Sea Circle Calendar, Year 1501.
Wano Country, Ringo.
Howling winds swept up the snow, turning the land into a glittering expanse. This northern region of Wano Country had always been blanketed in silver.
Yet amid the biting wind, a group of people laughed as they marched through the snowstorm.
"Hey hee hee hee!"
At their head was an exceptionally tall man. Standing over six meters tall, with a powerfully muscular build, he exuded immense pressure with just a glance.
In one hand, he carried a massive pair of scissors. In the other, he held a corpse—a dried-up body that had apparently been buried for who knew how long. Perhaps because this region was freezing year-round, the corpse had not completely decayed.
"The legendary Sword God of Wano Country, the dragon-slaying samurai who protected this nation,"
the man laughed smugly. "Next, all we need is the shadow of a powerful samurai from this land of warriors, and we'll have a tremendous fighting force ready to go!"
"Hahaha! Captain, once that happens, can we storm Onigashima and take down Kaido?"
One of his subordinates asked excitedly.
"Isn't that obvious?"
The man raised his enormous scissors and declared over the shrieking wind, "But before that, we'll let Kaido live for a few more days!"
"Hahahahaha!"
Their cheerful laughter even drowned out the mournful howling of the wind, adding a trace of merriment to the frozen wilderness.
"Worororororo! So should I go back and wait a few more days for you?"
A wild laugh came from above.
"What?"
The man looked up in astonishment and saw a monster slowly lower its head from the dark clouds overhead.
It was a dragon!
An azure dragon hundreds of meters long, coiled among the clouds, with a head alone so enormous it was absurd!
"Kaido!"
Sweat instantly seeped across the man's forehead, only to freeze into ice beneath Ringo's frigid wind a moment later.
They had been talking about him behind his back mere seconds ago, and now the man himself had appeared!
"You sure made me look hard for you, Moria."
The colossal azure dragon gradually emerged from the clouds, coiling through the sky as he looked down at the people below. "I've been waiting on Onigashima until I got impatient."
"You already knew we had landed in Wano Country?"
The man known as the Hero of the West Blue, Gecko Moria, was utterly stunned.
"Who do you think this country belongs to?"
The azure dragon's roar crashed down like thunder. The shockwave alone made some of Moria's subordinates lose their footing. "Still, you haven't disappointed me too much. I thought after playing thief, you'd flee with your tail between your legs."
"I don't need your approval!"
Moria suddenly grinned. He turned toward his somewhat panicked subordinates and called out, "Although this caught us off guard, it may be a good thing!"
"This guy came alone!"
At the very least, Moria's Observation Haki had not sensed anyone else nearby besides Kaido.
That arrogant monster had come alone.
"Then so be it!"
Moria raised the scissors in his hand, pointing them at Kaido in the sky. "This will be the site of our final battle!"
"Oh!!"
His companions were immediately fired up as well.
"Let's show this guy who looks down on us what the Moria Pirates are made of!"
"That's right! As long as we stand behind our captain, we're invincible!"
"This is our bond!!"
The Moria Pirates were brimming with fighting spirit!
"Worororororo!"
High in the sky, the azure dragon's gigantic body rolled through the sea of clouds. Kaido clutched his stomach and laughed. "Bond? Are you trying to make me laugh myself to death?"
"Someone like you wouldn't understand, Kaido."
Moria smiled. "A man alone can accomplish nothing. The power of companions is the greatest thing in this world!"
Kaido's smile did not fade as he continued looking down at them. "So even if I said right now that I'd spare you as long as you obediently joined my crew, you still wouldn't agree?"
"We'll defeat you here, Kaido!"
Moria laughed. "The one who'll become Pirate King is me!!"
"Worororororo! Then there's no helping it."
Kaido's laughter made the snow on the ground tremble and shake.
Below, the Moria Pirates had already readied themselves for battle.
Even Moria's shadow was surging beneath his feet.
"However,"
Kaido suddenly gave a strange grin. "You said I came alone? Then you were wrong."
"Hey! Ian!"
Kaido suddenly shouted, "Go deal with them for me."
"Huh? Me?"
Then Moria watched in astonishment as a tiny figure climbed out from the mane behind Kaido's head and onto the top of his head.
It was a very small boy, looking only four or five years old.
He had red lips, white teeth, black hair, and black eyes. His cheeks still carried a bit of baby fat, making him adorably cute.
Was he Kaido's son?
But the child looked conflicted at the moment. "I'm fighting Moria? Seriously?"
"If I tell you to go, then go! Stop giving me nonsense!"
Kaido shook his head, flinging the child from atop it. He fell straight toward Moria and his group.
"Teacher Kai! I can't do this!"
Ian screamed.
This Moria was not the deadweight shut-in he would become twenty years later!
Moria instantly flew into a rage. "Kaido! Are you insulting me? What do you mean by sending out a child like this!"
"Insulting you?"
A low laugh rumbled from Kaido's throat. "Ian, what are you hesitating for? Either you kill them, or they kill you. That's what war is."
The falling child, Ian, scratched the back of his head.
You really leave me no choice, Teacher Kai.
In the next instant, incomparably brilliant golden light bloomed from his body.
Beneath the thick clouds, the region that had been dark moments ago was instantly illuminated by the golden radiance. A new sun blossomed in the sky.
"What!"
Moria narrowed his eyes against the glare and vaguely saw a colossal figure appear within the light.
Whoosh!
The light exploded. Countless motes scattered like stars, then fell like a torrential rain, filling heaven and earth with a sacred atmosphere.
At the center of that rain of light, a golden god spread his wings.
Like a four-legged divine bird, yet also like a soaring dragon!
His entire body seemed forged from gold, save for a blue gemstone set into his forehead. He possessed the mechanical sensation of something inanimate, yet inspired only majesty and splendor, grandeur and nobility.
A Mythical Zoan?
That thought flashed through Moria's mind.
With a wingspan exceeding twenty meters, he was so enormous! And yet he had transformed from such a young child!
The Golden Flying Dragon looked down at the Moria Pirates, then opened his mouth.
"Divine Flame Cannon!"
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