Boom!!!
A wave of heat blasted the ministers and nobles in the banquet hall off their feet. King Edith III was roasted half-cooked on the spot.
"Tell Zayn to get out here, or I'll burn him and this country to ashes!" Kaido's piercing voice rang across the small island.
The islanders saw Kaido's massive body and collapsed to the ground in terror. The more timid ones fainted outright.
"Ah!!!"*n
"Eek!!!"*n
"Quick, someone save me!"
Screams, shrieks, and cries for help blended together as the palace instantly descended into chaos.
Servants, maids, nobles, and royals all scattered in every direction like rats whose nest had been overturned.
"W-What kind of monster is that?!" a noble attending the banquet said in a trembling voice.
"Quick, get the army here to protect us!"
"The king ordered the army to go loot the families of those rebels! There isn't a single soldier left in the palace!"
"T-Then hurry and contact the Marines!"
"It's useless! We aren't affiliated with the World Government, so the Marines won't care about us!"
"I heard that monster calling Zayn's name! Zayn caused this trouble!"
"Hurry and find Zayn! Let's hand him over!"
Remembering Kaido's words, the eldest prince quickly grabbed a trembling maid and ordered her to find Zayn.
Under his gaze, which seemed ready to devour her whole, the maid gritted her teeth and stumbled away.
Kaido continued circling in the sky, his gaze constantly sweeping over the ground below.
At that moment, a young maid trembled as she walked out of the palace and called up to Kaido, "M-My lord, w-we'll bring Zayn here right away. P-Please don't attack the p-palace again."
The lives of her parents gave the girl courage greater than anything else, allowing her to finish those few short words.
"Hiding behind women, are you? As expected, so-called nobles are nothing but hopeless scum!"
Ignoring the nobles' pleas for mercy, Kaido erased the entire palace with a single breath, leaving behind only the little maid who had exhausted all her courage and collapsed onto the ground.
"Can't tell, but you're pretty gentle, Boss Kaido~"
Osiris's words were somewhat unexpected, and Kaido immediately scoffed upon hearing them.
"Gentle? I just killed everyone in that palace, Red-haired girl."
"But you spared the maid who was forced to negotiate with you, didn't you?
Also, my name is Osiris. Remember it! If it's too long, you can just call me Oshi!"
"I spared her only because she had the courage to face me. She's stronger than everyone in the palace behind her! And the strong have the right to live."
Completely ignoring Oshi's complaint, Kaido explained why he had spared the maid.
It was the rule he followed, a simple Law of the Jungle.
"Oshi, you don't seem to care much about all those people dying?"
Ra interjected from the side. She had noticed that Oshi's personality seemed different from what she had imagined, and being particularly sensitive about such matters, she cared deeply about it.
"Huh? Why should I care, Sister Ra? I didn't know them," Oshi said, somewhat confused.
"Big Sis means that you seem a little too indifferent toward so many lives suddenly ending," Obe said, understanding Ra's meaning.
"Uh... I wasn't the one who killed them, was I? And it's not like I don't care at all~ At least, I'm really happy that little maid survived," Oshi added.
[It seems my previous guess was somewhat wrong. Both of them have been influenced by divinity to varying degrees. It's just that the influence is subtle, and neither of them showed it before.]
[I wonder what will happen in the future.]
Ra thought it over, then temporarily set the matter aside. After all, it was not particularly important.
As an outsider, she still maintained the attitude that it did not matter what happened to this world.
"But now that you've killed all these people, where are we supposed to find that Zayn, big guy?" This time, it was Obe's turn to ask. Her question was as practical as ever.
"You two learned the common language pretty fast, but at least call me Captain! You rude Blue-haired girl!"
However, seeing Obe, who had been ignoring him all along, finally speak to him, Kaido was actually quite pleased inside, though he did not show it.
"If Zayn doesn't want to come out, a backwater country like this has no ability to force him. I'm merely making it impossible for him not to show himself."
"We're openly attacking a country like this. Won't that World Government do something?" Obe asked again.
"Wororororo~ The World Government won't care whether an unaffiliated country lives or dies.
If anything, they'd love for countries like this to be destroyed. That way, other unaffiliated nations will become even more desperate to join them, then let them take whatever they want," Kaido revealed the cruel truth.
"To them, a small island nation like this with no resources and no important location is probably no different from roadside trash."
Meanwhile, while Kaido and the others were chatting, a sneaky figure quietly crawled out from an inconspicuous corner beneath the outer palace wall.
"Tch, it's so cramped! Didn't they consider the size of the research materials when they dug this tunnel? Uwah~"
Finally, with a "Duang~," the figure bounced out while carrying a large, round suitcase.
He was a very distinctive-looking man. He wore black-purple sunglasses, purple lipstick, flame-like golden hair, and a pair of large earrings. His body was lean and capable-looking.
This man was Zayn, a weapons researcher who looked nothing like a researcher and far more like a vicious pirate.
"So it's him. I thought the World Government had finally decided to move against MADS."
"Looks like I can only abandon this test site. Well~ the Plague Bomb research is nearly at a stage where it can be put on hold anyway."
Zayn lit a cigar and took a drag, secretly looking up at Kaido in the sky.
But just as he was about to look away and flee after watching for a while, Kaido suddenly turned his head and stared directly at Zayn's location.
Finally willing to show yourself, Zayn?
Having found his target, Kaido dispersed his dragon form, transformed into a human, and landed directly in front of Zayn. The three little ones landed with him.
"Worororo~ Long time no see, Zayn!" Kaido laughed as he greeted him.
Seeing that Kaido had discovered him, Zayn gave up on running.
"So it really is you, Kaido. I didn't expect you to truly escape from the Punk Hazard laboratory. As expected, those Marines couldn't hold you."
"How about leaving MADS? The World Government won't keep tolerating an organization like MADS. Within a few years, they'll make their move.
You guessed that too, which is why you've been searching the Four Seas for a place to hide these past few years, right?"
Without wasting words, Kaido directly extended an invitation to Zayn.
"Join me and become my subordinate. Then no one will dare touch you, Zayn!"
Zayn looked at the spiked club in Kaido's hand, then thought of the faces of those World Government bastards.
He took a deep drag from his cigar, but shook his head and refused. "Not yet. My child was born three years ago, in the South Blue. He's still too young. At least wait until he can live on his own."
"Hm?"
"Wororororo~ I never thought a guy like you would have a child. Gulp, gulp, gulp~"
Though he had not received the answer he wanted, Kaido burst into laughter. Then he untied the sake gourd at his waist and raised his head to drink. After flying all this way, he had been craving it for ages.
"In that case, I'll wait for you! I'll keep a Beasts Pirates officer position open for you too. This is my Vivre Card. Come find me when the time comes!"
After saying that, Kaido simply lay down on the ground and began snoring loudly. It seemed the constant traveling had left him somewhat tired.
Zayn let out a sigh of relief. The other man's straightforwardness had saved him quite a bit of trouble. Honestly, if Kaido had tried to force the issue, there was nothing he could have done.
Putting away the Vivre Card, Zayn prepared to leave the country.
He had already obtained the weapons data, and Kaido had caused such a huge commotion. The World Government might send CP to investigate.
But just as he was about to return to the tunnel and pack up the remaining experimental equipment, he suddenly noticed something, and his expression changed in shock...
Before you continue