Chapter 274
The air itself seemed to solidify beneath Kaido's murderous intent, becoming thick, heavy, and suffocating as his threat rolled down over the Oni Slayer.
Zaraki felt the deck groan beneath his boots, while the Marines around him tightened their grips on weapons and railings as though the pressure alone might tear the warship apart.
Then Kaido changed form.
The colossal azure dragon dominating the sky began to contract with startling speed.
Scales vanished, the serpentine body shortened, and brutal limbs and a massive torso took shape until the mythical beast had become an enormous horned man dropping from the heavens with Hassaikai clenched in one hand.
Kaido's human form somehow felt even more oppressive than the dragon.
The power that had been spread across a mountain-sized body now seemed concentrated into a walking mass of muscle and rage, and dense Armament Haki hardened the kanabo as he descended toward the Marine warship.
At the same time, a streak of black crossed the sky.
King beat his wings once and positioned himself between the Red Force and the Oni Slayer.
His cold gaze moved from Shanks to Mihawk before settling on Zaraki's ship, and the meaning was obvious even without words: if Kaido went for Zaraki, King intended to make anyone trying to interfere pay for it.
Kaido came down.
BOOOOM—!!
A massive column of seawater erupted directly in front of the Oni Slayer before Hassaikai reached the deck.
Jinbe had already gone overboard the moment Kaido committed to the attack, using the sea itself to place his body between the descending Emperor and the warship.
The blue-skinned Fish-Man burst from the heart of the water column with Armament Haki coating both fists.
"Fish-Man Karate: Shark Tile True Punch!"
Rather than meeting Hassaikai squarely and pretending he could overpower Kaido head-on, Jinbe struck the side of the descending kanabo at an angle.
The surrounding water moved with the punch, adding the distinctive internal force of Fish-Man Karate and pushing across the weapon's path instead of directly against its full momentum.
For the briefest fraction of a second, the battlefield seemed to hold its breath.
Then the impact detonated.
DOOOONG—!!
Jinbe's entire right arm went numb.
The force blasted him backward and drove his body down through the sea hard enough to raise another curtain of spray, but Hassaikai had been diverted just far enough that it missed the Oni Slayer's bow and crashed into the water beside it instead.
The ocean caved beneath Kaido's strike and erupted a heartbeat later.
The Oni Slayer was shoved sideways by the resulting wave, its hull rocking violently while Marines scrambled to keep the guns and rigging under control.
"JINBE!!"
Kaido's roar was no longer simple irritation.
Someone he considered beneath him had just redirected his attack in front of half the New World, and that alone was enough to turn his rage personal.
Jinbe surfaced several dozen meters away and wiped blood from the corner of his mouth.
A tremor ran through his arm, and every experienced fighter watching could see the truth: he had bought time by redirecting one strike, not matched an Emperor in raw power.
"Kaido," Jinbe said, his voice steady despite the pain. "That man came here as the opponent of the world's greatest swordsman. Interfering in their duel is hardly the conduct of a true warrior."
"A WARRIOR?!"
Kaido burst into harsh laughter.
"DON'T PREACH THAT CRAP TO ME!"
He raised Hassaikai again and swung horizontally, aiming to crush Jinbe before the Fish-Man could get clear.
Jinbe drew both hands into a controlled circle.
Water gathered around his palms as he turned with the current rather than planting himself in front of the kanabo.
"Vagabond Drill!"
The compressed current slammed against Hassaikai and bent the club's trajectory away from the center of the Oni Slayer.
Even redirected, however, the force caught Jinbe and sent him skidding across the surface before he plunged beneath the water again.
BOOOOM—!!
Towering waves crashed outward and hammered the surrounding ships.
The second exchange had been even uglier for Jinbe than the first, but he had accomplished what he intended: Kaido still had not reached Zaraki.
The fragile standoff was over.
As though Kaido's clash with Jinbe had finally given everyone permission to move, an arrogant voice boomed from an amplified Den Den Mushi somewhere inside the Beasts Pirates formation.
"MUHAHAHA! What are you idiots standing around for?!"
"Seal off the entire sea!"
"Not even a damn fly gets out!"
Zaraki's gaze snapped toward the source.
On one of the largest Beasts Pirates command ships stood an absurdly round man with long blond braids, a mechanical lower jaw, and enough weapons built into his body to make the ship around him seem almost restrained by comparison.
Queen the Plague.
Under Queen's orders, the Beasts Pirates strike force began tightening its formation.
Hundreds of cannon barrels turned inward, and ships moved to overlap the obvious escape routes around Kalles.
The surrounding sea was becoming a death trap with only one easy direction left.
There would be no simple route back out if Kaido decided to turn the duel into a full battle.
On another vessel, a horned officer with the features of a saber-toothed tiger leaned over the rail and shouted toward the Red Force with a bloodthirsty grin.
"HEY, RED-HAIR!"
His voice carried across the water.
"YOUR GOOD DAYS ARE OVER! ONCE WE'RE DONE KILLING THAT MARINE, YOU'RE NEXT!"
The provocation was so naked that several pirates on the surrounding spectator ships visibly recoiled.
The air smelled of salt, smoke, and gunpowder, and it felt as though a dozen different conflicts had all had their fuses lit at once.
Kalles had ceased to feel like an island.
It had become a vortex being stirred simultaneously by Emperors, Warlords, the world's greatest swordsman, and the Marine known as the War Demon.
Zaraki had thought the situation could not become any more chaotic.
Naturally, that was exactly when it did.
KRRRRAAAANG—!!
The shriek of tearing metal and splintering timber erupted from the outer edge of the Beasts Pirates blockade.
Panicked shouts followed, then came the heavy thunder of cannons firing at point-blank range.
Every head turned.
A familiar Kuja vessel had smashed into the edge of the formation.
It was the same ship that had escaped Totto Land and later rendezvoused with the Polar Tang before the approach to Kalles.
The vessel still carried scars from Linlin's pursuit, and its bow had been hastily reinforced, but Hancock had apparently decided that staying outside the battlefield was no longer acceptable once Kaido started trying to reach Zaraki.
The Kuja did not attempt to ram through the strongest part of the Beasts Pirates fleet.
They picked one of the smaller vessels on the perimeter and drove the reinforced bow into its flank with brutal precision.
Timber folded, men spilled from the damaged decks, and the Kuja ship used the gap to force its way inward before the blockade could close again.
Surrounded by hulking warships decorated with savage beast imagery, the elegance of the newcomer looked almost absurdly out of place.
Graceful serpent carvings ran along its hull, giving the ship a regal beauty even as splintered timber slid away from its bow.
But it was not the ship itself that made Zaraki's pupils contract.
It was the flag flying high above the mast: a white skull with a long green serpent twisting through one eye socket.
The emblem of the Kuja Pirates.
The symbol of Amazon Lily.
Hancock had come back.