Chapter 242: Dreams Come True

Chapter 242: Chapter 242: Dreams Come True

......

Luffy stood in the center of the ruins, looking up at the lanterns flying all over the sky.

Those dots of light, carrying the humble and sincere wishes of Wano Country’s people, slowly rose into the night sky.

The corner of his mouth slightly raised, revealing a tired but satisfied smile.

It was finally over.

The next second...

"Puff!"

Luffy’s body suddenly trembled, and a large amount of white gas spurted from his mouth.

That gas gushed out from every pore of his body, like a deflated balloon. Immediately after, the Gear 5 form disappeared.

His hair changed from white back to black, his clothes from white back to red. That unfathomable "Sun God" appearance rapidly faded like a receding tide.

Only a youth who was exhausted to the extreme remained.

Luffy only felt his eyelids as heavy as if filled with lead. His consciousness began to blur, and his body uncontrollably fell backward.

"Luffy!"

At this moment, a figure rushed over from the side. Amid Yamato’s terrified shout, she steadily caught the falling youth.

Yamato held Luffy, feeling that his body was surprisingly light. His breathing was weak but steady, and that smile still lingered on his face.

"You’re really amazing!" Yamato murmured, but a smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.

She raised her head, looking at the sky torn apart by the battle between Luffy and Kaido, gazing at those slowly rising lanterns.

Watching that land which had finally welcomed the dawn.

The result of the battle at the peak of Onigashima — Winner: Straw Hat Luffy, Loser: Kaido of the Beasts!

This result would be forever engraved in the history of Wano Country.

"You two are really amazing..."

Yamato looked at the unconscious Luffy in her arms, then at Momonosuke not far away who had collapsed on the ground, panting heavily. Her eyes were full of pride and emotion.

"Really amazing!" Her hands waved excitedly, like a child.

Momonosuke barely squeezed out a smile; he didn’t even have the strength to speak.

But he knew that Wano Country had finally waited for the dawn.

Onigashima Banquet Hall.

After a violent tremor, everyone felt Onigashima become stable. Looking outside, they saw that Onigashima had now landed.

This island that Kaido had been supporting with flame clouds now steadily rested on Wano Country’s land.

After a brief silence, cheers erupted.

"We won!"

"We won!"

"We held on!"

The samurai had tears in their eyes, embracing and weeping.

Those people who had persevered in the darkness with hope for 20 years were now all sobbing uncontrollably.

"Lord Oden... Did you see..."

Kin’emon knelt on the ground, hands supporting himself on the floor, tears blurring his vision.

"Wano Country... finally..." He couldn’t continue.

Kawamatsu patted his shoulder, also with tears streaming down his face. Shinobu had already cried herself into a mess.

On the other side, Kid and Law were leaning against the ruins, panting heavily.

They looked at the cheering samurai, at the people immersed in joy, and suddenly felt a sense of unreality.

"We..."

Kid opened his mouth, his voice hoarse unlike his own: "Really defeated two Yonko?"

Law was silent for a moment, then he smiled lightly: "Seems like it."

The two looked at each other, then simultaneously turned their faces away.

"Tch, who wants to celebrate with you."

"Same here."

Although the two said this, the smiles at the corners of their mouths couldn’t fool anyone.

After settling Luffy, Yamato rushed into the interior of Onigashima.

She stood in front of the Beast Pirates’ grunts who were still hesitating whether to continue fighting, holding her kanabo, her aura imposing.

"Enough! You of the Beast Pirates!"

Her voice exploded like thunder, suppressing all the commotion: "Kaido has been defeated! The battle is over!"

Those grunts looked at each other. Some were unwilling, some fearful, some relieved, but no one dared to make a move again.

Yamato didn’t spare them another glance.

She turned and walked toward the Straw Hat Pirates’ direction.

Sanji, Jinbe, Nami, Usopp... everyone was looking at her.

Yamato took a deep breath, then said something that surprised the Straw Hat crew: "I want to become Luffy’s companion. I want to join his ship!"

The Straw Hat crew was stunned.

Sanji’s eyes instantly turned into hearts — this was his old habit; he couldn’t move when he saw a beauty: "Of course you can! Warm welcome!"

Nami slapped the back of his head: "Shut up!"

Then she looked at Yamato warily: "Who are you? Why should you join our ship?"

Yamato wasn’t intimidated by her attitude. Instead, she explained seriously: "I am Kozuki Oden... No, I am Yamato."

"I waited twenty years, just to wait for Luffy to come to Wano Country. Now that he has done it, I want to go out to sea with him."

Nami silently looked at Yamato, her gaze sharp, while Yamato fearlessly met her eyes.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds.

Nami withdrew her gaze without speaking.

At this time, Jinbe the Knight of the Sea stepped forward, his tone steady and calm: "We have already understood your intention..."

"But this matter, we will decide after the captain outside wakes up!"

Yamato was stunned for a moment, then nodded.

"That’s only right."

She smiled. That smile was as bright as the sun, which improved everyone’s impression of her a bit...

Outside Onigashima.

Momonosuke lay on the ground, panting heavily.

His stamina was completely exhausted, but his consciousness was still relatively clear. He tried hard to turn his head, looking toward the direction of that huge figure in the distance...

Zunesha. It was still there.

Momonosuke closed his eyes and began to communicate telepathically.

"Zunesha..."

The voice, through some special connection, entered Zunesha’s ears.

"I’ve thought about some things..."

Momonosuke paused, then explained his decision: "Wano Country, for the time being, cannot open its borders yet."

Zunesha was silent for a moment, then that aged voice once again sounded in Momonosuke’s mind: "I understand."

No more questions, no doubts, just calmly accepting.

Zunesha slowly turned around and walked back in the direction it had come. Its steps stirred up massive waves, but those waves quietly subsided before reaching Wano Country’s coastline.

It just left like that.

Carrying eight hundred years of waiting, carrying trust in Joy Boy, carrying expectations for the future.

Momonosuke seemed to be able to see Zunesha’s departing back. Watching its receding figure, he murmured: "Sorry, Zunesha, for making you work so hard."

"Wait a little longer... Just wait a little longer..."

...

Deep underground, magma surged.

Kaido and Big Mom’s bodies were immersed in it, enduring temperatures high enough to instantly burn ordinary people to ashes.

However, they were Yonko, monsters standing at the pinnacle of this world.

Even though they had lost, even though they were seriously injured, the strength of their bodies still far exceeded ordinary imagination.

The magma couldn’t burn them to death; it could only make them suffer.

And at this moment, only a "Boom" sound of a world-shaking explosion was heard.

An undersea volcano erupted. The accumulated power completely exploded at this moment. Magma gushed out like a flood, swallowing everything around it.

Swallowing Kaido, swallowing Big Mom.

Swallowing everything...

Outside the light screen.

Young Kaido and Big Mom’s expressions were gloomy as if water was about to drip from them.

Although they had long been psychologically prepared, knowing that their future selves might lose or even die, seeing this scene with their own eyes still felt completely different.

"Tch..."

Kaido spat, his expression full of complexity: "So I actually died in a volcanic eruption."

Big Mom rarely didn’t laugh.

She remained silent, watching the surging magma in the light screen, complex emotions flashing in her eyes.

She had indeed lost quite unjustly. Not lost in strength, but lost in...

Forget it.

The victor becomes king, the loser becomes bandit. This truth, she understood better than anyone.

Since she had lost, there was nothing more to say.

"Well..."

She finally spoke, her voice low unlike her usual self: "Let it be like this."

Kaido glanced at her. The two silently looked at each other for a moment, then simultaneously shifted their gazes away.

There was nothing good to say, and nothing that needed to be said.

Losing was losing, that’s all.

The scenes in the light screen continued to play.

Momonosuke, transformed into a pink giant dragon, flew over from the direction of Onigashima, passing over the heads of Wano Country’s people.

Those citizens who were celebrating the Fire Festival looked up and saw the giant dragon, instantly falling into panic.

"It’s Kaido!"

"Kaido is here!"

"Run!"

...

The crowd scattered and fled in all directions. Cries and shouts rose one after another.

"Why... why..."

Someone cried out in despair: "Today is the only day we can rest. Why does Kaido still have to come and cause trouble..."

"This is forcing us onto a dead end!"

Complaints, cries, and desperate groans echoed throughout.

But not a single person dared to stand up and resist.

Because that was Kaido, the nightmare that had ruled them for twenty years.

It was that monster who would die if they resisted.

They knew it too well.

All too well...

Just as the crowd fell into despair, several figures slowly emerged from the smoke and dust.

When those figures walked out of the smoke and revealed their true appearances, everyone stood frozen in place.

The oiran Komurasaki.

And...

The Nine Red Scabbards who had disappeared for twenty years!

Kin’emon, Denjiro, Kawamatsu, Raizo, Inuarashi, Nekomamushi, Kikunojo...

They stood there, bodies covered in wounds, but their eyes burned with flames that had never been extinguished.

The crowd fell silent, then someone began to tremble.

"It’s... it’s the Nine Red Scabbards..."

"Lord Oden’s retainers..."

"They’re still alive... They’re still alive!"

"But how did they come here? Run! Orochi’s pursuers will come!"

...

Just as everyone was discussing, Denjiro stepped forward, took a deep breath, and his voice rumbled like thunder across all directions: "People of Wano Country! Orochi and Kaido and the Beast Pirates..."

As he said this, he paused, his eye sockets turning red: "Have been completely defeated!"

In the crowd, there were bursts of incredulous exclamations, but Denjiro didn’t take credit.

He raised his hand and pointed into the distance: "The ones who truly defeated them were not us! It was those pirates who came from overseas."

"Straw Hat Luffy and the others, and other pirates!"

His voice grew louder and louder: "We samurai of Wano Country only played a supporting role!"

"The true benefactors!"

He took a deep breath, his gaze burning as he stared at the crowd below: "It’s Straw Hat Luffy!"

Dead silence...

Then came the sound of crying!

But it wasn’t crying of despair — it was crying of joy.

It was crying that had been suppressed for twenty years and could finally be released.

"Kaido... has been defeated..."

"Orochi... is dead..."

"Our wishes... have been realized..."

"Just now... just now we were still making wishes... and now they’ve come true!"

In the crowd, Tama covered her mouth, tears streaming down her face.

Her parents died in the factory. She had been selling straw hats with Komachiyo, enduring all kinds of hardships.

But now everything was over.

She could finally stop suffering.

Just as everyone was wailing loudly, the Nine Red Scabbards suddenly "thud" knelt down together. Everyone was stunned.

They looked in the direction the Scabbards were kneeling. A figure slowly walked out from the smoke.

It was Momonosuke!

But it was the twenty-eight-year-old Momonosuke.

That child who had grown up overnight. The heir of the Kozuki Family.

The new shogun of Wano Country.

"You have all suffered..."

Momonosuke opened his mouth. Although his voice still carried a trace of trembling, it was incomparably firm: "Having gone through such a long and painful time."

He paused, took a deep breath: "The Fire Festival will not end."

"From tomorrow onward, restore all free trade. Well water will no longer be charged for."

"Factories will stop emitting toxic substances."

His voice grew higher and higher, deeply shaking every person’s heart: "Wano Country..."

Momonosuke raised his head, flames burning in his eyes: "Will no longer have a single slave!"

Tama’s tears burst forth. The samurai also cried out. It was finally over.

Momonosuke continued walking forward. Those citizens who had once been fearful now all looked at him.

Looking at that face exactly like Kozuki Oden’s, gazing into those eyes exactly like Kozuki Oden’s.

Watching him walk toward them step by step.

"From now on..."

Momonosuke stood in front of the crowd, took a deep breath: "It will be led by me——"

His voice resounded like thunder throughout Wano Country.

"Kozuki Momonosuke!"

Cheers erupted like a mountain roaring and a sea roaring. The entire venue was in an uproar, the entire place shocked!

"Lord Momonosuke!"

"Lord Oden’s son!"

"Wano Country is saved!!"

People cried, laughed, shouted.

All the emotions that had been suppressed for twenty years were released at this moment. The lanterns were still rising into the sky.

The firelight illuminated every tear-streaked face.

The dawn would finally arrive!

...