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Kaido had fallen.
He and Jin had thrown everything they had into one final, cataclysmic strike. But Jin had pushed further—shattering his own limits to claim victory.
He was stronger now than he had been in his battle against Whitebeard.
Evolution raised his baseline stats, but it was battle that truly honed them. Each fight sharpened his skills, teaching him how to wield that raw power. His last-second breakthrough was no coincidence, no miracle pulled from thin air. It was the culmination of endless practice, the stored experience of clashing with the world's strongest.
He had drawn something from all of them—Whitebeard, Big Mom, Shanks, Loki, Gaban, even Kaido himself—and that accumulated power had become the key to shattering his limits.
"Hah..."
Jin took a slow breath, his body beginning to recover. He was covered in his own wounds and blood. This had been no easy victory.
The island was now silent.
For kilometers in every direction, the force of their final clash had obliterated the landscape, carving a deep, desolate crater into the earth. The island's network of mines had collapsed in on itself, splitting the ground with massive fissures.
The scars of their battle were a testament to its terrifying scale.
Jin's gaze swept across the devastation.
Kaido... defeated.
It was news that would shake the world to its core.
But—
Jin's brow furrowed slightly.
It was an empty title. It brought him no real benefit. His reputation was already formidable enough—he didn't need this particular achievement. It would only draw the World Government's unwanted attention, marking him as a major threat and inviting further scrutiny. And now, on the cusp of his third evolution with several new Devil Fruits in his possession, he had no desire for complications.
Besides, the balance of power—the "Three Great Powers" of the Warlords, the Yonko, and the Marines—was a stable structure in the eyes of the Five Elders. If one of the Yonko were to disappear, would the Warlords still be necessary?
Once the common enemy was gone, the tools used to keep them in check were no longer needed. The Warlord system had been abolished just two years after Whitebeard's death. It had looked like a victory for the member nations, but in reality, the Five Elders had simply decided that the new "Seraphim" could replace the disobedient Warlords. Many reforms never get off the ground without a nod from the top.
Jin reached down, picked up Kaido's mace—the Hassaikai—and walked over to the fallen Emperor, raising the weapon high.
Kaido, bleeding and broken, just laughed. "Worororo... You gonna kill me? Go on, do it."
CRASH.
The Hassaikai slammed into the ground beside Kaido's head. "You owe me your life, Kaido," Jin said, his voice flat.
Kaido looked surprised.
"If you don't kill me now," he wheezed, "I'll be back to kill you."
Jin was unfazed. "Then come. I'll be waiting."
After his third evolution, he would be beyond the reach of the Yonko. In terms of both age and potential, the gap between them would only continue to widen.
"A world without a worthy opponent..." Jin said with a calm confidence, "...would be boring, wouldn't it?"
Kaido stared at him for a moment, then let out a booming laugh.
"That's right! A world like that would be so damn boring, it'd be better to just destroy it!"
"I want to start the greatest war the world has ever seen," Kaido declared, his voice regaining some of its strength. "To drag those who are born 'noble,' those who wallow in their comfortable little lives, onto the battlefield. That is true equality. That is true freedom. Only war can determine a man's true worth."
For most of his life, Kaido had just... existed. He was the World's Strongest Creature, but he lacked the vision to match. He still thought like a street thug, and many of his actions were more akin to those of a gang boss than a true Emperor of the Sea.
It wasn't just Jin's opinion. Whitebeard, Big Mom, Shanks—all the world's major powers saw him the same way.
"The greatest war?" Jin repeated. "You'll see it. Can't you feel it? The winds of the new era..."
Kaido transformed into his dragon form, snatched up the Hassaikai, and flew off into the sky.
Jin activated the carrier's Repair function, his wounds knitting themselves closed. He then pulled out a fresh set of clothes.
'Ochoku got away quick,' he thought. 'But his treasure should still be here, right?'
A pirate of his stature had to have a private stash. Maybe there would be a nice little surprise waiting for him.
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"Zephyr-sensei, look!" Ain pointed to the sky.
A dragon was disappearing into the clouds.
"Kaido," Zephyr said, his eyes narrowed.
Zephyr's Neo Marines had been the fastest to arrive on Hachinosu, having followed the trail of the battle.
"Hey..." Shuzo said, his voice muffled by the bandages wrapped around his face. "You don't think that king got himself killed, do you?" He'd taken a blow from Kaido's mace and was lucky to be alive.
"No way!" Ain exclaimed.
"Who knows?" Shuzo retorted. "This is Hachinosu. It's crawling with pirates. He could have been ambushed."
A knot of tension formed in their stomachs. Zephyr's expression turned grim. Hachinosu was Ochoku's territory—a pirate from the Rocks era, with his own connections to Kaido.
"What do we do, Zephyr-sensei?" Binz asked.
All eyes turned to Zephyr.
He took a deep breath. "We're already here. We can't just leave him. Prepare to storm the island. Rescue is the priority."
Not a single member of his crew objected. This was a team built on Zephyr's personal charisma. His orders were absolute.
They cautiously approached the port, but there was no cannon fire, no resistance.
"Strange..."
"It's too quiet."
"What's going on?"
They jumped onto the docks and looked up.
The entire island was a wasteland of rubble, littered with the unconscious bodies of pirates.
They were all stunned.
Could a human have caused this much destruction?
"They're not dead, Zephyr-sensei," Ain said, checking the pulse of one of the pirates. "Just unconscious."
"The shockwave from their Conqueror's Haki clash," Zephyr analyzed, his eyes scanning the battlefield. "It knocked out everyone on the island."
"Everyone... on the island..." Shuzo's jaw dropped. Hachinosu wasn't a small place. How strong did your Haki have to be to do something like that?
"Is this... the greatest battle in the world?" Binz whispered, a shiver running down his spine. "It's terrifying."
"So Ochoku's crew was wiped out?" Ain said, frowning. "Where did they go?"
Zephyr scanned the area. He couldn't make sense of it either.
"Hey! Someone's trapped over here!" a crewman shouted. They rushed over and lifted a massive slab of rock.
The man trapped beneath, seeing their uniforms, immediately drew a flintlock.
"Look out!"
Zephyr's Observation Haki flared. He leaped forward, and his massive right fist shattered the rock, taking down the pirate along with it.
The rescued crewman stammered his thanks.
"Everyone on this island is a pirate," Zephyr said, his voice cold. "Don't let these bastards fool you."
"Sir!"
"Ain, Shuzo, Binz, round up these pirates. I'm going to scout ahead."
"Let me go with you, Zephyr-sensei!"
"No need."
Zephyr used Moonwalk to move deeper into the island. The farther he went, the worse the destruction became. He could imagine the ferocity of the battle, and he was shaken.
A short while later, he stopped.
Jin was walking out of a hidden mine shaft, having just transferred Ochoku's savings and treasures into his Munch-Munch space. He'd sensed someone approaching and had thought Ochoku had returned.
He looked the man over. Though they had never met, he immediately recognized him: the former Marine Admiral, "Black Arm" Zephyr.
"King Jin," Zephyr said, introducing himself first. The unspoken message was clear: We're on the same side. Don't shoot.
"I am Zephyr, leader of the Neo Marines."
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