One Piece: Dream of Immortality-Chapter 530: Sky vs Sea

Buzzing flies.

Scurrying mice.

Crying mockingbirds.

These are the ways Kaido would describe the pests pestering him. Yes, they drew blood when they attacked him, but that was merely the lingering will of a greater man than they. He knew that now.

If that were all that he expected to face today, it would simply be one of many attempts on his life doomed to fail.

But that was not all.

He caught sight of it, only minutes ago. His old comrade and rival, Big Mom, cut down on his own turf and the battle that led to it. She could not see her dreams to the end, but at least her death was good. He envied her for that.

Though, perhaps he shouldn't envy her. His turn may also come soon.

"I have to thank you," Kaido rumbled to the pests. "If the true threat to my life had come first, my death might have been a pathetic sight. So thank you for the warm up."

Kaido meant it, but that they would take it as an insult was not lost on him. It was thanks to them that he could face this life and death struggle with all his might.

Whatever the result, glory will be had. Either he succeeds where Big Mom failed and his victory will mark the beginning of a new Chapter in his story, or he dies on the same day in the same place as his fellow Emperor and becomes part of a story even greater than his own.

Today was a good day. A momentous day!

No, no, he's getting ahead of himself. They still might run away like little chickens, it's too soon to celebrate.

"Hm?" Kaido hummed when he noticed something. "When did you get your arm back?"

The little samurai answered his question with a battle cry. It was a good battle cry, lots of feeling in it, so it was a shame to cut it off early.

"ORRRAAAAHHH!" Kaido slammed his Kanabo into the charging warrior, sending her skipping across the rooftop and almost down his makeshift sky light.

"This is enough, I think. It's time to end this little game," Kaido said.

The Red Scabbards charged him with every ounce of their will behind their blades.

It was not enough.

Now that he was done messing around, each one took only a single strike from his weapon before they were down for the count or dead. Many people underestimated his skill because of his brutish nature, and they were no different.

...

'Oh, damn,' Cherry thought. 'It's gotta suck to get called a warm up, only to be proven to be just that...'

Cherry had to admit that Kaido was pretty sneaky when he wanted to be. He'd rather easily lulled them into a rhythm, albeit a losing one, and then disrupted that rhythm in one decisive moment.

Cherry watched silently as Kaido transformed into his full dragon form. Noting that he wasn't leaving, but circling the island for some reason, Cherry left her hiding place to see to the Red Scabbards.

"You good, Kin'emon?" Cherry asked, lightly kicking the man's foot.

"Ughhh..." Kin'emon answered.

That was basically a yes to her ears, since she could fix almost anything so long as he was still alive with an intact brain. Even a damaged brain might be reconstructed, though she had no confidence in doing so. Brains were tricky, especially for mortals.

"Are you all good, too?!" Cherry shouted to the others who were scattered about.

She heard a chorus of various moans and groans, though a few didn't sound off. She gave a quick tap to Kin'emon to kick start his recovery before moving to those who hadn't answered her first.

"There, you'll all survive," Cherry nodded, clapping her hands free of accumulated dust.

That was all they were going to get from her, though. Her vital energy stores were vast, but not endless. It'd be more efficient to use that energy to attack the enemy than to raise the Red Scabbards back up to fighting form. They had their chance at Kaido; now it's Luffy's turn.

*Rumble*

The island began to quake. It didn't take a genius to work out who was responsible.

"He's not going to cut his losses and sink us all into the sea, is he?" Cherry scratched her head. "I'm... not sure there's anything I can do about it if he is..."

That would be really annoying. There's no way she could get everyone off this rock in time. She'd be lucky just to get her scattered crew away, even with all her speed.

"ROOOAAAAARRRRRRR?!?!?!"

"Good girl, hehehe," Cherry tittered.

"What's happening?" Kiku asked her.

"My cute Takako seems to have taken offense to whatever Kaido's up to with the island," Cherry answered.

"Tako? An octopus?" Kiku furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

"Not just any octopus, a kraken! My little girl eats sea kings for breakfast!" Cherry exclaimed. "Literally!"

*cough* "I'm not sure that will be enough to handle Kaido..." a fellow by the name of Izou that came to Wano along with Ace said. Cherry hadn't spoken with him, but he was apparently Kiku's elder brother and had been one of Whitebeard's boys for the past twenty years.

"Of course not, but my Takako is smarter than all you combined, so she knows she can't win," Cherry harrumphed. "She'll just harass him a little, probably. Buy a little time. Her main job is sinking fleeing enemies."

"That's... pretty ruthless..." Izou commented.

"The last thing you need is pirates turning into bandits once Wano is back under your control," Cherry snapped.

"Indeed," Kiku agreed with the assessment.

"Even so, are you sure that your pet doesn't need help? Krakens are terrifying even by sea king standards, but Kaido isn't that easily harried," Izou doubted.

"My kraken is no ordinary kraken! She's the most adorable kraken in the world!" Cherry defended, narrowing her eyes dangerously at the man.

Izou didn't take the hint to shut up. "Being cute won't save-"

*CRASH*

One of Onigashima's horns was just obliterated as Kaido was swung headfirst into it. The dragon continued to thrash afterwards as he was dragged back down and out of sight, but Cherry's argument seemed far more plausible now, despite how little sense it made.

Izou blinked at the sight, jaw dropped low. "I... retract my doubts..."

Cherry accepted his less than satisfactory apology with a curt nod.

There was something to be said about being big as hell. Takako could grab onto other big things and have a shit load of leverage against it. Literally being sixty percent arms certainly didn't hurt, either.

A flash of light lit up the night sky from down below.

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"I guess that's about all she can handle," Cherry sighed wistfully.

She never expected Takako to make any real headway in hurting Kaido, but she had at least done better than Cherry could have anticipated.