"Worororo! Worororororo!!"
"You stole the middleman for my arms business! Then you led your forces to invade Wano Country, killed the puppet shogun I used to control this nation, and launched a massive assault on Onigashima!"
Kaido lay on the ground, looking up at the sky and laughing loudly, his voice dripping with heavy sarcasm.
"And now! You've defeated me, yet you say you want me to join you...?"
His laughter came to an abrupt halt. His expression suddenly turned gloomy, and he stared at Allen with a cold, piercing gaze.
"Do you think I'll be eternally grateful just because you spared my life? What's next, are you going to threaten to kill me if I refuse?"
"Worororo! Don't be so naive, you bastard!!"
Kaido roared at Allen, straining his neck. The bulging veins on his skin revealed his extreme fury.
However, Allen remained completely unmoved and said calmly, "If you refuse, of course I'll kill you. I can't exactly leave a villain who holds a grudge against me to stir up trouble on the seas. You should know..."
"I didn't conquer nearly half the territories in the New World just to leave them for you lot to wreak havoc in."
"Death is hardly a threat to you, but staying alive is always the better choice. After all, people always have regrets. Or do you think my idea is laughable?"
Allen spoke in a tranquil tone. He suddenly stood up from the ground and pulled out his halberd that was embedded in the earth.
"Laughable...? A little, I suppose..."
Kaido's voice was deep and steady. He simply lay there on the ground, his calm gaze fixed on the snow drifting through the sky.
After a long while.
"It's a difficult path to walk. So difficult that I've almost forgotten... that I once had the exact same thought..."
Kaido muttered to himself, "King once asked me if I could change the world. At the time, I confidently told him that I was the only one who could."
"That was a very long time ago..."
"He always believed that I was the so-called Joy Boy, a legendary figure who could bring liberation and smiles to the world. In short, it was something akin to a faith."
At this moment, many blurry fragments of memories flashed through Kaido's mind. He continued, "From the moment we met, I took him with me to form a new pirate crew. We fought endless battles, expanded our forces, until we finally settled in Wano Country and I became one of the Four Emperors."
"Later on, I asked him again if he still thought I was Joy Boy, and if what I had created was what he truly wanted..."
Kaido suddenly curled his lips into a grin, his eyes locking onto Allen. "Guess how he answered me back then?"
Allen glanced at him but didn't respond, as the answer was already obvious.
Kaido suddenly burst into loud laughter, answering his own question, "Hahahaha! That idiot said that, at this point, he had nothing else to ask for."
"He said I gave him his life, so he just wanted me to sit firmly on the throne of the strongest. He said he would make me the Pirate King! Ahahahaha!"
Kaido's laughter echoed through the snowy valley, carrying a hint of self-deprecation and loss.
"Obviously, I failed to live up to his expectations. I am not Joy Boy. However, I told him that I knew who Joy Boy was..."
"It's the man who will defeat me in the future! That's what I told him."
"And so, he said it seemed impossible for Joy Boy to ever appear. I thought the same thing at the time, because no one in this world could defeat me!"
Kaido's gaze darkened. He stared straight into Allen's eyes and shouted in a rough, low voice, "Hey! Answer me, Allen! Will you become Joy Boy?!"
"Yes, and no. It depends on how you understand Joy Boy."
Allen gave an ambiguous response. He looked at Kaido and said, "You haven't failed, Kaido. You were once Joy Boy, and then you weren't. But you can become Joy Boy once again."
Having said that, Allen felt he had already gotten the answer he wanted. He turned around, rested his halberd on his shoulder, and strode away.
"Become him once again...?"
Hearing this, Kaido's eyes widened in a daze. After pondering for a moment, he hurriedly shouted at Allen's retreating back, "Hey! What the hell do you mean by that?!"
"Those who merely wait for Joy Boy cannot be saved, Kaido. You have to become Joy Boy yourself..."
Allen glanced back at him, curling his lips into a grin. "What I want is a world where everyone is Joy Boy!"
"!!!"
Kaido's eyes widened in shock at those words. He swallowed hard, wanting to speak but finding himself at a loss for words.
"A world where... everyone is Joy Boy..."
At this moment, Kaido was so astounded that he couldn't recover his senses for a long time, repeatedly murmuring Allen's words.
After a good while, he began to somewhat grasp the meaning behind Allen's statement.
Allen didn't want to unify the world; he wanted to change the mindset of the entire world!
This man was even more insane than Rocks!
Snapping back to reality, Kaido hastily roared at Allen's back, "Wait a minute! How could that possibly be achieved?! You're just spouting empty talk! What do you plan to do?! Hey! Stop right there, you bastard!"
"Do you want to know the answer?"
Allen stopped in his tracks, looking back with a light chuckle. "Then follow me. A brand-new world is waiting for our arrival."
With that, he left without looking back.
Meanwhile, within the borders of the Flower Capital.
Near the Shogun's Palace, which had been reduced to ruins during the fierce battle, thousands of members from two pirate crews filled the streets. They stood in a tense standoff centered around the rubble, weapons drawn and ready.
"This is bad."
"What do we do? Who knows where the Admiral and Kaido have taken their fight, and Big Bro Sanji isn't here either..."
"Even though the captain of the Whitebeard Pirates is heavily injured, he's still one of the Four Emperors."
The members of the Demon Lion Pirates showed hesitation in their eyes.
Only Kid looked eager for action, grinning with a fierce glint in his eyes. "Like hell we're just going to let them leave! He's nothing but a heavily injured Emperor. I can take him down anytime!"
On the opposite side.
Marco, while using his Flames of Regeneration to heal Ace and Yamato, stared at Kid across from them with a solemn expression.
On the periphery, the fleets under the Demon Lion's banner were continuously pushing their assault, held back entirely by the resistance of Great Whirlpool Spider and the others. Furthermore, there was no telling when Sanji, who had dragged Onigashima away, would return.
On their end, Ace had sustained extremely severe injuries during the chaotic three-way battle with Allen and Kaido, and the other division commanders were also wounded to varying degrees.
Right now, Marco was the only one left capable of fighting Kid. Continuing to tangle with the Demon Lion crew was clearly irrational.
Moreover, they had already achieved half of their goal and could leave with Yamato at any time.
The only remaining concern was the possibility of Kaido winning his battle against Allen and regaining control of Wano Country. If that happened, the citizens here would once again live under his enslavement.
"Tch, what a pain. We came here to crusade against Kaido, but ended up getting tangled with the Demon Lion crew," Marco scoffed with an impatient expression.
But right at that moment.
*Swoosh—!*
Accompanied by an ear-piercing whistle, a figure plummeted rapidly from the sky, tearing through the air.
*Boom!!*
Allen descended from the heavens! His feet slammed heavily onto the ruins, causing the earth to tremble and shake as billowing clouds of dust violently surged outward!