[Cover Story – Four Emperors Part 2: "It's the Queen Mama Chanter!"]
Everyone turned in the direction Thatch was pointing, and their faces all changed dramatically. The singing was indeed real—but the one singing was not human. Instead, it came from a colossal ship slowly emerging from the thick mist. On its deck, the Charlotte Family officers stood frozen with the same look of shock on their faces.
"These guys are heading to Hall Island to save people too? What a coincidence to meet them here…"
The division commanders' faces hardened, hands shifting toward their weapons. But Whitebeard only gave a cold snort. With a swing of his massive naginata, Murakumogiri, he charged forward first.
From the bow of the opposing ship erupted a wild, booming laugh — "Ma-ma-ma-ma!" — as a body as massive as a mountain of flesh stepped out to meet Whitebeard head-on.
Two Emperors of the Sea, clashing on the edge of the cosmos itself, as if grinding away the very laws of the world…
...
"Hello."
As Morgans turned his gaze, the man in the green hood nodded politely.
Then, without hesitation, he took a monocular telescope from one of the reporters and raised it toward the battlefield raging above Hall Island. With impeccable manners, he added:
"Sorry to trouble you, I'll just borrow this for a moment. Thank you."
The scrawny reporter was drenched in cold sweat. His body went stiff; he didn't dare move. All he could do was watch helplessly as his telescope was "borrowed."
"D-d-d-Dragon!!!"
It took Morgans a long moment to snap back to his senses. When he recognized that familiar figure, he practically leapt into the air, squawking in shock:
"Hey, hey, hey! What the hell is going on here?! You—why the hell are you here?!"
"The rain's too heavy. Couldn't see clearly from below."
Dragon didn't look at him, merely weighing the telescope in his hand.
"Watching from the mountain peaks on the island is too dangerous. After thinking it over, this spot seemed best—good line of sight, no need to get wet."
"Is that what I'm asking?!"
Morgans was losing his mind. You're the Revolutionary Army's leader, the man the World Government considers their greatest threat! And you dare to show up here—when every major power's eyes are on Hall Island—just to spectate?!
And if spectating weren't bad enough, you had to sneak aboard my ship without a word? Trying to scare me to death, bastard?!
But Dragon didn't answer. He simply lifted the telescope and quietly observed the clash in the skies above Hall Island.
Morgans, seeing no hostility from him, gradually calmed down. Still, he eyed Dragon up and down with deep suspicion.
Hadn't this man just overthrown a World Government–allied kingdom in the West Blue earlier this year, throwing the seas into chaos and humiliating the Government?
Now, he suddenly appeared in the New World. Could it be he was planning to make a move on one of the nations here?
Dressrosa Kingdom? The Prodence Kingdom?
Those were the only nearby states, but neither had any cracks to exploit. Even if this man was a "dragon," there was nowhere for such a fly to land.
"Don't overthink it."
Dragon's calm voice broke his thoughts.
"I just happened to be passing by. I'm only here to watch the fight."
Yeah right. Just a passerby? Who'd believe that?
Morgans sneered inwardly, but he dared not show it. Since Dragon showed no interest in chatting, he wisely shut his beak and returned his focus to the island.
"Natsuya Nao…"
Dragon's gaze lingered on the figure in the sky, and he muttered to himself in a voice only he could hear.
He hadn't lied to Morgans. This time, he truly had just happened by—but upon hearing that Nao was fighting Kaido, he made a point of coming to witness it in person.
The name was far too familiar to him. Whether from front-page headlines or Kuma's warning letters, it had left a deep impression.
Even during his reunion with his father, when he entrusted Luffy to him after years apart—though the old man's face had been cold and stern throughout, when the topic turned to Nao's brilliant achievements, even he couldn't hide his pride, speaking with animated delight, almost as if that was his real son.
All of this filled Dragon with boundless curiosity about the man.
This guy—wasn't he barely in his early twenties?
And already, he had created miracle after miracle.
But…
This time, the enemy was one of the Emperors of the Sea—Kaido of the Beasts, known as the "Strongest Creature in the World."
To hold out against him for an entire night was already remarkable.
Now dawn had broken. If nothing unexpected happened, within a few hours this battle would finally reach its conclusion.
…
Boom!
With an earth-shattering roar, the two dragons clashed in midair. After a brief deadlock, Kaido suddenly clamped his jaws around the azure thunder dragon's head, shattering its body into countless fragments. Lightning poured out like a flood, spilling in all directions.
But Kaido didn't come out unscathed either.
Not only was his head charred black, but many of the scales across his body were either gone or hanging loose, fresh blood dripping down in shocking streaks.
Crackling currents of electricity still coursed across his massive dragon body, snapping and popping, until Kaido roared and cloaked himself in jet-black Armament Haki. With a violent lash of his tail, he finally dispersed the lingering power of the lightning dragon.
"In the end, you're nothing more than fodder!"
The azure dragon panted heavily, then lifted his gaze to lock onto Nao at the mountain's peak, a cruel grin spreading across his face.
"To pull off a technique like that—not bad at all. But don't forget… you're not the only one who can command wind and thunder, brat!"
Crack!
The moment the words left his mouth, Kaido opened his massive jaws wide, unleashing a blinding white bolt of lightning, blasting forth like a laser cannon and tearing straight toward the mountaintop with overwhelming force!
"The Azure Dragon Fruit really is versatile…"
As the lightning pillar rapidly filled his vision, Nao arched a brow.
"What's this? You want to test me head-on…?"
His eyes closed briefly, and when they snapped open again, the ink-black pupils had turned into dazzling azure. From his glowing sockets burst two searing beams of lightning!
Compared to the thunder spewed by the azure dragon, the twin beams were much thinner—but their intensity far surpassed Kaido's attack.
Sizzle!
The moment they collided in mid-air, they pierced through the lightning pillar as easily as a hot knife through butter, splitting it into three!
But looking through the gap they cut, at the far end, there was no sign of the azure dragon.
Nao's expression slightly changed.
"You fell for it, brat!"
Kaido's voice suddenly rang out from above.
Whummm!
As his massive body spun like a top, more than ten colossal tornadoes formed in an instant, sealing off every direction for kilometers across the sky.
"I've run out of patience playing with you. This ends here!"
"Ultimate Technique: Dragon Twister… Destructive Storm!"
Boom!
Kaido lowered his head and exhaled once more. A white torrent of dragon's breath ripped across the night sky, surging downward like a tidal wave and unleashing a storm of destruction.
Everything in its path—mountains, forests—was pulverized to dust in an instant beneath the crushing atmospheric pressure.
At the same time, the ten-plus tornadoes swirling across the battlefield suddenly answered Kaido's summons, converging toward the center.
All across Hall Island, those who had been staring blankly at the sky now found themselves whipped by violent winds and crashing waves. They squeezed their eyes shut, unable even to force them open again.
Only those with stronger abilities—or the lucky few who were far enough away—managed to squint through the narrow slits of their eyes and see the six tornadoes drifting toward the central maelstrom before roaring into it!
The storm had finally arrived. The twelve tornadoes colliding together made the earlier clash between the azure and blue dragons seem utterly insignificant.
The sky grew dim, the dawn turned chaotic, and at the edge of the storm's shockwave, white streaks spread outward like giant serpents, only to be instantly drowned by the surging tidal waves whipped up by the gale.
In such an environment, even just standing on the ground without being torn into the sky was already an immense challenge.
The massive upheaval caused by this storm also drew the attention of Aokiji, who was still locked in a bitter battle some distance away.
He raised his head toward Nao's now-blurred figure in the storm, his expression turning grim.
This must be Kaido's ultimate trump card in his divine dragon form. To unleash such a move likely came at a steep cost, clearly revealing his intent to end the battle swiftly with a single decisive blow.
With destructive power like that…
Could Nao possibly withstand it…?
…
Time seemed to crawl in the agony of waiting.
No one knew how long it was before the wind and waves gradually calmed. Looking up, they saw the terrifying tornadoes slowly dissipating, and with the morning light breaking through, the sky once again turned clear and open.
Had the battle… finally ended?
The onlookers, dazed like survivors of the apocalypse, stared blankly toward the sky.
And then—
All of them wore expressions of disbelief.
From the shattered, unrecognizable mountaintop, a bolt of lightning suddenly blazed upward, shooting straight into the heavens toward the coiled azure dragon above.
That guy… he wasn't hurt at all?!
Countless breaths caught in throats. Aokiji's eye twitched before he let out a bitter laugh, turned back, and refocused on his fight against the two Calamities.
A complete monster, through and through…
What was he even thinking… worrying that someone like that would just perish in the storm?
Compared to him, his own situation was far more dire…
Within the lightning—
The thick, cocoon-like white shield around Nao's body dispersed, revealing the dense, compressed lightning energy it contained. If released, it could easily flatten several surrounding mountains in an instant.
By compressing and reshaping endless currents of electricity into a full-body "protective suit," he demonstrated one of the advanced techniques of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit had mastered in just a few months of training.
Kaido's tornadoes were infused with dense, high-intensity Armament Haki. Once surrounded, trying to rely on a Logia's elementalization to escape was simply impossible.
It was precisely thanks to this method that he was able to withstand such a terrifying storm head-on and remain completely unscathed. Other than consuming a large amount of stamina while forming the shield, his body didn't even bear many visible wounds.
"Troublesome little brat…"
The azure dragon's eyes glowed crimson, filled with disbelief. But seeing the lightning already surging straight toward him, he could only cast aside his thoughts, let out a furious roar, and charge forward once more.
The chance of crushing Nao in a single blow and ending the battle early had already slipped away, but even now, Kaido still held the undeniable upper hand.
Then let's keep fighting! Even he can't sustain this high-intensity battle for too long. I'd like to see how long this kid can last!
...
The battle lasted three days and three nights.
Night and dawn alternated endlessly, and by the fourth night, countless factions had gathered near Hall Island to witness it. Yet in the skies above, the titanic struggle still raged without a victor.
"Cough… cough…"
In the darkness, Kaido gripped his kanabo tightly, panting heavily, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the figure before him, burning with ruthless ferocity.
He had reverted to his human form.
His entire body was a mess—there was scarcely a patch of intact muscle left. His massive chest was smeared with blood, "battered and bruised" no longer sufficed to describe him. He looked like a demon crawling straight out of hell.
Earlier, in his dragon form, the wounds hadn't been so visible on the surface. But now, back in his human body, they were laid bare for all to see.
However…
As horrific as his bloodied appearance seemed, they were, in the end, only surface wounds. For someone with his regenerative power, such injuries hardly mattered.
What was truly troublesome were the internal damages—the lightninh that had pierced into his body, wreaking havoc on his organs.
The Rumble-Rumble Fruit was, after all, one of the most powerful Logia fruits in the world.
Under Nao's mastery, its destructive might was so overwhelming that even an Emperor of the Sea couldn't afford to take it lightly.
And yet—
Despite it all, Kaido's fighting spirit showed no sign of waning. On the contrary, it only grew fiercer, his presence radiating an aura so dreadful it made hearts tremble.
"Keep going, brat!"
He spat out a mouthful of blood and roared, hurling himself forward like a cannonball. His kanabo swung high as he brought it crashing down toward Nao, who gleamed within the lightning.
Thud!
With a dull crash, Kaido and Nao's figures brushed past one another, both forced back more than ten meters in mid-air.
The next instant, they raised their heads in unison, locked eyes for a heartbeat, then roared again and clashed once more.