A terrifying slash that spanned the ocean, followed by the sudden appearance of a sleek, streamlined battleship, stirred a wave of renewed morale across the Marine ranks. On the now-sinking Doghead Warship, Zephyr led the remaining few Marines aboard toward the neighboring ship.
Most of Garp's subordinates were the most elite troops the Navy had to offer. The moment Garp had taken a motorboat to Riddridge Island, those elite Marines had already followed closely behind.
Only a handful remained aboard, mostly bridge officers, making evacuation swift and orderly.
And once Zephyr and Bogard had vacated the vessel, seawater began to flood into the Doghead's hull. Slowly, the ship disappeared beneath the waves.
As all eyes turned seaward, the Dawn battleship quickly advanced. It cut through the formation and came to a slow halt precisely where the Doghead had briefly moored before.
On deck, Zephyr stood with his arms behind his back, staring toward the Dawn's deck. The moment he saw that familiar figure, a smile crept onto his face. Then he raised his voice and called out toward the bow:
"Yoriichi, you're a little late!"
"Also... your entrance was a bit too dramatic."
Aboard the Dawn, Tsugikuni Yoriichi leaned against the railing, a longsword resting over his shoulder. Hearing Zephyr's comment, a faint smile appeared on his face.
"Zephyr-sensei, you can't really blame me for that, can you?"
His response carried unspoken meaning. Zephyr's smile faded slightly, and he let out a quiet sigh. During his battle with King, the moment he discovered King's true identity, his resolve had wavered.
Getting old had softened his heart.
Choosing not to continue the conversation, Zephyr gestured to Bogard and said, "As planned, command from here on will be handed over to that brat."
"Bogard, give the Den Den Mushi to Yoriichi."
Then he shouted toward the Dawn, "Yoriichi, the operation is in your hands now!"
"From this moment on, the lives of these Marines are entrusted to you!"
As Zephyr's voice rang out, Bogard retrieved the Den Den Mushi from his coat and leapt onto the deck of the Dawn.
At his arrival, the figures behind Yoriichi, Mihawk, Kyros, and Tiger, shifted their attention toward him.
Bogard was already familiar with Mihawk and Kyros, but it was his first time seeing Tiger and the other fish-men. He studied them briefly before stepping in front of Yoriichi and handing over the Den Den Mushi.
"Thank you, Bogard."
Yoriichi accepted the snail and gave a nod toward Zephyr. Then, raising the receiver, he addressed the fleet in a commanding tone:
"This is Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral Tsugikuni Yoriichi."
"From now on, all Marines are to follow my orders."
"All ships, form a semicircular perimeter around the Dawn. Seal off the harbor completely. Not a single pirate vessel is to break through."
"Once in position, reload ammunition and hold."
With that, he tossed the Den Den Mushi to Kyros and issued instructions to those around him:
"Kyros, you'll remain aboard and coordinate the other ships' positioning."
"Mihawk, Jinbe, you're with me. We're landing."
"Tiger, assist Kyros and protect the fleet."
"Listen carefully, you're our retreat path. Don't let anything happen to the ships."
With that, Yoriichi took a step forward, and in a blink, leapt to the prow of the ship.
"Yes, sir!"
Kyros and Tiger stood tall and answered in unison.
Yoriichi's Haki flared.
A heartbeat later, his figure launched skyward, transforming into a streak of white light as he shot toward Riddridge Island.
Mihawk followed without a word, his form soaring behind. Jinbe, for his part, dove into the sea with a splash, vanishing beneath the waves.
From the nearby ship, Zephyr's jaw dropped at the sight.
"That wasn't... Geppo?"
"He just... straight-up flew?"
…
Back on the coast of Riddridge Island, King groaned as he forced himself upright amid crumbled rock and soil. His body trembled, and gravel slid from his scorched armor with a soft clatter.
"That slash…"
Looking down at his hand, he found his sword broken clean in half.
Even though he had coated the blade in Armament Haki, he still couldn't block the attack.
Blood poured from a deep wound at his waist, so deep that bone was visible. With the Lunarians' fearsome regeneration, he wouldn't die from this alone... but he wouldn't be standing again anytime soon either.
Suddenly, King felt a powerful gust behind him. Frowning, he turned his head,
A man now stood just meters away, tall and silent.
He wore a loose, crimson training robe adorned with maple leaves. Over it hung the white cloak of a Marine officer. One hand rested casually at his side, while the other balanced a longsword over his shoulder. His expression was calm, cold.
"Tsugi…"
King tried to speak, but a fresh wave of pain surged from his side. Clutching the wound, he forced his body to turn. Propping himself up on one hand, he grabbed his broken blade with the other.
"King of the Beasts Pirates."
"You're under arrest."
Yoriichi's killing intent flickered briefly, but faded just as quickly. Gazing at King's battered figure, struggling to rise, his eyes grew dark and heavy.
He stepped forward.
Then, without warning, he reached out and slammed King's head into the ground.
"BOOM!!!"
With a loud crash, King collapsed unconscious.
Yoriichi lifted him by the collar and looked toward the sea.
Moments later, Jinbe arrived. Yoriichi tossed King into his arms.
"He's a Devil Fruit user. Shackle him with Sea-Prism Stone."
"I still need him. Don't let him die."
Without another word, he turned and walked toward the shore.
By this time, Garp's vanguard had already cleared the surrounding buildings near the coast. Against his overwhelming presence, the pirates hadn't even dared to fight back.
The once-boiling tide of pirates had receded, leaving behind hundreds of corpses.
Those with sharper instincts hadn't even charged during King's rally. They hung back, and when the situation turned grim, they were the first to flee, now hiding and watching from afar.
The Beasts Pirates had only recently seized control of Riddridge Island. Most of their members had ended up here by coincidence and joined out of fear of Kaido.
Loyalty? That was never part of the equation.
When Kaido's power loomed overhead, these men had a backbone. But now that the Marines had landed and King had been captured, any unity they had evaporated.
In the face of disaster, would pirates band together and fight the Marines to the death?
Of course not.
They'd drag others down just to buy themselves a few more seconds to escape.
If this had been the Beasts Pirates a decade or two later, maybe they could've mustered a real counterattack. But right now? Their foundation was shallow. Their numbers were a mess.
Unless Kaido himself took command, no one could pull them together.
So... what was Kaido doing?
At the heart of Riddridge Island, inside a castle, Kaido stared through a telescope. Watching the chaos unfold on the coast, his Observation Haki filled in the rest.
"King!!!"
He let out a low growl as he saw a blue-skinned fish-man lift King's bloody body onto a boat.
He pressed a hand to his forehead, and to his own surprise, tears spilled between his fingers.
The Marines… were far stronger than Kaido had expected.
King's assault on the Navy flagship hadn't crippled their command. Instead, he'd been captured.
And now, a new leader had arrived, someone not mentioned in the intel. Not just anyone… it was Tsugikuni Yoriichi.
Kaido, for all his confidence, knew he couldn't defeat Garp, Zephyr, and Yoriichi all at once.
Sure, the Beasts Pirates had some strong officers… but Kaido had lived through the Rocks Pirates. He knew exactly what kind of people his "subordinates" really were.
Counting on them to hold the line?
He'd be lucky if they didn't sell him out.
Only King, King was the one person Kaido had trusted from beginning to end.
And now, King had been taken.
Kaido was no fool. The reason he survived the World Government's purge after Rocks fell wasn't just strength. It was cunning. It was knowing when to retreat.
Wiping his tears, Kaido drained his sake gourd and moved into phase two.
"Listen up! Move all civilians to the castle! Everyone, blend in with them!"
"All officers, to my castle, now!"
With his orders issued via Den Den Mushi, Kaido hung up and strode out of the room, his spiked kanabō and sake flask in hand.
Others could die. Others could run. But King... King could not be taken by the Marines!
"King!!!"
Sobbing and raging, Kaido stumbled drunkenly through the halls, grief and fury surging in tandem.
The orders were already being carried out. Officers of the Beasts Pirates had begun herding the island's residents into the central town.
That town, once home only to officers and their underlings, now swelled with commoners as well. Pirate and civilian mingled in a single dense, volatile crowd.
Kaido, having ensured his pawns were in place, returned to his throne to watch the Marines' movements.
At the shoreline, Yoriichi had already used his Haki to detect Kaido's presence, and more importantly, the pirates' current tactics.
But he did not act recklessly.
This wasn't a simple pirate-cleansing operation.
Riddridge Island now held tens of thousands, pirates and civilians mixed together. The Navy, meanwhile, had only a few thousand troops at sea.
Yoriichi's priority was clear: eliminate the pirates.
Kaido could wait.
Civilian lives… mattered more.
Yoriichi regrouped with Garp and the vanguard. He ordered the Marines to secure the docks and the surrounding homes, creating a fortified base of operations.
Only after establishing a foothold did he instruct the troops to sweep the island.
But the pirates were cunning. They used the Marines' divided forces against them, launching ambushes from hidden positions.
The Marines, unfamiliar with the terrain and hesitant to harm civilians, suffered losses.
Realizing the danger, Yoriichi quickly recalled the search teams.
And just like that, the front line fell into a strange, uneasy stalemate.
"Hey, Yoriichi," Garp said, frowning as he analyzed the map, "we've got a few hundred men in the vanguard, but these Beasts Pirates aren't pushovers."
"Our mid-level forces can't outmatch them. If we stay split up, we'll take heavy losses."
"There's another problem, the pirates are using civilians as shields. It's a damn mess."
Neither Garp nor Yoriichi had any intention of charging in to kill Kaido. It was simple: they couldn't be sure they could take him down in one blow. If Kaido retaliated, the number of civilian casualties would be… catastrophic.
Of course, if Akainu were here, he wouldn't hesitate. He'd call the civilians "brave sacrifices" and fire off a Meteor Volcano.
But Yoriichi and Garp weren't that kind of Marine.
Inside the temporary command center, Yoriichi was deep in thought.
The situation on Riddridge Island was far different from what their intel had claimed. They'd thought the island was purely a pirate base. Even if there were civilians, they assumed the number was small.
But from his Observation Haki, Yoriichi could sense that there were… tens of thousands.
Only now did he finally understand how the future Four Emperors could thrive beneath the Navy's nose.
It wasn't just about raw strength.
It was because they had the leverage to flip the table.
If a pirate like Kaido couldn't be taken down in a single strike, what chaos would he unleash across the seas?
A chaos the Navy could never allow.
And as for why the Navy dared to capture Ace and start a war with Whitebeard? That was because… Whitebeard wasn't Kaido.
He wouldn't do what Kaido would.
As for why Luffy managed to sneak into Whole Cake Island or Wano and "liberate" them?
Well… he was Luffy.
Pirates don't use civilians to threaten other pirates.
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