Sovereign's Might

Chapter 19: Sovereign's Might

Yamato bounced excitedly atop Ian's head. "Ian! Hurry over there! It has to be there!"

Even though Yamato had always been a little scatterbrained, she knew that in Wano Country, even at this moment, no one besides her old father and Kozuki Oden could possibly unleash a battle on this scale!

That was the place! The battle she had been waiting for all this time was happening there!

Kozuki Oden! Yamato is here!

Ian thought for a moment. "Yamato, we can go over, but we can't get involved in Teacher Kai's fight with Kozuki Oden."

Since they had happened to run into it, they couldn't just pretend they hadn't seen anything.

Honestly, Ian was also looking forward to the clash between Teacher Kai and Kozuki Oden.

But looking forward to it was one thing. Joining in was another.

"Ian?"

Yamato froze, then lowered her head in disbelief. "But Kozuki Oden is right ahead! Isn't he the enemy we've always wanted to defeat?"

Only you, though.

Ian gazed into the distance. The clouds had been ripped apart, mountain peaks severed, and forests set ablaze. It was clearly a fight between only two people, yet it had placed everything on a countdown to destruction.

"Yamato, do you really think a battle on that level is something we should join? Kozuki Oden isn't Teacher Kai. He won't go easy on us. We could die."

That wasn't courage. That was suicide.

"Die?"

Yamato looked a little lost.

Although she had grown up among the Beasts Pirates, Yamato had never experienced the pain of losing someone. After all, her only family was Teacher Kai, and her only friends were Ian and Jack, with Black Maria now making one more.

Death was still far too distant from her.

"Yamato, do you want to see me, or Jack, or Maria die?"

Ian said calmly, "Don't tell me you think your strength is enough to protect us from Kozuki Oden?"

Yamato furrowed her brow tightly.

"Ian's right, Yamato,"

Black Maria said softly. "A battlefield like that really is too dangerous for us."

She had no desire whatsoever to get involved in a war like that! She was only eight years old, still a child!

Not everyone was a battle maniac like Yamato or Jack.

Jack didn't dare say anything.

He had figured it out. Brother Ian didn't seem interested in taking down Kozuki Oden.

Since that was his big brother's decision, he didn't dare object.

Besides, it really did seem dangerous.

With his strength, if he rashly joined Boss Kaido's battle, he would probably be reduced to dust in an instant.

"So frustrating!"

Yamato pouted and repeatedly thumped Ian's head with her fists, letting Ian keenly feel her frustration. "Is it because we're too weak?"

"Let's just watch from far away."

Ian suggested, "It should be fine as long as we don't get too close."

"Mm!"

Yamato nodded heavily, and a smile blossomed on the little girl's face again.

So Ian flapped his wings and began flying toward the battlefield.

It didn't take long for him to reach the edge of the battlefield, high above the mountains.

"Oh!!"

Yamato clung to Ian's head, while Jack and Black Maria each moved to either side of his back. All three stared down in amazement.

It was their first time witnessing a battle on such a massive scale.

Below them was an utterly chaotic battlefield.

The combatants were the Beasts Pirates and the Kozuki Family.

The Beasts Pirates had deployed thousands of pirates, including three Bravens, while the Kozuki Family had only ten people in total, Kozuki Oden and his nine retainers.

It should have been a completely one-sided contest, yet the battle was incredibly fierce.

The nine Samurai later known as the Nine Red Scabbards displayed astonishing strength as they fought fiercely against thousands of pirates.

In particular, the fat Samurai named Ashura Doji charged recklessly through the battlefield like a heavy tank. Even the Bravens couldn't match him in strength; the instant their massive spiked clubs collided with his blade, they were knocked back.

Then there were the cat and dog of the Mink Tribe. They were not as strong as Ashura Doji, but their speed was even more outrageous. The Bravens simply couldn't keep up with them.

"They're actually... this strong?"

Jack found it hard to believe. "Kozuki Oden's samurai actually possess such strength?"

Luckily, I didn't rashly get involved, or I'd definitely have been cut down by now.

Shimotsuki Yasuie, clutched in Ian's claws, also let out a sigh of relief.

It wasn't over yet!

Oden, you really hadn't disappointed me!

"What are Uncle King and Uncle Queen doing?!"

Yamato looked toward the edge of the battlefield with some displeasure. Atop a small hill, King and Queen stood there calmly, with no intention of joining the war.

In fact, the battle had only become so deadlocked because those two had yet to enter the fray.

Otherwise, not to mention Queen, King alone would have been enough to sweep through the Nine Red Scabbards.

Even all nine of them combined couldn't break through a Lunarian's defenses.

"They're on guard against Kozuki Oden."

Ian said.

On one side of the battlefield, amid the mountain peaks and forest, lay the monsters' battlefield.

A massive azure dragon coiled through the skies. His roars unleashed raging thunder, his breath became flames, and his body stirred up storms.

Thunder poured down like rain! Flames surged like a sea! Gale winds slashed like blades!

And within that storm, a figure darted about like a phantom.

"Kaido!!"

Kozuki Oden raised his hands and swung both blades, his magnificent slashes tearing apart the descending pillars of fire and thunderbolts.

He leaped into the air, both swords raised high.

"Worororororo!"

Amid a crazed roar, what greeted Kozuki Oden was the azure dragon's long tail crashing down like a heavenly pillar.

Kozuki Oden was smashed down like a fly, plummeting to the ground in an instant. The earth heaved violently as though struck by a magnitude-eight earthquake, exploding into a massive crater.

"Yeah!!"

Watching from afar, Yamato immediately cheered. "Nice one, Dad!"

"Father!!"

Kozuki Momonosuke, who had also witnessed the scene, began wailing again.

Oden—

Shimotsuki Yasuie's heart clenched.

But Ian remained silent.

Too careless.

Teacher Kai clearly hadn't taken Kozuki Oden seriously at all!

Otherwise, he shouldn't have used his dragon form—the form made specifically for taking hits.

From within the smoke on the ground, a figure shot upward!

Kozuki Oden landed on Kaido's long body like a cannonball, using the azure dragon's body as a road as he sprinted forward.

This wouldn't do. At this rate, Teacher Kai was going to get cut again.

Ian narrowed his eyes.

Since I'm already here, I really ought to do something, right?

I can't just stand by and watch Teacher Kai get slashed, can I?

No choice. Let's go!

No matter how much he hated fighting, there were always times when he had no choice but to fight with everything he had.

Ian took a deep breath, beat his wings, and flew forward.

Kozuki Oden shattered the thunder and flames with his blades, holding his breath as he charged ahead. When he neared Kaido's upper body, he leaped into the air.

"Heat Breath!"

Kaido opened his mouth and unleashed a Scorching Breath.

Kozuki Oden was instantly swallowed by flames, but he paid them no heed. His entire body was coated in Haki, black lightning coiling around the twin blades in his hands. "Kaido!!"

Five years of anger and suppression were all poured into this one strike.

"Peach Blossom Ten Fists!!"

The twin blades crossed. The slash, imbued with both Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki, streaked across the sky in an instant, splitting the surging pillar of fire down the middle and dividing it into four.

The slash did not slow. The next second, Kozuki Oden was about to strike Kaido viciously.

However, at that very moment.

"Kozuki Oden! Look who this is!"

A voice suddenly rang out from the sky.

Kozuki Oden had not paid it much attention at first.

But then he heard it.

"Father!"

In that instant, his unbreakable resolve was replaced by another emotion.

Even the twin blades capable of splitting mountains and seas seemed to soften at that moment.

Kozuki Oden looked up in disbelief. He saw the Golden Flying Dragon spreading its wings high above, and caught in its claws—

"Momonosuke!!"

Kozuki Oden cried out in disbelief.

How could this be?

Why was Momonosuke here?

What had happened at Oden Castle?

What had happened to Toki and Hiyori?

Kozuki Oden landed once more on Kaido's long body. Looking up, his body trembled slightly. "What... did you do?!"

His most beloved family had been harmed. Kozuki Oden flew into a rage.

His violent spirit became a raging gale that surged upward against the current, sweeping across the skies in an instant.

"Ugh..."

Jack and Black Maria on Ian's back immediately fainted.

Ian, too, suddenly felt his head grow heavy.

Damn it, was he about to lose consciousness?

If he fell now, things would be bad.

He would die.

Kozuki Oden would cut him down.

He would definitely die!

Die at the hands of a piece of trash like Kozuki Oden?

What kind of joke was that? What had he spent these past years training himself to the bone for?!

How could he die here?!

Boom!!

Ian's eyes flew wide open. An invisible force exploded inside his mind, and an uncontrollable, formless power surged forth in an instant, colliding with the incoming Blast Wave below.

More interestingly, another surge of spirit erupted almost simultaneously above Ian's head. Together with Ian's aura, it clashed against Kozuki Oden's Conqueror's Haki.

Kozuki Momonosuke immediately lost consciousness under the impact of those two forces from above.

Meanwhile, the still-conscious Shimotsuki Yasuie widened his eyes.

The same as Oden's...

And both of them had it!!