Cover Story · The Four Emperors Part 1:
"Pops, listen—doesn't it sound like someone's singing over there?"
News of the intense battle between Nao and Kaido spread throughout the New World. Whitebeard, who had learned of Marco and the others' defeat, was enraged. Without hesitation, he chose to sail out himself. His massive whale-shaped ship cut through the waves, charging straight toward Hall Island.
Halfway through, the sky turned dark. In the gloomy rainstorm, the Moby Dick's visibility was obstructed, but it continued to press on. After finally enduring the storm, Fourth Division Commander Thatch let out a soft exclamation and turned his head to look in a certain direction...
...
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Countless ice blades shot forth. While Queen was still struggling to dodge, Aokiji's figure flickered—and at some point, he had already appeared directly above him.
"Ice Time Capsule."
With a low murmur, Aokiji made no visible movement, yet an invisible shockwave of freezing cold burst outward from his body. Quiet and unseen, it closed in from all sides around Queen.
The shockwave was incredibly fast—so fast that even the very air it touched seemed to freeze, leaving behind a long, pale trail of frost.
"Not good!"
Queen suddenly felt an intense chill invade his body, seeping into his bones. His entire system—his brain, nerves, and muscles—slowed half a beat in response.
"Now!"
A sharp gleam flashed in Aokiji's eyes. With a tap of his foot, his tall figure vanished from sight.
In the blink of an eye, he appeared right in front of Queen, his arms hooking down from above to wrap around Queen's thick, fleshy shoulders.
"Ice Time."
The deep voice rang in Queen's ear. His expression shifted instantly, sensing deadly danger. Without hesitation, he forced his shoulder muscles to contract, wrenching himself free from Aokiji's grip and leaping backward.
However—
Even though Queen's reaction was fast, he was still half a step too late.
The freezing cold had already spread from Aokiji's shoulder onto his body.
Transparent layers of ice began to engulf his flesh, freezing him from the pores of his skin all the way down to his blood and cells.
"You've underestimated my ability , fatso."
Watching as frost crept over Queen's face, even his hair and eyebrows turning white, Aokiji whispered softly. Raising his palm, five sharp ice spears appeared, shooting toward Queen:
"This should be enough to finish it…"
Before the words could finish—
"Oh, is that so?"
Just as Queen was on the verge of becoming a frozen statue, his lips curled upward in a grin. In the next instant, to Aokiji's astonishment, his massive body suddenly swelled outward.
Within a few breaths, he broke free of the ice's restraints—transforming into a colossal Brachiosaurus towering dozens of meters high!
ROAR!
The brachiosaurust threw its head back and bellowed, the frost clinging to its body cascading off like snow falling from treetops.
"Let me return those words to you."
Looking down at the surprised Aokiji, the brachiosaurus smirked. "You're the one who underestimated my ability."
"Dragon-Dragon Fruit, Model: Brachiosaurus."
Aokiji looked up at the monstrous dinosaur, rubbing his temple with a headache.
"Ara ara… troublesome. Another thick-skinned monster…"
Just how much does that bastard Kaido love collecting these ridiculous Zoan-type fruits anyway?
"Something even more troublesome is yet to come."
Suddenly, a deep, raspy female voice rang out.
Aokiji turned his head and saw, not far away in the dense forest, whole swaths of trees collapsing. As the ground trembled slightly, a one-armed Triceratops, its front leg half broken, stepped out from the woods with a cold, ruthless gaze.
"Sena..."
Aokiji's heart sank instantly, his mood plummeting to rock bottom.
When the Beasts Pirates' fleet had first landed, he had already arranged the battle assignments: he would take on Queen, while Momonga and Onigumo together would hold off Sena.
Once he defeated Queen, he'd be free to deal with Sena himself, and the rest of the Beasts Pirates wouldn't pose much of a problem—they could be wiped out with ease.
But now, Seina had come straight for him.
And Momonga and Onigumo were nowhere to be seen.
It was obvious.
The two of them were likely already lying on the ground, completely incapacitated—whether dead or alive, the odds weren't good.
"So it'll be two against one…?"
Looking at the two giant dinosaurs closing in from left and right, Aokiji, shrouded in their shadows, took a deep breath. When he raised his head again, the brief moment of stunned disbelief was gone.
Replacing it was a blazing, torch-like fighting spirit.
"Just what I wanted!"
A year ago, during the battle at G1, Nao had fought two of the Calamities at once and defeated them, leaving countless witnesses awestruck.
And now—
It was his turn to accept that challenge.
Aokiji exhaled a frosty breath, an ice blade several meters long forming instantly in his grip. He tightened his hold on it, fixing his gaze firmly on the two colossal beasts.
Then, he stomped his heel on the ground and pushed off—
Swoosh!
High in the sky, above the clouds.
Nao, sent flying by the Azure Dragon's sudden tail swipe, fell like a cannonball, crashing onto a mountain peak, instantly piercing through the entire summit down to its base.
Boom! Rumble!
The mountain collapsed instantly, mud and boulders surging down in a landslide fueled by the torrential rain. The deafening noise sent shockwaves of fear through countless people across the island.
Zzzt!
But in the next instant, a pillar of lightning erupted from the shattered mountain, piercing the stormy sky before circling back upward in a flash.
"As expected of an Emperor of the Sea."
As the lightning dissipated, Nao's figure reappeared. "Once you get serious, you really can make me feel some pain…"
Compared to before, the injuries he bore from taking the azure dragon's full-force strike head-on were horrifying.
His waist and abdomen, from the right side of his spine to his armpit, were caved in deeply. Muscles were mangled and twisted, blood streamed down in sheets, white bone jutted out, and even glimpses of internal organs could be seen.
"Finally realized your limits, brat…"
The azure dragon bared its fangs in a mocking sneer, eyes brimming with scorn. "That strike of mine carried both Conqueror's Haki and Armament Haki. Even a Logia can't evade it.
The azure dragon's maw curled into a sneer, his eyes dripping with scorn. "That strike was infused with both Conqueror's Haki and Armament. Even a Logia can't evade it. "
"No matter how tough your body is—how many of those do you think you can withstand… hm?"
His words abruptly stopped.
The azure dragon's eyes widened in disbelief.
—For Nao had pressed a hand against the caved-in wound and, with a brutal tug, ripped out the twisted, blood-soaked mass of muscle along with its veins, then casually tossed it aside.
Then, from the gaping wound, new flesh began to sprout like bamboo shoots after rain. In less than ten seconds, the once-gruesome injury had completely regenerated, restored to its original state.
"Sorry—the rain's too heavy, I didn't quite catch that…"
Under Kaido's stunned gaze, Nao tilted his head slightly, stretched his limbs, and a series of cracking sounds like popping beans erupted from his joints. He spoke expressionlessly:
"It sounded like you said something just now. Could you repeat it for me?"
"…"
The azure dragon fell silent, the corner of his eye twitching. After struggling for a long moment, not a single word came out.
"…Not going to say it again?"
Nao let out a cold laugh. His figure blurred, leaving only an afterimage behind. Relying on his ability to teleport through the electromagnetic field of lightning, in the next instant he crossed a hundred meters of sky, appearing above Kaido's dragon head. With both swords in hand, he struck down fiercely.
"Then it's my turn!"
Two-Sword Style: Jade Splitter Slash!
As the blades crossed, a howling gale erupted. Two vast arcs of sword energy, like dazzling white silk ribbons, slashed downward toward the massive azure dragon below.
This was a secret sword technique he had already mastered back in his recruit days. At that time, he had relied on this very strike to defeat Warlord William, earning the first taste of fame for the name "Nao," officially stepping onto the world stage.
But now, after all these years, Nao's strength had grown many times over. This sword strike was nothing like what it had been back then.
Wherever the sword energypassed, the very air was stripped away, as if even the void itself trembled faintly.
Whummm!
The instant the sound of the blades tearing through the air reached him, Kaido reacted in advance. Despite the bulk of his massive azure dragon body, in this moment he displayed an agility wholly unfit for such a size.
With a roar, he raised his dragon head slightly and spewed forth a terrifying breath of fire several meters wide, colliding head-on with Nao's overwhelming sword energy.
Boom!
A deafening explosion shook the skies. At the point of impact, scorching heat waves rolled out, instantly evaporating every drop of rain within several hundred meters around.
The sword energy and the dragon's breath clashed, deadlocked for several seconds, before both shattered at once, unleashing a storm of violent rippling shockwaves.
Nao's eyes remained calm. With casual ease, he rose several dozen meters higher. The shockwave washed over him, but his body slipped into the sea of lightning and disappeared in an instant, leaving not a trace behind.
Kaido, in his azure dragon form, also made no move to evade. With a low roar, he tanked the remainder of the sword energy head-on.
Crack! Crack!
In the next moment, many gashes of varying sizes appeared on the dragon scales all over his body. Several of the thick dragon whiskers on both sides were also broken off, falling rapidly from the sky.
One of them fell vertically onto the top of a Beast Pirates Headliner's head. This officer, with a bounty just over a hundred million, let out a shrill scream as he was skewered from head to toe, nailed firmly into the ground.
"Calling yourself a great swordsman, and this is all your slash amounts to, brat?"
The azure dragon paid no mind to the injuries on his body. His lantern-sized eyes glared up at Nao with a ferocious sneer.
"Letting you continue tickling like this, I'm afraid I'll starve to death before this battle is over!"
"Is that so?"
A sharp light burst from Nao's eyes. Gripping both sword hilts tightly, he raised them high above his head.
At that moment, all the energy within his body surged like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea, converging madly at the lightning-wreathed sword tips.
"Then try this next move, Kaido of the Beasts!"
Three Hundred Million Volts… White Dragon!
Whummm!
Amid the deafening thunderstorm, a terrifying aura, enough to make one's heart tremble, rapidly condensed at the now pitch-black tip of the sword. In the very next instant, as the blade came slashing down, that power exploded completely!
Within the pouring rain, a blinding, majestic light suddenly burst forth.
At the moment the sword erngy erupted from the edge, it transformed into a colossal blue dragon, its entire body bathed in lightning. With a roar full of fury, it surged downward, rampaging as though it would swallow everything in its path, charging straight at the azure dragon below.
After eating the Rumble-Rumble Fruit and training for four months, Nao still hadn't mastered fusing lightning's power with his Wind Sword Style. Yet he had already glimpsed the path forward—using his sword as a medium to perfectly unleash lightning's terrifying might!
"Now this is getting interesting."
Looking up at the oncoming lightning-dragon, Kaido could clearly sense the aura of destruction radiating from it. But instead of fear, his face betrayed no hesitation—his tongue licked the corner of his mouth as his eyes gleamed with crazed excitement.
"Now this is really interesting!!!"
"This is how a fight should be, brat Nao!"
Kaido roared with laughter, showing no sign of dodging or retreating. He opened his massive maw wide, bellowing a savage dragon's roar. Then, with a lash of his tail, he charged head-on to meet the attack!
By now, the night had passed, and the eastern sky was faintly turning pale with the light of dawn.
One azure, one blue—two massive dragons, beneath the heavens, in the breaking light of morning, and under countless stunned gazes, collided with a thunderous crash!
...
Northern side of Hall Island, over ten kilometers away.
A hot-air balloon floated quietly, emblazoned with the logo of the World Economy Newspaper.
"Hahaha, marvelous, marvelous!"
Since arriving at the battlefield, Morgans had been staring intently at the fight. Now, unable to contain his excitement, he stretched his eagle beak into a grin and laughed aloud:
"This man… he's clearly far stronger than when he fought Charlotte Linlin back at G1 Branch! Even someone as mighty as Kaido can't do a thing against him now!"
"P-president…"
At that moment, a few of his reporters behind him spoke up nervously.
"What is it? Can't you see I'm watching the show? Don't bother me if it's nothing important!"
Morgans flapped his wings dismissively, keeping the binoculars pressed to his eyes as he barked impatiently:
"All of you, pay attention to your shots! Don't slack off! The whole world is watching this fight right now—if it ends and we don't have any good close-up photos to run, you'll regret it once we get back!"
"N-no, President…"
The reporters' voices wavered, on the verge of tears. "Please… just turn your head around and look…"
"Huh?"
Only then did Morgans feel something was off. He turned his head to look back and was so startled he shuddered, almost popping his eyes out.
A man shrouded in a green hood had appeared behind them at some point. He was slightly raising his head, looking at Morgans with indifferent eyes.