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399 Roger Pirates Apprentice
🕑 Added 2025-12-17 06:12:01 +0000 UTC"What… what is that!!!"
The enormous roar echoed across the entire battlefield. Luffy, who had just received his final injection of stimulatory hormones, was sprinting toward the execution platform when he couldn't help but look up—and with just that single glance, his pupils shook violently.
"It's a dragon!!!"
"What?!"
From within the thunder-filled clouds, a massive claw slowly extended outward, followed by an incomparably huge dragon head.
Its gigantic body coiled in the sky above the war, giving off an overwhelming sense of pressure.
"Isn't that Kaido~"
"He actually flew here all by himself…"
Orin also looked over at this moment, watching the extremely excited giant dragon as he spoke.
At the same time, he casually kicked Luffy—who was trying to barge into the combat zone between himself and the three Admirals—straight over to the side of the execution platform.
He never planned on letting Ace die anyway.
As for the rescue, he might as well let this guy handle it.
It's just that after this war—the world would no longer have the great pirate [Fire Fist] Ace.
What would remain would only be Roger's unknown son, Lady Rouge's child, at most the eldest of the three brothers— but there would no longer be a pirate named Ace.
"Wo ro ro ro ro ro!!! Since this war was described by a man like you as being a bit lively, of course I had to come take a look!!!"
Like rolling thunder, an excited laugh descended from the sky.
The giant dragon slowly descended, then smashed straight into the ground in a free-fall manner, creating a massive crater.
Pirates and Marines nearby were shocked. After a brief silence, amid the billowing dust, two huge hands reached out from the pit.
Orin raised an eyebrow.
"Heh heh… what, Shanks couldn't stop you?"
As the smoke cleared, a massively muscular Kaido—with one scar across his chest and another piercing through—clutched his head and laughed loudly, alcohol stains still clinging to the corner of his mouth.
By the looks of it, he came here fully drunk.
Well… seems like last time he didn't quit drinking thoroughly enough.
"Red-Haired? That guy did come to block my path, so I left Jack behind and flew here myself!"
"Fighting him is nowhere near as exciting as this place!!!"
Relying on Jack's ship?
After Kaido left, would Jack really go rely on Shanks' ship instead?
Just thinking about it made Orin feel amused.
...
While Kaido made his shocking entrance and casually chatted with Orin, the Marines paying attention to this area were also listening in.
"That Yonko [Red-Haired] actually intercepted [Beasts] Kaido!!!"
"And Kaido came alone—great! It's not the entire Yonko crew!!!"
Some soldiers were feeling relieved, but they were quickly interrupted by a Vice Admiral who stepped forward.
"Don't lower your guard!!!"
"Those people called Emperors in the New World don't have massive crews because they're united… it's because every single sea Emperor possesses power capable of annihilating a Buster Call and contending with an Admiral!!!"
...
Kaido, of course, also noticed Whitebeard.
Seeing him in such a miserable state, standing on the very edge of death, he froze for a moment—then…
"Waaah!!!!"
"Whitebeard, you bastard—are you actually about to die too?!"
"You damn old man, doesn't that mean I won't be able to fight you to my heart's content ever again?!"
"Waaah!!!"
Overcome by emotion, Kaido actually started crying, his body gradually displaying dragon-like features as his excitement surged—
Man-Beast Transformation,
Drunken Dragon Form!!!
"Old man Whitebeard, you actually got shot until you're coughing blood by these Marines—what kind of joke is that?!?!"
In an instant, frenzied black-and-red lightning erupted wildly from Kaido's dragon-man form.
Conqueror's Haki Infusion condensed as if it were tangible—everyone around rolled their eyes back, their consciousness fading as they collapsed to the ground.
"You can't just release Conqueror's Haki Infusion freely on this battlefield!!!"
"Hm?!?!"
Just as Kaido started throwing a drunken tantrum, a gigantic magma fist, billowing with thick smoke, shot straight toward Kaido's face.
"Perfect timing!!!"
Kaido, who had been crying just a moment ago, instantly broke into a grin. His kanabo was immediately wrapped in black-and-red lightning.
"Thunder Bagua!!!"
As two of the very best among the Admiral–Emperor tier clashed, they launched into a massive-scale exchange right from the start.
In an instant, the ground shattered, and earth-shaking shockwaves spread outward from their point of impact.
"That damn Kaido!!!"
Sengoku's eyes were bloodshot.
"Gu ra ra ra ra… looks like the Marines are in for real trouble, Sengoku."
Despite being riddled with wounds and illness, he still fought in wide, devastating swings, reckless as if his life didn't matter, clashing head-on with Sengoku's Buddha shockwaves.
As more pirates poured in and the situation grew more chaotic, the greater Ace's chances of being saved became.
Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced toward the execution platform.
Luffy was almost there.
Mihawk tried to strike again, but Crocodile blocked him with a hook.
"What are you doing, Crocodile."
"Isn't it obvious, Mihawk?"
Crocodile, blood streaks still on her face, cigar clenched between her teeth, spoke with a gloomy aura.
"Saving Fire Fist Ace was Orin's intention from the very beginning."
Hearing this, the Hawk Eyes froze for a moment.
Because he had been focused on the sky—on that giant dragon he had once slashed—and hadn't noticed Orin's casual kick at all.
...
"Kaido!!!"
Seeing a familiar figure, another Shichibukai—Moria—instantly boiled over.
But faced with such a high-level battlefield, long since turned into an obese shut-in, he couldn't interfere at all and was stopped by Marine Vice Admirals.
Among the Shichibukai, some were fighting each other, some watched coldly.
Kuzan focused solely on Orin.
Meanwhile, the Marines' mid- and low-tier forces were tied down by the Whitebeard Pirates' own mid- and low-tier fighters, allowing Luffy to draw closer and closer to the execution platform.
"So while the big shots are fighting, you're sneaking up onto the execution platform?"
Seeing this, Borsalino was just about to turn into light and flash over to kick Luffy away— when, in the next second, he heard the sound of a bullet being chambered.
He froze instantly, his pupils shifting slightly.
A gloved hand—appearing out of nowhere—held an elegant, slender black long gun, its barrel pressed against his head.
"Don't move, Kizaru."
"The real show hasn't even started yet—why are you in such a hurry to slack off?"
Orin pointed the gun straight at Kizaru's head, the pitch-black muzzle aimed squarely at him.
Cold sweat immediately broke out on Borsalino's forehead.
For someone of his caliber to feel it—this was unmistakably the presence of death.
"So scary~"
"As expected of the man known as Black Gun."
Orin, who had just Warp-Warp Fruit-ed out of Kuzan's attack range, now stood there with a cigarette in his mouth, looking up at the sky as if sensing something.
Borsalino felt curious, but before he could speak, Orin suddenly said,
"About time… they should be arriving soon."
