"These guys…" Big Mom finally smiled as she watched the Marines retreat. She turned toward the Wild Boar across from her and sneered, "Mamamama! What, are you running away already, Celestial Dragons?"
Warcury snorted coldly. "Ants, don't be arrogant. This time you were just lucky. It was our underestimation of you—no, an underestimation of Marco. As for a good-for-nothing like you, I can deal with you anytime."
"What?" Big Mom's teeth clenched and her fists tightened at once.
But Warcury scarcely regarded her. Though she was one of the Yonko, Big Mom had shown herself the weakest of the bunch in their fight—something Warcury had already confirmed.
"Worororo…"
A great dark cloud rolled over Cake Island, a domineering chuckle rumbling from within. A massive dragon head peeled out of the storm, followed by a thousand-meter-long body coiling through the clouds, majestic and terrifying.
"That's Kaido…" Aramaki's face went pale as he looked up at the blue dragon. Unlike Marco's subtler strength, Kaido's power announced itself clearly—an oppressive presence that radiated from his enormous form.
Kaido laughed wildly. "I've come to help you, Linlin, Marco…"
"Mamamama mamamama!!!! Kaido, you've finally arrived!" Big Mom practically fizzed with excitement. "These Marine guys are trying to run away, Kaido—stop them, don't let them escape."
Marco let out a relieved breath as Kaido appeared. With the Marines driven off, the mission would be secure, and he'd earn the 10,000 attribute points.
Kaido's gaze swept the fleet below. "Worororo, I just got here, and you want to leave? You bullied my allies so badly—how can I let you escape so easily?"
Big Mom bristled at the implication in Kaido's words, but she couldn't deny how battered she felt.
Kaido opened his blood-red maw; winds and flames swirled, condensing into a blazing tempest funnel above him.
"Dragon's Breath…"
A superheated beam roared forth, slicing through several warships as if they were paper, sending them up in towering blasts of fire.
Flames raced across the water, turning the sea near the fleet into a burning inferno several hundred meters wide. The Marines on deck were in agony—engulfed in flames, many leaping into the sea to escape.
"Monst—monster!" The sight of Kaido tearing ships apart and setting the sea alight sent panic through the fleet.
"Damn it, another monster…" Aramaki's expression was grim. He had no intent to take Kaido on. Marco had fought Kaido for twenty days and, despite being the Phoenix, had ultimately lost. If Marco couldn't beat him, who could? Kaido was truly the strongest creature on land, sea, and in the air.
"Retreat—quickly, retreat!" Aramaki barked, and immediately began to fall back. He didn't want to stay and fight. Facing Big Mom might not cow him, but Kaido or Marco? No chance—he couldn't win.
At the order, the Shichibukai boarded their warships without hesitation, ignoring the other Marines. They barked orders for the fleet to get underway and disappear. The lives of the Marines were of no concern to them.
They were, after all, among the smartest pirates on the sea; they could see what this battle would mean. If the Three Emperors Alliance repelled the combined force of the Marines and the World Government, the prestige of the Marines—and the World Government itself—would take a catastrophic hit. For pirates everywhere, that was a boon. For the Shichibukai, it was even better: a weakened World Government would need men like them more than ever, and they would profit from that dependency.
Fujitora, watching Kaido slaughter Marines by the dozen, boiled with rage. He planted his foot, launched himself forward, and growled, "Don't be so arrogant, pirate…"
He drew his sword; a purple aura tore up into the sky as a massive meteor hurtled down toward Kaido.
"Heat Breath—"
Kaido unleashed a searing beam from his mouth and incinerated the meteor as if it were nothing. Fragments, still aflame, rained over Cake Island like Akainu's Meteor Volcano.
Boom—boom—boom.
Countless burning shards struck the island, gouging out crater after crater.
Kaido smirked at Fujitora. "Worororo, you must be the new admiral, Fujitora."
"That is me," Fujitora replied, gripping his cane-sword and bracing to fight.
Marco watched the Marines pull back, but he didn't try to stop them. Instead, he kept his eyes on Saint Nusjuro and Saint Peter, who had been blocking him.
The recent clash with the three Gorosei had drained a great deal from Marco. He still didn't fully understand the secret of their immortality, and he had no desire to die trying to unravel it. Besides, he had the system—he could simply hunt in the Holy Land later and bank the attribute points.
Nusjuro and Peter, too, had lost the will to press the assault. They had attempted to 'kill' Marco several times, only to find his regenerative powers rivaled immortality and his Future sight troublesome; even a pierced heart wouldn't stop him. Their only way to defeat him was to exhaust him completely—drain his stamina until he could no longer heal—but stripping a Phoenix Fruit user of stamina was no easy feat. With Kaido's arrival, there was no reason to continue. If Saint Mars could retreat, they would follow.
What happened to the remaining Marines was left to fate.
On the battlefield the ferocity only intensified. Pirates, fuelled by pain, fear, and fury, threw themselves after retreating Marines with brutal intent. They sought to vent years of persecution in this moment—chasing, cutting down, and killing as many Marines as they could before anyone escaped.
Marines fell back, leaving a field of corpses across Cake Island. Saint Nusjuro and the other three—summoned by the teleportation array—had willingly stayed behind to cover the withdrawal. Their retreat wasn't for the Marines' sake at all, but to protect Saint Mars, another Celestial Dragon. Once Saint Mars disappeared by flying, Nusjuro and the three dispelled the teleportation magic and returned to Mary Geoise.
"They disappeared." Kaido, who had been clashing with Warcury of the Gorosei, frowned as Warcury suddenly vanished.
At that moment Marco finally heard the system AI's familiar voice:
"Mission complete. Rescued ally Big Mom, repelled the Marine. Reward: 10,000 attribute points."
Ten thousand points flashed into his account, bringing him to 33,000. Marco moved to upgrade his Haki. He opened the system panel, checked his basic attributes, and then clicked into Special Attributes to view the Haki upgrades.
Conqueror's Haki (Top-tier) -> Conqueror's Haki (Legendary), requires 30,000 attribute points.
Without hesitation he spent 30,000 points and upgraded his Conqueror's Haki. The panel immediately refreshed to the six-dimensional status readout:
Name: Marco; Age: 43 years old;
Attribute Points: 3,000;
Devil Fruit: Zoan-type, Mythical Model, Phoenix Fruit (Awakened)
Devil Fruit Awakening Ability: Flames of Destruction
Haki: Armament Haki (Top-tier), Observation Haki (Top-tier), Conqueror's Haki (Legendary)
Body Techniques: Soru (Top-tier), Rankyaku (Advanced), Moonwalk (Advanced), Tekkai (Top-tier), Shigan (Advanced), Kami-e (Advanced)
Strength: 42054;
Speed: 24900;
Defense: 13800;
Recovery: 60000;
Stamina: 25100;
Mental Power: 18300;
System Combat Power Assessment: King Level.
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