New World, Xitan Island.
This was the headquarters of the territory Kaido had seized.
Three days earlier.
King had returned gravely wounded.
But neither Kaido nor the crew had appeared.
The men on the island had begun to grow suspicious.
Through ruthless measures, King had barely managed to keep the situation under control.
At the same time, he had gathered men and sent them out to investigate.
King stood at the bow, gazing into the distance.
Behind him, a subordinate gave his report:
"King, we've bought every scrap of information on the black market."
"But we still haven't found any news about Boss Kaido."
"Maybe we should..."
A sudden burst of killing intent erupted from King as he glared at the man:
"Shut up!"
"If the black market can't give us anything, we haven't paid enough."
"Take all our treasure."
"We have to find news of Kaido!"
Swish!
As he spoke, he drew the long sword at his waist and pressed it against his subordinate's neck.
Feeling King's killing intent, the man swallowed:
"Yes! Yes, sir!!!"
Swish.
King sheathed his sword.
His calm voice rang out:
"Go."
But his heaving chest betrayed his turmoil.
He'll be all right. Kaido is Joy Boy, after all...
He'll be fine. He has to be...
New World, Wason Archipelago.
An enormous azure dragon plummeted from the sky.
Boom!!!
He slammed down in front of the largest restaurant on the island.
Kaido set down Queen, whom he had been clutching, and returned to human form.
He swept away the smoke with a wave.
Carrying Queen, he walked into the restaurant and scanned everyone inside:
"Bring me booze! And meat!!!"
"Move!!!"
His killing intent erupted with a trace of Conqueror's Haki, knocking a large swath of people unconscious.
This was the New World, after all.