The number of enemies meant nothing to Carl.
To someone standing at the top of the power scale, numbers were irrelevant. This was not a world where "ants can kill an elephant." In One Piece, the suppression by those with overwhelming strength was absolute. The Summit War at Marineford had proven that beyond doubt.
If it weren't for the presence of the three Admirals—Aokiji, Kizaru, and Akainu—Marineford, even with 100,000 elite Marines and warships, would have been flattened by Whitebeard alone. Despite age and injury, his power was still cataclysmic.
The Beasts Pirates were no exception. They had their own top-tier fighters—the All-Stars.
Carl's crimson eyes scanned the battlefield ahead, noting each significant presence. His voice was low but calm. "Brother, how long do you need to clean this up?"
Yi Xiao stood beside him, calm as ever. His blindfold fluttered slightly in the wind. "I will do my best," he replied.
They both knew—Jhin the Wildfire and Queen the Plague, Kaido's top commanders, were no pushovers. Each was a calamity in his own right, second only to Kaido. Drake was here as well, still acting undercover, along with a swarm of Gifter units and Headliners.
"Tch, troublesome…" Carl's gaze flickered scarlet, the [Six Paths Reincarnation] spinning gently. "Fine, let's go!"
On the other side, Kaido grinned. He hefted his kanabo, black lightning dancing along its spine like a coiled beast. He looked less like a dragon-man hybrid and more like Raijin, the Thunder God himself.
"BRAT!! FIGHT ME IF YOU DARE!"
"Raimei Hakke!" (Thunder Bagua!)
"Slash Wave・Change!"
Carl stepped forward, blades crossed—Sakura Ten glowing faintly in his right hand—and met Kaido's attack head-on. A thunderous collision erupted in the center of the battlefield, blasting apart the stone foundation and sending shockwaves rippling through the Flower Capital.
The battlefield was cloaked in black and red lightning—Conqueror's Haki raging.
They were monsters. Each strike was like two prehistoric titans colliding.
Every swing from Carl cracked the sky. Every blow from Kaido shattered the earth.
On the periphery, the Gifter troops—once cocky and cruel—were now screaming in panic.
"Get back!!"
"We can't get involved! That's not a normal battle!"
"You'll die! Anyone who stays here dies!!"
Even the enhanced soldiers—the true warriors of the Beasts Pirates—began retreating. They understood: this was a clash between monsters. Even Queen's viruses wouldn't help here.
Elsewhere, Yi Xiao stepped forward with his gravity-based Devil Fruit powers. Facing Jhin, Queen, and Drake, he summoned an invisible dome of pressure that distorted the air around them. The plaza groaned under the force, stone warping, buildings tilting.
The weaker Beasts Pirates could only watch like stunned spectators.
In the distance, outside the heavily damaged Hanamigawa Oiran House, Kozuki Hiyori and Denjiro stood on a crumbling plateau.
They could no longer stay in the building—the shockwaves alone would have reduced it to dust.
"Two decades of darkness… all because of them," Hiyori muttered through gritted teeth. Her eyes burned as she looked toward the battlefield.
Each figure down there had blood on their hands—Kaido's henchmen, the architects of her people's suffering.
But deep down, she also understood: even without Kaido, Wano's fate would've drawn greedy eyes. The secret of seastone alone would've tempted the underworld. Pirates, revolutionaries, arms dealers—they all wanted it. Wano, hidden at the back of the New World, was never going to stay peaceful.
Their only hope had always been strength.
"I hope they can win…" Hiyori whispered, palms together in prayer.
Denjiro stood beside her, his face solemn. He couldn't deny the truth: compared to the monsters battling now, Wano's samurai—himself included—were too weak.
"If someone like Ryuma the Dragon Slayer still lived…" he muttered, "…this country wouldn't have been enslaved for 20 years."
Back on the battlefield—
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The void screamed with every clash between Carl and Kaido.
Their silhouettes blurred, black lightning bursting with each movement. Advanced Conqueror's Haki surged between them—neither even making physical contact, yet creating shockwaves that rippled across the sky.
"You're strong, brat!" Kaido bellowed with manic joy. "I haven't had a fight like this in years!"
His kanabo crackled with Haoshoku Haki, infused with wind and lightning. Carl parried it again and again—each strike ringing out like thunder in the heavens.
Kaido's body was covered in scales, horns glinting, and muscles coiled like serpents beneath his skin. His breath steamed with dragon heat. His laughter echoed like a war drum.
"Sakura Ten" traced a radiant arc, deflecting the next strike.
"You change moods faster than a woman's wardrobe," Carl muttered, adjusting his stance. "You laugh, then cry, then rage… What are you, bipolar?"
His right eye gleamed—[Hell Path] active. He couldn't activate [Asura Path] or [Human Path] at the same time due to the sheer volume of Kaido's Conqueror's eruptions.
Each clash overwhelmed the battlefield with black-red lightning.
"HURRY UP AND DIE!" Kaido laughed, swinging another crushing blow. "YOU'RE WASTED IN THE MARINES!"
Carl caught the strike with crossed blades—Sakura Ten and the black blade Deadwood. The sheer force numbed his hands.
Kaido's strength really was equal to that monster, Charlotte Linlin.
"COME, JOIN ME!" Kaido roared. "LET'S BURN THE WORLD TO THE GROUND TOGETHER!"
"I refuse," Carl growled, eyes glinting. "You don't even have dental hygiene."
He unsheathed Deadwood fully with his left hand—and slashed with both blades simultaneously.
Bang! Bang!
Twin shockwaves split the sky again.
One after another, slashes coated in sharp sword aura rained down upon Kaido's colossal dragon-human form, forcing his enormous body to stagger back and forth. Each strike carved deep into the scales that once tanked Oden's dual-sword style.
"You lot… always trying to shake the world with your little uprisings!" Carl's crimson eyes flashed with ominous light, his tone growing icy. "But you and I, Kaido… we're cut from a different cloth."
"Hmph… Then prepare to die, brat!" Kaido's monstrous Haoshoku Haki surged violently, the sky beginning to twist and thunder above.
"No… The one dying here—is you!" Carl's figure flickered and vanished from sight, appearing instantly behind Kaido in a blur of speed that seemed to warp the air itself.
For a moment, the battlefield froze—time itself halting under the pressure.
The two men stood back to back.
Neither moved.
Zheng!
The blade Deadwood slid silently back into its sheath, and Carl spoke with a cold finality: "Extreme Style – Excalibur: Instant Severance."
"What the hell… did you do?" Kaido grunted, his head turning slightly as he looked down to his chest.
"Nothing much," Carl replied with a faint smile. "Just wanted to see if that dragon-scale armor of yours is just for show."
As he spoke, Kaido's pupils shrank.
Chi! Chi! Chi!
Sword aura, sharpened with Ryuo and fused with killing intent, erupted from Kaido's chest in radiant arcs. Streams of blood burst out like exploding flower petals.
Thud—
Kaido's enormous body fell to one knee, the earth cracking beneath the weight.
Carl didn't pause. He turned calmly, raising his second blade Sakura Ten, and with a downward swing, brought it down on Kaido's skull.
BOOM!
The ground split in a massive fissure, and Kaido's form went crashing back like a meteor, his massive frame hurtling across the ruins of the Flower Capital.
"…Even with that kind of blow, his presence hasn't diminished?" Carl narrowed his eyes, his [Killing Field] sensing Kaido's energy flaring hotter than ever.
The man's aura wasn't fading—it was intensifying. A sleeping volcano awakening.
"You little runt… You actually dared to injure me!!"
Kaido's feral roar tore through the sky, his Conqueror's Haki exploding outward in a sweeping storm. Entire buildings collapsed, and dozens of Gifters watching from afar collapsed to the ground, overwhelmed.
"Boss Kaido!!"
Kaido stood up slowly, twisting his neck. A deep fracture spread across his forehead, blood trickling past his eye.
"If you've got the guts—then finish me off, Solomon Carl!!!"
His voice was filled with a madness rivaling even Big Mom's, thunder roaring across the heavens as black storm clouds surged in.
"…This guy's a lunatic," Carl growled, gritting his teeth. "Crazier than that hag Charlotte Linlin ever was."
BOOM!
The ground exploded as Kaido's figure vanished once again, now right in Carl's face. His kanabo, wrapped in black lightning and wind, came crashing down with a monstrous force.
KRAKABOOM!
The shockwave flattened the surroundings. Carl narrowly avoided the full brunt of the attack, his body flickering backward, landing with skidding feet.
Carl wasn't blind to the truth: whether it was Kaido or Big Mom, their raw, brute strength was absurd. Even if Carl held the upper hand in skill, he was physically outsized. These so-called "humans" were nearly giant-sized, their natural strength overwhelming even the best swordsmen.
Swoosh—
As Carl regained footing, Kaido charged again with terrifying speed. Their weapons clashed with a clang that cracked the earth.
Then—Carl paused.
His sharp senses twitched.
Behind Kaido, something was coming.
"What are you looking at, brat?!" Kaido roared, mistaking Carl's distraction for arrogance.
He struck again, black lightning and purple Haki flaring between them—but Carl's gaze never left that spot behind Kaido.
A white shadow streaked through the sky.
WHAM!!
A black metal club—blunt and spike-less—slammed into Kaido's back with a dull crash. Kaido's enormous form reeled from the blow, toppling forward like a collapsed tower.
For a moment, time itself stopped.
All three figures in the battlefield stood frozen.
Kaido turned his head, his golden eyes wide. "It's you…"
Carl blinked, silently exhaling. He had sensed the presence moments ago, but since the intelligence network hadn't mentioned it, he had let it approach unimpeded.
Now, his suspicion was confirmed.
There were still warriors in Wano Country with the courage to challenge Kaido.
The figure behind Kaido wore a pale-white grimace mask, with a long white cape drifting in the wind. Beneath the mask, a proud voice echoed with unmistakable conviction.
"My name is… Kozuki Oden!"
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