Kaido's Defeat

Kizaru leaned back in his chair, remaining silent for a long time.

He sat quietly with his eyes closed for a long time, as if calming the tremors surging in his chest, or as if sorting out the earth-shattering battle that overturned his understanding.

After a long while, he slowly opened his eyes, his tone unusually calm, devoid of all his usual carefree banter; every word was heavy, making one's heart sink.

"The battle at Coral Port is over. Kaido lost."

Without any unnecessary foreshadowing, the ending is stated directly.

"We lost completely, with no chance of a comeback."

A Complete Susanoo, six hundred meters tall, cleaved the heavens and the earth with a single strike, cutting through the ocean.

That sword strike cleaved Kaido and his attack into the deep sea, where he now lies buried, his fate unknown.

He paused, his tone tinged with disbelief and disorientation.

"The one who made the move was not Natsu. It was a complete stranger, someone who had never been recorded in any records of this sea before: Madara Uchiha, the new Elder of the Uchiha Clan."

The office was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

The lieutenant Vice Admiral exchanged glances, their eyes filled with horror.

The world is already well aware of the Uchiha Clan's power, but the sudden appearance of the newly appointed Elder still exceeded everyone's expectations.

Kizaru stared out the window, lost in thought, his mind replaying the oppressive image of the blue war god standing above the vast ocean.

Prior to this, he privately assessed the combat strength of the Uchiha's high-ranking members and had always assumed that even if Madara was strong, his upper limit would at most be close to that of Uchiha Fugaku.

He witnessed firsthand the devastating slash that split the sea, and saw Kaido of the Four Emperors, fall helplessly into the deep sea, completely overturning his previous judgment.

After a moment's hesitation, he spoke again, adding the most fatal judgment.

"I had secretly guessed that this Elder's skill level was probably similar to that of Fugaku."

He gave a bitter laugh, overturning his initial judgment, his tone filled with genuine helplessness.

"Now it seems... perhaps he's not much weaker than Uchiha Natsu, who killed Fleet Admiral Kong in one blow."

boom--

These words, like an invisible thunderclap, exploded in the silent office.

Sengoku's pupils suddenly contracted, and his entire body tensed up involuntarily.

He slowly leaned back in his chair, took off his glasses, and rubbed his throbbing brow with his thumb and forefinger, his eyes filled with exhaustion and apprehension.

Natsu, Fugaku, Uchiha Kei, Yaoyu, Yakumi, Chunwu... The new generation of the Uchiha Clan has emerged in an endless stream, with talents constantly emerging, firmly stirring up the New World's landscape.

Now, another powerful figure has appeared out of nowhere: Madara Uchiha, whose strength surpasses that of the Four Emperors and is comparable to that of Natsu.

Just how many hidden trump cards do these dormant Red Eye tribesmen still possess?

Vice Admiral Tsuru set down his teacup at the opportune moment, the bottom of the cup lightly touching the table with a soft sound, breaking the silence that had everyone lost in thought.

She asked the most crucial, and also the most fatal, question at hand.

"What is Madara Uchiha's attitude towards our Navy?"

Kizaru pondered for a long time, carefully recalling the confrontation above the clouds, and slowly answered, word by word.

"There is no explicit hostility at the moment."

He recalled that indifferent gaze that looked down upon the world, and that light yet absolutely overwhelming question, and a bitter smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

Having lived this long and conquered the seas for countless years, this is the first time I've been called an ant.

He spotted me watching from behind the clouds, asked me a casual question, but didn't attack or give chase.

As soon as he finished speaking, Kizaru shook his head slightly, his eyes still revealing deep apprehension.

"I'm just not sure. Is he truly unwilling to be an enemy of the Navy, or... is he simply too lazy to waste his efforts on a spying ant?"

The office fell into a long, deathly silence once again.

After a long silence, Sengoku finally spoke, his voice deep and heavy, like it was filled with molten lead from the deep sea.

"Pass on my orders."

He spoke slowly and deliberately, his tone leaving no room for argument.

"Notify all officers on missions in the first half of the Grand Line that, effective immediately, without the highest authorization from headquarters, no individual or unit is permitted to engage in any form of conflict with the Uchiha Clan."

After a brief pause, he suppressed the turmoil in his heart and added a sentence that would completely rewrite the ironclad rule of the navy's foreign policy.

"Neither Madara himself nor any member of the Uchiha Clan are permitted to initiate hostility."

Vice Admiral Tsuru took up his pen and inscribed this order word by word into the book.

She could see clearly that the Fleet Admiral, who stood at the pinnacle of the navy, was trembling slightly with his fingers hanging under the table.

That wasn't anger, nor was it resentment.

It stems from the deepest part of one's heart, an extreme fear of unknown, top-level natural disasters.

The intelligence room on Whole Cake Island is perpetually filled with the rich, sweet aroma of caramel baking mixed with fresh cream—the most iconic scent of this island of Totto Land. But today, none of the executives sitting around the long desk could detect even a trace of sweetness.

The entire room was deathly silent, so oppressive that it made it hard to breathe.

Charlotte Linlin sat atop her enormous throne, her large hands gripping a newly delivered intelligence scroll.

In the past, only the most exquisite sweets could soothe her violent and unpredictable temper. But at this moment, this once domineering and fearless Four Emperors showed an extremely rare expression on his face—utter horror.

The scroll contained only a few words, cold and straightforward, yet each word was piercing to the heart.

The battle in the Coral Port waters has come to an end, with Kaido of the Beasts suffering a defeat.

The one who made the move in this battle was not the renowned Uchiha Natsu, but Madara Uchiha, the newly promoted Elder of the Uchiha Clan.

The opponent activated his Complete Susanoo slash that severely injured Kaido, cleaving him into the deep sea.

Kaido is covered in penetrating wounds and lost consciousness after falling into the sea. He was swept away by the ocean current and his whereabouts are unknown. The entire Beasts Pirates has been mobilized for the search and rescue, but so far there has been no result.

"Kaido... was cleaved into the sea by a single sword strike?"

Linlin spoke in a low voice, without a furious roar or a hysterical rebuke.

But this unusually low voice sent chills down the spines of the assembled officials and made their hearts pound with fear, more so than any of her previous outbursts of rage.

She stared intently at every line of writing on the paper, her scarlet pupils slightly contracting as if she were repeatedly verifying that this was no longer a ridiculous joke fabricated by an intelligence officer while drunk.

In fact, as early as when the Battle of Coral Port broke out, the strange turbulence in that sea area had already spread along the long sea to the territory of Totto Land.

At that time, her Observation Haki had already detected that overwhelming and domineering Chakra fluctuation, with a chilling and eerie aura that was completely different from the conventional Haki system of the sea.

At first, she subconsciously thought that it was Uchiha Natsu personally taken action.