Chapter 402: The Death of Drought!

Onigashima, Wano Country.

This fortress, strong as a massive skull, stood amidst the rough waves and hidden reefs.

Inside the spacious and dark domed hall, several massive braziers burned with raging fires, casting flickering shadows across the surrounding walls.

Kaido sat grandly upon his massive throne.

At this moment, Kaido’s face was as dark as water, as if a destructive storm was brewing.

Holding a giant gourd filled with strong liquor, he gulped down the harsh alcohol in frustration while snorting two heavy streams of white vapor from his nose.

The surrounding pirate lackeys on guard duty didn’t even dare to breathe heavily, terrified of angering this fickle, strongest creature in the world.

The reason Kaido was so irritable was that one of his most relied-upon Lead Performers, “Drought” Jack, had been out of contact for too long since setting out to conquer Zou.

There was no contact via Den Den Mushi, and no battle reports had been sent back.

The entire mammoth fleet seemed to have evaporated into thin air from the New World, with absolutely no news.

A few days ago, in order to find out what exactly had happened on Zou,

Kaido, unable to contain his impatience, had already dispatched a contact unit composed of elite Gifters to conduct a large-scale search at sea.

Bang!

Just as Kaido raised his head to drink again, the two incredibly heavy solid wooden doors of the hall were suddenly slammed open from the outside.

The massive sound echoed through the empty hall, instantly shattering the dead silence.

Several Gifters who had been sent out on the search mission rushed in, drenched in sweat and scrambling on all fours.

Before they could even steady their footing, they collapsed heavily onto the cold stone floor.

Between them, they carried a blood-drenched and heavily scarred remnant of the Beasts Pirates on a tattered sail.

The remnant’s clothes had been reduced to shredded rags, and his gaping wounds had turned white and festered from being soaked in seawater. His breath was extremely weak, as if he might draw his last at any moment.

The remaining insignias on his clothing clearly indicated that he was a survivor from Jack’s flagship, the mammoth.

Kaido slowly lowered the massive sake gourd in his hand, his huge, bell-like eyes instantly locking onto the newcomer.

Kaido leaned forward abruptly, like an enraged primeval beast, roaring his interrogation down at them:

“Where the hell did that bastard Jack go?!”

“Why hasn’t he contacted me for so long?!”

“Did he treat my orders as a joke?!”

The survivor lying on the floor had originally been on the verge of death.

But upon hearing Kaido’s deafening interrogation, he seemed to experience a sudden surge of final strength and snapped his eyes open.

Looking at the familiar and majestic figure on the throne, the survivor instantly burst into tears, which rolled down his face, mixing with the blood and grime.

Supporting his upper body with trembling arms, he stammered out the brutal truth:

“Lord Kaido… Lord Jack… he’s not coming back!”

Coughing up blood, the survivor recalled that nightmarish encounter with deep grief.

At that time, Lord Jack was leading the mammoth fleet, preparing to launch a second devastating attack on Zou to wash away the shame of failing to find Raizo.

However, as the fleet sailed through the waters surrounding Zou, they unexpectedly collided head-on with an unimaginably massive fleet.

It was the main Totto Land fleet of ‘Big Mom’ Charlotte Linlin, who had set out in full force to seek revenge on Straw Hat!

Facing Big Mom, who was also one of the Four Emperors ruling over the New World,

facing the enemy warships that blotted out the sky, the crew of the mammoth felt a deep sense of despair.

But Lord Jack did not shrink back.

To protect Lord Kaido’s territorial dignity and defend the inviolable majesty of the Beasts Pirates,

Lord Jack resolutely refused to take even half a step back before any force.

Standing at the bow of the ship, he launched a death-defying charge against the Totto Land fleet.

However, the gap in strength between a Lead Performer and a true Emperor of the Sea was like an uncrossable chasm.

There was no suspense in the battle.

Lord Jack’s all-out attacks could not even pierce through Big Mom’s monstrous defense.

Accompanied by Big Mom’s world-destroying bombardment of thunder and fire, his massive body was torn open and his bones shattered. With a roar of unwilling frustration, he sank heavily injured into the bottomless sea.

Having said this, the survivor banged his head despairingly against the stone floor, explaining to Kaido while weeping bitterly:

“Lord Kaido!”

“At that time, we desperately wanted to jump into the sea to rescue the sinking Lord Jack!”

“Even if it cost us our lives, we wanted to pull him out!”

“But… immediately after, the Straw Hat fleet appeared! They and the Totto Land forces erupted into an incredibly terrifying all-out war in those waters!”

In that world-destroying clash of Emperor-level power, violent thunder tore through the sky, and terrifying sword energy sliced the ocean apart.

The waves rolled like mountains, and countless warships were reduced to wood chips in the shockwaves.

Their already battered mammoth was like a fallen leaf in the raging waves on the edge of such a battlefield.

The ship could not get close to the core sea area at all. For the crew, even self-preservation became a luxury, and they died miserably one after another in the aftershocks.

They could only drift with the current, unable to find any opportunity to dive into the sea to rescue Lord Jack.

It wasn’t until that earth-shattering, historic battle between the two sides came to an end,

after the Totto Land fleet was routed and fled, and the violent sea finally restored its long-lost calm,

this lucky survivor finally found Jack’s whereabouts in a tragic stretch of sea floating with countless wrecks and corpses.

But the result was no surprise.

As a Devil Fruit user, Lord Jack would lose all his strength once he fell into the sea, not to mention he had already suffered fatal injuries when facing Big Mom.

By the time the survivor dove into the water and found him, Jack’s massive corpse was already severely bloated from the seawater, his eyes wide open.

He had already lost all signs of life, turning into a cold corpse.

Because the mammoth had already been crushed to pieces in the aftermath of the war,

this survivor could only hold back his grief and laboriously place Jack’s heavy and massive body onto a relatively wide wooden plank from the ship’s hull.

Using a broken wooden stick he picked up as a paddle, he used the last ounce of his strength to paddle aimlessly across the ocean, his only thought being to bring his lord’s body back home.

After drifting aimlessly on the vast ocean for several days, enduring the sun and wind, and at the final moment of being on the verge of dying of thirst and starvation,

he miraculously ran into the contact and search unit sent by Lord Kaido, saving his life and bringing back this terrible news.

Having reported all of this, the survivor exhausted all of his strength.

He slammed his forehead heavily onto the hard stone floor and wailed:

“Lord Kaido! Lord Jack died such a miserable death!

“You must avenge Lord Jack!!”

As this shrill wail echoed under the dome, the entire hall of Onigashima fell into a dead silence.

All the pirate lackeys, and even the usually arrogant Headlinerss, were now as quiet as cicadas in winter.

They lowered their heads in terror, clearly feeling the terrifying killing intent that was rising frantically in the air.

Standing to one side of the throne, wearing a pitch-black mask, “Conflagration” King knitted his brows tightly at this moment.

As the chief steward and the strongest First Mate of the Beasts Pirates, he had to maintain absolute rationality at this moment.

King stepped forward two paces, bowed his head slightly, and said to Kaido in a deep voice:

“Boss Kaido, please accept my condolences regarding Jack.

“His death is indeed a huge loss for our Beasts Pirates.”

King changed the subject: “However, if we look at the current situation from another perspective…

“Right now, that old hag Charlotte Linlin has suffered a crushing defeat in that shocking showdown against the Straw Hat alliance.”

“According to intelligence, even her proud main fleet of Totto Land has lost more than half of its strength, and she herself has definitely suffered internal injuries!”

“The current Totto Land waters must be leaderless, in utter internal chaos, and its core military strength is emptier than ever before.”

“This might… be a godsend opportunity bestowed upon our Beasts Pirates.”

“An excellent opportunity to mobilize our forces to annex Totto Land’s vast territories in one fell swoop and seize the crucial poneglyph in their hands!”

Listening to the tearful and bloody lament of his subordinate below, and the calm advice of King beside him,

Kaido kept his head lowered, the flickering firelight in the hall casting large, eerie shadows across his face.

His chest began to heave violently, and the steel-like muscles all over his body bulged high as if inflated, veins twisting and coiling under his skin like angry dragons.

That brat Jack, though usually reckless and acting without regard for consequences, and not very bright, often causing trouble,

was nonetheless the most obedient, devoted, and loyal Lead Performer under his command.

No matter what kind of powerful enemy he faced, as long as Kaido gave the word, Jack would charge forward to tear into them without hesitation.

And now, this loyal subordinate who had always followed him was actually sent to his grave in the cold depths of the sea by another of the Four Emperors!

Boom!

Kaido snapped his head up, his massive, bell-like eyes now completely bloodshot, turning a brilliant crimson.

Under his extreme rage, his thick, powerful hand suddenly squeezed hard.

Crack—Bang!

With a loud explosion, the incredibly hard, giant sake gourd in his hand was actually crushed to pieces by his single hand.

The fragrant, strong liquor, mixed with sharp wood splinters, sprayed in all directions like hidden weapons, crackling as they pelted the surrounding stone pillars.

Rationality?

Benefits?

The plan to annex Totto Land?

At this moment, all strategic considerations were completely thrown to the wind by this enraged strongest creature in the world.

The only thought left in his mind now was to tear the murderer of his beloved subordinate into shreds!

Accompanied by a wild roar that shattered the clouds, Kaido’s thunderous voice echoed across the skies of Onigashima:

“Linlin!!!”

“You damned old hag! I will absolutely kill you with my own hands!!!”

Chapter 403: An Excellent Opportunity! The Soaring Dragon and the Liberator of Udon Prison