On the other side,
Yamato escorted Luffy toward a safe location.
"Who are you?!!!"
"You're Ace's younger brother, right?"
About more than two years ago, Ace had once come to Wano Country to cause trouble for Kaido, but unexpectedly, he encountered Kaido's daughter—the Yamato who admired Orin.
"Your style… really is just like Orin-san!!!"
With just that one sentence, Yamato and Ace became close friends. The lonely Yamato gained a new companion, and Ace told her about his own story.
"Orin-san… is actually my benefactor…"
The two chatted endlessly about places far and wide, and eventually brought up Luffy's dream.
"Really?!!!"
"Your brother's dream—Orin-sama's captain once said the same thing!!!"
"Huh??? Really!!!"
Ace had been completely shocked at the time, because he knew exactly who Orin's captain was—the biological father he had always refused to acknowledge.
The Pirate King, Gol D. Roger!!!
Perhaps that was also the first time his opinion of that father, whom he and others constantly mentioned, began to change.
Ever since then, Yamato had been extremely interested in Luffy, which was why she chose this moment to rescue him.
However, what puzzled her was that when Luffy mentioned Orin, his expression became extremely strange.
"Well… how should I put this…"
"Anyway, I'm here to defeat Kaido!!!"
Yamato then revealed the side of Orin's betrayal story. She showed Luffy the shackles on her wrists.
"Me too!!!"
"To make me stop admiring Orin-sama, Kaido locked me on Onigashima… even though he himself had once been defeated…"
At that moment, Kaido formally announced to everyone on Onigashima that he had formed an alliance with Linlin, and that they would move the entire Onigashima onto Wano Country, turning Wano into another pirate island!!!
The timid Momonosuke was tied to a wooden post by the Beasts Pirates, trembling and too afraid to speak.
The great battle officially entered its climax!!!
Luffy and the others reached the rooftop of Onigashima and began the true peak showdown!!!
"Ga—" (Not yet.)
The giant bird circling in the sky watched the war that had already entered a white-hot stage, yet continued observing.
Instead, it turned its gaze toward the distant sea.
"Ga—" (So you've finally arrived.)
Along with surging tidal waves, a figure slowly stepped onto the shore of Onigashima.
Several Beasts Pirates grunts guarding the coast immediately surrounded the figure.
"Who is it?!!!"
"An enemy?!!!"
They squinted carefully at the cloaked figure, who appeared to be carrying something massive in one hand.
It was clearly…
A blue fish-man who had already lost consciousness!!!
"That's the former [Shichibukai], 'Knight of the Sea' Jinbe!!!"
"Who the hell is this guy?!!!"
But the figure clearly had no intention of wasting words. A layer of water mist appeared in his hand, and with a casual wave—
All the surrounding figures collapsed to the ground.
Tiger looked up toward the sky and nodded.
He then placed the unconscious Jinbe down and walked toward the center of Onigashima.
In the direction he was heading, clusters of lightning were violently exploding.
"Hey!!! You finally came?!!!"
A bolt of lightning sped over from afar, transforming into a human figure beside Tiger, casually biting into an apple.
Strangely enough,
One was a fish-man—a race despised by mainstream human society.
The other looked down on ordinary humans and proclaimed himself a god.
Yet the two got along surprisingly well.
"Yeah. I'm late."
Tiger replied before looking toward the direction where Enel had been fighting.
"Was it troublesome?"
"Yahahahaha! Not at all. It just takes a little time to deal with difficulties."
As his words fell, two young figures walked over from the direction Enel had come from.
Sabo saw that figure and was clearly shocked.
"It's the one we met on the Gran Tesoro…!!!"
The flames on Ace's body slowly faded, his expression turning serious.
"Of all people… it's this guy. What a pain!!!"
"But if you plan to touch our little brother, we can't allow that~"
However, neither Tiger nor Enel paid much attention to the two of them. Or rather, the two youths were still far too inexperienced in their eyes.
They simply continued their own conversation.
"First things first… we should head to the main battlefield, right?"
"Yeah~ As that man said, this is just the appetizer before the main course!!!"
"So who are we fighting?"
"Obviously the Yonko!!!"
According to Orin's plan, the combined strength of Enel and Tiger was enough to rival either the Yonko alliance or the new alliance.
Proud as Enel was, he naturally chose the more difficult opponent!!!
"And the other side?"
"Who knows. There must already be arrangements…"
"Anyway, they probably aren't very strong~"
Black lightning crackled around Enel's body as he spoke arrogantly, as if neither the so-called Supernova alliance nor the Yonko alliance meant much to him.
Meanwhile, Sabo and Ace's expressions turned extremely grim after hearing their conversation.
From the sound of it, someone else would soon go after their little brother!!!
"Hey!!! You two!!!"
"What are you planning to do to our brother?!!!"
Ace stepped forward first. His Wano-style clothing fluttered in the wind as massive flames ignited across his body.
Under the gazes of Enel and Tiger, who had just turned their eyes toward him, enormous flames spread from the sky.
"Against fire… water really is the best choice, isn't it?"
Tiger stepped forward first. Seeing this, Enel didn't compete with him and instead stood to the side, a faint smile forming at the corner of his mouth as if anticipating a good show.
"Hey, flame brat with the black middle-part hair—be careful~"
"If you get hit by Tiger's 'water' by accident… you'll die."
The moment his words ended, the cloak around Tiger suddenly became wrapped in strange flowing liquid.
The liquid radiated black and crimson hues, like armor yet also like drifting cherry blossoms, refracting beautiful yet dangerous colors in the air.
Fish-Man Karate!!!
With only a slight flick of his palm, empowered by Tiger's peak fish-man martial strength, several drops of flowing Haki shot out like water droplets.
Passing through the massive sea of flames, they instantly struck Ace's elementalized body.
"PUAAAHHHH!!!!"
"Ace!!!"
As if pierced through by bullets, blood burst from Ace's mouth. He collapsed instantly, clutching his wounds.
Sabo was horrified and rushed to his side, launching an attack for cover at the same time.
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