Chapter 135: The Arrogant Kaido!
"What?"
The word escaped Kaido's throat, a guttural sound of genuine, unadulterated disbelief.
For the first time in decades, the bell-like, draconian eyes of the "Strongest Creature" revealed a flicker of undisguised horror. It wasn't fear of death—he courted that daily—but the shock of physical reality defying his expectations.
A terrifying repelling force, equal in magnitude to the world-destroying power of his own swing, rebounded directly from the point of impact.
ZING!
The vibration traveled instantly from the steel of his spiked club, Hassaikai, up through the shaft, and exploded into his hands. He felt a violent surge of kinetic energy tear through the web of his palms. The pain was sharp and electric, nearly causing his grip to fail. The weapon, which weighed over ten thousand pounds and had crushed countless skulls, almost flew out of his hand like a child's toy.
"Nngh!"
BOOM!
The laws of physics exacted their toll. Kaido's mountain-like body, an object that usually stood as immovable as the Red Line itself, was actually flung backward by this rebounding force!
His massive boots, clad in iron and leather, dug into the ground in a desperate attempt to brake. The hard biscuit floor of the venue, reinforced with Big Mom's soul power, screamed under the friction.
SCREECH—!
Two deep, smoking grooves were plowed into the plaza, stretching back nearly a hundred meters. Dust and debris billowed up in his wake. When he finally managed to stabilize his massive frame, smoke was rising from the soles of his feet.
Kaido stood there, chest heaving slightly. He looked down at his right arm. It was trembling. Not from fear, but from the sheer shock of the impact. The numbness in his fingers was a sensation he hadn't felt since his youth.
"Blocked..." he muttered, his voice low and dangerous. "My attack... was blocked?"
He slowly lifted his gaze. Through the settling dust, he looked at the figure standing in front of Suzaku.
Albedo.
The woman in the white dress stood there, elegantly poised. Her black wings were slightly unfurled, casting a shadow over her master. Her dress was pristine; not a single hem was ruffled, not a speck of dust marred her beauty. She looked less like a warrior who had just stopped a Yonko, and more like a queen who had just swatted away a particularly annoying fly.
Silence.
Above the chaotic wedding square, a deathly, suffocating silence descended.
The wind seemed to stop blowing. The screaming Homies fell quiet.
Those Underworld magnates who were lucky enough not to be scared away or blown off the island—emperors of the black market like "Big News" Morgans, "God of Fortune" Du Feld, and the "Queen of the Pleasure District" Stussy—were frozen in place.
Each of them had their mouths wide open, their jaws practically unhinged. Their eyeballs were bulging, threatening to pop out of their sockets. They were witnessing the impossible. A Yonko, the embodiment of physical invincibility, had been pushed back.
"Click... Click..."
Morgans' camera shutter clicked instinctively, though his hands were shaking so hard the photos might be blurry. 'Big news... this is news that will shatter the era!'
On the high platform, Charlotte Katakuri, the man who could see the future, also broke out in a cold sweat. A drop of perspiration slid down his temple, soaking into his scarf.
His eyes, glowing with the red hue of Observation Haki, narrowed sharply.
'I didn't see it...' Katakuri thought, his mind racing. 'In the future I saw, Kaido's club should have crushed the area. But that woman... she altered the outcome with sheer defensive power. As expected, the women of the Suzaku Pirates are not to be underestimated! They are monsters cloaked in human skin.'
The tension in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife. Everyone waited for Kaido's reaction. Would he rage? Would he destroy the island?
"Ugororororo..."
A low rumble started in Kaido's chest. It sounded like a grinder crushing rocks.
"Ugororororo... Ahahahaha!"
After that brief, deathly silence, Kaido suddenly burst into a frenzied, manic laugh. He threw his head back, his thick black mane shaking wildly.
"Interesting... This is damn interesting!"
In his laughter, however, there was no longer the previous blind rage or the drunken stupor. Instead, there was a hint of... morbid excitement. It was the sound of a predator that had finally found prey capable of biting back.
He finally understood!
The gears in his brain clicked into place. He finally understood why Charlotte Linlin, that old hag who trusted no one, would go to such lengths to "protect" this Suzaku Yareon. She wasn't protecting a weakling; she was coveting a powerhouse.
"This kid..." Kaido wiped a tear of laughter from his eye, his grin widening to reveal his sharp teeth. "It turns out he wasn't bragging at all before! He has the fangs to back up his bark!"
Kaido's gaze sharpened. He ignored the stinging pain in his hand. His eyes bypassed Albedo—the woman who had stopped him—and fixed intently on the young man sitting calmly behind her.
Suzaku.
And then, his gaze swept over the others. The man in the red armor with the spiky hair. The man with the strange white bone helmet. The man with the friendly face and ancient armor.
Kaido's instincts, honed by decades of survival in the New World, screamed at him. Their auras were unfathomable. They were deep oceans with no bottom.
As for Jack? The Drought Jack? His loyal subordinate who had been killed?
In Kaido's mind, Jack's death instantly became insignificant.
This was the cruelty of the beast. For someone like Kaido, strength was the only absolute law. Even if the death of his subordinates would sadden him or anger him, the dead were dead. They could not provide him with the thrill of battle. They could not help him destroy the world.
But these newly appeared individuals... they were vibrant. They were powerful. They were alive.
He had heard rumors before that the Suzaku Pirates possessed many "Mythical Zoan Types." He had dismissed it as exaggeration. But now, sensing the strange energies radiating from Albedo and the others, he was convinced.
What appeared before his eyes was not one, but several top-tier warriors who felt like "Mythical Zoan" users he had never seen before!
"Hey, Suzaku Brat!"
Kaido slammed the butt of his spiked club heavily onto the ground.
THOOM!
The immense sound made everyone's hearts jump in their chests. The shockwave cleared the dust around him.
He roared in an undeniable, almost condescending tone, his voice booming like thunder across the venue.
"I've changed my mind! I can let go of the Jack incident! I will forget he ever died!"
He extended a massive, calloused hand toward Suzaku, palm open.
"Bring all your subordinates and join my Beasts Pirates! Become my crew! With your power and my army, we can crush the World Government! We can find the One Piece! We can start the greatest war this world has ever seen!"
Kaido's eyes burned with greed.
"How about it? This condition is generous enough, isn't it! I'll even give you a Lead Performer position!"
As soon as these words came out, the atmosphere shifted from terror to sheer absurdity.
Even the members of the BIG MOM Pirates showed expressions of utter confusion. Perospero almost dropped his candy cane. Smoothie looked at Kaido as if he had grown a second head.
This guy... after his attack was fruitless, after he was repelled and humiliated, his first reaction was actually to recruit the enemy?
"Is he insane?" someone whispered.
"No," another replied shakily. "That's Kaido. He collects monsters."
As expected of Kaido, his thought process was indeed different from ordinary people. He was a maniac for strength.
"Pfft..."
A sound cut through Kaido's booming declaration.
It was a laugh. Not a manic laugh like Kaido's, but a light, amused chuckle.
Suzaku finally couldn't help but laugh out loud. He covered his mouth with one hand, his shoulders shaking slightly.
"Albedo," Suzaku said softly.
"Yes, Lord Suzaku."
"You may return to my side."
Albedo bowed gracefully, folded her wings, and stepped back to stand behind his right shoulder, her golden eyes still locked onto Kaido with predatory vigilance.
Suzaku then looked at Kaido. His expression was not one of fear, or awe, or even anger. He looked at the Yonko as if he were looking at a hopeless, uneducated fool.
He shook his head slowly, a sigh escaping his lips.
"Kaido, oh Kaido... It seems you still haven't figured out the current situation."
His voice was full of pity. It was the tone of a teacher disappointed in a slow student.
"As expected of a Yonko, this arrogance is truly ingrained to the bone. You think you are the hunter, simply because you have stood at the top for so long."
Suzaku stood up from his seat. He brushed an invisible speck of dust from his coat.
He extended his finger, slowly and deliberately, pointing to each of his companions beside him.
"Allow me to give you a brief introduction, so you understand exactly how foolish your offer is."
He pointed to the man with the long black hair and red armor.
"That one," Suzaku said, his voice echoing clearly, "is Uchiha Madara! The Ghost of the Uchiha. A man whose name alone was enough to stop wars in his world."
As the name was spoken, Madara crossed his arms. A spike of chakra, sharp and burning like hellfire, erupted from him. It was a killing intent so focused it felt like a blade pressing against Kaido's throat.
Suzaku moved his finger to the man with the wooden armor.
"That one is Hashirama Senju! The God of Shinobi. The only man capable of taming the beasts of legend."
Hashirama offered a polite, awkward smile, but the air around him suddenly became heavy with vitality. It felt as if a massive, ancient forest was suddenly pressing down on the plaza. The sheer volume of his energy was suffocating.
"That one," Suzaku pointed to the pale man with green tear marks, "is Ulquiorra Cifer. The 4th Espada. The embodiment of Nothingness."
Ulquiorra didn't move. He didn't smile. He simply released a fraction of his Reiatsu. The air turned cold and dense, smelling of despair and emptiness. It was a sensation entirely alien to the world of Haki.
"And the one who just attacked," Suzaku gestured to the woman beside him, "was Albedo. The Guardian Overseer of the Great Tomb of Nazarick."
Albedo smiled, a dark, terrifying smile that promised pain. Her aura was thick and black, a wall of absolute defense and crushing gravity.
Each time he named someone, that person's aura would subtly release a trace of their power. Just a trace. But that trace was enough to make the surrounding air ripple, cracking the biscuit floor and causing the weaker pirates to faint foaming at the mouth.
Finally, Suzaku's finger stopped.
He pointed it directly at Kaido's nose.
"Now, Kaido. Look around you."
Kaido blinked. He subconsciously looked around.
Unbeknownst to him, in the brief moment Suzaku was speaking, the four people whose names were called had already moved.
They were no longer standing behind Suzaku.
Hashirama was to his North.
Madara was to his South.
Ulquiorra was to his East.
Albedo was to his West.
They had moved to four different directions with speed that bypassed perception, completely surrounding him... along with the hundred-meter-square area beneath his feet!
The geometry of the battlefield had shifted instantly. Kaido was no longer the imposing figure crashing the party. He was the piece on the board that had been checkmated.
A never-before-felt sensation, a cold, slimy feeling named "crisis," for the first time crept into Kaido's heart. It gnawed at his confidence.
Suzaku's smile became incredibly grim. His eyes, usually calm, now shone with the cold light of a ruler.
"You are now surrounded by us."
Suzaku's voice dropped, becoming a whisper that carried across the silent square.
"Do you think you still have the right... to negotiate terms?"
He took a step forward. His footstep sounded like a gavel striking a judge's desk.
"You asked me to join you? No, Kaido."
His voice exploded in Kaido's ears like a clap of thunder.
"Now, it's your turn... to consider how you're going to beg us to spare your life!"
"You...!!"
The realization hit Kaido like a slap in the face.
Humiliation!
This was humiliation a thousand times worse than being defeated head-on! To be surrounded? To be looked down upon? To be told to beg?
Kaido's rage, which had just been suppressed by excitement, erupted like a dormant volcano suddenly doused with boiling oil!
"GRAAAAAAAH!"
His muscles bulged and tensed, doubling in size. His veins coiled under his dark skin like ferocious evil dragons waking from slumber.
Zzzt! CRACK!
The black and red lightning of his Conqueror's Haki (Haoshoku Haki) burst forth from his body. It was so violent it almost tore through the fabric of space itself. The ground around him shattered into dust, floating upward against gravity.
"Don't get... carried away, you damn brats!!"
Kaido let out an inhuman roar, his eyes turning blood-red with killing intent. The dragon scales on his arms shimmered ominously.
"Who do you think I am?!"
"I am... KAIDO!!!"
He raised his spiked club again, this time gripping it tightly with both hands! He pulled it back, his back muscles screaming with tension.
The power gathered on the weapon was several times more terrifying than the casual "Thunder Bagua" from before. The air around the club distorted, forming a vacuum of pure destruction.
Just as a world-shattering battle, a clash capable of sinking the entire Cake Island into the sea, was about to fully erupt!
"Mom."
A low, calm voice cut through the tension on the high platform.
After retreating to safety, Katakuri, who had been silent and observing with his Future Sight, finally couldn't help but speak.
He leaned down, asking Charlotte Linlin beside him, his voice laced with genuine concern.
"Should we... intervene? If Kaido fights them here, the castle will collapse. Totto Land will suffer immense damage."
He paused, glancing at the monsters surrounding Kaido.
"After all, they are your esteemed guests. If we let Kaido attack them, it reflects poorly on us."
"Mamamama!"
Charlotte Linlin let out an extremely joyful, almost childish laugh. But there was nothing innocent about it.
Her enormous face was filled with undisguised excitement, as if she were watching a gladiator match in a coliseum. She grabbed a handful of croquembouche and stuffed it into her mouth, chewing greedily.
She waved her hand dismissively at Katakuri, her pink eyes gleaming with cold calculation and cruel anticipation.
"Don't rush, Katakuri. Don't rush."
She licked the cream from her lips.
"Intervene? Why should we? This is the perfect scenario."
"Let's use this opportunity to let that suicidal fool Kaido thoroughly test for us..."
Her gaze swept over the battlefield. She looked at Kaido, who was surrounded in the center, radiating black lightning. Then she looked at the four figures—Madara, Hashirama, Ulquiorra, Albedo—whose auras were deep like an abyss and vast like the sea.
Finally, her gaze rested on Suzaku. The young man who had been in control of everything from beginning to end.
The smile on Big Mom's lips became even more cruel, revealing the true nature of a Pirate Emperor.
"...just how deep our 'esteemed guests' are truly hiding! If they die, they were trash. If they survive... Mamamama, then we can talk business!"
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