"They should be fine."

Vane glanced toward the distant battlefield. Explosions of ice, lightning, and slashes lit the horizon—clearly the work of Esdeath and the others.

He had faith in them. They were powerful in their own right. The only one slightly lacking was Kalifa, but she wasn't helpless.

With the others holding their own, Vane flew toward the shallow waters where Kaido had fallen. The massive Yonko still hadn't risen. He lay in the sea, most of his body submerged, with his head fully underwater.

"Can he still move?" Vane muttered.

Hovering over the waves, he looked down at the motionless Kaido. Blood still poured from the two gaping wounds in his stomach, mixing darkly with the seawater.

Kaido looked semi-conscious, dazed. Vane drove a heavy punch into the back of his head—not because he wanted to kill him, but to jolt him awake. After all, Kaido was the so-called "strongest creature on land, sea, and air." If seawater could kill him, he wasn't worth the title.

The impact sent plumes of water and sand into the air. The sea churned violently.

"Kaido, can't move?"

At Vane's words, Kaido stirred. Then, with a sudden burst of strength, the massive Yonko lunged from the water. Vane floated backward several meters, not out of fear, but to avoid the tidal wave caused by Kaido's enormous frame.

"God Falls!"

Kaido's voice thundered across the ocean. He spat seawater and sand, his glare like molten fury. Then his body began to shift, bones and muscles stretching and twisting.

A massive azure-scaled dragon soared into the sky.

"Don't think I'm done!" Kaido bellowed. "I'm Kaido of the Beasts!"

From above, Kaido glared down at Vane—who looked tiny in comparison. But Vane's expression remained calm. The two massive wounds in Kaido's belly continued to bleed, though they barely seemed to slow him.

"As expected... He's tougher than Big Mom," Vane muttered, expression darkening.

"I'll need to use Kendo, even though I rarely do."

Vane stepped back, dozens of meters now between him and the airborne dragon.

Flames flickered along his sword.

No flashy names, no fancy techniques. For Vane, Kendo was simple—just him and the blade.

"That blade again!" Kaido snarled. He recognized it. The flaming sword Vane wielded reminded him of that terrifying cremation slash he had suffered earlier.

This time, Kaido didn't hesitate. He opened his maw and spewed out three enormous fireballs—no charge-up, just pure, raw lava.

The fireballs plummeted like meteors, trailing black smoke and burning with unbearable heat.

Vane grinned, leaping toward them.

"A dragon-slaying isn't bad now and then."

With a single upward slash, he cleaved one fireball in two. Flames roared around him but didn't touch him.

"It's said someone in Wano once killed a dragon with the sword Shusui," he said, voice cutting through the air. "That was your ancestor, huh? So now you dominate Wano as revenge?"

Vane raised his sword. All his strength concentrated in one simple motion.

Kendo: Two Breaks!

His blade struck true, slicing through Kaido's throat and erupting blood into the sky.

"Impossible... my defense..." Kaido choked out.

Even in his dragon form, with hardened scales tougher than steel, Vane's blade had cut him clean.

The dragon screamed, the sea exploded with fireballs, and Kaido's blood sprayed like a crimson storm.

"Nothing's impossible, Kaido," Vane said coldly. "You've never been a match for Whitebeard or Garp… and now, you're no match for me."

His next slash tore through Kaido's abdomen. Blood flew across the sky. A wound at least thirty meters long carved Kaido open.

Kaido roared and tried to fly higher, desperate to escape. Vane wasn't letting that happen.

"If you won't learn through words, I'll teach you through pain."

Vane lifted his sword.

One-Sword Cremation: Ninety-Sixth Style

A wall of flame in the shape of a blade erupted from the sky, descending faster than lightning. The inferno engulfed Kaido completely.

People across Wano watched, stunned.

Thunderclouds rumbled. Purple lightning forked through the sky.

And there, above the clouds, a figure stood—above even the dragon.

"Is that the dragon-slaying warrior?"

"That's the boy who wants to free Wano!"

Their voices trembled with awe.

The dragon was now a blazing torch in the sky, his body swallowed by Vane's flames.

Kaido roared one last time before plummeting to the earth.

"I'm Kaido of the Beasts!" he screamed defiantly, even as his body crashed into the sea.

Vane slashed again. A massive white arc fell from the heavens and collided with Kaido.

"You've lost," Vane said quietly. "Even if you can't admit it, you know it's true."

The slash opened the sea itself. A kilometer-wide chasm formed across the ocean surface, like a wound on the planet.

Kaido's body dropped into the rift. The sea rushed in behind him.

"You won't die," Vane said. "But you'll feel like you did."

(Nah, how I wish he just kill all the Yonko. FK Them)

He turned away.

Back on land, the shock was rippling through onlookers.

"Was that really Kaido?"

"The warrior did it…"

"No… He's not a samurai. That's the fifth Pirate Emperor—Vane!"

"Yes! Pirate Emperor Vane—the one they call God Falls!"

From the shadows, Kozuki Hiyori watched in silence. She had heard stories of Vane. Now, seeing him with her own eyes, she was stunned.

"Kaido lost…" she whispered. Her heart fluttered—equal parts hope and disbelief.

"Will Kaido… die?"

If Vane were there, he'd say: Of course not. Kaido doesn't die.

Suddenly, something crashed nearby.

Queen, in his massive brachiosaurus form, was about to attack Gion when Vane arrived like a meteor.

"Vice Admiral Gion working with pirates? What the hell—" Queen snarled.

Vane's fist collided with Queen's face before he finished. The force cratered the ground beneath them, sending Queen crashing into a twenty-meter-wide pit.

"Vane!" Gion called out, relieved.

"Did you defeat Kaido?" she asked quickly.

Vane shrugged. "I don't know. I buried him."

"Buried? So he's dead?!"

"If Kaido could die, he wouldn't be Kaido."

"Where are your clothes?"

"Shredded in the fight."

Vane turned to Queen again.

"Queen… your boss is at the bottom of the sea."

Queen's expression cracked.

"Kaido's been beaten a lot… but this?" he muttered.

"Wanna surrender?" Vane asked. "Or do I throw you into the sea too?"

Before Queen could answer, King crashed nearby, tumbled over the ground in his pterosaur form.

Esdeath arrived beside Gion.

"Alber!" Queen exclaimed, using his real name. "You lost?!"

King didn't answer. His body was scorched and battered from relentless attacks.

Then Jack stumbled forward, covered in black smoke, crackling with residual lightning.

"Boss… I can't go on… That woman's lightning is brutal!"

He looked up. "Vane… Did Lord Kaido really lose?"

Vane faced them all.

"If you want to keep fighting, follow me."

But the message was clear. Kaido had fallen.

Queen and Jack looked to King.

King sighed, nodding in defeat. "We surrender."

Kaido was gone. Vane had struck him from the sky and left him in the sea's embrace.

"Will Kaido survive at the bottom of the sea?" someone whispered.

Vane said nothing more. He turned, walking away with Gion and the others.

"Put this on," Gion said gently, draping her coat over Vane's shoulders.

"I don't get sick," he replied with a small smile.

Sickness didn't exist for him anymore. Not since the system awakened.

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