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"Second Uncle? I have no idea who you are, and I certainly didn't adopt any little brothers. Don't go making up family connections."
Admiral Kizaru's perpetually drowsy expression flickered with genuine puzzlement. When exactly had he become someone's second uncle? Why did this person just casually invent relatives?
"Hahaha! Just a joke. So, Admiral Kizaru, what brings you all the way out here?"
Kaito kept his face perfectly straight, very deliberately not laughing at the expression looking back at him.
"Surely you know why I'm here." Kizaru tilted his head slightly. "For my sake, would you consider handing the Celestial Dragon over?"
Kaito blinked. For a moment he genuinely thought he was looking at Shanks. Since when did Kizaru talk like that?
"That's a difficult ask. He wanted to make my people into personal slaves." Kaito spread his hands. "As a man, what would you have done?"
Kizaru was quiet for a moment. Something in his eyes settled into something more serious than his usual expression allowed for.
"So there's no room to negotiate."
Kaito didn't answer. He just shrugged, which was answer enough.
Kizaru said nothing further. His form dissolved into light and vanished.
"Zegion."
"Yes, Kaito-sama!"
Bang.
"Impossible."
Kizaru reappeared with Zegion already in front of him, fist extended, and genuine disbelief on his face. His opponent hadn't used Armament Haki. He hadn't used any Haki at all. And yet the blow had landed on his physical body as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
Before he could process that, the follow-up hit him in the stomach.
Whoosh. Bang.
He skidded back across the ground, the lazy slouch gone from his posture entirely. He straightened up, fixed his eyes on Zegion standing calmly in front of the Celestial Dragon, and for the first time in a long while looked like a man who was taking something seriously.
"Go, Admiral Kizaru! I believe in you!"
Kaito cupped his hands around his mouth from the side. "You're not actually going to lose to one of my subordinates, are you? Surely not! There is no way!"
Kizaru, who had not been genuinely pushed in quite some time, felt something rare stir in his chest. He raised both hands, and light gathered in his palms.
"[Yasakani Sacred Jewel!]"
The Glint-Glint Fruit's power surged, and a storm of golden light projectiles blazed toward Zegion from every direction.
"It appeared! The Yasakani Jewel!!!"
The enthusiasm in Kaito's commentary gave Kizaru just enough pause that his activation stuttered for half a second. Where does this person get these descriptions from? He shook it off and focused.
Ding ding ding ding ding...
The barrage consumed Zegion's position completely. Smoke and dust billowed up in a wide column.
No screaming.
Instead, a dry metallic clanging, like projectiles striking something very hard.
Kaito waved a hand. A sharp gust appeared from nowhere and swept the dust clean in an instant.
Zegion was standing exactly where he had been, completely unmarked, looking as though nothing of particular interest had just occurred.
"Oh dear." Kizaru looked at him. "This is going to be a problem."
He was still working through his options when Zegion's silhouette began flickering, there and not there, in and out of visibility like a bad signal.
"What is that? Some kind of Devil Fruit effect?"
His instincts kicked in before the question finished forming.
"[Iron Body: Steel!]"
Armament Haki flooded across his entire body. He crossed his arms in front of him.
Clang.
Zegion's fist connected with the cross-block and drove Kizaru backward across the ground for several dozen meters. The impact ran up both arms and detonated somewhere at the back of his skull.
Zegion withdrew his fist without changing expression.
"Did you block it."
It was not quite a question.
"Kowai ne." Kizaru flexed his hands carefully. "Strong as a monster." He glanced toward the Den Den Mushi on his belt. "Sengoku-san, I don't think I'm going to be able to complete this mission."
Two exchanges had been enough. Whoever this was, he was not below any of the Four Emperors. And the man watching from the side, the one clearly running this entire operation, Kizaru had serious doubts about him as well.
"Who exactly are you people? Nobody with this kind of power just appears out of nowhere."
His gaze moved to Kaito.
"Heh heh. Since you asked so nicely, we have nothing to hide." Kaito smiled. "We're from the Jura-Tempest Federation."
Kizaru's pupils contracted.
He knew the name. It had been in the reports more than once recently. Sengoku had mentioned something about potential Admiral-level combatants within its forces. Kizaru had filed that away as cautious speculation.
It was not speculation. Standing here, watching Zegion, he revised his assessment completely. And that was just the one in front of him. He did not believe for a single moment that the man giving orders was weaker.
Fleet Admiral Sengoku, he thought, you have put me in a genuinely terrible position. This stopped being a rescue operation some time ago. The question now is whether he could walk Rear Admiral Will and the rest of the Marines out of here in one piece.
Kizaru let out a slow breath, raised both hands, and smiled his usual unhurried smile.
"Kowai ne. Everyone here is strong as a monster. I surrender."
"The Celestial Dragon is yours. Brother, might I be permitted to take these ones with me?" He tilted his chin toward Rear Admiral Will and the assembled Marines.
Kaito stared at him.
He had genuinely not expected Kizaru to fold after two exchanges. Was this man secretly working for the Revolutionary Army? He just gave up on saving the Celestial Dragon entirely?
Then again, looking at it honestly, he had no particular reason to dislike Kizaru. In his previous life, as someone who had lived through the grind of a 996 work schedule, there was something deeply relatable about a man who had elevated laziness into an art form. A true master of doing the absolute minimum.
"Fine. I'll give you that courtesy. Take your Marines."
He let the smile drop slightly.
"But I'm keeping the Celestial Dragon. In ten days, I will publicly execute this man. Go back and tell the World Government: if they want him alive, they're welcome to come and take him from the Jura-Tempest Federation."
The idea had been forming since he first thought about it. The Summit War in One Piece. He had always wanted to see something like that in person. Why not stage one himself? And there was a practical element to it as well.
The Marines were exactly what his army currently lacked: a fully mature, deeply systematized military organization, from the lowest recruit all the way up to Fleet Admiral level. Training infrastructure, chain of command, institutional knowledge. The Jura-Tempest Federation's soldiers were individually fearsome, but regularity was a different thing entirely.
Absorbing that would be worth quite a lot.
"Hehehe. Your words are quite terrifying." Kizaru inclined his head. "I will pass them along faithfully. I do hope you will be lenient when we meet again."
"That depends entirely on whether you come quietly."
"Hehehe. Then I will thank you in advance." He turned. "Will, get everyone together. We're leaving."
"Yes, Admiral Kizaru!"
Will saluted sharply and moved to rally his adjutant.
Zegion drifted close to Kaito and kept his voice low.
"Kaito-sama. We're simply letting them go?"
"Yes. Every one of them is a future subordinate of mine."
Ririka tilted her head. "Kaito-nii, aren't they the enemy?"
Kaito watched Kizaru and the Marines withdrawing and laughed.
"Enemy? Hardly. Sooner or later, the people and the territory will carry my name."