Kaido steadied himself. One hand grabbed the magma hound biting into his face, while the other swung his kanabo toward Sakazuki.
Sakazuki raised his left hand, coated in Armament Haki, and blocked it at an angle.
Boom!!!
He glanced at the weapon he was holding back and spoke coldly. "Back then, I beat you like a dog. What do you think you are now?"
Crackling lightning burst between fist and kanabo as the two forces collided violently. Sakazuki's voice, cold and ruthless, pierced straight into Kaido's mind.
"It's because fools like you are easy to control."
Around them, massive magma fists erupted from the ground.
Boom!
Kaido was blasted away.
"You have talent."
Bang!
"You have strength."
Crack!
"You have a powerful Devil Fruit."
A Hellhound attack extended again, slamming straight into Kaido's chest.
"And yet, you cling to that laughable dream."
Sakazuki's voice remained flat. "That's why fools like you are so easy to manipulate. Just look at you and Big Mom."
Kaido's face turned pitch black, his expression unreadable. Sakazuki did not press the attack further, and molten lava dripped slowly from his hand onto the ground.
"You think the two of you became the strongest among the Four Emperors because of your own strength? That was the result of me constantly scheming against Knox… that was the result of me continuously suppressing Red Hair…"
Sakazuki's calm voice cut like a blade.
"Otherwise, do you have Knox's ability to build power, or talent that surpasses Red Hair? Two fools like you… what right do you have to suppress them?
"It's precisely because fools like you sit as Emperors that people can feel at ease. If they were all like Red Hair… I wouldn't be able to sleep peacefully."
Boom!
Sakazuki's right fist turned into molten lava, glowing red as flames surged and thick black smoke rose.
"So…"
He slowly raised his fist and aimed it at Kaido, whose face was dark and unreadable.
"A fool like you, who has been under my control from beginning to end… how dare you flip my table…"
His arm swung out.
The lava fist expanded rapidly with the motion, growing into a massive molten fist dozens of meters wide. Covered in dense black Armament Haki, it was like a small mountain crashing down.
Boom!!!!
The molten fist slammed Kaido straight into the ground with overwhelming speed and force.
Kaido's mind was shaken by those words, and he did not even coat himself with Haki in time. Pain exploded through his entire body, snapping him back to his senses.
"Sakazuki!!!!"
As if the world itself responded to his rage, the sky changed with his roar. Kaido tore through the molten fist and charged forward without reason, smashing toward him.
Crack!
Lightning exploded across the sky.
Sakazuki's left hand caught the incoming kanabo, while his right fist collided with Kaido's.
"That's all it takes to make you angry? Think carefully about what you actually have."
Crackling lightning lit up their faces beneath the storm clouds.
Kaido raised his head and met his gaze. For a moment, he did not dare to think further.
Then Sakazuki let out a faint laugh.
"What you have is… Wano.
"That is the foundation of your dream, your kingdom, your ambition, your twisted sense of family… it's all there.
"So tell me… at this very moment… how much of it is left?"
Boom!!!
Kaido could no longer endure it. His body expanded violently, forcing Sakazuki back step by step, yet instead of attacking, he turned around… and fled.
He could not imagine what it would mean if Wano were destroyed. He did not dare to think about losing everything he had. All he wanted was to return as fast as possible and see what remained.
Sakazuki did not give chase.
As Kaido soared into the sky, he could not help but glance back. From high above, he clearly saw the man still standing on the island, looking up at him with a mocking smile on his lips.
A chill spread through Kaido's heart, and his thoughts sank deeper and deeper. Only one idea remained in his mind.
'I was deceived…'
He wanted to turn back and fight again, but his body moved on its own, flying even faster as he fled.
He knew it was already too late.
If Sakazuki did not die, then this was as far as he would ever go in this life.
And yet… he did not turn back.
He ran.
* * *
Kibu Island.
Long after Kaido had disappeared, faint ripples of light shimmered near the place where the two men had just fought.
Seraphim Mihawk, enhanced with invisibility through the Clear-Clear Fruit, revealed his form alongside Carlo.
Carlo looked toward the direction Kaido had fled and sighed. "What a pity…"
Sakazuki gave a soft chuckle and stopped looking that way. "What's there to pity?"
Carlo smiled. "I pity those who stand against you… One of the Four Emperors, Kaido of the Beasts, had his will completely shattered. If this got out, no one would believe it…"
Was Kaido strong? Of course he was. The title of Four Emperor was not just for show. They stood at the very peak of the sea.
It was true that Sakazuki could overpower him, but there were limits. If he had to fight two Emperors at once, even he would struggle.
The reason Kaido was beaten so one-sidedly was simple.
His mind had been thrown into chaos.
From childhood, Kaido had been raised as a war machine for his kingdom. He fought his way through life, then joined the Rocks Pirates and kept fighting. After Rocks fell, he continued carving his path across the seas.
Strength, power, cunning, and calculation… he lacked none of these. To rise to the position of an Emperor already proved his extraordinary talent.
And yet, in such a short battle, his mental defenses were broken by a few carefully chosen words.
Were there flaws in Sakazuki's words? Yes. Many. But Kaido had no time to think.
Everything said to him had some basis in reality. If he had paused and traced it back, he might have remembered the very first point. Queen had indeed fallen right in front of him back then.
Why was it so coincidental?
A seed of doubt had already been planted. From there, each line built upon the last, wrapping everything Kaido had fought for into a single narrative. Everything he had gained felt as if it had been orchestrated from behind the scenes.
His anger briefly scattered those doubts, but at that exact moment, Sakazuki brought up Wano.
That was Kaido's foundation, everything he owned, everything he had built over decades. All of it was there.
No one could truly detach from what mattered most.
Shanks had his bonds. Big Mom had her dream. Kaido had his kingdom.
The simplest way to break someone like them was to destroy the one thing they valued above all else.
Kaido was afraid.
Afraid that if he returned even a moment too late, everything would be gone, and afraid that decades of effort would leave him with nothing.
So he ran.
But he should not have looked back.
The moment he saw that mocking smile on Sakazuki's face, he knew.
He had already lost.
Sakazuki had no intention of destroying Wano, but Kaido's reaction said everything. He had felt it clearly, that he was being played like a pawn.
His will shattered, and he no longer dared to fight.
Even knowing that fleeing would turn Sakazuki into an unbeatable nightmare for the rest of his life… his body still would not stop.
He fled.
Sakazuki let out a faint scoff. "Interesting, isn't it."
Carlo shrugged and smiled. "You're truly ruthless, Fleet Admiral."
He could not help but feel sorry for those people. Just how much bad karma did someone need to have in their life to end up as Sakazuki's enemy?
Too tragic…
Sakazuki glanced at the two of them. "Looks like Kaido didn't notice."
Halfway through his earlier mockery, Carlo had already teleported himself and the invisible Mihawk aside.
It was a test. They wanted to see whether someone at the level of an Emperor could detect them during battle.
But the result…
Carlo sighed. "It probably doesn't count. He was completely shaken by you, just taking hits the whole time. He didn't have the focus to notice details like footprints or changes on the ground."
Sakazuki stretched his body. "It doesn't matter. It was just a test. Give the order to attack. Kaido won't recover for a while."
He was simply lost in the moment. Kaido might fall into a slump for some time, but he was not someone who would lose all courage forever.
Then, as if something amusing came to mind, Sakazuki suddenly smiled. He looked at Carlo and spoke slowly.
"Tell me. When he regains his confidence… and then we destroy Wano… what kind of expression will he make? Won't it be… even more interesting?"
The most cruel method.
To break them completely.
Carlo's face stiffened. A black line seemed to pass over his forehead as his lips twitched.
"He'd probably go completely insane…"
**
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