Chapter 825: Kaido's Death
Kanjuro, Kin'emon, Momonosuke, and their group successfully found Raizo after arriving at Zou.
Their original purpose for this journey was to seek help from the Mink Tribe on Zou. After securing the Mink Tribe as reinforcements, the impatient Momonosuke wanted to return to Wano Country to avenge his parents.
They knew that even with the Mink Tribe's help, they might not be a match for Kaido. Unfortunately, although they had encountered Ian, their relationship with him was not deep enough to gain his assistance.
Ian was not the warm-hearted type like Luffy. Although the Kozuki Family were the stonemasons who carved history, Ian had already basically figured out the truth behind the Poneglyphs, so the Kozuki Family was not that important to him. In Ian's view, the internal strife between the daimyo and the shogun of Wano Country had nothing to do with him—who sat on that throne was none of his business.
Although they shared a common enemy in Kaido, and Ian could have helped them, with the appearance of Uranus, Ian's true target naturally became Uranus. Moreover, since the Beast Pirates had been destroyed by Uranus, leaving Kaido as a lone commander with no real threat left, Ian had even considered, after Buggy dug up Pluton, letting Buggy finish off Kaido to help him ascend to the position of an Emperor.
In Ian's view, if the Four Emperors ruling the New World could unite, then no opponent could stand as an enemy...
It was precisely because of this indifference that Ian called Luffy and his crew back at the last moment, sending them to Fish-Man Island to bring back Princess Shirahoshi.
As a result, the Straw Hat Pirates, who could have served as reinforcements, also left Momonosuke, Kin'emon, and their group...
Although the Mink Tribe was willing to help the Kozuki Family seek revenge, they could not send their entire force to Wano Country. So, Momonosuke and his group brought back only a batch of elite Mink Tribe warriors. Despite the Mink Tribe's formidable combat strength, this number was still insufficient. Thus, according to Kin'emon's plan, they intended to take advantage of the Beast Pirates' destruction and Kaido's disappearance to rally the insurgent army that wished to open the country, launch a surprise attack on the capital of Wano Country, defeat the shogun Kurozumi Higurashi, and then use the other daimyo's sympathy and support for the Kozuki Family to force Higurashi to abdicate the shogunate.
This was originally a common rebellion scenario, but the problem was that they had no idea Kaido was already in Wano Country waiting for Uranus's arrival!
Almost as soon as Momonosuke and his group landed, the battle between Kaido and Uranus erupted. Unfortunately, the place where they landed was near Kuri in Wano Country, the territory under the Kozuki Family's rule. The battle between Kaido and Uranus also broke out there. So, before Kin'emon and the others could even discuss how to contact the insurgent army in Kuri's territory, they were swept into the battle between Kaido and Uranus...
It was a tragic story. Perhaps due to the historical deviation caused by Ian's appearance, Momonosuke, Kin'emon, and their group were far more unlucky than in the original history. Not only did Momonosuke fail to go to Punk Hazard to eat the artificial dragon fruit left by Vegapunk, but he also failed to gain stronger allies. Now, caught in this terrifying battle, their Mink Tribe reinforcements suffered heavy casualties in a short time!
This was only because they were not at the center of the battlefield but at the edge. Even so, the intense shockwaves from Uranus's nuclear explosions and the scorching heat that could burn everything still affected them!
Momonosuke did not die, but only temporarily. Kin'emon and the others, loyal to him as the heir of the Kozuki Family, tightly protected him when the explosion's shockwave struck. Kin'emon used his special swordsmanship to cut through the incoming blast flames and then fled the battlefield with Momonosuke.
But... at this moment, Kin'emon did not know that although he had cut through the blast flames, he could not cut through the invisible, intangible lethal radiation...
After escaping far from Kuri's territory, Momonosuke, Kin'emon, and the others stood dumbfounded on a mountain ridge, watching the mushroom clouds erupting in the Kozuki Family's territory in the distance. There was not just one mushroom cloud but several. During the time they had fled, Kaido had angered Uranus, causing Uranus to continuously rain down calamities on the ground.
"It's... it's over! Kuri is finished!" Kin'emon and the others, seeing this terrible disaster unfold, their knees went weak, and they fell to the ground, wailing loudly.
Momonosuke was also trembling violently. He was just a child, accustomed to a life of luxury, and had never seen such a terrifying and tragic scene. Without a doubt, this had become another nightmare for him, following Kaido's murder of his parents.
"What should we do?" Kanjuro looked at the few remaining Mink Tribe allies beside him and said with a mournful face, "That dragon is the so-called ancient weapon Uranus, right? If it appears here, then not only Kuri, but the entire Wano Country will be destroyed!"
"For now, we can only wait for Whitebeard and Red-Haired Shanks to arrive!" Kin'emon bit his lip tightly and said, "They are already on their way, tracking Uranus's movements. Perhaps they have a way to deal with Uranus and Kaido!"
Indeed, before departing from Zou, with the help of the Straw Hat Pirates and Dorry and the others who stayed on Zou, Kin'emon and his group had learned that due to the destruction of Elbaf, the Whitebeard Pirates, the Red Hair Pirates, and Fujitora's Dragon Hunter Pirates had scattered across the New World's seas, tracking Uranus's trail. They believed that Wano Country was a likely target for Uranus's attack. Now that Uranus had appeared, Whitebeard, Shanks, and Fujitora should be arriving soon...
However, judging by the current situation, they probably could not arrive in time to intervene in the battle between Kaido and Uranus...
And indeed, about two hours later, the ships of the Four Emperors' alliance appeared off the coast of Wano Country. By then, the battle between Kaido and Uranus had already ended.
In the fight against Uranus, Kaido suffered a crushing defeat. Even though he was called the "Strongest Creature on Land," he was still just one man. Under Uranus's furious attacks, Kaido endured almost all of Uranus's nuclear explosions. When Whitebeard, Shanks, and Fujitora arrived on the island and found Kaido in a massive nuclear blast crater, even they were stunned.
Inside the huge circular explosion crater, wisps of blue smoke still lingered. The rocks had just cooled slightly from their molten state and were beginning to harden again. The ground around was mostly scorched black and dark red, but it was also mixed with shiny, glass-like crystals that refracted the dazzling sunlight...
Kaido lay at the bottom of the crater. His once massive, demon-like body had now shrunk considerably, and his entire body was charred black with a burnt smell. His wild hair had been burned off, and the explosive muscles on his limbs and torso had become withered and shriveled, due to the evaporation of body moisture from the intense heat. He had 100% burns over his entire body, with no part left intact.
In this state, Kaido was still alive, but barely. Although he had immense vitality, the lethal radiation from Uranus's Devil Fruit power was constantly eroding that vitality. Since he had been the closest to Uranus during the battle, he had been exposed to tens of thousands of times the normal lethal radiation. Even in this state, he was still alive temporarily, which was truly superhuman...
Having absorbed Moria's shadow power, Kaido had been nearly invincible at the time. But his opponent was Uranus, so now, the suicidal Kaido was finally about to die...
Whitebeard and Shanks, seeing Kaido in this miserable state, couldn't help but sigh. They approached Kaido, and Whitebeard, leaning on his naginata, crouched down beside him.
Kaido's consciousness was still clear, but he knew this was a final flicker of life. So, unusually, he had lost his usual violent temper and spoke calmly: "Whitebeard, you're here?"
"Yeah, to see you off," Whitebeard Old Man replied.
"What a shame, I couldn't have a good fight with you," Kaido said. Then he glanced at Shanks on the other side and asked, "But my battle with that beast was pretty spectacular, wasn't it?"
"Impressive," Shanks said, resting his hand on the sword at his waist, admitting without hesitation, "At least I couldn't do what you did..."
Hearing this, Kaido couldn't help but laugh wildly. But before he could laugh a few times, he suddenly coughed up a large amount of blood from his mouth, quickly staining his blackened chest red.
"It hurts!" After stopping the coughing, Kaido said irritably, "It hurts like hell! Do you have any sake?"
Shanks looked up and waved at the Red Hair Pirates members standing at the edge of the crater. Ben Beckman tossed over a huge sake jug. Shanks held the jug with one hand and poured the sake into Kaido's mouth. Kaido opened his mouth and gulped down the liquid.
After finishing the entire jug, Shanks tossed the jug aside. Kaido, breathing heavily, his eyes turning fierce, said, "I seriously wounded it, but unfortunately, I couldn't kill it. That beast might come back. I know it well—it's a very vengeful creature. Whitebeard Old Man, and Red Hair, if you ever manage to kill it, remember to tell me at my grave!"
Whitebeard and Shanks said nothing, only nodding slightly. Seeing them nod, Kaido's eyelids gradually drooped, and he muttered to himself, "This time... I can finally... die..."
With those words, this madman, who had brought so much terror to the New World, finally closed his eyes for good. As he died, his charred body began to crumble and fall apart piece by piece, eventually turning into a pile of black fragments on the ground...