The Final War

Flower Capital, Kozuki Oden's execution site. By now, the place was already a complete mess.

Kaido casually tossed aside the pistol in his hand. Looking at the corpse still floating in the oil cauldron, with astonishing heat rising from it, the monster could not help but sigh softly.

"Kozuki Oden, what an incredible man."

"Boss Kaido, what should we do about those guys?"

Queen leaned close to Kaido's ear. "That bastard Oden wouldn't behave himself even in death!"

Just earlier, Kozuki Oden had stood in the oil cauldron, holding his retainers aloft for a full hour.

But Kaido had not honored their wager and set him free.

Before dying, however, Oden had used every bit of his strength to throw the Red-Sheath Samurai, along with an accompanying female ninja, far away.

The survivors had forcibly carved a bloody path through the pirate warriors surrounding the venue and had already fled far away.

"I'll take the Numbers to pursue them."

Queen volunteered.

"Mm."

Kaido nodded.

Although Kozuki Oden, the greatest threat, was already dead, leaving his retainers alive would still be troublesome. They would first see whether they could recruit them. If not, they would eliminate them all.

"One more thing, Kaido."

At that moment, Kurozumi Orochi, his face covered in cold sweat, also came over. "The daimyo of the various regions have gathered their forces as well. They've formed an allied army in Kuri and are already heading toward the Flower Capital."

"Are these samurai idiots?"

Queen mocked, "Kozuki Oden didn't know to wait for them, and they didn't know to act alongside Kozuki Oden?"

That was true. Wano Country's samurai were not weak. If the daimyo who were acting now had acted together with Kozuki Oden earlier, then even if they still could not have won, they would certainly have inflicted immense damage upon the Beasts Pirates!

But instead, Kozuki Oden had rushed ahead to die first, and only then had the daimyo belatedly begun to act.

Wasn't that just courting death?

"Wororororo! How interesting!"

Kaido laughed loudly. "King, gather the men. We can have some fun again."

"Yes, Mr. Kaido." King nodded calmly.

"Oh, right." Kaido suddenly grinned teasingly. "Didn't those two brats keep running off to see Oden these past few days? That stupid girl Yamato even came to plead for Oden. Since that's the case, bring them along this time too!"

"This—"

King hesitated slightly, but in the end, he still nodded. "I understand, Mr. Kaido."

"Wororororo!"

"War?"

Sirius looked up at King standing before him, somewhat doubtful that he had heard correctly. "Uncle King, are you serious?"

He pointed at his own face. "We're still just kids."

"Enough nonsense. This is Mr. Kaido's order."

King's voice was as cold as his appearance whenever he was not eating. "Get ready quickly. We're leaving at once."

With that, he coldly turned and left.

"Sirius, are we going to fight the samurai?" Yamato asked unhappily.

Among those samurai, there might very well be many of Oden's friends.

Sirius spread his hands helplessly. "I don't want to go either, but this is Uncle Kaido's order. We can't refuse."

Yamato puffed out her cheeks like a little pufferfish.

Sirius could not help poking her cheek. Smiling, he said, "How about this? Once we're on the battlefield, we'll focus on protecting ourselves. Unless we're attacked, we won't take the initiative to strike the samurai. Sound good?"

Sirius did consider Oden a friend, but that did not mean Wano Country's samurai were his friends as well.

This attitude was already the limit of what he could do.

Before his friend Oden, Kaido was still Sirius's benefactor.

"Mhm, mhm, mhm." Yamato nodded repeatedly. "Let's do that!"

King had told Sirius and Yamato to prepare, but neither of them had much to prepare. Sirius used the sword bag Oden had given him to carry Enma on his back, while Yamato followed suit and carried Ame no Habakiri. In any case, she was already used to carrying a Spiked Club on her back.

The Beasts Pirates gathered in the large square before the Tenshukaku. By the time Sirius and Yamato arrived, the pirates had almost finished assembling. King was maintaining order there, but Queen was nowhere to be seen.

Sirius brought Yamato over and stood beside King. Naturally, they did not need to stand together with the ordinary pirates.

"Wororororo!"

Thunder rumbled from the sky. A massive dragon emerged from the clouds and slowly lowered its head. "Is everyone here? Then let's set off."

"Understood, Mr. Kaido."

King nodded, then looked toward the gathered pirates. "All hands, move out."

"OH!!!"

The pirates' roars shook the heavens.

Everyone knew that this war would unquestionably be a certain victory, so naturally there was nothing to fear.

Led by the Pillars, the pirates turned one after another and advanced along the main road of the Flower Capital.

King leaped into the air, transforming into a gigantic pterosaur and flying into the sky.

"Huh? What about us?"

Sirius looked utterly bewildered. Were the two of them supposed to run all the way there on their short little legs?

Fortunately, Uncle Kaido had no such intention. Crimson Flame Clouds swept down from the sky and directly wrapped around Sirius and Yamato.

The Flame Clouds carried them upward, depositing them directly onto Kaido's back.

"Wororororo!"

Kaido's deafening voice echoed beside them. "Oden gave you his two swords? Looks like you got along pretty well."

"Hmph."

Yamato snorted and refused to speak to her father. She was still angry.

Sirius, on the other hand, grinned. "Uncle Oden was a generous man."

"Wororororo! Then work hard and grow stronger, brats!"

Kaido laughed loudly. "If you end up unworthy of those two swords, I won't let you off!"

Sirius could not help sighing inwardly. The relationships between these uncles really were complicated.

Kaido was very fast, but he needed to account for the pirates below, who were traveling on foot, so he did not fly too quickly.

Thus, the Beasts Pirates advanced toward Kuri at a pace that was neither fast nor slow.

After roughly a day, by the afternoon of the next day, they had entered Kuri's territory. Then, the enemy army appeared.

It seemed they had known of their arrival long ago. On a plain in Kuri, the samurai had already formed their ranks and waited for the Beasts Pirates to arrive.

"Wororororo!"

Kaido, who had been soaring through the clouds, descended and appeared before all the samurai. He laughed loudly.

"This is the final battle! Samurai, do your best to entertain me!"