"Garp, get back here!"
"Sorry, sorry, Sengoku! I really didn't mean to!"
Garp fled across the deck with both hands covering the collection of lumps swelling across his head, while Sengoku chased him from behind with clenched fists.
Clearly, Sengoku had not forgiven him for what happened at the waterfall.
Fortunately, Bella eventually finished thawing the entire waterfall, allowing all three Marine warships to make their way safely into Wano. Once they finally docked at the harbor, nearly every Marine aboard wore the exhausted expression of someone grateful simply to have survived the journey.
"Hahaha! Great-Grandpa, you look so funny!"
Bella floated beside Garp, her little cloud body shaking with laughter as she stared at the bumps covering his head.
Seeing her amusement, Sengoku finally stopped chasing Garp. He brushed the remaining seawater from his clothes, walked over, and crouched in front of the soft little ice cloud.
"So this is the great-granddaughter I heard about. Kuzan's student?"
He reached out and poked Bella's cheek. A cool, firm sensation traveled through his fingertip, and a rare smile appeared on Sengoku's usually stern face.
"Making me suffer a loss that badly on our first meeting… You're pretty impressive."
"Of course she is! Look whose great-granddaughter she is!"
Even while clutching his battered head, Garp puffed out his chest proudly.
"I wasn't complimenting you, Garp."
Sengoku shut him down without even turning around.
He then looked toward the Marines behind them, all of whom had changed into Wano-style samurai clothing, and lowered his voice so only the people nearby could hear.
"Our priority is to stay out of Cain and Kaido's battle. This Marine operation cannot become public knowledge under any circumstances."
"Whether you look at it morally or strategically, there's no version of this story that reflects particularly well on us if it gets out."
"So once we finish preparing Wano's facilities for Kaido's imprisonment, we take the defeated pirates into custody and leave immediately. Understood?"
"Understood, understood!"
Garp nodded enthusiastically, still rubbing the bumps on his head.
Sengoku stared at him for several seconds.
"…You understood absolutely nothing."
He gave up and returned to the important matter.
"Forget it. We didn't bring the usual people this time, so some of this will have to be left to you. Just remember one thing: every pirate we imprison needs hair, nail, and blood samples collected and properly documented."
"After what happened with Blackbeard, the Marines have tightened procedures from the ground up."
"This is a new policy Headquarters introduced recently. Every batch of captured pirates must now have Vivre Cards created during transport, with the cards stored in the central archive and linked to their bounty records."
"That way, if something goes wrong during transport, we won't have to wait for intelligence to trickle back before beginning a search. With a Vivre Card already on hand, our pursuit efficiency increases dramatically."
"Oh, so that's the idea!"
The instant Garp heard the word pursuit, his eyes lit up.
"Then hand all the Vivre Cards to me. If any of them escape, I'll chase every last one down personally!"
"You're already retired. Leave a few opportunities for the younger generation."
Sengoku laughed, then added,
"Still, we do owe Cain for the idea. If he hadn't casually suggested it before, the Marines' ability to recapture escaped pirates wouldn't have improved nearly this much."
"Hehe! My Papa's amazing, right?"
Bella wiggled proudly the moment Cain was praised.
"Yes, he is."
Sengoku gently rubbed her cool head and smiled again.
Garp, meanwhile, turned toward the Marines and waved one arm.
"Everyone, throw your Marine uniforms back into storage! Move the warships somewhere hidden and make sure nobody sees them!"
The samurai disguises were necessary.
No matter how deeply connected many of these soldiers were to Wano, they were still Marines.
More than a year of training and service had already turned the Marines into a second home for these Wano-born soldiers. Because of that, whether the order came from Sengoku or Garp, they followed it without hesitation.
Once everything was arranged, Garp scratched his head.
He had the nagging feeling that he had forgotten something.
Then he shrugged.
Probably nothing important.
Soon, all three warships quietly left the harbor and concealed themselves behind remote cliffs where nobody was likely to find them.
The Marine uniforms being thrown back into the storage hold, however, became the final straw for one extremely unfortunate passenger.
Admiral Ryokugyu—Aramaki—was still stuffed inside a burlap sack.
His mouth had been packed so tightly with cloth that he couldn't speak or even make a proper sound. Hunger had left him dizzy and weak, his entire body was wrapped in Seastone chains, and the sack was wedged so tightly among the surrounding supplies that he couldn't even throw himself around enough to attract attention.
…
Back on Onigashima, Cain and Kaido were still fighting.
This time, however, their battle had become even more terrifying.
"Hah… hah… You're nearly finished, aren't you, Cain?"
Kaido was breathing heavily, his chest rising and falling with each ragged breath.
"Hah… you're not looking much better yourself, Kaido."
Cain refused to give him the satisfaction, though his breathing was noticeably steadier.
For two full days, neither had eaten nor drunk anything. Both had fought through severe injuries by relying on the regenerative power of their awakened Zoan fruits to repeatedly repair their bodies.
But Awakening could restore damaged flesh and bone.
It could not create energy from nothing.
Without food, water, or any other external source of fuel, the relentless high-intensity fighting and repeated physical regeneration had allowed exhaustion and pain to accumulate layer upon layer deep inside their bodies.
Even their Haki, if someone absurdly tried measuring it by weight, had probably been burned through by several tons at this point.
The sheer scale of their expenditure was enough to exhaust a three-billion-Berry pirate like Kid to death several times over.
Yet both men were still standing.
Neither had fallen.
"Then let's settle this with one final attack, Cain!"
Black lightning erupted more violently around Kaido than ever before.
Scorching flames with the heat of molten rock wrapped around his body as he transformed into the Azure Dragon. Fierce winds gathered around those flames, making his already enormous form appear even more overwhelming.
This was everything Kaido had left in his awakened state, condensed into one final attack.
"Great Torch of Fire and Thunder: Wind-Thunder Flame Dragon Bagua!!"
"Perfect. I was thinking the same thing."
Cain grinned despite his exhaustion.
"Though the more I look at that move, the more it feels like you copied my Asura Path."
Then he paused.
"No, wait. Mine was copied from yours in the first place…"
Still smiling, Cain forced his exhausted body to activate the complete Six Paths of Reincarnation.
Heavenly Path.
Much like Luffy's Gear Four, Armament Haki flooded every part of Cain's body. His scales turned pitch-black, their edges reflecting the faintest hint of pink.
Human Path Pro Max.
His presence disrupted Kaido's Observation Haki and interfered with his ability to accurately read what was coming.
Animal Path.
Cain manipulated the massive scale of his Azure Dragon form through his limbs, transforming into a dragon-headed giant nearly a hundred meters tall.
Hell Path.
All the raw power belonging to his full dragon body was compressed into his humanoid dragon form.
Asura Path.
Cain recreated his own version of Kaido's Great Torch of Fire and Thunder.
And finally—
the one Path Cain had never shown before.
Preta Path.
Just as its name suggested, Cain gathered every current of energy throughout his body and opened his jaws.
The lightning and flames that had been spilling outward and colliding around him, along with the violent thunder, cyclones, and infernal heat generated by Asura Path, were all devoured as fuel.
Through Life Return, Cain forcibly digested that energy and stored every last bit of it inside his own body.
Several of the Six Paths had once carried unavoidable drawbacks. Every use placed tremendous stress on his body and could cause serious backlash.
But Cain had now completely mastered his Zoan Awakening.
Those former side effects could no longer threaten him.
And because he knew that, he held absolutely nothing back.
For the opponent standing before him, Cain would pour everything he possessed into one final attack.
That was the highest respect he could offer.
Cain launched himself high into the sky.
His body became a burning comet.
Then he descended toward Kaido and unleashed an attack so simple that it almost seemed plain compared with everything that had come before.
"Eighty Gods Vacuum Strike!!"
Every ounce of Cain's accumulated strength descended with the blow.
Kaido did not retreat.
He charged directly into it.
Only when the two attacks truly collided did Kaido finally understand just how much Cain had still been hiding.
"You brat…"
Even as the devastating pressure bore down upon him, Kaido refused to yield.
"You actually had this much left?!"
The shockwaves rolled outward in expanding rings.
Several kilometers of land were caught in the impact. The ground cracked apart, and shattered stone was ripped upward instead of falling.
Fortunately, Uta reacted immediately.
She pulled everyone nearby into Uta World and reduced the domain's transparency as much as possible, allowing the others to watch what was happening outside from relative safety.
The sight was horrifying.
For what felt like an eternity, neither side gave way.
Then came the final, deafening impact.
BOOM!!
Cain drove his staff through.
Blood erupted from Kaido's mouth as his body was finally hurled backward beyond his control.
Falling through the air, Kaido stared up at the figure who had knocked him from the sky.
Then, unexpectedly, he smiled.
"I have to admit it…"
His voice carried no resentment.
"Right now, you're stronger than me."
Kaido's enormous form rapidly began to shrink.
Within moments, he had reverted to his ordinary state.
His body fell like a meteor and smashed through the lower levels of Onigashima, crashing directly into the ammunition and explosives stored deep beneath the island.
The detonation was immediate.
One explosion triggered another, then another, until a chain of blasts tore upward from the deepest levels.
Flames and shockwaves erupted in every direction.
The entirety of Onigashima shook violently, and even the ice Bella had previously reinforced began melting under the heat as the broken island started sinking once more.
Cain, meanwhile, had finally reached his limit.
His consciousness blurred.
Control slipped from his body.
And he began falling toward the destruction below.
"Cain!"
Inside Uta World, Uta reacted without hesitation.
She launched herself forward, summoned her thrusters, and flew directly toward the heart of the explosion.
Yamato transformed into her Ōkuchi-no-Makami form and followed immediately.
King spread the black wings unique to the Lunarian race and flew after them as well.
"Wait!"
Queen stared from inside his ice sphere as King simply took off.
"You can fly?! Aren't you wearing Seastone shackles?!"
King didn't even turn around.
"The Seastone concentration is low. It prevents me from using my Devil Fruit, but my wings still work."
Queen's face twisted in outrage.
"So you've been sitting there watching the whole damn time?!"
"When I get out of here, I swear I'm tearing you into eight pieces!"
King gave his wings another beat.
"…Who cares?"
Then he accelerated after the others.