The huge open-air square suddenly became quiet.
BIG MOM raised her eyebrows, turned her head, and her eyes lingered for a few seconds between Shano and Kaido.
Kaido narrowed his eyes.
After a moment of silence, he grinned and burst into thunderous laughter:
"Worororo! You're pretty arrogant when you talk, kid!"
"But that's good! Young people should be like this. Only with this kind of courage can you be worthy of my expectations!"
Kaido smashed the mace to the ground and untied the wine gourd from his waist. This casual action made the whole Cake Castle tremble, and a few more cracks appeared on the ground.
"But I can't pretend I didn't hear those insults. Since you dared to say them to my face, you should have realized your mistake!"
"Hey! Kaido!"
BIG MOM yelled in frustration. "Be gentle! This castle will crumble! Get away from me! If you're going to fight, change the venue. Not on my territory!"
"Stop babbling, old woman!"
Kaido untied his wine gourd and gulped down a large swig. "Didn't you see? The vice-admiral I'm eyeing doesn't want to go with me. This must be dealt with as soon as possible. Nothing is more important than this!"
"Change the venue? Dozens of islands nearby are all your territory! Am I supposed to fly this brat away for hours again?"
Last year in Paradise, he had been willing to follow Shano and change the venue from Water 7 to Enies Lobby. That was already a courtesy.
A second time?
He didn't have the patience!
"No need to go to all that trouble!"
BIG MOM turned around and shouted,
"Hey! Brûlée! Where's Brûlée?"
No one responded.
Charlotte's children, of course, couldn't flee like the ordinary guests. They remained at the top of the castle, helping to maintain order.
Hearing this, they searched around, but found nothing.
"Mom, Brûlée is seriously ill and is recuperating in bed. She can't come to the tea party. I specifically mentioned it to you the day before yesterday and even handed you a gift of apology on her behalf. Have you forgotten?" Katakuri frowned slightly and spoke.
"Who needs to remember such things?"
BIG MOM interrupted impatiently, looking to the other side, "Where's Mont-d'Or? He should be here!"
"I'm here, Mom!"
Mont-d'Or, with a white face and a red nose, hurriedly squeezed out from behind the crowd.
"Well, well, I can't rely on Brûlée's Mirror-Mirror Fruit anymore, but luckily I have you as a backup with your Book-Book Fruit!"
BIG MOM grinned. "Go, use your power to create a story world. If these two want to fight, let them in and have their fun!"
"Huh?"
Mont-d'Or pointed at himself in surprise. "Me?"
He turned around and saw that Shano and Kaido's eyes were focused on him. A cold sweat broke out. "Mom, are you overestimating me a little bit?"
"Lord Shano and Lord Kaido... If there's even a little aftermath of the fight between these two, I'll be knocked unconscious. In that case..."
"Spillover? Don't worry about that! I'm still here, I'll help you block it!"
BIG MOM slapped him on the back of the head. "Don't waste any more time, get to work!"
"I know, Mom!"
Mont-d'Or was so shocked he nearly saw the afterlife. He didn't dare to object anymore. He clapped his hands and activated his power.
Buzz!
The next moment, a thick, ten-meter-tall tome appeared above the empty space.
It unfolded, resting on a single page. One side was covered in text, while the other had transformed into a deep, dark hole.
It felt like an entrance.
"Hey, kid!"
Kaido stared at Shano. "If I win, just follow me and become the vice-admiral of the Beasts Pirates! A man's word is his bond, okay?"
"Can you do that?"
Shano sneered.
"Worororo, come in and you'll see!"
Kaido grinned. Too lazy to waste words, he grabbed his mace and strode into the black hole.
Shano gestured to his subordinates, signaling them not to worry and to wait here. Then he glanced at the book's cover.
"Four Seas Fantasy Fairy Tales Collection."
Fairy tales?
Interesting.
His eyes flickered, and without further ado, he followed Kaido into the story world created by the Book-Book Fruit.
…
The moment the two of them touched the pages, it was as if they plunged into endless darkness.
After about a second or two, their senses began to recover, the darkness receded like a tide, and the surrounding vision became clear.
Shano found himself standing in a dense forest.
The sun shone through the gaps in the leaves, casting mottled light and shadows. Birds chirped in his ears, and the air was filled with the fragrance of soil and flowers.
There was everything, but nothing was real. It was vague and foggy, like a scene from a dream.
Not far away, there were several cabins in the woods.
A bitten apple was placed on the windowsill. A black-haired girl with skin as white as snow and a red bow on her head stood at the door and sang happily.
And around her, there were seven dwarves not even as tall as Chopper. They held hands in a circle, followed the melody, laughed and danced...
Boom!
The mace slammed into the ground with purple-black thunder. All the cabins in the forest, along with the girl and dwarves, twisted and screamed, turning into countless ashes and drifting away with the wind.
"Oh? The place is quite spacious!"
Kaido retracted the mace and looked around:
"I thought Lingling and the useless people under her command either ate fruits for food or drank, but it turns out they have such interesting abilities!"
But that's all.
After all, strength is everything. The Beast Army that he is building is much stronger than these fancy things!
"Hey!"
Kaido weighed the wine gourd in his hand. There was still quite a bit left, so he looked down at Shano, "Want some before we start fighting?"
"I don't refuse wine from anyone,"
Shano glanced at him, "but a gourd mouth that's been sucked by a man and still has saliva on it is really not very interesting."
He was from the East Blue, not from...
"You dislike me? Forget it!"
Kaido raised his head and drank the wine in one gulp, then clenched his mace again. Two streams of white smoke blew out of his nose, and a powerful aura rose up:
"Well, come on, kid! Let me see how much you've improved compared to last year, daring to be so arrogant in front of me!!!"
Draw with Akainu and repel Kizaru?
He had heard about both of these things!
But so what?
He is Kaido, the King of Beasts!
So what if he is an admiral!
After conquering Wano Country for so many years, his headquarters was open to the public. Did those navy admirals dare to come to his territory!
That old man, Whitebeard, hadn't used his full strength in years, so he was currently recognized as the strongest single fighter on the sea!
With a bounty of 4.611 billion berries, he truly stood at the pinnacle of this world!
No one had ever been able to kill him, not even himself!
Wanting to defeat him?
This brat wasn't even qualified!
Boom!
The ground crumbled under his feet, and Kaido's body suddenly soared into the air. Clutched in his right hand, the mace known as the "Hassaikai," etched with black and red lightning, he slammed down!
"Thundering Bagua!!!"
Such nostalgia...
Shano looked up, gazing at the mace rapidly approaching and magnifying within his field of vision. He stepped back a half-step with his right leg, lowering his waist, his muscles compressed to the utmost like springs, poised for action.
Then he let out a soft breath.
It was that very blow that had originally enabled him to comprehend Conqueror's Haki.
It was also that very blow that had left him dazed and almost unable to stand.
And now.
Almost a year had passed in the blink of an eye.
A move of this magnitude...
"Useless, useless, useless, useless, useless! It's completely useless!"
Shano's wild laughter echoed through the forest. He clenched his right fist and thrust it upwards, aiming at the mace about to fall on his head with all his might!
BANG!!!
The fist and the mace collided fiercely, and black and red lightning burst like fireworks, instantly filling the entire sky.
Boom, boom, boom!
The mere aftermath unleashed a massive shockwave, uprooting countless towering ancient trees and causing the ground to crack and collapse in vast swathes.
"Worororo! You took that move so easily? That's more like it!"
Kaido laughed wildly, leveraging the momentum to flip backwards, landing with a thud hundreds of meters away. He shook the numb base of his right hand and regained his balance.
Then, across from him, Shano peeled off his shirt, tossing it aside. He then began to twist his neck and flex his limbs, making a crackling sound like popping beans...
"What are you doing?"
Kaido asked, stunned.
"Ah, don't worry about it."
Shano glanced at him, continuing to flex his neck. "It's been a while since I've used that form. I need to let my joints adjust a bit... Okay, that's about it!"
He grinned.
Snap!
The next moment, with a grinding sound of bones snapping and re-arranging, Shano's muscles began to writhe and squirm like a living thing, his body rapidly expanding.
Boom!
The ground beneath his feet, unable to withstand the sudden surge of pressure, gave way significantly.
In a single breath...
The once handsome, black-haired boy seemed to be consumed by muscle, transforming into a terrifying giant, five meters two inches tall and weighing over one and a half tons!
Compared to the 27-foot Kaido, they no longer resembled an eagle and a chick. While there was still a slight size difference, they weren't far off!
"For a big guy like you, fighting in the 'Paper-Embroidered Body' form always feels a bit off."
Shano clenched his fists and unclenched them. In that instant, he had adapted to this body. He raised his eyes slightly, his black hair dancing wildly like a demon, and said indifferently:
"So in a way, you're lucky, Kaido, to be the first opponent I've fought in my original form since entering the New World."
…
Outside, on the top floor of the Cake Castle.
The Fallen, led by Kuina, and the Children of Charlotte, led by Katakuri, huddled in front of the giant, unfolded book.
However, the black hole still existed, and a large iron door had appeared, clanging and sealing the entrance. This was materialized by Mont-d'Or for safety reasons, and the situation inside was impossible to see.
"What should we do!"
Morgans was so anxious that he turned around in circles, shouting in dissatisfaction, "Lingling! Your son's ability is not reliable. He can't even show us the battle situation. How can I write a report!"
"Mont-d'Or!"
BIG MOM was also very dissatisfied with this. Kaido, whom she hadn't seen for many years, and the rising star Shano... She couldn't wait to see the progress of this battle.
"I have tried my best, Mom!"
Mont-d'Or wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and explained tremblingly:
"I have two kinds of abilities. If it is a small 'library,' I can show it to everyone, but this kind of vast 'story world' can't do it at all. However, there is a text description next to it, you can look at that!"
"Text?"
Bonnie was the first to move over, standing on tiptoe, staring at the page on the left curiously.
On the white paper, black words kept emerging and changing like living things, as if an invisible pen was writing rapidly, transmitting the battle situation in the story world in real time.
As for what it was saying now\...
Well... she couldn't read.
"Sister Robin."
Bonnie looked up pitifully and tugged at Robin. Robin smiled, squatted down, and began to describe softly in her ear.
On the other side, Morgans was also overjoyed. He took out a monocle from his arms, put it on, and read from the beginning:
"Shano threw a punch, and Kaido also punched back, 'Look at how powerful I am!' Shano said this happily, and all at once he used all his strength. Kaido's huge body was like a dandelion blown by the wind, and flew into the sky with a whoosh..."
"This is not fair! Kaido was so angry that he stomped on the clouds in the sky angrily, and even shook the sun..."
The more Morgans read, the more he felt something was wrong. A black line appeared on his forehead. He turned his head and said angrily:
"Hey! Is this the text description you mentioned? You let us read this kind of thing? The battle between the emperors of the sea is written like a child's game!"
"This is a fairy tale book. Isn't that how fairy tales are written! Can you blame me?"
Mont-d'Or glared back without giving in.
It was fine for his mother to scold him—he could only listen obediently—but who was Morgans to be so arrogant? If he wanted to know so much, why didn't he go in and take a look himself! Could his old bones withstand the aftermath of a battle at this level?
"..."
Morgans gritted his teeth, knowing he was in the wrong and unable to lose his temper.
He paced anxiously, occasionally glancing at the constantly refreshing text, then turning his head to gaze at the black hole sealed by the iron gate. Suddenly, he took a deep breath, as if making some kind of resolution.
The next moment,
Mont-d'Or watched in astonishment.
Morgans clutched his camera tightly, then backpedaled, slamming the iron gate open and plunging into the endless, dark hole...
——————
"Worororo! So this is your true form!"
Kaido stared at the burgeoning Shano before him. After a brief moment of daze and surprise, his expression returned to normal.
Just what he wanted! A sinister grin spread across his lips, and he slammed his mace to the ground, sending up a cloud of dust.
"That way, brat, I'm even happier with you!"
He had barely finished his words—
whoosh!
He had already clenched his mace tightly, and he shot out like a cannonball!
Hassaikai once again swirled with Conqueror's Haki. Purple-black lightning and black-red lightning danced across the shaft, sending the entire mace spinning rapidly.
"Then let's try this move..."
Amidst the shrill whistles that tore through the air, Kaido's roar echoed throughout the forest!
"The Three Realms—Ragnaraku!!!"