The appearance of Kikunojo completely disrupted the battlefield's situation. Originally, Izou had not gained much of an advantage in the fight with Drake, and under these circumstances, he naturally began to lose ground.
He evaded Drake's incoming kick, but the Iron Tail that followed hit his shoulder, the star-shaped tail gleaming with a metallic sheen.
The special shape made it function like a nail head hammer. Even with Haki's defense, the force of the Iron Tail penetrated his body, and from the feedback, it seemed that his scapula was basically cracked.
"It looks like you know each other, this is interesting."
According to her understanding of Kikunojo, he had never left Wano Kuni, and Izou was dressed in attire similar to Wano Kuni. Since Kikunojo had never left Wano Kuni, the result was obvious.
Izou originated from Wano Kuni, and considering Kozuki Oden's past travels, this person must have some connection with the Kozuki Family.
However, this did not make Drake hold back. Charged with lightning, her claws aimed at the opponent, but a Flaming Long Blade blocked her attack, with Fossa, who had been fighting Coby, appearing here.
Facing the Whitebeard captain, Coby could delay him a bit, but if Fossa wanted to leave, there was nothing Coby could do.
Fossa had noticed the anomaly here and quickly forced Coby back to provide support.
"Izou, what's wrong with you?"
Since Coby's strength wasn't enough to threaten him, Fossa had observed Izou's battle in the earlier fight, which started off normal, but everything turned unusual with the appearance of that masked man.
"That is my biological brother...."
"What?! I get it, you handle that woman, I'll deal with your brother."
"No, it's not what you think.... Have you forgotten my country.."
Fossa initially thought it was simply because of his brother that Izou couldn't attack, which wasn't uncommon since there were cases of siblings where one joined the Navy and the other became a pirate.
So Fossa believed that swapping opponents could resolve this issue, but Izou's thoughts were far from that simple.
Back then, Whitebeard's ship accidentally landed on Wano Kuni during a shipwreck, and it was then that Izou followed Kozuki Oden onto Whitebeard's ship.
Although Fossa was also an elder in the Whitebeard Pirates, he hadn't interacted with Kikunojo at that time and wasn't familiar with Kikunojo's situation.
Even though Kozuki Oden did not return to the Whitebeard Pirates, they merely assumed he returned to become the General, and Kikunojo, as a Household Attendant of the Kozuki Family, couldn't possibly abandon the Kozuki Family to join another force.
Unless Kozuki Oden led such a movement, but if Kozuki Oden decided to set sail again, he would certainly choose to rejoin the Whitebeard Pirates. This only meant one thing, something had happened to Wano Kuni.
Moreover, in the underground market of the New World, many Seastone products and weapons were being sold under the Hundred Beasts, and Wano Kuni was known as the most certain Seastone production site. These pieces of information coming together in Izou's mind left a shadow in his heart.
This made it impossible for him to calm down and fight.
"You're saying Oden...."
"No, Lord Oden is so strong, nothing could possibly happen to him... We need to retreat, this island is no longer important. We need to take this information back and tell the Old Man."
The death match here was meaningless; intelligence was the most important matter for them in the next phase. If nothing happened to Oden, then their assumptions were wrong, and they could attack here again.
But if something really did happen to Oden, given Kozuki Oden's strength, that's no longer something they could handle.
In this aspect, Izou and Fossa reached a consensus, and with their orders, the members of the Whitebeard Pirates who just arrived also began to retreat.
Drake was not a Divine Favorer specializing in holding people back, and she couldn't crush these two captains. Facing their decision to retreat, she was helpless.
Although she attempted to pursue, as they got closer to Whitebeard's territory, she ultimately chose to give up.
"Sister Drake, we..."
"Retreat, abandon this island for now, let's return to our turf, this is a bit unexpected."
She roughly guessed why Izou chose to retreat; dealing with Whitebeard's level was not something she could handle, and only the big guy could step in for such matters.
As the ships returned, Drake called King.
"Hey, Brother King, something's happened here."
"Hmm? Do they value this island greatly?"
"No, Brother King, that's not the main issue. This time among Whitebeard's dispatched people was Izou, and his relationship with Kikunojo seems unusual. He might have some conjectures about Wano Kuni, and I think we should report this to Kaidou."
".... I understand, bring the people back first."
"Yes."
Although the exposure of this matter had a certain connection with Kikunojo, King didn't mind it, because some things couldn't be hidden forever. The news that Hundred Beasts used Wano Kuni as their base was no secret; many within the World Government already knew.
Whitebeard simply wasn't aware yet, but if he really wanted to investigate, he could infer such matters, and now it's not like it was a few years ago.
After hanging up, King ran a few steps before flying towards Ghost Island; some matters couldn't be explained clearly over the phone, he needed to discuss the situation face-to-face with Kaidou and Arceus.
.....
"So, does it mean Whitebeard is already aware of this situation over here?"
Kaidou tossed Yamato to the side, part of his routine training, which was something of despair for Yamato; the stronger she became, the less human-like Kaidou seemed.
"It's just a conjecture for now, but the probability is high."
"Very good...."
Arceus saw it very clearly; the corners of Kaidou's mouth were lifting, and concerning future matters, he felt nothing but excitement.
"It's a pity, still a bit early, otherwise we could've launched an all-out war."
As his own strength gradually grew, Kaidou's outlook became increasingly ambitious. His enemy was no longer just some pirate group but the World Government commanding the entire Navy.
Aside from becoming the Pirate King, he also wanted to overturn the existing order and establish his own new order.
He wasn't afraid of going into a full-scale war with Whitebeard, but not now, as that wouldn't align with his interests.
An all-out clash between the two Great Pirate Gangs would disrupt the already established balance in the New World; as a participant, his interests would inevitably suffer, and neither the World Government nor his collaborator Charlotte Linlin would just stand by and watch.
Then, Kaidou also began transforming; not waging a major battle didn't mean not fighting at all, as he wasn't the type to just take a beating.