Chapter 266
Kaido's dragon roar rolled across Whole Cake Island while his golden eyes searched the immediate battlefield.
He did not possess some island-wide radar capable of identifying every heartbeat under the rubble, but he could sense the strongest presences around the ruined harbor, and the one he wanted most was no longer standing in front of Linlin.
His attention shifted to her, and for several seconds, even Kaido stopped speaking.
Linlin was badly wounded: cuts marked both arms and one shoulder, blood ran down her side from the last exchange, and the surrounding ruins made it obvious how hard she had been driven.
She still had both arms, though that fact did not make the sight much less surprising.
Kaido lowered his enormous dragon head. "Linlin."
Her eyes lifted.
"What the hell happened?"
Linlin's face twisted. "Don't ask stupid questions!"
"Where's Zaraki?"
"If I knew, I'd already be killing him!"
Kaido's nostrils flared. "You let him get away?"
The ground beneath Linlin cracked. "KAIDOOOO!"
Katakuri immediately stepped between several younger siblings and the two Emperors, while Kaido's gaze moved over the ruined harbor again.
Then another name escaped Linlin's mouth.
"Ethanbaron!"
The people close enough to hear went still.
Linlin threw her head back toward the sky.
"ETHANBARON V. NUSJURO! I KNOW THIS WHOLE DAMNED MESS WAS YOUR GOVERNMENT'S IDEA!"
Behind a broken section of fondant wall, Morgans nearly stopped breathing; his broadcast Den Den Mushi was still live.
Stussy heard the name as well, and though her expression did not change much, the tension behind her eyes sharpened immediately.
Whatever deniability the Government had possessed was now in serious danger.
Linlin continued roaring. "You gave me the route! You told me your trap would weaken him! My son is dead, my island is wrecked, and that brat walked away after cutting me!"
Kaido's eyes narrowed. "So Nusjuro really was behind this."
Linlin pointed one bloodied hand toward the sky.
"If the World Government thinks I'm cleaning up their failure for free, they can choke on it! Bring me Zaraki's head, or this arrangement is over!"
No answer came.
Nusjuro had already withdrawn to the Government vessel outside the main harbor before the public tea party began, and whether he heard Linlin directly or through the covert relay no longer mattered.
The entire world had heard her.
Morgans' feathers trembled. 'Now that is big news.'
Kaido gave a low growl.
He had no interest in standing around while Linlin screamed at politicians.
"If Zaraki ran, I'll find him myself."
Katakuri looked toward the outer sea. "Mama, the Kuja ship is leaving."
Linlin turned.
Far beyond the damaged harbor, the ornate Kuja vessel was already being pulled toward open water by its two Yuda.
Hancock stood at the bow, but Gion was no longer visible from the shore, and neither was Zaraki.
Linlin's expression darkened. "They helped him take my hostage."
Perospero licked the end of his candy cane. "And they're carrying the hostage away, Mama."
That was enough.
"PROMETHEUS!" The living sun rushed beneath Linlin and expanded, and she stepped onto the Homie rather than doing the impossible and running across seawater.
"I'LL DEAL WITH THOSE SNAKE WOMEN FIRST!"
Kaido snorted. "I'm not wasting time on them." His dragon body twisted upward. "I'm finding Zaraki."
Katakuri frowned. "You don't know which route he took."
Kaido looked down at him.
"I'll figure it out."
Then he surged into the clouds.
Katakuri did not try to hover in front of the dragon or physically stop him, and instead remained on the broken upper terrace, watching Kaido disappear toward the outer routes.
The operation Nusjuro and Dapus had arranged was finished in every meaningful sense: Linlin had turned on the Government, Kaido had abandoned the plan, and Zaraki had escaped the center of the battlefield with Gion alive.
Nothing remained under anyone's control.
...
Farther out, the Kuja ship moved as fast as the Yuda could pull it.
Marigold and Sandersonia shouted course corrections while the crew secured loose equipment and cleared the damaged deck.
Inside one of the cabins, Zaraki sat against the wall with his coat pulled away from the deep cut in his left shoulder, Nozarashi sealed again beside him, while a Kuja medic worked quickly over the wound. Gion sat opposite him with her restrained wrists resting on her knees.
"You actually listened when I told you to sit down."
"Don't make it weird."
"You were falling over."
"I was walking."
"You nearly walked into the wall."
"That wall moved."
Gion stared at him, and despite everything, a weak laugh escaped her before she winced at her own injuries.
Outside, Hancock remained at the bow, her eyes fixed on Whole Cake Island.
Then Sandersonia shouted, "Sister!"
Hancock turned around.
A burning sun was racing over the water behind them.
Charlotte Linlin was coming after them!
...
The sight of Charlotte Linlin pursuing them aboard Prometheus turned the Kuja deck silent for half a heartbeat.
Then Marigold shouted, "Full speed! Don't let the Yuda slow down!"
The two enormous snakes strained harder against their harnesses, churning the sea white behind the ship.
Hancock's expression became colder.
The greatest predators in the New World had already torn the tea party apart, and now one of them had chosen the Kuja Pirates as the next target.
Not because they had witnessed some secret that Morgans had not already broadcast to half the world (that excuse no longer existed), but because Hancock had defied her, helped recover Gion, and was now carrying the Marine Vice Admiral out of Totto Land.
Perospero understood that perfectly well.
He had joined the pursuit aboard a fast candy platform supported by one of the remaining Big Mom vessels, and his voice carried over the water.
"Mama! Don't let them escape!" He pointed toward the Kuja ship. "Hancock helped that brat steal back the Marine! If she leaves with Gion, everyone will laugh at us!"
Linlin's rage found the target immediately.
"BOA HANCOCK!" Prometheus surged faster.
High above and in the opposite direction, Kaido's dragon form disappeared deeper into the cloud cover as he searched the outer routes for Zaraki, having no interest in Hancock.
Katakuri watched both pursuits from the Charlotte vessel following Linlin.
His Observation Haki swept the immediate waters and the retreating ship as far as he could reliably distinguish individual presences, but Zaraki was no longer standing openly on deck, and the Kuja vessel was moving farther away amid dozens of other strong signatures.
He could not identify him with certainty, though that was very different from Zaraki vanishing from existence.
Smoothie stepped beside him. "Do you think he's on that ship?"
Katakuri's eyes narrowed. "Maybe."
"That's not like you."
"I don't guess when I can't see the answer."
A sudden flare of heat interrupted them. Linlin raised one hand while Zeus and Prometheus answered together, fire and lightning compressing into a violent mass over the water.
"Heavenly Feuer Blitz!" The combined attack tore toward the Kuja ship.
Hancock saw it coming, and there was no chance of stopping that much force head-on.
She launched herself from the bow and coated one leg in Armament Haki, twisting in the air until her heel struck the outer edge of the incoming blast.
The contact almost tore her leg numb immediately.
She did not petrify the elemental attack; she simply used the physical force of the kick and her Haki to knock its trajectory several degrees sideways.
That was barely enough.
Heavenly Feuer Blitz screamed past the stern and detonated against the sea.
BOOOOM—!