I am the Bandit King of the East Sea.

"Golden Lion, we may not be enemies. There are many things we can discuss."

Kaido's previously gloomy expression softened considerably. He lowered his hand from the spiked club at his waist, spread his arms, and indicated that he meant no harm.

Contrary to his rugged appearance, Kaido is not a mindless brute.

"Golden Lion, I'm not interested in why you're in Elbaf. But don't you want to know why I'm here?"

"Hmm? Tell me about it." The golden lion raised an eyebrow, clearly intrigued.

“I’m not the only one who’s come to Elbaf; Linlin is too. We’ve been allies for a long time,” Kaido continued.

"And you can probably guess why we're here in Elbaf..."

"Elbaf is the strongest nation in the world. If we can acquire giants as our fighting force, it will be enough to start the world's largest war!"

Kaido said in a seductive tone.

He knew that this senior from back then was a ruthless and genuine pirate, unlike Whitebeard and Roger. Shiki was ambitious and aspired to conquer the world, and they had common ground.

"Oh? This is your 'plan'?" The Golden Lion's tone was a little strange.

“It’s just part of the plan,” Kaido continued, unsuspecting.

"Golden Lion, if you join our pirate alliance of two Yonko, the outcome of this war will be a sure thing."

"By then..." Kaido tried to paint a grand picture of the future, attempting to persuade Shiki:

"By then, neither Sieg nor Roger will be able to stop our dominance!"

"Let's take over the world first, and we can discuss the rest later!"

Pirate alliances often mean betrayal. Kaido doesn't care about the stability of this alliance. He just wants to conquer the world first, and then everyone will decide who's in charge based on their strength!

"Sig Roger?"

The golden lion was taken aback at first, then its eyes narrowed slightly, flashing with a dangerous light.

"Kaido, you do have some guts. You remind me of my younger days," Shiki murmured.

More than 20 years ago, during the Battle of Edd War, the Flying Pirates, then the strongest pirate crew in terms of overall strength, surrounded the Roger Pirates with their overwhelmingly superior fleet, forcing Roger into a desperate situation.

At that time, Golden Lion made a bold statement, saying that he would make Roger submit and become his right-hand man.

And now, he heard something similar from Kaido.

“But…you’re not good enough!” Shiki’s gaze turned cold, and the wind blew his long hair, which resembled a lion’s mane, up his head. He slightly raised his chin and looked down at Kaido.

Kaido is known as the King of Beasts.

The lion, on the other hand, is the king of beasts.

"Back in our day, there were no so-called Four Emperors." The golden lion's eyes roared with the swirling snowstorm within them.

"Not unique, not sweeping across an entire generation... These mere Four Emperors dare to think they can stand on equal footing with me?"

The golden lion stretched out its hands, and the sea of ​​clouds rolled and undulated with the movement of its hands.

The snowstorm intensified, and the deafening roar of a lion echoed between heaven and earth.

"Shishiwei... Imperial Palace Scroll!"

The swirling snowflakes coalesced into countless lion heads the size of small hills, roaring as they charged toward Kaido, instantly engulfing his towering figure.

hold head high!

A sharp roar came from Kaido's mouth. In his dragon-man form, he retained the power of a Mythical Zoan. Sharp, blade-like gusts of wind rose up, turning into dense, rain-like wind blades that shredded the surrounding lion heads into a shower of white fluff.

But in the next instant, a raging torrent of golden sword light arrived.

Golden Lion used both hands and feet, his body spinning in the air like a top. Waves of sword energy erupted from his four swords, shattering the wind and snow, and the sharp wind blades, engulfing Kaido in the process.

Kaido's dense and indestructible dragon scales were torn open, his flesh turned inside out, and blood splattered out.

Kaido, the user of the Azure Dragon Fruit, can manipulate wind and thunder with a single breath, while Shiki, with his dual Devil Fruit abilities, can also manipulate the weather. Both possess destructive power akin to natural disasters. As they clashed, a fierce wind suddenly swept across the battlefield thousands of meters high, and streaks of blazing white lightning tore through the sky, making the blizzard even more intense.

...........................

In the giant's royal city amidst howling blizzards.

Inside the palace, the giant king looked worried as he glanced at the night sky outside the window.

The blizzard continued, visibility was very low, and he couldn't see anything at all.

The howling wind and snow, along with the occasional flash of lightning, revealed the extraordinary nature of this severe weather.

"Is the old lady not out?" the giant king asked his attendant.

"No, they're still in their guest room."

"It seems she has shown her sincerity." The Giant King nodded to himself.

In a distant village outside the city.

In the Sheep House orphanage, Sig also raised his head, looking out the window at the sky.

Despite the blizzard obstructing his view, he could sense a significant commotion in the sky, but couldn't see clearly... However, some people could see it clearly.

Violet stood beside him, her eyes closed, but a look of surprise flashed across her face.

"Is it Kaido of the Beasts, and Shiki the Golden Lion?"

"Are they engaged in a fierce battle high in the sky?"

"It's them? How did they all end up here?" Sig was also a little surprised, but in his surprise, he said something else.

"Violet, could you perhaps see higher and try to look up at the World Tree?"

Violet nodded, continuing to use the power of the Stare-Stare Fruit, her attention focused on something higher.

She traversed the wind and snow, passed through layers of clouds, and then she saw...

Her already dim vision suddenly turned pitch black, and she couldn't see anything at all.

"I can't see? I can't see!"

Violet's voice suddenly sounded panicked. She seemed to have suddenly lost her sight and almost fell to the ground before realizing that a pair of hands were supporting her back.

Violet opened her eyes, her vision returned, and she saw Sig beside her again.

For the user of the Gaze-Gaze ​​Fruit, losing their sight is extremely difficult to accept.

But strangely, when Violet checked her abilities, she found nothing unusual.

"Let's try again." She closed her eyes again.

The view went beyond the clouds, beyond the battlefield between Kaido and Shiki, and continued upwards... Then, just like before, the view suddenly went completely black again.

This time she didn't panic, but watched quietly.

She quickly noticed something was wrong.

This vast expanse of blackness filling my field of vision resembles an endless ocean... This dark ocean seems to be swaying?

The field of vision rapidly expanded, and the pitch-black sea in front of me quickly shrank.

She saw... a giant, jet-black dragon.

This is a mythical beast from fantasy, which should not exist in the human world. It seems to be destined to be high above and look down on people for the rest of its life.

A faint, dark red glow shone between its scales, rising and falling with its breath, as if molten lava flowed through its veins.

With its jet-black wings spread wide, the jet-black dragon swooped down, a fierce wind howling past.

It seemed to be alarmed by the battle between Shiki and Kaido. At this moment, its golden, majestic vertical pupils seemed to be burning with a flame-like light, and faint black flames from its mouth and nose spread out in the air like flowing water.

Violet was momentarily speechless, her eyes fixed intently on the enormous creature.

But suddenly.

The enormous black dragon turned its head, its dark golden vertical pupils swirling, and suddenly looked in the direction of the violet.

Violet was startled. She suddenly opened her eyes, her chest heaving, and she was covered in a cold sweat.

"What did you see?" Sig asked softly, standing beside him.

....................

Not long after, Kaido returned to his own ship.

Having evaded the sentries of his pirate subordinates, Kaido returned to his room and looked at his wounded body in the mirror.

He couldn't gain the upper hand in the battle against Shiki. The sky was practically Shiki's home ground. Kaido was seriously injured, and half of his body was covered in blood.

Kaido leaned closer to the mirror and unbuttoned his clothes at his chest and abdomen. Beneath the crisscrossing scars, a burn mark was visible on his skin, with a mass of scalded and necrotic flesh on top.

"I, who can breathe fire, was actually burned by flames... What kind of monster was that? Was it some powerful mythical beast-type ability user?"

"Black Flames... Could they be related to Sig?"

Kaido frowned, still thinking about what had happened earlier.

He originally wanted to negotiate with the Golden Lion, but the Golden Lion's arrogance exceeded his expectations. The Golden Lion refused to join forces with him and even launched a direct attack, resulting in a fierce battle in the air.

Not long after, a huge black dragon launched a surprise attack, interrupting the one-on-one duel between the two... Kaido lost interest in fighting and later seized the opportunity to leave.

"It seems I'll just have to stay put and recover for the next few days. Hopefully, it won't affect our plans."

Kaido closed his eyes, and the tiny wounds on his body began to wriggle, slowly healing.

Powerful figures like Kaido and Shiki, who have reached the pinnacle, each possess their own unique skills.

Golden Lion's strength lies in his unparalleled aerial mobility, while Kaido's strength lies in his formidable vitality, which is known as immortality.

Over the years, he has suffered numerous defeats, but he is still alive and retains the prestige of being one of the Four Emperors.

................

Inside the research institute aboard the giant warship Dushan, Sieg glanced at the sky through the window, his face expressionless.

Neither Shiki nor Kaido were his main focus.

Before him, a pale purple mist was compressed inward by an invisible telekinetic force, eventually turning into a deep purple liquid and being contained in a wine bottle.

Caesar's research institutes contained numerous poisonous gases, including those in the "Death Kingdom." These gases were extremely dangerous, being easily spread large-scale biological weapons that, if used properly, could destroy a nation.

However, with telekinetic control, this indiscriminate poison gas was compressed by Sieg into a high-concentration liquid toxin bottle, which he then stored in his inventory.

"The Sun Knight's righteous venom has been created, and it shouldn't be long before it's ready to carry out its justice," Sig thought.