A scorching wind swept across the charred and shattered earth, the air thick with the acrid stench of burning embers that made every breath a struggle.
Kaido's weak, hoarse voice drifted slowly on the wind, freezing Dragon and the others in place, stunned disbelief written across their faces.
King stared blankly ahead, momentarily lost.
Big Brother Kaido... admitting defeat?
No...
"Impossible!"
Bloodshot veins spiderwebbed across King's eyes. He refused to accept it, teeth grinding as he shouted:
"Big Brother Kaido, you can still stand! Rogers Darren is completely unconscious!"
"You haven't lost at all!"
"Even if that bastard had the upper hand just now, so what?"
"As long as you're still conscious, the fight isn't over!"
"Finish him off right now! Kill Rogers Darren... and you'll be the last one standing, the victor of this war!"
His voice cracked under the weight of his denial, crimson eyes locked on Kaido, desperate pleading burning in their depths.
Kaido fell silent for a moment, catching that fragile glimmer of hope in King's gaze. He sighed softly, then shook his head with a wry smile.
"Being conscious or unconscious doesn't mean anything."
Queen's eyes suddenly widened. "Wait... don't tell me Darren held back on that last attack—?"
Bang!
The heavy Kanabo smashed into his face, slamming him into the ground with brutal force and gouging out a fresh crater.
Queen grimaced in agony, his face swollen and bruised as he struggled back to his feet, a vivid Kanabo mark imprinted on his cheek. He stared at Kaido in disbelief.
Hey, even if I'm wrong, you didn't have to hit me that hard!
Kaido panted heavily. "You idiot! Don't you dare insult our battle!"
Queen: "..."
Kaido shot the fat man an irritable glare, rubbed his throbbing temples, then turned back to King. After a moment of silence, he said slowly, "The battle is over, Alber."
With some effort, he raised his bloodstained hand and gently patted King's head—just as he had done all those years ago when he rescued that white-haired boy from the World Government's laboratory.
For an instant, Kaido seemed to see that isolated, terrified child again. Deep within his brutal, ferocious eyes, a faint tenderness flickered.
"A loss is a loss. There's no arguing that."
"This final battle ended with my defeat—'Beast' Kaido's defeat."
The words struck King like a bolt of lightning. His face went deathly pale.
Profound confusion filled his eyes.
To King, Kaido had always been the hero who had dragged him out of that hellish laboratory, away from sin and suffering.
The heavily fortified facility, the twisted scientists, the World Government researchers, the elites of CP0... everything that had once terrified the young Lunarian named Alber had crumbled like ants beneath the might of that divine, demonic figure who fell from the sky.
That overwhelming power had seared itself into King's memory, vivid even now.
In his heart, Kaido-san had always been the strongest, an invincible existence.
So faced with this scene, he could not accept it.
"What's wrong, Alber? Are you disappointed in me?"
Kaido suddenly chuckled and ruffled King's hair.
"Do you remember the name I told you about?"
King's eyes flickered, his pupils slowly refocusing as he stared at Kaido, shock and confusion warring in his gaze.
"You mean... Joy Boy?" he rasped at last.
Snapping out of his daze, he whirled around, his gaze falling on the unconscious black-haired youth lying on the ground.
Big Brother Kaido had once mentioned a name from the Void Century—a warrior hailed as the "Warrior of Freedom and Liberation"... Joy Boy.
Back then, Kaido had said that if anyone in this world could ever defeat him, it would be Joy Boy.
Could it be that Rogers Darren was the Joy Boy Big Brother Kaido had spoken of?!
King stood rooted to the spot, utterly bewildered.
Beside him, Queen was even more shaken. His lips twitched uncontrollably, dark lines of exasperation practically etched into his forehead.
Though Kaido had never shared many specifics, Queen had picked up scraps of classified information from Vegapunk back when they both worked with the illegal research group MADS.
According to legend, Joy Boy was the "Sun God," the one who would bring freedom and liberation to the world.
The legendary Warrior of Liberation, who would bring laughter to all!
Queen had always scoffed at such stories, even dismissing the very idea of Joy Boy's existence as irrelevant nonsense.
But even so...
If anyone dared claim that Darren, that bastard, was Joy Boy, Overalls Fatso would be the first to stand up and object!
Who was Joy Boy?
According to those hazy legends and fragmented whispers from the Void Century, he was a Warrior of Liberation—a symbol of freedom and laughter, a pioneer who would lead the world toward a brighter future.
And what about Rogers Darren?
Smoking, drinking, chasing money and women, obsessed with power, fooling his superiors, scheming and treacherous... he embodied every shameful vice of the "greatest disgrace"!
Calling that man Joy Boy would be the greatest joke of this era.
At that point, Queen seriously began to wonder if Big Brother Kaido had been beaten senseless by Darren, or if his injuries were so bad that he was just rambling nonsense.
Still reeling from his earlier "lesson," his head throbbing, Queen wisely kept his complaints to himself, only muttering under his breath and pursing his lips.
What he did not expect was this:
Faced with King's stunned question, Kaido froze for a heartbeat—then suddenly burst into loud, booming laughter.
"Wororororo!"
As if a dam had burst, Kaido's laughter grew more and more unrestrained, his shoulders shaking, tears even gathering in the corners of his eyes.
"Joy Boy? That little brat Darren?"
"Him!?"
"Wororororo!!"
King stared at him blankly, at a total loss for words.
"Alber," Kaido said at last, his laughter slowly fading into a weary sigh, "he's not Joy Boy. But in some ways, he's even more terrifying."
Turning away, Kaido dragged his Kanabo behind him with a harsh scrape and strode off into the distance.
"Let's go, Alber."
Watching Kaido's broad back recede, King ground his teeth. In the end, he couldn't stop himself.
"Kaido-san, why do you say he won?"
Kaido's steps faltered.
He stood upon the desolate, scorched earth, surrounded by smoldering embers, his purple fur cloak billowing in the wind.
"His injuries hadn't fully healed. And that strange power of his... he couldn't push it to its limit."
Kaido tilted his head back, gazing up at the vast, boundless sky.
Brilliant sunlight lanced through the heavens like golden blades, illuminating his rough, blood-streaked face.
"If he'd been at his peak, I might already be dead."
King froze again, stunned.
Before he could respond, Kaido turned his head back slightly, a wild grin slowly spreading across his face.
"But I guarantee you this..."
As the words left his lips, a faint wisp of black flame brushed across his cheek, then disappeared.
A shallow cut that had appeared there closed in an instant.
"...next time, I won't lose."
To be continued...