When Charlotte Linlin heard him, her expression instantly darkened again.
She didn't answer immediately. She only stared coldly at the sea, as if trying to see Renzo's lazy, infuriating face reflected in the depths of that whirlpool.
Kaido, seeing her silent, continued talking on his own, his tone filled with the arrogance and disdain of a sea emperor.
"Back during the Marineford War, I already heard rumors about him. Said some marine rear admiral used some strange ability and froze the entire battlefield by himself… Wororororo! The biggest joke I've ever heard!"
Behind him, King the Wildfire added coldly:
"The whole world thought it was propaganda made up by the World Government to fabricate a 'marine hero.' Aside from the people who were actually there, nobody believed it."
And that really was the case.
To someone like Kaido, who worshiped brute strength and overwhelming Haki, he believed it was ridiculous.
In his eyes, it was just government propaganda Renzo was, at best, a troublesome newcomer with an unusual ability.
So when he saw the news that Linlin had been extorted for 10.8 billion berries, his first reaction wasn't shock, it was ridicule.
He simply couldn't imagine what kind of ability could make a top-tier monster like Charlotte Linlin swallow such a humiliating loss without even resisting.
"Lies?"
At that moment, Charlotte Linlin finally spoke.
Her voice was low and hoarse, shaking with something unsettling, as though she were remembering a terror she never wanted to relive.
"Kaido, let me tell you something…"
She slowly turned her head. Her blood-red eyes locked onto Kaido, and she said, enunciating every word:
"What the newspapers wrote… isn't even one-tenth as terrifying as that man truly is."
Kaido's brows twitched, his first genuine sign of unease.
He could feel it. What Linlin was showing now wasn't anger. It wasn't resentment.
It was something even she didn't want to admit-
Fear.
Actual fear.
"Mamamamama…"
Linlin let out a strange laugh and continued:
"You think his strength is like ours? Based on overwhelming Armament? Or destructive Conqueror's Haki?"
"No. Not even close."
"That man's ability isn't in the category of 'combat' at all. It's… a rule."
She raised her hand, as if recalling that moment.
"In that sea… he just lifted a finger and said, 'Be quiet.' And then the entire world really became quiet."
"My Flame froze in midair."
"Kizaru's light particles stopped moving."
"Even Katakuri's future sight, froze, along with his entire body, in that second."
"Do you understand that feeling, Kaido?"
Her voice shook with a mixture of horror and outrage.
"It wasn't time stopping. It was every cell, every thought, every bit of your soul being forcefully implanted with a single command, 'I'm too lazy to move.'"
"You have all your strength, but you can't even generate the idea of moving a single finger!
All you can do is watch like a puppet… as he strolls around your world at his leisure."
Kaido's pupils shrank sharply.
For the first time, the face that always carried arrogance and drunken madness showed something else-
Gravity.
He didn't fully understand what she felt, but he understood the core:
Absolute dominance.
An inescapable rule.
"And that's not even the scariest part."
Linlin's tone turned icy.
"The scariest part… is that he can make your existence disappear from this world."
She glanced at Kaido.
"Blackbeard Teach's arms?"
"He erased them with that ability. Not cut. Not severed. Erased, like wiping something with an eraser."
"No regeneration. No recovery."
"Because the concept of those arms… ceased to exist."
"And he threatened to erase my arms the same way… right in front of me."
"At that moment, I truly felt, that man absolutely could do it."
Her massive body trembled slightly.
Not from exhaustion.
From aftershock.
From a fear she never imagined she would experience, fear of an unknown power that made even a Yonko feel helpless.
The whole sea fell silent.
Both crews, the Beasts Pirates and the Big Mom Pirates, were utterly stunned by their captains' words.
Kaido was silent for a long time.
Lowering his head, his face hidden in shadow.
Only now did he understand why Linlin had acted the way she did.
Only now did he understand why she paid that humiliating ransom and fled G-5 immediately.
Only now did he understand the fury and shame she had nowhere to vent, until he stupidly came to mock her.
Because against Renzo's unreasonable, rule-type ability, all her pride, her monstrous body,
her overwhelming Haki, her Soul-Soul Fruit, were worthless.
Her rage was meaningless in front of that man.
Just like a player throwing a tantrum at the game admin who controls the entire server.
"Worororo… wororororororororo!!!"
After a long silence, Kaido suddenly let out a deep laugh that rose into manic excitement.
He raised his head. The heaviness in his eyes was gone, replaced by a feverish, twisted joy.
"An absolute rule you can't resist?"
"Power that erases existence?"
His eyes gleamed dangerously as he stared toward G-5.
"So that's how it is."
"So that's how it is!"
"This world still has such a fun man??"
"Linlin, you useless fool!"
He roared at her, but this time, there was no mockery. Only excitement.
"Facing a monster like that, you should be thrilled!"
"At last, someone who might actually kill me!"
His sick dream of finding a "glorious death" was completely ignited.
Charlotte Linlin only snorted, ignoring the battle maniac.
Her heart seethed with hatred and a single goal:
Find that man's weakness, and devour him, soul and all.
On this sunken island, the two Emperors reached, for the first time in their lives,
a shared understanding: Renzo was a monster beyond monsters.
Without another word, they turned and led their fleets in opposite directions.
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
[email protected]/DaoistJinzu