One Piece: Building Amazon Lily, Starting as a Celestial Dragon

Kraken transformed automatically the instant he was sent flying, turning into several octopus tentacles that wrapped his body into a ball and absorbed most of the impact.

Even so, the entire mountain shuddered violently when he struck the cliff. Rocks tumbled down with a clatter, burying him.

Kaido landed back on the ground with his spiked club over his shoulder. He looked in the direction Saint Dio had been knocked and snorted heavily.

Just as he was about to pursue him, a thunderous crash rang out.

Several hundred meters behind him, the ground suddenly burst apart.

A giant serpent erupted from underground, its enormous head opening its gaping maw as it lunged down at Kaido with a gust of fetid wind.

A cold, vicious light flickered in Jörmungandr's golden slit pupils as it sought to swallow Kaido whole.

Without looking back, Kaido pushed off hard and sprang into the air. Black Conqueror's Haki coiled around his spiked club again, and he swung it backhanded, smashing upward into Jörmungandr's lower jaw.

Bam!!!

With a dull, tremendous crash, that overwhelming force slammed Jörmungandr's jaws shut. Several scales shattered and flew from its chin, exposing a series of cracks.

The giant serpent writhed in pain and burrowed back underground the way it had come, raising a continuous ridge of earth as it sped toward where Saint Dio had fallen.

Now that Saint Dio had crashed into it, the barren mountain lay silent. There was no movement from him, only the occasional sound of falling stones echoing through the empty valley.

Suddenly, a flurry of footsteps came from the distance, accompanied by the clang of metal armor and heavy breathing.

A large force was rapidly approaching along the mountain path. It was a unit of the Beasts Pirates, led by an exceptionally burly figure.

Jack the Drought.

The battle between Saint Dio and Kaido had caused far too much commotion. Two beasts as large as mountains had fought in the sky and on the ground. Both the towering flames and the deafening collisions were enough to draw everyone's attention for dozens of miles around.

Jack was naturally no exception. He had followed the trail of the battle with his men and arrived just in time to see Kaido send the white-haired youth flying with a swing of his club.

So he had pursued him in that direction, eventually reaching the barren mountain, more than half of which had collapsed.

Jack looked at the slope, where half the cliff had collapsed and rubble lay piled like a mountain, and ordered his men in a muffled, rumbling voice, "Dig him out. I want him alive, or I want his corpse."

"Yes!" A crowd of Beasts Pirates lackeys immediately swarmed forward, grabbed their tools, and began digging through the rubble.

But before they could dig more than a few times, a violent tremor suddenly came from within the pile.

With a tremendous clatter, the rubble was forced apart from within. A sphere woven from dark purple octopus tentacles slowly rose from the debris. The tentacles loosened and dropped one by one, revealing Saint Dio wrapped in their center.

His kimono was covered in dust, and there were several tears in his sleeves, but he had no obvious injuries.

The only thing that betrayed his condition was the hand holding his blade.

His arm trembled slightly, and the web between his thumb and forefinger was faintly red.

Even with Kraken cushioning the blow, the force of Kaido's strike had left his entire arm somewhat numb.

The Beasts Pirates lackeys froze when they saw Saint Dio emerge, then greedy gleams lit up their eyes.

Here was someone who had survived a fight with Lord Kaido. Capturing him would be an enormous achievement.

But before they could charge, Kraken transformed again in Saint Dio's hand.

It turned into thick, dark purple tentacles that stretched in every direction. They grew longer, larger, and thicker, surpassing the height of the hills in the blink of an eye and blocking out most of the sky.

The pirates who had been so eager to attack slowly stopped in their tracks.

They craned their heads up at the colossal creature slowly rising from the mountain, their mouths falling open involuntarily. Greed turned to blank disbelief, then terror.

It was an octopus so enormous that it blotted out the sky. Its body resembled a moving mountain, and each of its eight tentacles was as thick as a giant python, covered in densely packed suckers, each as large as a millstone.

Its skin was a deep, dark purple, and its enormous yellow-green eyes resembled two ghostly flames as it looked coldly down at the humans below, tiny as ants.

Kraken-full kraken form.

A tentacle slammed down.

Boom-!

The earth shook violently, and stone and soil shot into the sky.

More than a dozen pirates were crushed into pulp beneath the enormous tentacle before they could even scream.

The others scattered in terror, plunging the scene into chaos.

But just as the tentacle was about to fall again, a tremendous force heaved it upward from below.

The tentacle slowly rose, revealing a huge figure beneath it.

It was an enormous mammoth covered in thick, shaggy brown fur. Its two curved tusks resembled gigantic scimitars, gleaming coldly in the moonlight.

With a powerful toss of its head, it shoved aside the tentacle pressing against its back and let out a deafening trumpet.

Jack the Drought-Elephant-Elephant Fruit, Ancient Zoan, mammoth form.

He stood on the shattered ground, looking up at the giant octopus several times his size, without a trace of fear in his eyes.

After all, he was the king of pulling his ship alongside an enemy's, the man who dared clash head-on with Zunesha and attempt a prison break against a Marine Admiral and a Vice Admiral.

A difference in size had never been a reason for him to back down.

He swung his trunk and charged toward Kraken, his four feet pounding the ground like an out-of-control war chariot.

Every step of the enormous mammoth shook the ground violently and scattered stones, his momentum terrifying.

But halfway through his charge, the ground beneath him suddenly bulged and split open.

An enormous serpent's maw burst out of the earth and swallowed Jack from below, along with a large chunk of the ground beneath him.

Jörmungandr's gigantic silvery-white head emerged from underground, its jaws clamped tightly around Jack's mammoth body.

Suspended in midair with nothing to brace against, Jack's four feet dangled as Jörmungandr's sharp teeth sank deep into his thick hide. Blood streamed down its emerald scales.

He roared in fury and struggled desperately, lashing his trunk and thrashing his tusks as he tried to wrench himself free of the serpent's mouth.

But how could he easily escape Jörmungandr's bite?

Every struggle only drove those sharp fangs deeper and made more blood flow.

Holding Jack in its jaws, Jörmungandr slowly lowered its enormous head and presented its prey to Saint Dio.

Jack kept struggling, but the sharp teeth embedded in his body sent intense pain through him whenever he exerted himself. A large patch of his thick hide was already stained red.

"Bastard, let me go!"

Jack glared furiously at Saint Dio, swinging his trunk again and again, trying to lash him but always falling just short.

In the end, he could only rage helplessly.

Saint Dio rubbed his chin as he watched Jack struggle.

"The Elephant-Elephant Fruit, huh? I wonder what mythical forms it has."

Just then, two figures descended from the sky.

Kaido and King landed on the ground nearby. Having returned to human form, Kaido carried his spiked club over his shoulder. His gaze passed over Jörmungandr and Kraken's mountain-sized bodies before finally settling on Saint Dio.

There was no anger in his eyes, only naked desire.

Kaido's gaze moved back and forth between Jörmungandr and Kraken, a burning light in his eyes.

The quality of these two beasts was more than one level above every Zoan user under his command.

If he could get his hands on them, even just one-Kaido's mouth unconsciously spread into a greedy grin.

Chapter 81: Here's to Our Partnership

"What, do you still want to fight?" Standing atop Jörmungandr's head, Saint Dio looked down at Kaido, a hint of amusement in his voice.

Kaido snorted coldly, his spiked club resting on his shoulder. His gaze swept over the two mountain-sized beasts occupying the barren mountain, then turned to Jack, still struggling in Jörmungandr's jaws. He said slowly, "Kid, look around. You're surrounded now. My men are everywhere out there. I'd advise you to surrender while you can."

Saint Dio casually glanced at the dense crowd behind Kaido.

The Beasts Pirates' elite forces had surrounded the area, blades drawn and muskets loaded. The densely packed crowd numbered at least a thousand.

He withdrew his gaze and said flatly, "Small fry are still small fry. It doesn't matter how many come."

His words immediately caused a stir among the pirates behind Kaido. Many looked furious and tightened their grips on their weapons, ready to charge.

Only when Kaido raised a hand did the commotion subside.

He stared at Saint Dio, his voice deepening. "Kid, don't get too cocky. You're standing on my turf."

"So what?" Saint Dio smiled faintly, pointing at Jörmungandr beneath his feet and then at Kraken behind him, its tentacles slowly swaying. "Want to see how much damage leaving these two here would do to your Wano Country?"

As though to complement his words, Jörmungandr slowly lowered its head and exhaled a breath thick with poisonous mist toward Kaido, a dangerous light flickering in its golden slit pupils; one of Kraken's tentacles rose high, then slammed down through the air and struck the ground with a deafening crash that shook the earth.

Kaido fell silent for a moment, then suddenly burst into earthshaking laughter. "Wororororo-interesting! Kid, you're very interesting!"

Once he had finished laughing, he tilted his head at Saint Dio, his club still over his shoulder. "Tell me, why did you come to Wano Country?"

"There's something I want here," Saint Dio answered frankly.

"What?"

"A secret."

Kaido frowned and snorted heavily.

He hated people who talked in circles like this more than anything.

Still, judging by the other man's attitude, he did not seem to be after control of Wano Country.

Since there was no fundamental conflict between them, there was no need to fight to the death.

"In that case-" Kaido planted his spiked club on the ground and folded his arms. "How about working with me?"

Saint Dio raised an eyebrow. "Work with a Celestial Dragon? Aren't you afraid I'll turn around and sell you out?"

Kaido grinned, baring his sharp fangs. "So what? If I choose to work with you, I'm not afraid of your tricks. Besides-" He paused, a glimmer of insight flashing in his eyes. "You've got ambitions of your own, don't you, kid?"

Saint Dio looked at him in silence for two seconds, then smiled as well.

It was the smile of someone who, having had his thoughts seen through, decided there was no point hiding them anymore.

"Here's to our partnership."

For Saint Dio, working with Kaido was undoubtedly a worthwhile deal.

At least for the time being, he would no longer have to hide as he had before.

With the Beasts Pirates' name as cover, moving around Wano Country would be much easier.

He waved a hand toward Jörmungandr's head.

The giant serpent understood and slowly unclenched its jaws.

Jack's enormous mammoth body fell heavily from midair, hitting the ground with a dull crash and kicking up a cloud of dust.

Jack struggled to his feet. Jörmungandr's stomach acid had corroded his shaggy brown fur into ragged patches, exposing streaks of burned skin beneath.

Had it not been for his thick hide and tenacious vitality, the venom would probably have eaten down to his bones long ago.

He returned to human form. His clothes had long since been shredded in the battle, and he stood there stark naked, covered in corrosive wounds and dried blood.

He raised his head and fixed his bloodshot eyes on Saint Dio atop the serpent's head, his gaze filled with irrepressible fury.

Of those in the Beasts Pirates most displeased about Saint Dio working with Kaido, King was one, and Jack was the other.

King had spent more than a month tracking down this intruder, only for him to emerge unscathed and suddenly become their partner. It left him seething with an unaccountable anger.

Jack, meanwhile, had been taken down in a single move without even a chance to fight back, then spat out of a serpent's mouth in front of so many of his men. He had lost both his dignity and his pride.

But Kaido had personally established that they would cooperate.

No matter how unhappy they were, they could only force down that anger.

Kaido, however, paid no attention to his subordinates' feelings.

Laughing, he hoisted his spiked club onto his shoulder. His body suddenly swelled, and amid the sounds of shifting bones, he transformed back into that enormous azure dragon and soared into the air, his roar resounding through the night sky. "Wororororo-come on! Let's drink!"

Seeing this, Saint Dio pushed off lightly and followed with Geppo, trailing the azure dragon at an unhurried pace.

Left behind, King silently folded his wings. He glanced at Saint Dio's receding figure without a word, then turned and vanished into the night.

Jack remained where he was, clenching his fists so hard that his nails nearly dug into his palms.

He was silent for a moment, then strode toward the prison.

He was seething and needed to find a few prisoners foolish enough to cross him so he could vent his anger.

The azure dragon soared into the sky, circled once above the Flower Capital, then landed on the terrace of the shogun's residence.