Border of Wano.
A few low-ranking Beasts Pirates were on a routine patrol. Suddenly one pointed at the sky:
"Look — there's a huge bank of black clouds moving toward us. What's that?"
The others were startled and scared: "Could it be a storm?"
Their patrol leader was Billy — the guy who had eaten an early-tier Mutant Cell. Billy stared at the cloudbank and felt the hairs on his arms rise. From inside those clouds came a terrible aura — an aura that made even someone augmented by a Mutant Cell feel puny.
"Enemy! An enemy is invading Wano!" Billy snapped himself out of shock and ran for the island — he had to report to Lord Kaido and Lord Luo Xing at once.
But Kaido and Luo Xing didn't need Billy's report. Their Observation Haki had already sensed hostile intent approaching Wano. Luo Xing and his wife Yamato stepped out of the Time-Gravity Room together. Kaido and the Disasters were also already up.
Enflame Jin looked at the distant cloudbank with a grave tone: "There's an island inside that cloud. The newcomers aren't friendly. Is it the Navy, or another Yonko?"
Only the Navy or a Yonko could float an island that size and brazenly attack Wano like that. Luo Xing frowned slightly. He doubted it was the Navy — after the Senzu Bean auction, if the Navy wanted to act they'd press on Dressrosa, not launch an all-out assault on Kaido's Wano unless they were ready for mutual annihilation. From what Luo Xing knew of Fleet Admiral Sengoku, he wouldn't be that reckless.
As for other Yonko: Big Mom would surely have called Kaido first, so it wasn't her; Red-Haired and Whitebeard were likely preoccupied with Ace's affairs. Then who would dare provoke the Beasts Pirates' dragon whiskers?
As the island's outline emerged from the clouds, Luo Xing's mind lit up — he suddenly thought of one man: Gold Lion Shiki. Of course. Only Shiki the Gold Lion would be so brazen. His Float-Float Fruit power could lift an island with ease.
Kaido's voice, dark with rage, confirmed Luo Xing's guess: "That scent I hate — is that you, Shiki? You're still alive?!"
On the Rocks-era ship Kaido had never gotten along with Shiki; their hatred ran deep. Now Kaido had grown into a Yonko, the world's strongest creature on sea, land and air — and Shiki dared to invade Wano openly. That was intolerable.
Roaring, Kaido transformed into a kilometer-long azure dragon, stomping on flame-clouds and charging at the island. Purple lightning crackled along the dragon's form; the monstrous sight shook Wano to its core. People raised their heads in terror.
"Lord Kaido's enraged!"
"Who would challenge Kaido?"
"Isn't that the legendary Gold Lion?"
"The one who escaped from Impel Down?!"
"If it's Shiki, who knows who'll win?"
Shiki's renown was legendary — at his height his force rivaled or exceeded even Roger's. At the Alabasta sea battle a sudden storm had saved Roger; otherwise Shiki's fleet might have overwhelmed him. After Roger's fall, Shiki once marched on Marineford alone, forcing Garp and Sengoku to team up to stop him. In many ways Shiki's threat exceeded even Kaido's.
Beasts Pirates and Wano citizens were terrified. Even the Disasters looked grave. Only Luo Xing and Yamato stayed calm.
Luo Xing ordered: "Jin — you're fastest. Gather the Zoan Corps and the Furry Tribe fighters to the Wano border. Stop that flying pirate fleet — they mustn't get onto Wano proper."
Wano was something Luo Xing had rebuilt with effort; he wouldn't allow Shiki to wreck it. Jin, First Disaster, accepted without hesitation. Kaido was absent for the moment, and Luo Xing now carried authority equal to Yamato's as the Beasts' real young master.
Luo Xing told Queen and Jack: "Go to the armory and bring out all weapons we've stockpiled. Queen, your gas bombs and bioweapons will be useful."
Queen sneered: "Got it. I'll make Shiki's people suffer."
Sasaki, Maria and the Flying Six each had assignments. Luo Xing arranged everything carefully. Yamato watched as everyone departed, impatient: "Husband — what do I do? I want to help!"
Luo Xing smiled with a strange look: he pulled Yamato close and said, "We'll be with Father-in-law. Let's go see that legendary pirate."
A thudding pressure filled the air as Luo Xing and Yamato leapt toward the sky.
"Shiki, you bastard — you come into my territory?"
Kaido's dragon body swept forward and arrived before the floating island. On that island Shiki and his Sky-Pirate crew stood, backed by hundreds — even thousands — of beasts with red eyes. Those were the feral troops Shiki built using his IQ technology.
Shiki hovered in midair; he'd lost his legs long ago and used the blades Sakura-Juu and Decayed Timber instead. He crossed his arms and sneered: "Kaido, you've improved — you can turn into such a big slime now." (literal taunt preserved)
Kaido's dragon replied: "I'm not who I used to be. But you? You're the one who's fallen apart — no legs, keel stuck in your head. You a rooster now, Shiki?"
Shiki flared at the insult: "Kaido, you've forgotten when I taught you a lesson. I'll help you remember." He shouted an attack name: "Lion — Thousand-Slit Valley!" He swung his leg-blade(s), unleashing huge golden slashes.
Kaido roared back: "You underestimate me? Bad wind!" His maw opened and he spat giant scythe-like wind blades.
The historic rivals wasted no time. Their attacks were massive, AOE on a cataclysmic scale — wind blades colliding with slashes tore the storm-clouds apart. Some wind blades struck Shiki's flying island and severed several of his crew in half. Shiki's expression darkened — Kaido had grown since their younger days.
"Indigo, land the beasts and seize the Mutant Cells and Senzu Beans. I'll handle Kaido!" Shiki barked to his subordinates. Indigo had originally opposed the attack on Wano but had no choice now and obeyed.
The flying pirate crew and their IQ-augmented beasts descended on Wano's border. Jin had already stationed Beasts Pirates there and waited. Queen and Jack hauled weapons into position.
"Kill them! Wipe them out!" Jin commanded. The Beasts Pirates went on the offensive.
The result? The Beasts obliterated the Sky-Pirates. Those IQ-enhanced beasts, against genuine feral Zoan-warriors augmented by Mutant Cells and engineered Devil Fruits, were slaughtered. Indigo watched, pale and stunned — the gap between his forces and Kaido's new troops was simply enormous.
Kaido laughed triumphantly at the slaughter: "Look at you, Shiki — the crew you brought can't even fight. You've fallen apart!" Shiki flushed in anger. His years of research in IQ tech seemed useless against Beasts Pirates' Mutant Cells.
"Your men all ate Mutant Cells, that's why. Their fruit abilities are enhanced," Shiki guessed. Kaido shrugged: "At least your skull's not entirely ruined, kid."
Shiki roared, "I'll kill you and take every Mutant Cell you have!" Then he shouted another technique: "Lion's Might — Earth Vortex!"
Huge spirals of earth from the flying island coalesced into lion-shaped constructs tens of meters high and surged to bite at the azure dragon. Kaido coiled and spun his dragon body, creating a world-covering tornado that flung the lions away.
"It's a battle worthy of the world's top fighters," Luo Xing observed as he and Yamato arrived. Luo Xing wanted to measure his distance from the world's greatest power.
Then Shiki's eyes swept to them. Without hesitation, Shiki charged straight at Luo Xing.
Advance Chapters available on Patreon
patreon.com/ZoroTL442