"Damn pirates! They've captured Mom! Save her… Kaido!"
In the hall, Yamato watched the scene with bated breath.
....
In the projection, Kaido transformed into a hundred-meter-long dragon, descending like a deity amidst the horrified gazes of countless pirates, crashing down with his full might!
Boom!
The hundred-meter-long pirate ship shattered instantly, sending pirates tumbling into the sea.
In that same moment, Kaido's massive claw snatched up the equally panicked Filina before soaring back into the sky.
"Boro Breath!"
Without hesitation, Kaido opened his maw and unleashed a crimson pillar of fire, dyeing the entire ocean red.
A single blast incinerated the pirate ship, but Kaido wasn't satisfied.
He spat out two or three more, scorching the sea for thousands of meters, boiling the water and sending up plumes of steam before finally stopping.
Filina, clutched in the dragon's enormous claw, was surprised to find herself unharmed.
Curious, she tilted her head up to gaze at Kaido's colossal, fearsome visage.
When her clear eyes met Kaido's massive draconic ones, Filina suddenly broke into a radiant smile.
"Oxy, is that you?"
"Hmph!"
Kaido snorted coldly, lifting his claw to place Filina onto his back.
"Wow! So high up—I'm scared! Oxy, how'd you turn into a dragon? That's amazing! Those nasty pirates got wiped out just like that! Whoa, I can touch the clouds! Fly faster, faster!"
Kaido sighed, feeling Filina squirming incessantly on his back.
"Weren't you scared? Keep wriggling, and I'll toss you off, you idiot. Getting caught by pirates so easily—and you still want to go to Elbaf?"
Filina giggled, running her fingers over Kaido's scales.
"Oxy, since you're so strong, why don't you take me to Elbaf?"
"No way. I don't have time for that," Kaido flatly refused.
"Aww, come on! Take me!"
"No."
"Will you or won't you?"
"No."
...
A day later, Kaido flew Filina to Wano Country.
At this time, the Beasts Pirates weren't numerous—aside from the three Disasters, only a few underlings followed Kaido.
When Kaido landed on Oni Island, he spotted King from afar.
Shrinking back into human form, he set Filina down.
"Wow! A giant skull!" Filina exclaimed, looking around in fascination.
"Kaido-san, who's this?" King whispered as he approached.
"Some idiot woman."
Kaido's response made King raise an eyebrow, his gaze flickering oddly between the two.
Kaido smacked him irritably.
"What're you staring at? Go find someone—no, never mind. I'll take her to the Flower Capital to get some clothes made."
"Oh… So it's the missus! Hahaha! Kaido-san, since when did you get so smooth?" King burst into laughter, drawing Filina's curious gaze.
Kaido's face reddened as he glared at him.
Without another word, he grabbed Filina and took off again, transforming back into his Azure Dragon form and soaring into the sky.
"Hey! What're you doing, Oxy? Where are we going now?" Filina yelped.
"Getting you some proper clothes. You look like a savage."
Kaido spoke dismissively, but his eyes flicked downward toward Onigashima.
Through his Observation Haki, he sensed a faint, elusive presence deep beneath the island—one that would go unnoticed unless someone with advanced Observation Haki deliberately searched for it.
Kaido glanced once more at the enormous longsword embedded in the skull and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
Moving swiftly, Kaido soon descended outside the Flower Capital with Filina in tow.
Kaido had not yet made contact with Kurozumi Orochi and had only just set foot in Wano Country.
Due to his conflict with Caesar, he had never settled down to develop his forces.
Thus, while the people of the Flower Capital were curious about Kaido's massive frame, they felt no fear.
When Kaido led the ever-curious Filina into a tailor's shop in the Flower Capital and had several Wano-style outfits made for her on the spot, Filina was as delighted as a child, her face breaking into a silly grin.
"Hopeless. Women really are all long hair and short sight," Kaido muttered under his breath.
Filina, overjoyed, was led away by the tailor's staff to bathe and change.
Left with nothing to do, Kaido stood beneath a towering cherry blossom tree in the courtyard, waiting.
Before long, a figure emerged—six meters tall, clad in a sky-blue kimono, wooden sandals clacking, her long black hair loosely cascading down her back, adorned only with a few simple hairpins.
Unaccustomed to the wooden sandals, Filina moved cautiously, step by step, toward Kaido, her face radiant with a bright smile that revealed two charming dimples.
In the courtyard, cherry blossoms drifted like snow, and the beauty's graceful steps and sunlit smile seemed to embody the warmth of spring.
For a moment, Kaido was spellbound.
"What are you staring at, Oxy?" Filina's cheeks flushed, enhancing her already striking beauty.
Kaido coughed awkwardly and pointed at the four wooden sticks in her hair.
"Why are you still wearing those things? Toss them out. I'll buy you proper hair ornaments."
What Filina had tucked into her hair weren't real hairpins—just four wooden sticks.
Back on the deserted island, Kaido had snapped off a few branches to fashion them as makeshift chopsticks.
Filina giggled and shook her head.
"No way. I'm keeping these. you made them for me after all."
'Cough!'
...
Time flew by, and a year later.
Atop Onigashima.
"Kaido-san, about Sis... Look, I'm just saying—you should really convince her to terminate her pregnancy."
The speaker was Queen, who also served as the Beasts Pirates' physician, with deep expertise in all manner of ailments.
Kaido sat across from him on the ground, a large sake jug now in hand.
Ever since Filina became pregnant with his child, her health had steadily declined.
She had never had much time to begin with, burdened by a severe congenital illness.
Though Kaido had always drunk, he'd never indulged this heavily.
But after Filina's pregnancy, when Queen made it clear that only the child or the mother could be saved—not both—Kaido had turned to heavy drinking.
Filina's body simply wasn't suited for childbirth.
If she went through with it, she would perish.
Yet if Kaido asked her to abort the child, he already knew—without even asking—that Filina would refuse outright.
Over the past year, for Filina's sake, Kaido had even abandoned his ambitions of expanding his influence.
He had accompanied his wife on travels across mountains and rivers, even venturing to the four seas and the Grand Line.
While sightseeing, Kaido had also secretly sought out renowned doctors everywhere—all for the sake of Filina's illness.
However, the cruel truth lay before Kaido.
Time and again, he sought answers from renowned doctors, only to be met with cold verdicts.
"This is an innate disease of the giant race, imprinted in the bloodline factor. Even if you use the legendary Op-Op Fruit, you can't save her."
-----------------------------
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