"Big Sis, aren't we waiting for Oshi?"
On the way to the southern forest, Ra and Obe walked one behind the other.
"No need. She's been busy all morning, so let her rest this morning.
Besides, I left her a message already, so there's nothing to worry about." Ra answered with her usual smile.
"Oh, o-okay."
Obe looked at Ra's ever-present smile and involuntarily shuddered.
The ruins were not far from the camp, and the two soon arrived at their destination.
Obe pointed at a stretch of crumbling walls ahead that had nearly blended into the surrounding landscape. "Big Sis, we're here. This is where Oshi and I came this morning."
She hurried a few steps toward the ruins, then turned around and discovered that Ra had not followed. Instead, she stood where she was, looking toward a point in the sky.
"Hm? Big Sis, what are you looking at?"
"Nothing. So this is the ruin? It looks quite ancient."
Ra turned her gaze back to the ruins before her and lightly stroked the badly weathered stone wall, trying to guess its age.
"This pattern is... a cross?
Could these ruins be related to religion, or is it simply a decorative pattern with a similar shape?"
Her fingertips traced the cross-shaped relief on the stone wall, its ends resembling ocean waves. Ra was surprised to find such a familiar religious symbol in another world.
Following the moss-covered stone path, the two arrived at a place that appeared to be a church.
It seemed to be the best-preserved structure among these ruins.
They passed through the cracked yet intact doors. The moment Ra stepped into the central hall, before she could look around, she immediately noticed something strange beneath her feet.
"Hm? It seems hollow underneath."
She lightly stomped twice more, and the sound that came back confirmed her suspicion. There should be a basement or some similar space beneath this church.
Underground rooms were not unusual in church-like buildings, but they were rarely placed directly beneath the central hall.
Just as Ra was about to look around for some sort of entrance, her pupils suddenly constricted, and she immediately ran outside.
"What's wrong, Big Sis? Why did you suddenly..."
Obe, who had been quietly following behind Ra, hurried after her.
When she reached the outside, she saw Ra standing in the middle of the empty courtyard, staring up at the sky above the island.
Obe followed her gaze upward, and then she saw a sight that left her dumbfounded...
"Holy shit! What is that?!"
Obe stared wide-eyed at the distant sky. A colossal creature, seemingly hundreds of meters long, fell from the clouds and crashed straight into the island, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.
"That's— a dragon?!
That's a dragon, right?! This...
Big Sis, what kind of world did we end up in?!"
Obe's usually calm expression had long since fallen apart.
What was this?
Yesterday had still been wilderness survival. How had it suddenly gone beyond science today?!
Ra did not answer Obe's question. She merely rushed toward where the dragon-like creature had fallen.
Only then did Obe notice that the dust cloud in the distance had risen from near their camp.
"Oh no, Oshi!" Realizing this, Obe immediately followed after her.
New World, Marine G-5 Branch.
"This is bad! Kaido escaped from prison again!"
Amid the blaring base alarms, an officer dodged left and right through the flustered soldiers, rushing straight toward the branch commander's office.
"Phew... phew... Vice Admiral Bartos.
K-Kaido broke out of the branch prison and is wreaking havoc outside!"
Ignoring all etiquette, the officer shoved open the door, then reported loudly between gasps.
"Oh~
As expected of a monster who came from that Pirate Crew. Does he take our Marine base for a permanent cafeteria?
What a pain~"
Bartos, the commander of G-5 Branch, merely put down his newspaper upon hearing this. He slowly exhaled a puff of smoke and complained.
There was not the slightest trace of panic or surprise on the middle-aged Marine's face, and his tone remained as lazy as ever.
"P-Please issue orders to organize a counterattack, Vice Admiral Bartos!" the officer urged anxiously.
"Mm~ Got it~
Order all soldiers to find somewhere to hide and avoid casualties as much as possible.
Kaido will leave on his own after making a fuss for a while."
Vice Admiral Bartos's order left the officer dumbstruck.
"Yes... Huh?!
H-Hide? Aren't we going to reorganize and capture him?
If we let Kaido act so recklessly, then we Marines..."
"Lieutenant Gunn, right~
I remember you were transferred here from Marine Headquarters to G-5 Branch just last month?"
Vice Admiral Bartos did not let him continue, instead asking a seemingly irrelevant question.
"Yes, Vice Admiral."
Though he did not understand why the man had suddenly brought up his affairs at this moment, Gunn's earnest and serious nature made him answer immediately.
"Mm... Did you make some mistake at Headquarters?" Another baffling question.
"No, Vice Admiral!
Officer Alberich said that I was brave in battle, always led from the front, and had a strong sense of justice, but lacked experience, so I was transferred here for training!"
[*Doesn't follow orders, lacks team awareness, doesn't understand social etiquette...
Tch! Did he dump this blockhead on me~
Alberich, huh? I'll remember you!*]
As an old hand, Vice Admiral Bartos immediately understood the official speak of Gunn's former superior and could not help cursing inwardly.
"Lieutenant Gunn, you're new, so you don't understand the situation here.
The pirates of the New World are nothing like those brats playing pirate games in 'Paradise' and the Four Seas.
In fact, the purpose of our G-5 Branch is not to capture New World pirates, but to serve as a symbol.
Mm... You know what a scarecrow is, right? Our G-5 Branch is the scarecrow the Marines planted in the New World."
Bartos laid it out plainly. He knew that if he spoke even slightly indirectly to someone like Gunn, the man might not understand.
"I don't understand, sir.
Aren't the Marines here to capture pirates?
The pirates are outside right now. I can't simply turn a blind eye!"
The Marine named Gunn still stood tall, refusing to yield in the slightest.
[He really is a pain~ This kid.]
Gunn's standard hot-blooded rookie speech made Bartos's eyebrows twitch.
But considering that Gunn was already a commissioned officer at such a young age, he was likely the son of some high-ranking Marine Headquarters official, so Bartos could not afford to offend him.
Left with no choice, Bartos sighed and spoke seriously.
"Fine, I'll go organize the capture. You stay here and report the situation to Headquarters.
Oh~ Right.
The magnetic fields in the New World are chaotic, so Den Den Mushi may be affected. If you can't get through, remember to call a few more times.
Make sure to report the situation here to Headquarters. That is your mission, understood?"
As he spoke, he took an unusually designed Den Den Mushi from his pocket and handed it to Gunn.
"This is a dedicated Den Den Mushi line for contacting Headquarters. Don't use your own or anyone else's. They could be tapped."
Vice Admiral Bartos patted him on the shoulder, then quickly left.
"Yes! I guarantee I'll complete the mission!"
Lieutenant Gunn solemnly accepted the Den Den Mushi and gave his retreating figure a standard military salute.
[Wait, can Den Den Mushi be affected by magnetic fields? They never taught us that in training...]
Without thinking further, he immediately dialed Marine Headquarters.
"Moshiboshi, this is G-5 Branch. Moshiboshi..." *n
In the office next door, Vice Admiral Bartos leisurely lit another cigarette. He took a drag and slowly exhaled a smoke ring~
"One troublesome bastard after another~
And Kaido, seriously. If he wants to eat, why not eat aboard a warship~ Why come to the base?
The higher-ups are watching, so I have no choice but to capture him.
Sigh~ What a pain~"
"Snore... snrr... snore... burp! Mm~"
Outside the base, Kaido, having already caused a huge scene, had passed out drunk on the ground and begun snoring loudly. Yet not a single Marine dared approach him.
"Hey, he seems to be asleep. Should we capture him again now?"
A Marine soldier hiding behind a wall whispered.
"So he can wake up, find himself locked up again, and make another huge scene? Besides, the base prison is gone now."
The other soldier crouching beside him, who was clearly older, replied irritably. Then he lit a cigarette and leaned against the wall to smoke.
"Then we wait for him to wake up and leave on his own?"
The younger soldier also crouched against the wall like his senior.
"Say, Senior, give me one too."
"Mm. Let's just do that. It's been like this the last few times. Just keep an eye on him...
Hm? Only two left. Take them all."
The older Marine searched his pockets, tossed the flattened cigarette pack to him, then took a deep drag from the cigarette in his mouth.
"Sigh~ We'll have to work overtime cleaning up the base again tonight."
"Yeah, sigh~"
Time passed second by second, yet Kaido showed no sign of waking, making the surrounding Marine soldiers, who had remained on edge the entire time, increasingly miserable.
Just as some soldiers could no longer hold out and were about to relax, a black shadow suddenly appeared on the horizon, moving at incredible speed.
The black shadow drew closer and closer, its form becoming clearer.
"Is that... a bird?!"
A soldier rubbed his aching eyes, trying hard to make out what it was.
"No, not a bird!
That's a pterosaur! A black pterosaur! A Devil Fruit user?!
Is it here for Kaido?" Another soldier wearing glasses recognized the approaching creature.
"Chief Petty Officer, what do we do?"
"This, I..."
An unexpected development had arisen, and he hesitated over whether to risk being discovered in order to notify the branch commander.
But before the chief petty officer could decide, the black pterosaur had already landed on the ground.
After landing, the pterosaur gradually shrank, eventually transforming into a man over three meters tall, clad entirely in black leather, wearing a fully enclosed mask, with wings on his back and flames burning from his body.
The man held a piece of Vivre Card in his hand.
"Burp~ Mm, King?
Why are you here?" Kaido sensed the other man's presence and slowly woke up.
"Mr. Kaido, we found that person's trail. Your Den Den Mushi wouldn't connect, so I came to find you myself."
The masked man named King answered. His voice sounded surprisingly young.
King's response was brief, revealing little information.
"Hm? I understand."
At the mention of business, Kaido sobered up somewhat. He stood, patted himself all over, then pulled out a drunken-looking Den Den Mushi...
"Burp! Mm~
In that case, let's go, King."
Putting away the Den Den Mushi, Kaido released his imposing aura, then transformed into an azure dragon hundreds of meters long. He swept up sand and stones before flying into the sky.
"He left..."
The soldiers hiding in the distance watched the massive figure fly away, and all let out long sighs of relief.
Vice Admiral Bartos, who had been reading the newspaper for quite some time, also appeared then. He looked over the wreckage around him, and his eyebrows twitched uncontrollably again.
"Tch~ This is why I hate those Zoan Type users. Every transformation leaves the place in ruins.
Sigh~ I wonder whether they'll approve the repair budget this time. What a pain..."
Vice Admiral Bartos took an expensive cigar from his pocket and lit it.
"Inhale~~~ Exhale~
Hm? Did I forget something?"
Branch Commander's Office—"Moshiboshi, this is G-5 Branch! Moshiboshi..."
"Worororororo~ You said that guy is in the South Blue now?"
Hearing King's report, Kaido let out his distinctive laugh from the sky.
"That's right. Our people learned through the underground intelligence network that he had been wandering the South Blue ever since three years ago.
Recently, he seemed to have stopped on an island near the Calm Belt."
King relayed the rest of the information to Kaido one by one.
"If that's the case, I'll make a trip to the South Blue myself.
Shiki might be making a big move soon, and we need to increase our strength as well."
"Then go ahead first, Mr. Kaido. Some unfamiliar pirate ships have been lurking around our territory lately, so I need to head back first.
Besides... I don't really want to see that guy right now. This is the Eternal Pose leading to that island."
As he spoke, King took an Eternal Pose from his clothes and handed it to Kaido.
"Mm~ If you don't want to go, then head back.
Don't hold back when you see those ships. Just sink them outright. This is my territory, not some place they can come and go as they please!"
With that, Kaido rode a Flame Cloud and flew toward the Calm Belt...
"May your journey go smoothly, Mr. Kaido."
King watched Kaido's departing figure for a while before turning and flying back the way he had come.
Kaido traveled atop the clouds at a considerable speed, reaching the waters near the edge of the Calm Belt in only a few hours.
He intended to cross the Calm Belt directly and reach the South Blue.
The sea breeze blowing against him gradually carried away what little drunkenness he had left.
Traveling was undoubtedly boring. With nothing to do, Kaido grew rather restless and even felt a trace of drowsiness.
Fortunately, before long, a strangely shaped warship with a dog head came into view.
Kaido knew the owner of that warship. He was the Marine Hero who had taken part in the campaign against Rocks at "God Valley."
Kaido had clashed with him several times before. He was quite a powerful Marine.
Oh? Garp? Perfect, something to do.
With that thought, Kaido gathered a mouthful of Dragon Breath and blasted it at the warship from far away, then immediately pulled his dragon body upward and soared into the clouds.
"Kaido! You bastard!"
Garp, who had noticed Kaido long ago, scattered the Dragon Breath with a punch before roaring angrily at the sky.
The Roger Pirates had escaped again after another failed capture attempt, and he was in an especially bad mood.
"Garp, the booze at your Marine branch tastes terrible~ Remember to have them prepare something better next time!
Worororororo~"
After dodging several cannonballs thrown by Garp, Kaido sent down another blast of Dragon Breath, then flew away without paying any attention to what was happening below.
With the Eternal Pose in hand, he had no intention of having a major battle with Garp right now.
"Tch! Those remnants of Rocks really have all become troublesome bastards.
That guy's death didn't calm the seas at all. Did it cause an even greater storm instead?"
After dispersing the breath attack again, Garp stared at Kaido as he vanished into the clouds, his irritation growing even stronger.
"Notify the entire ship. Head for the G-5 Branch immediately."
"Worororororo~"
After firing off two shots, Kaido was in a great mood, and much of the drowsiness from traveling had faded away.
He looked up at the unobstructed night sky, where the moon and stars were especially clear.
"What a fine moon tonight~
Just wait! Marines, World Government, and all those high-and-mighty scum!
I'll become the strongest in the world and turn this whole world upside down!"
After a night had passed, Kaido, riding above the clouds, had reached the depths of the Calm Belt.
Just as he was about to find an island and stop for a drink, he suddenly sensed something. His powerful Observation Haki immediately spread downward to investigate, yet he found nothing.
But Kaido had no intention of giving up. He looked toward a direction beyond his line of sight. His instincts told him that the source of that strange feeling was there.
Without the slightest hesitation, Kaido directed the Flame Cloud in that direction.
P.S.: Kaido was 7.1 meters tall.
King was around fifteen years old at this time. Based on estimates from the anime, he should have been around 3 to 4 meters tall.
Before you continue