-Real World-
The Sky Screen had been dormant for many days, yet some people remained thoroughly immersed in fantasies of the beautiful future it had revealed. This was particularly true for most members of the Beasts Pirates.
Five years in the future, their own Captain would possess a bounty of ten billion and ten million berries—an unprecedented sum that dwarfed even the legendary figures of previous eras. Such a powerful man had never appeared on the seas from ancient times to the present. Even the former Pirate King Gol D. Roger couldn't compare with Boss Kaido when measured by bounty alone. Such a tremendous surprise naturally made the pirates who remained stationed at Onigashima feel as though every day was a festival worth celebrating.
Even with the boss and the strongest officers away from home, it was still an occasion for revelry. The Beasts Pirates' island fortress was decorated with colorful lights and streamers, and everyone was immersed in continuous banqueting. They shared elaborate fantasies about the glorious future that awaited them all.
The subordinates celebrated wildly, but the person they honored with their festivities was decidedly unhappy. This had nothing to do with Kaido being absent from Onigashima and unable to participate in the banquet. Rather, his displeasure stemmed from a far more immediate problem: the merchant ship belonging to Doflamingo that he currently sailed upon had ventured deep into the Devil's Triangle.
This particular sea region was perpetually covered by thick, impenetrable fog and never saw direct sunlight. It lay close to the only practical route toward the Sabaody Archipelago, and a tremendous number of ships had been lost within its obscuring mists over the years. Even Kaido, who feared very little, was well aware of this place's dangerous reputation.
After entering the fog-shrouded waters, the Emperor noticed something profoundly wrong with their circumstances. Kaido immediately employed violent interrogation methods against Doflamingo's crew members aboard the merchant vessel, and soon extracted the answers he sought from their terrified confessions. It turned out that all of this was an elaborate conspiracy designed specifically to trap him.
"The World Government really went to extraordinary lengths to deliberately bring me here," Kaido muttered, his voice carrying both grudging respect and cold fury at being manipulated.
Because both Kaido and King had been distracted by the revelations shown on the Sky Screen, and because the Devil's Triangle lay along what seemed like a necessary route, they had not grown suspicious initially. The merchant ship's course had appeared entirely legitimate.
But once a person began telling lies, their deceptions would inevitably be exposed through accumulated inconsistencies. The merchant ship had taken them deeper and deeper into the Devil's Triangle, far past any reasonable navigation route. Kaido was not a fool—he naturally noticed that something was fundamentally wrong with their trajectory. Unfortunately, this realization came slightly too late.
Once a ship penetrated deep into the Devil's Triangle, discerning proper direction became virtually impossible. The ocean currents within this region were particularly strange and unpredictable, flowing in ways that defied conventional navigation. Most ships could not drift out on their own power and desperately needed a Log Pose to indicate the correct heading. However, none of these prerequisites for escape were currently available. The World Government clearly intended to trap both Emperors here indefinitely. As for what conspiracy was being orchestrated behind the scenes, the ordinary crew members aboard certainly possessed no knowledge of such high-level planning.
"Since you know nothing of value, what's the point of keeping you alive?" The furious King drew his massive blade with a metallic rasp and systematically executed every traitor aboard the ship. Blood painted the deck in arterial sprays as heads rolled across the wood. In his heart, the Lunarian warrior harbored intense hatred for the merchant Doflamingo and everything he represented.
As expected, Celestial Dragons could never be trusted. Before the Sky Screen's appearance, the Beasts Pirates had not known that Doflamingo had once belonged to that corrupt aristocracy. If Kaido had possessed this knowledge earlier, he would never have placed even a sliver of trust in the Heavenly Demon.
This betrayal was also a consequence of Doflamingo's carefully cultivated business reputation over many years—the underground broker's perceived reliability had made this trap possible. If Kaido and King managed to escape unscathed from this predicament, Doflamingo would suffer devastating revenge. He would be completely unable to continue his most profitable underground operations. His fellow underworld merchants had long coveted his market share and would gleefully divide his territory among themselves.
Faced with the impending danger surrounding them, Teacher Kaido remained relatively calm and composed. He located several barrels of quality sake among the cargo stored in the merchant ship's hold and settled himself comfortably at the bow. There he sat drinking while casually admiring King's efficient decapitation work. Witnessing such bloody and violent scenes did not disturb the Emperor in the slightest—instead, the carnage inspired him to drink several additional cups in good spirits.
After systematically killing every crew member aboard the merchant ship, King returned to his captain's side. Although the officer remained covered in his distinctive black armor at this moment, his anger had not yet dissipated. Crushing those skulls and ending those lives had not provided the catharsis he'd hoped for—the rage at being manipulated still burned hot in his chest.
"Lord Kaido, this failure is mine," King said formally, bowing his head toward his captain in a gesture of profound respect and shame. "I didn't notice this deception at the first opportunity. I am deeply ashamed." Allowing his captain to be surrounded and trapped—the warrior felt his dignity had been trampled upon by the World Government, his competence as Kaido's right hand called into serious question.
"Enough, enough. Sit down and drink with me." Kaido pushed one of the wine barrels beside him toward King with casual generosity. "I wonder what surprises the Five Elders have prepared for my entertainment. I'm genuinely looking forward to discovering their plan."
The officer accepted the offering and removed the mask concealing his face, revealing features that were rather peculiar and distinctive. His race—the Lunarians—had been extinct for many years, hunted to near-annihilation by the World Government itself. This lone warrior might be the absolute last survivor of his entire people. He had once been invited by Four Emperor Charlotte Linlin, who had desired to produce offspring with the legendary Lunarian bloodline, but King had rejected Big Mom's proposal to his face without hesitation.
Just as the two strongest warriors of the Beasts Pirates clinked their drinking glass together and began consuming alcohol in earnest, the now-unmanned merchant ship began sailing across the sea under the influence of ocean currents alone. During this period, both men paid minimal attention to their vessel's movement, too absorbed in their drinking and conversation. They did not realize that the currents were deliberately carrying them toward a very specific destination.
"There's actually a small island located within the Devil's Triangle," King observed with mild surprise as a massive silhouette emerged from the perpetual fog ahead. "I genuinely learned something new today."
His words were immediately corrected by his own captain. The increasingly drunk Kaido gazed forward with profound nostalgia coloring his expression. "It's not an island," he said softly, his voice thick with memory and emotion. "It's a ship. The ship I once sailed upon. The largest pirate ship in the entire world."
The captain's unexpected words sobered King instantly, cutting through his mild intoxication like a blade through fog. Kaido had absolutely no reason to lie to his closest subordinates about such matters. King rose to his feet and activated his Observation Haki, beginning to systematically search the massive structure ahead. However, the scale of the ship was far beyond anything he had imagined possible—his Haki could not sense its full boundaries even after extended concentration. The ship seemed to go on forever in all directions.
The ship that Kaido had once called home was so impossibly majestic in appearance and sheer scale that King found himself genuinely impressed despite his usual stoicism. However, he felt even more curiosity about what kind of captain could have dared to recruit a warmonger like Kaido onto their crew. Many people did not know the closely-guarded secrets of that old era, but King suspected he was about to learn some of them.
After draining the last drops of liquid from his bottle, Kaido exuded a terrifying aura even in his drunken state—perhaps especially in his drunken state, when his control over his Conqueror's Haki became looser and more oppressive. He had not expected to encounter this relic from his past again, and the reunion made the Emperor sigh with complex emotions.
"Captain Rocks," Kaido said to the empty air, addressing a ghost from decades past. "It turns out you've been dead for so many years now. There are not many old veterans left from that era." His expression grew contemplative, almost melancholy. "It's truly fate that brought me back to this place today."
At this emotionally charged moment, Kaido summoned the power of his Uo Uo no Mi, Model: Seiryu (Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon) and transformed into his full dragon form. His serpentine body extended to a full kilometer in length, scales gleaming blue-green even in the dim light filtering through the fog. He couldn't wait to fly toward the pirate ship that rivaled an island in size. Through his Observation Haki, he sensed the presence of human life ahead—or at least, something approximating human life. The Emperor wanted to see who was foolish enough to hide such an important treasure vessel within the Devil's Triangle, apparently believing they could claim ownership of the Rocks Pirates' legacy.
Kaido firmly believed that only the flagship of the Rocks Pirates was truly worthy of his current status as one of the Four Emperors. The fortress constructed for him on Onigashima, impressive though it was, felt pathetically inferior compared to the legendary vessel his dragon body now approached.
King displayed his own Devil Fruit abilities and took flight alongside his captain, black wings spreading wide as flames erupted along his back. Faced with the terrifying combined aura of two Emperor-level combatants in the sky above, the zombies scattered across the massive ship's surface did not dare show themselves. They either hid desperately in the bushes or frantically searched for holes to bury themselves in, terrified that these two uninvited guests would casually exterminate them all.
A complex of buildings constructed in a distinctly dark Gothic architectural style quickly caught the attention of both warriors. Three enormous masts rose from the ship's center, and pirate flags flew from each towering pole. Seeing those familiar banners, Kaido and King finally understood who had taken over the legendary pirate crew's former base.
It turned out to be an "old friend" of the Beasts Pirates.
Kaido, still maintaining his dragon transformation, rode upon the auspicious clouds generated by his Devil Fruit and positioned himself directly above the building complex. Within the dragon's open maw, a swirling green storm capable of tearing apart everything in its path began to gather and intensify.
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