"Ooooooh!"
"Did you hear that? Kaido and Orochi…!"
"Kaido of the Beasts and Kurozumi Orochi have been defeated!"
"Fairy Tail! I don't know who they are, but thank you so much!"
"Saviors! The saviors of Wano have finally arrived!"
"Fairy Tail are the heroes who freed our country!"
"Is this real? Am I not dreaming? Has Wano's dawn truly come?"
"If it's a dream… then please, let me never wake up!"
All across the ravaged lands of Wano, people who had lived in darkness and fear wept and laughed together. The weight of years of despair finally broke, spilling out in tears of relief.
Nine Miles — Boro Town
"How… how could something like this happen?!"
"Kaido-sama… killed? No! That's impossible!"
"The Onigashima fortress holds ten thousand of the Beasts Pirates! How could Fairy Tail defeat them with just a handful of people?"
"I can't believe it—this is madness!"
"Quick, contact Onigashima!"
Holdem, who had stayed behind to watch over Wano, shouted in panic.
"Lord Holdem! We can't reach the island!" a pirate stammered.
"Lord Holdem! The commoners are rioting all over Wano!"
"It's bad! The bandits from Mount Head have joined in and are cutting us down!"
"AAAAHHH!"
Rabbit Bowl Prison
The heart of Wano's mineral wealth—once a place of industry, now a nightmare.
Since the Beasts Pirates took over, Rabbit Bowl had become a vast prison quarry, a factory of weapons built on the backs of enslaved samurai accused under false charges.
Now, chaos reigned.
"Kaido… Kaido-sama has lost?!"
"Hey, that's impossible! That's Kaido!"
"The island should still have our strongest army!"
"Fake! It's all fake!"
"Even if I don't want to believe it… we haven't heard from them since this morning!"
The guards of the Beasts Pirates were losing their nerve.
"Lord Babanuki! What do we do—ah, Lord Babanuki has run away!" someone screamed.
That single cry stirred a storm.
With even the warden fleeing, the rest of the guards broke instantly. One after another, they threw down their weapons and ran.
Within moments, Rabbit Bowl was free.
"Is this real?"
"Are we truly free?"
"Am I dreaming…?"
"Is that in the projection—Lord Sukiyaki and Lord Yasuie?! And the Red Scabbard samurai Denjiro and Princess Hiyori?!"
The prisoners whispered in disbelief.
Then an old man, thin as a skeleton—Hanano Hyogoro—fell to his knees, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"Hahaha! How could it be fake? It's true! It's really true! I don't know who you are, Fairy Tail, but thank you from the bottom of my heart!"
Nearby, the Red Scabbard samurai Kawamatsu laughed aloud, eyes wet.
"Princess Hiyori… nothing could make me happier than knowing you're safe and sound!"
The two cancers that had strangled Wano—Kaido's Beasts Pirates and Kurozumi Orochi—were gone.
From here on, the rest was no longer Fairy Tail's burden.
Ace, Sabo, and Yamato, who had been unable to join the battle on Onigashima, now volunteered to restore order in Kuri, Udon, and other regions alongside Denjiro. With those three protecting the land, the remnants of Kaido's forces were hardly a threat.
Meanwhile, Fairy Tail took residence in the unclaimed shogun's mansion, where the wounded could rest.
The battle against the Emperor of the Sea, Kaido, had ended in victory—but not without cost.
Though Sugisawa Yuuto had triumphed, his body was battered beyond belief. Dozens of bones shattered, his organs bruised—Wendy and Mansherry had already treated him, but full recovery would take time.
After all, his foe had been one of the Four Emperors, the man known as the Strongest Creature in the World—a being who had ruled the seas for nearly a century.
Kaido of the Beasts stood unmatched in power, Devil Fruit mastery, and Haki—a perfect warrior. His final technique, the Flame Dragon Torch, was the peak fusion of those strengths.
No one else in the world could have stood against him.
But Sugisawa Yuuto possessed the Fire Dragon Slayer Magic.
Kaido's blazing inferno, deadly to any other opponent, had become Yuuto's fuel—his nourishment.
That was the reason he could overpower the Emperor in their final clash, when lightning and flame collided in the skies above Onigashima.
Taking advantage of the energy surge, Yuuto closed in and severed one of Kaido's massive arms.
Had the island's explosives not detonated, Yuuto suspected he could have taken one of the dragon's legs too.
Nightfall — The Shogun's Mansion
Moonlight spilled through the paper screens.
Sugisawa Yuuto leaned lazily against the window sill, gazing at the sakura petals drifting under the silver glow.
His wounds were healing, but Fairy Tail's chief steward, Mirajane, had strictly ordered him to rest—and forbade anyone from disturbing him. Especially the ever-persistent Juvia and Nami.
All celebrations would wait until Yuuto was fully recovered.
Mira's word was law in the guild; no one dared argue.
After a few cups of sake, Yuuto, pleasantly drunk, was about to lie down when—
Clatter.
Soft footsteps approached the door.
"Master Yuuto, are you asleep?"
A gentle voice—feminine, clear as a bell.
It wasn't one of Fairy Tail's members.
Though they hadn't spoken much, Yuuto recognized the voice instantly.
The oiran—Kozuki Hiyori.
"Come in," Yuuto said casually.
"The little one already obtained Miss Mira's permission to visit," she replied, sliding open the door.
"Then, Princess Hiyori," Yuuto said with a faint smile, "what brings you here at this hour? If it's to thank me, there's no need—"
Hiyori hesitated, her words faltering. Gratitude had brought her here, but now, standing before him, she found it hard to speak.
After a pause, she moved gracefully across the tatami, spread a quilt beside him, and quietly lay down.
Yuuto blinked. "...Huh?"
"Come to bed, Yuuto-sama," she whispered, her cheeks tinted pink.
"You understand what you're doing, right?" he asked softly, rising from the window.
Hiyori nodded.
She had already made up her mind before coming.
Yuuto exhaled, shaking his head slightly. He wasn't a monk, nor a fool.
The princess herself had come to him—he would not turn her away.
The petals outside continued to fall, whispering through the night, as the moon hid gently behind the drifting clouds.