New World—an island within Whitebeard's territory.
Three Yonko forces stood facing each other.
On one side was the Kaido–Big Mom alliance.
On the other side stood only Red-Haired Shanks and his crew.
Kaido rested his kanabo on his shoulder and let out a savage grin.
"Red-Hair brat, you really came to stop us—just like my son-in-law predicted."
Across from him, Shanks and Benn Beckman exchanged a look. Both saw the same flicker of shock in the other's eyes.
Their movements…
had been predicted by Kaido's son-in-law?
Could that man actually see the future?
Even Beckman—known for his calm intelligence—felt a sting of inferiority.
The two of them took a slow breath and forced themselves to stay steady.
Shanks spoke in a low voice, eyes fixed on Kaido.
"Kaido… since you knew I'd come to stop you, why won't you end this invasion?"
"Wororororo!!"
Kaido burst into thunderous laughter, as if he'd heard the funniest joke in the world.
"Red-Hair brat, who do you think you are? When I was tearing across the seas, you were just some little kid on Roger's ship!"
To be fair—
Shanks wasn't as "pathetic" as Kaido made him sound.
Back then, Shanks really was a kid—an apprentice on Roger's ship together with Buggy.
But Kaido had also once been an apprentice on Rocks' ship.
Kaido was simply a decade or so older, and at the time his strength was far above Shanks'.
And now…
decades had passed.
Shanks had become a Yonko on the same level as Kaido—praised as the man with the world's strongest Conqueror's Haki.
Their strength was, in truth, extremely close.
If they truly fought to the end, it would take days and nights to decide a victor.
In the original timeline, in a situation like this, Kaido had chosen to withdraw. He didn't want to trade his life for Shanks'.
But the current situation was completely different.
Because Luo Xing had foreseen this, Kaido had already allied with Big Mom.
This time, it wasn't only the Beasts Pirates—
the Big Mom Pirates were here too.
Together, their numbers reached tens of thousands.
Especially Kaido's Gifters—each one strengthened by artificial Zoan powers and monster cells, their presence savage like wild beasts.
Individually, they might not match any core member of the Red-Hair Pirates.
But if hundreds or thousands swarmed at once…
even the Red-Hair crew could be ground down.
After all—
the Red-Hair Pirates' main lineup was only around a dozen people.
Even if Shanks and Beckman were both top-tier monsters…
Kaido and Big Mom could "cancel them out" on paper.
And there was more.
Queen the Plague and Jack the Drought were here too—both already enhanced by dragon-level monster cells, strong enough to contend at Yonko-commander extremes.
If they fused with those "fusion earrings," they could instantly become a terrifying Yonko-level fighting force.
With that kind of gap, how could the Red-Hair crew hold the line?
Rationally, Shanks should retreat.
This wasn't even his territory. He didn't need to die for Whitebeard.
But Shanks wasn't here for Whitebeard.
He was here for Fire Fist Ace—for the son of Captain Roger.
If nothing else…
he could repay Roger's kindness with this.
Shanks drew the saber at his waist, staring at Kaido as he spoke firmly:
"In that case… we'll play with you."
A fierce Conqueror's Haki exploded from him.
Crack—!
A nearby tree snapped under the weight of it—Conqueror's pressure so sharp it seemed to cause physical damage.
Haki bared openly—worthy of the name "strongest Conqueror's."
But did that intimidate the so-called strongest creature?
Kaido slammed his kanabo into the ground.
The earth shuddered.
He laughed loudly, voice brimming with battle hunger.
"Come, Red-Hair brat!"
"Let me see it—how much 'capacity' you've got, as the one who inherited Roger's will!"
"Linlin, Queen, Jack—don't interfere for now!"
Kaido rolled his shoulders.
Bones cracked like popping beans through his massive seven-meter frame, and a crushing pressure surged outward.
Big Mom laughed sharply.
"Kaido, you old bastard… still addicted to duels."
Kaido had the title of "strongest in one-on-one."
He was a battle-crazed man who loved "fair" fights.
He hated interference.
Like back when he fought Oden—when that Kurozumi shapeshifter turned into Momonosuke, distracting Oden and giving Kaido the opening to knock him out.
Kaido loathed that kind of victory.
That was why he'd never liked the Kurozumi clan.
And in the original timeline, when CP0 interfered in his fight with Straw Hat Luffy, Kaido killed the CP0 agent in a single rage-filled strike.
He was Kaido.
His victory wasn't something anyone else could "gift" him.
Boom!
Kaido moved—charging Shanks.
A duel between two top-tier Yonko was about to begin.
Everyone retreated, unwilling to get caught in the shockwaves.
"Thunder Bagua!"
Kaido opened with a Conqueror-coated Thunder Bagua.
At the Yonko level, there was no need for probing.
The opening move was already top-class.
Shanks didn't dare be careless. His saber also carried Conqueror's coating as he met Kaido's kanabo head-on.
HUM—!!
Black currents and violent shockwaves erupted from the collision point.
Stones tore from the ground. Clouds rolled and split, opening a canyon across the sky.
A Yonko war—
heaven and earth collapsing!
"Divine Departure!!"
Shanks pushed his Conqueror's to the limit and unleashed a black-and-red slash.
A strike even gods must avoid—an art he'd learned from Captain Roger himself.
Roger had once used this move to send Oden flying, coughing blood.
"Good!"
Kaido roared like a dragon, purple arcs snapping around his kanabo as he swung into the oncoming slash.
"Roaring Thunder Bagua!!"
A strengthened version of Thunder Bagua—one blow enough to smash a mountain.
Crackle—crackle—!
Lightning and sword force burst outward, the world's colors shifting as the heavens raged.
Big Mom—Charlotte Linlin—felt her hands itching.
She wouldn't interfere in Kaido and Shanks' duel…
but that didn't mean she couldn't bully Shanks' crew.
She strode toward Beckman and the others.
"Oi! You brats—come play with Mama!"
She raised both hands.
In one, she seized the sun homie Prometheus.
In the other, the thundercloud Zeus.
Her shrill laughter pierced the air.
"Heavenly Fire!"
"Lightning!"
BOOM! BOOM!
Endless flame and massive thunder crashed down.
Such terrifying "acts of heaven" were, in a Yonko's hands, tools to be casually wielded.
Even Beckman—praised as someone who could stand near Shanks—didn't dare slack.
He calmly ordered the Red-Hair Pirates:
"Spread out!"
"Don't clash head-on with that madwoman. Stall her—find her weakness if you can!"
Trading blows directly with Big Mom was the worst option.
With the Soul-Soul Fruit, she could generate unending flame and thunder.
And her own body was like a born steel balloon—her defense arguably even higher than Kaido's.
To this day, almost no one had ever left a scar on her.
That alone said enough about her durability.
But Big Mom did have weaknesses.
Her speed wasn't great, and her reactions were sluggish.
In the original timeline, that was part of how Kid and Law managed to force her into a fall.
Beckman had judged it from her heavy frame and immediately chose a mobile, evasive style.
As the battle here officially erupted—
the Summit War at Marineford also burned hotter and hotter.
Whitebeard leapt down from the Moby Dick and raised his arm, roaring:
"Boys!"
"Charge with me—save Ace!"
In an instant, the Whitebeard Pirates' five to six tens of thousands of allied pirates surged forward—
launching a full-scale assault!
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