Dragon's Fall Shakes the Capital

The Flower Capital.

For one instant, everything went dead silent. The wind stopped. Every sound cut off.

Every civilian hiding in the shadows, every person the Marines had forced to the edges of the streets, looked up. Their mouths fell open, but no sound came out.

What they had just seen was too... unreal.

The god in their eyes, the Azure Dragon who towered above them, the being who made them afraid even to think of resisting...

Had been punched out of the sky and into the ground.

"What...?"

Someone murmured, their voice shaking.

"Kaido..."

"He was... knocked down?"

There was no joy in their voices. Only the sound of their world falling apart.

Everything they thought they knew was shattering. Everything they believed in was crumbling.

Fear, shock, and incomprehension mingled, leaving the entire Flower Capital as though frozen in place.

Among the crowd, an old man in tattered clothes kept his head down, his body trembling slightly.

Kozuki Sukiyaki had hidden among them, watching all along, holding himself back all along.

But now he raised his head, and for the first time, a light appeared in his eyes.

It was neither pure nor gentle. It was naked greed.

"There's a chance..."

He spoke so softly he could barely be heard, yet he could not hide the tremor in his voice.

"If the Marines defeat Kaido..."

His hand slowly clenched, his knuckles turning white.

"I can..."

"Go back."

"Back to the shogun's seat."

In that moment, he thought neither of the people nor of the country. He thought only of power.

Deep in the crater, the dust had yet to settle when the ice began to crack.

Crack—crack—

The fractures spread, and a figure slowly rose.

The Azure Dragon's enormous body contracted. Scales drew inward, and muscles reshaped themselves.