Chapter 240: Wano, State of Affairs and Clash
__________ POV Narration __________
Shiki's flying mansion island moved relatively fast, while above the clouds.
The journey towards Wano was still taking a bit longer than expected.
It took around three weeks. Now, Enel didn't idly wait while hoping for Francisco to still be alive when they arrived.
Instead, he went ahead and checked on Wano first.
He made a few trips, it was a weekly checkup in fact.
He observed how the people of Wano dealt with their current situation, the famine, the slavery, the unfairness.
He also eventually found Francisco, of course. The main reason why he was even coming to Wano so soon.
The Swordsman was indeed looking a lot worse for wear.
His limbs weren't cleanly cut off, they were mangled and crushed, broken off. Both of his legs were missing underneath the knee, and he was moving around in the slave camp while walking on wooden peg legs.
His sword arm was a bit different, it was seemingly crushed from the shoulder blade down. Enel was quite sure that Francsico was missing a good part of his lung as well.
It was quite grim, but the swordsman was seemingly unbothered.
He was already more than used to torture and physical pain thanks to the accommodations that the Government had graciously prepared for him after God Valley.
He was just walking around the labour camp, hauling around large stone slabs while being bound and shackled by seastone.
He had a thick collar around his neck, connected with a thick chain to his only remaining wrist.
It certainly didn't look comfortable, but Enel was sure that his jailor didn't care for comfort.
Regardless, Francisco was relatively safe. He was whistling while prancing around unsteadily and working.
'I guess Kaido doesn't want him dead at all...' If anything, Francsico's wounds were bandaged up perfectly. He had received proper first aid after losing his limbs and had even been given a pair of wooden legs, even if they weren't the most reliable.
Still, he kept up his weekly visits, and eventually, someone else appeared within that same camp... A red-haired man with a missing arm and a nasty attitude.
Eustass Kid.
It seemed that, despite common sense and logic, he had still tried to take on Kaido by himself, while he wasn't even strong enough to take a single hit from the Dragon Emperor.
Hell, Kid likely would've died if Kaido didn't feel like he needed more recruits after the mess against Whitebeard.
He was indeed quite low on troops. The many Beast Pirates he had gathered now couldn't even count up to 6000 pirates. He was down to less than half of his troops.
And he had lost most of his stronger subordinates with the exception of Ulti, Black Maria and a few others.
Enel had already surveyed their forces and made quite a few notes of what was left. It wasn't much.
Not even close to comparing itself to the Grand Fleet that the Sky King had amassed. If one were to put all of his forces and allies together, then Enel's army far exceeded 150,000 Men and Women.
From revolutionaries all around the world to marines, to pirates and their allied fleets.
The Marines alone counted for around 40,000 members, and they also had a lot of heavy hitters.
The Revolutionaries were not to be outdone either, there were somewhere around 60,000 of them scattered throughout the world.
Their numbers were rising constantly as well thanks to the brutal response that the Government showed to the protests.
The rest of their numbers were made up of pirates, Shiki's fleet, Whitebeard and Shanks's fleet too.
Shiki had by far the most pirates under him, but they weren't all that powerful.
Whitebeard had more powerful allies, but there were only around 10,000 of them at most. They were all veterans of the New World. They were strong enough to face off against 100,000 Marines back at Marineford.
Shanks's crew was also around 6000, but they were all relatively weak. Even weaker than the men under Shiki, although they were all sailing on the New World.
But together, they still made part of Enel's army. And it formed what was possibly the largest unified army in the world. Not only the largest but also the strongest.
Kaido had a long way to go before he could ever match such a force.
Hell, even with his current power-up, Enel was quite sure that his army could widdle the Dragon Emperor down with time, although casualties would be too great.
In the end, the Sky King could only resolve himself to take down Kaido before the war happened, to prevent any mishaps.
Thankfully, the stage was already being set.
By the time Shiki's island floated through the skies above Wano, the Straw Hats were already prowling around.
Law and the other Red Scabbards had also gathered in their homeland. It was only a matter of time before Luffy confronted Kaido.
Enel could tell that things were going quite well. The Straw Hats had already clashed with other Supernovas, people that Kaido had already subjugated.
'It's a waiting game for now, huh?'
Enel still wanted Luffy to get captured and taken to the slave camp, it was after all the place where he could get much stronger than before, and even learn Conqueror's coating.
Of course, things weren't going to play out the same, however... The Sky King didn't have to wait long at all.
His ears twitched slightly as he lay down on a beach chair above the clouds.
"We've been spotted, huh?"
It wasn't hard for the Sky King to feel a pair of eyes on him. And he already knew who they belonged to...
Kaido.
And in that same instant, Enel's future sight activated, only for him to sigh as he slowly stood up.
"All of you! Hide within Wano! Stay away from Onigashima for now!" Enel shouted, his voice breaking out in an authoritative manner as he stepped onto the edge of the island and looked to the horizon.
Garp and Zephyr both grumbled, not quite keen on following the Emperor's instructions.
"Why should we? Even if that Dragon Brat comes, we'll just take care of him." Garp rolled his shoulder with a haughty look on his face.
Zephyr also nodded, cracking his knuckles with his mechanical fist while smiling slightly.
"Yeah, that bastard has got to pay! I don't know what tricks he used, but I can't wait to tear him a new one!" Shiki also seemed quite keen to clash with the Dragon Emperor.
Bonney was the only one who wasn't quite excited at the prospect of fighting Kaido. But she couldn't just jump off the floating island by herself.
"I don't want you all facing off against Kaido just yet. Remember our mission, we're here to rescue Francisco."
Enel's cold voice washed over them, and it was more than enough to kill their excitement.
The former Marine Hero finally noticed the serious look in his captain's eye, which made him grab Zephyr by the arm and jump off the flying island without a second thought.
Shiki followed suit, grabbing Bonney and dragging her off, flying away while Enel crossed his arms and sighed as he finally felt it... Heat.
"Huh... It seems some ants have snuck in."
The heat came from the hot breath of the gigantic dragon that crawled through the clouds in front of Enel.
A shining azure dragon that seemed to dwarf Onigashima in size.
Enel's eyes could see the dragon's tail flowing through the clouds kilometres in the distance.
Kaido's head was larger than the island that Shiki had flown over.
His horns were much larger than before, his teeth sharpened to the point where they seemed like gigantic blades.
All of the hair on the dragon's body was flowing in the wind like a flickering white flame. The Dragon's eyes also shone a bright azure light as it stared down the Sky King.
"Ants, huh? You've sure grown arrogant... And big." Enel scowled as he tilted his head to the side. His senses could spot the others that had been with him quickly getting away.
"Wororo~ You'll find that my size is the least of your concerns, worm! And confidence always looks like arrogance at first... You're about to find out on your own skin, whether or not I am arrogant!" Kaido's voice thundered through the entire Land of Wano.
Enel could feel the fear of the people below. They had likely already experienced the wrath of their ruler. The wrath of the King of the Beasts.
"Well, you've not gotten any less talkative, that's for sure." Enel scowled as he turned his gauntlets into a long staff and tapped it on the ground.
"Hmph! Let's end this charade!" Kaido huffed once more, his white hair flowing through the wind as his eyes lit up even more "Wouldn't have it any other way..." Veins appeared on Enel's forehead as he spoke, sparks rose from all over his body as he held onto his staff.
At that moment, both of them made a move.
"BLAST BREATH!" "El Thor!"
A gigantic blast of black flames washed over the skies, matched by an equally gigantic burst of lightning.
The two lights met in the middle and created an explosion large enough to shake the entirety of Wano.
"W-what the hell..." Down below, the Straw Hats couldn't help but look at the skies in shock.
The clouds had been blown away, allowing the sunlight to shine through in the Land of Wano.
And at the same time, it also revealed the gigantic body of Kaido.
'We're supposed to defeat that?!?' Zoro and Sanji both had the same thoughts, as their minds filled with anxiety.
But they quickly dispelled that anxiety.
They were part of the crew of the future Pirate King, they couldn't afford to back down against anyone... Not even an Emperor.
But as interested as they were in Kaido and his explosive strength, they were just as interested in the one that had just clashed with him.
"Hmm... Was that Enel?" Luffy scratched his chin with a strange look on his face.
Robin, who happened to be by his side at that time, also looked up at the sky, the blue flash of light was just dying down. It was possible that it belonged to Enel.
But it just didn't seem right.
After all... That blue light seemed to have been pushed back in the end.
"WORORORORO!" A peal of laughter shook the skies as Kaido seemed to fly off, his tail swatting away pieces of burnt debris from the flying island he had just turned to ash.
Robin's eyes narrowed as she noticed something else, something peculiar...
Falling melted pieces of a golden staff.
'This isn't good...'
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Hope you liked the chapter! Took me a bit to write it down, I lacked inspiration
Anyway, hope the clash turned out alright :)) And yeah, Kaido is built different now, and the mc in base form can't really defeat him, but that's to be expected innit?
Story Shoutout: The Final Desperation
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