garp's voice came from below.
"That voice…"
"If I'm hearing it correctly…"
Garp suddenly sounded much less worried.
At that exact moment, Bella noticed the familiar figure appearing over the cliff.
Her eyes immediately lit up.
She abandoned Queen's Brachiosaurus body without hesitation, transformed back into a soft little ice cloud, and flew straight into Garp's arms.
"Great-Grandpa Garp!"
"It's been so long!"
"Oh! Bella!"
Garp caught the cool little cloud against his chest, laughing so hard that every wrinkle on his face appeared at once.
In truth, it was both a reunion and, in another sense, the first time the two had ever properly met face-to-face as great-grandfather and great-granddaughter.
Sengoku was considerably less fortunate.
When Garp grabbed his ankle, his Geppo rhythm broke.
Then Garp suddenly let go.
Sengoku immediately lost his footing and dropped headfirst into the rushing waterfall.
SPLASH!
Before he could even open his eyes, Queen's enormous Brachiosaurus body came floating down the newly restored current.
Straight toward his face.
WHAM!
Sengoku was smashed backward and tumbled repeatedly through the waterfall before both he and the Brachiosaurus were carried over the edge and sent plunging toward the sea below.
By the time Garp realized what had happened, the only thing he could hear was Sengoku's furious roar echoing up from beneath the falls.
"GAAAAARP!!"
"I SWEAR I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!"
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