"Hey, hey! Why are you attacking me the second we meet? How scary. You actually managed to hurt me too—and you went straight for the head. That part really is exactly like Vice Admiral Garp."
Kizaru finally stabilized himself in midair and rubbed the bleeding lump on top of his head, looking genuinely confused.
Only then did something suddenly occur to him.
Cain was a pirate now.
And he was a Marine Admiral.
Had Borsalino simply forgotten that little detail because he hadn't switched into work mode yet?
He looked down at the bowl still balanced safely in his hand and sighed in relief.
"Well, at least the ramen didn't spill."
The moment he finished speaking, Cain was already in front of him.
Kizaru hurriedly formed Ama no Murakumo and blocked with one hand.
CLANG!!
The sheer force behind the blow made his eyes widen.
That Marine brat from years ago had really become this strong?
The impact drove Kizaru sharply downward, forcing him to disperse part of his body into light to bleed off the momentum.
Then his expression changed.
"Well, if you're choosing to attack me, then I suppose I'll have to deal with you the Marine way, Cain."
Kizaru immediately retaliated.
Yasakani no Magatama!
Countless beams of light filled the sky alongside a swarm of light clones, all bombarding Cain from every direction.
Naturally, Kizaru had a very important reason for launching such an overwhelming barrage.
He wanted enough breathing room to finish his ramen first.
Cain, meanwhile, took Kizaru's declaration seriously.
He hadn't forgotten what the man had told him when they last parted—
It would be better if I never saw you on the open sea.
So Cain decided to put in a little more effort.
He needed some way to temporarily take Kizaru out of commission.
Who knew how much strength that bastard had actually been hiding all these years?
The safest solution would be to restrain him with Seastone, dump him somewhere out of the way, finish Kuma's business, and release him afterward.
With that in mind, Cain slipped one hand into his pocket and pulled out a shard of ice Bella had given him.
Energy gathered around him.
As he shattered the incoming attacks—
he activated Human Path Pro Max.
Kizaru, still concentrating on eating, immediately sensed that something was wrong.
The hand holding his chopsticks suddenly moved on its own.
Straight toward his nostril.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What is this?"
Before he could figure it out, Cain had already finished charging his next attack.
Wind.
Fire.
Lightning.
Ice.
All four elements coiled around his weapon as Conqueror's Haki wrapped over them so densely it seemed almost tangible.
Then Cain brought the weapon down from above in one enormous gravity-assisted strike.
"Eighty!!"
Kizaru tried to evade.
He couldn't.
Cain's Conqueror's Haki had locked onto him, while the closer Cain got, the stronger that bizarre urge to injure himself became.
Even when Kizaru resisted through sheer willpower, the chopsticks kept creeping upward.
Haki could suppress the motion somewhat, but it couldn't completely erase the impulse.
Kizaru clicked his tongue in fascination.
Then, after hastily slurping down the final mouthful of noodles, his demeanor finally sharpened.
Ama no Murakumo expanded.
The sword became longer, wider, and heavier as Kizaru swung upward to meet Cain's descending strike.
BOOM—!!
The collision exploded in midair.
A gigantic circular vacuum formed around the point of impact, while the sea below erupted into towering waves.
Cain held the natural advantage.
He was striking downward with gravity behind him.
Kizaru was attacking upward from below.
The difference in leverage was too great.
The clash blasted Kizaru straight toward the ocean.
Or rather—
just before hitting the water, his body dispersed into countless particles of light and escaped the danger.
"My, my…"
Kizaru reformed nearby, barely raising his weapon in time to block Cain's next attack.
"I really didn't expect you to become this terrifying after all this time."
After a few more exchanges, however, Kizaru quickly changed his mind.
This wasn't even official work.
Why was he trying so hard?
"Why don't we stop here? Your uncle really doesn't want to fight you—"
"What?!"
Kizaru's expression abruptly changed.
Cain had shifted his grip.
He held the weapon vertically, then slammed his free hand into the end of the shaft.
"Too late!"
Something hidden inside the Seastone section shot outward.
The concealed segment extended like a telescoping baton, locking into place the instant it reached full length.
And the tip—
slammed directly into Kizaru's face.
He was smashed downward before he could react.
The entire sequence took only an instant.
Combined with the disruption from Human Path Pro Max, which was interfering with Kizaru's Observation Haki, the surprise extension completely escaped his notice.
Still, Kizaru wasn't easy to deal with.
The moment his face separated from the Seastone, his body scattered into light.
A cage made entirely of beams instantly formed around Cain, trapping him inside, while Kizaru's true body separated from the surrounding radiance.
He was still desperately trying to keep one hand away from the chopsticks hanging from his nose as he prepared to explain himself.
Then—
something enormous erupted from the sea below.
A mechanical shark the size of a small mountain shot upward with its jaws wide open.
Apparently, it had caught the faint scent of blood leaking from the lump on Kizaru's head.
Cain didn't dodge.
More accurately, he couldn't afford to.
He was still concentrating on restraining Kizaru.
One man had his Observation Haki disrupted.
The other was trying to keep him from escaping.
And so—
CHOMP!
The mechanical shark swallowed both of them in one bite.
Then it plunged back toward the water at astonishing speed.
The shark thrashed on the surface a few times, let out a satisfied burp, and casually disappeared into the depths.
Several kilometers away, the Marines aboard Kizaru's warship stared blankly at what had just happened.
They had no idea what they were looking at.
Cain had deliberately kept the fight hidden out of respect for Kizaru's position as an Admiral, so the ordinary Marines never clearly saw who their superior had been fighting.
But the mechanical shark?
That thing was impossible to miss.
And while they hadn't identified Kizaru's opponent—
they had very clearly watched the Admiral get eaten.
At first, everyone assumed Kizaru would simply come flying back out.
They waited.
And waited.
Nothing happened.
Panic immediately spread across the entire ship.
"FIND HIM!!"
"THE ADMIRAL GOT EATEN!!"
"GO GET VEGAPUNK!!"
…
Inside the mechanical shark's stomach—
Kizaru was sleeping peacefully.
Fortunately, Cain had managed to suppress him briefly with Seastone at exactly the right moment.
And during that brief opening, Uta contacted Cain and reminded him of the obvious solution.
Have Uta sing.
Otherwise, Cain probably would have been stuck fighting Kizaru for quite a while longer.
Kizaru might have hidden plenty of strength, but against the sheer unfairness of Uta's Sing-Sing Fruit—the kind of absurd ability she had displayed in the events surrounding Tot Musica—having a thousand combat techniques didn't matter much if your consciousness could simply be dragged away.
Sometimes Cain couldn't help wondering—
would it work on Imu too?
He was genuinely curious.
Still, even without relying on Uta to put Kizaru down, Cain wasn't incapable of winning through other methods.
Even without Bella beside him, suppressing Kizaru was perfectly achievable.
Actually finishing the fight, however, would be considerably more troublesome.
And if the two of them truly went all out, the collateral damage would be catastrophic.
There was no reason to destroy half the surrounding sea over a misunderstanding.
Thinking that, Cain finally began properly communicating with Uta.