One Piece: New Order

Chapter 396 396: Kaido's Death, The Destruction of Wano Country

"Besides... as long as I am still alive, how could you possibly claim to have overcome fear?"

Sakazuki's cold words continuously stimulated Kaido's nerves. The azure dragon's eyes turned blood-red as it struggled violently.

Flame clouds, fire, and storms erupted wildly across the battlefield, yet none of it had any effect.

Two gigantic figures nearly a hundred meters tall firmly suppressed the enormous azure dragon. The island trembled, the earth cracked apart, and from afar the scene looked like something straight out of a myth.

Sakazuki remained unmoved while watching Kaido struggle. He casually took out a special Den Den Mushi and tossed it onto the ground.

The instant it hit the earth, a massive projection dozens of meters wide and tall appeared in the sky.

The screen displayed multiple split images.

Once Kaido saw them, he recognized the locations immediately… that was Wano Country.

But when had so many surveillance Den Den Mushi been placed throughout Wano?!

Sakazuki looked at the dragon head pinned firmly to the ground and calmly spoke. "I told you. I would make you lose everything. Now it's time to fulfill that promise."

He reached into his coat and took out a communication device.

"Begin."

Carlo's voice came from the other side. "Understood."

The massive projection then switched to Carlo. The camera angle looked downward from high above.

From the aerial view, it was clear that Carlo was currently above Wano. Beside him floated a gigantic iron container shaped like a missile with the letters 'L.B' printed on its surface.

There was also a Seraphim modeled after Jinbe beside him, but this one was several times larger than a normal Seraphim. It looked like a massive fat giant, yet its movements were extremely agile.

Following Carlo's command, the Seraphim Jinbe smoothly grabbed the missile-like container and hurled it downward toward the island below with tremendous force.

At the same time, the Seraphim stomped its foot and moved even faster than the falling container itself. It smashed into Wano's surface, creating ripples like water before disappearing underground.

Meanwhile, when the iron missile marked with 'L.B' descended to around five hundred meters above Wano, it suddenly exploded.

The violent shockwave from the explosion carried poisonous spores cultivated through various deadly toxins and enhanced by the powers of the Shroom-Shroom Fruit.

In an instant, the toxic spores swept across the entire country.

A faint purple poisonous fog covered Wano, but what came next was horrifying.

Within the split-screen projections, everything touched by the purple fog rapidly dissolved. Whether human or plant, every living thing was invaded, melted, and erased.

One by one, the surveillance Den Den Mushi also dissolved after losing their video feed, though many screens still remained active for the moment.

In one scene, pirate overseers inside the mines rapidly melted away. Then the prisoners followed one after another until only chains remained on the ground.

The one who lasted the longest in that scene was surprisingly a shriveled old man with a tuft of blue hair on his head.

But in the end, even he turned into a pool of blood.

Another screen showed a luxurious shogun mansion. A purple-haired old man with a vulgar appearance laughed loudly while embracing an incomparably beautiful woman with light green hair.

But as the poisonous fog invaded the room, the light green-haired beauty wearing a kimono embroidered with peacocks melted into bloody liquid amidst terrified screams, leaving behind only her bloodstained kimono.

As for the purple-haired old man, his body twisted and transformed into a gigantic eight-headed serpent monster.

Yet even that changed nothing. He only endured for a few extra seconds before dissolving completely.

There were poor civilians of Wano dressed in rags… there were the deeply hidden Nine Red Scabbards… but no matter who they were, every single one met the same end.

They dissolved into pools of blood and vanished...

Kaido gradually stopped struggling. His dragon face showed no emotion as he silently watched the scenes within the projection, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.

Only after the final Den Den Mushi was corroded and dissolved did the projection turn completely black before switching back to the aerial view above Wano.

Sakazuki observed the cold-faced Kaido before letting out a faint chuckle.

"This was originally prepared for Big Mom, but who told you to flip over my table? As punishment, you ended up experiencing all of this instead.

"You watched the only subordinate you truly trusted become a headless corpse. You watched your only blood relative die before your eyes. You watched the empire you built over decades be wiped away completely.

"And the reason for all of this... was simply because you flipped over my table. So I casually transferred the suffering that was meant for Big Mom onto you instead.

"Tell me. Do you regret your lawless actions now? Hm?"

Kaido's suppressed dragon head moved slightly as his emotionless voice rang out. "I stopped caring about those things a long time ago. Heh... if you're going to do it, then hurry up."

He then closed his eyes as though he had given up struggling.

And in truth, he really had.

There was no escaping no matter how much he struggled. Against four monsters like these, anyone would meet a bitter end...

Sakazuki stared at the seemingly resigned Kaido and said, "Your talent wasn't bad. Your luck was the best. You also possessed enormous power and influence. Among the ridiculous dreams of the Four Emperors, only yours came closest to becoming reality. Do you know why?"

Kaido slowly opened his dragon eyes upon hearing this. He wanted to see what kind of game the man was trying to play.

Sakazuki glanced toward the projection overlooking Wano and continued, "Because the weapon known throughout history as a 'god'... the Ancient Weapon Pluton, the thing countless pirates, overlords, and powerful figures had spent their lives searching for... was buried beneath Wano all along…"

He walked over to Kaido's dragon head. Looking into the pirate's disbelieving eyes, he lowered his voice and laughed softly.

"Inside the magma..."

This revelation deeply shocked Kaido. A storm erupted within his heart as endless waves of emotion crashed through his mind, refusing to calm down.

Sengoku and Garp were equally stunned. Neither of them had imagined that something as dangerous as Pluton had been hidden right beneath the nose of an Emperor this entire time...

Sakazuki fixed his gaze on Kaido and kept speaking, "That is why I said your luck was the best.

"So many pirates and powerful people across history desperately sought that thing but never found it. Yet it was buried right beneath your feet while you guarded a mountain of treasure without even realizing it.

"If you had known this information, your dream would have already been achieved.

"You could have erased Mariejois with a single shot. You could have sunk Marine Headquarters with one blast. You could have ignited a war called freedom across the world in the shortest possible time.

"You could have easily fulfilled your dream and plunged the entire world into endless warfare.

"But you never knew. From the perspective of people like us who knew the truth, your entire life has looked like that of a headless fly stumbling around blindly… so foolish…

"Honestly, your whole life was wasted..."

Sakazuki's words repeatedly assaulted Kaido's mind as self-denial clashed endlessly within his thoughts.

Then suddenly, the Wano shown in the projection violently trembled before collapsing into the sea.

That was the result of the Seraphim Jinbe that had infiltrated underground earlier and detonated itself, completely destroying the towering land of Wano.

Now the projection showed nothing except a raging ocean. There was no trace of the island anymore.

Even knowing the truth now was meaningless. Even if he somehow escaped, there would be no way to dig it out. Everything had already been buried beneath the sea forever...

"ROAR!!!"

A furious dragon roar erupted as the island shook violently.

Countless flame clouds burst from the azure dragon's body and spiraled around the island like giant whirlwinds before lifting the entire island into the sky.

The roaring sound shook heaven and earth while waves dozens of meters tall spread outward layer after layer.

At the moment the island abruptly rose into the air, Kaido twisted his body and erupted with terrifying strength, dragging the two gigantic figures along as he charged toward the man he hated to the point of madness.

"SAKAZUKI!!!!"

Infinite heat gathered inside his mouth before a scorching energy beam erupted outward. Endless flames swept across the heavens as if they wanted to burn everything in existence to ashes.

Simultaneously, flames ignited around his body. The heat distorted the air itself as all the fire gathered toward his dragon head while he slammed toward Sakazuki.

In the distance, Garp stomped the air and instantly appeared above Kaido.

His right arm swung downward in a full arc, covered in dense flowing Armament Haki. That unrivaled Haki shattered the flames surrounding Kaido and struck directly against the dragon's flaming head.

Crack!

A faint sound of bones fracturing echoed out as the dragon scales between Kaido's brows shattered apart.

The heavy blow caused Kaido's mind to go blank for an instant. That brief opening allowed Bullet and Sengoku, whose bodies had been dragged away by inertia, to regain the upper hand once more.

Four gigantic hands firmly restrained Kaido's dragon body.

Sakazuki stared at the dazed Kaido, the dragon's mouth hanging open before him, then his body flared into Crimson Lotus mode and became a streak of scarlet light that rushed directly into Kaido's throat.

"Magma Burst."

BOOM!!!!!

Kaido's abdomen rapidly swelled as his originally long and slender dragon body inflated into a gigantic balloon.

"Magma Burst."

BOOM!!!!!

The enormous balloon-like body expanded several times larger again.

"Magma Burst."

Boom...

By now, Bullet and Sengoku had already retreated extremely far away.

The gigantic swollen body had clearly reached its limit...

BOOM!!!!

Compressed shockwaves and magma erupted outward as the blood from Kaido's shattered dragon body evaporated instantly.

Only a few broken fragments of his shrinking corpse remained scattered through the sky, proving that Kaido had once existed.

Bullet's figure flashed.

He appeared in the direction Kaido's head had been blasted away.

Smack!

He reached out and caught Kaido's severed head, still attached to part of the spine with bits of flesh hanging from it...

In the greatest struggle for sea supremacy in world history, the pirates were eliminated from the game completely!!!

**

**

**

Thank you for reading! If you'd like access to extra chapters and want to support my work, you can visit my P@treon:

P@treon/SilverShark769

Vote with Power Stones for Bonus Chapters!

Your support means a lot, thank you!