Perhaps it was the killing intent of both Kaido and King that chilled the very air.
The temperature around them plummeted as if winter itself had descended upon Onigashima.
Fear, trembling, and an overwhelming sense of unease began creeping into the hearts of the surrounding Beast Pirates.
King's presence was threatening—but what truly made their blood run cold was Kaido's Haoshoku Haki.
As Kaido's emotions surged and his rage burned, his Conqueror's Haki flared like a storm. It wasn't just pressure—it was judgment, raw and divine.
Those with weak wills stumbled back involuntarily. Beasts Pirates who had once tasted blood and battle now found their knees buckling and their backs soaked in sweat.
Gulp—
Queen's Adam's apple bobbed visibly as he looked from Kaido to King, his bravado shrinking under their suffocating presence.
"Are they really... planning to kill everyone here?"
Even Plague Queen, once a MADS scientist and no stranger to cruelty, felt a chill gnawing at the back of his mind.
If Kaido and King really slaughtered the present pirates—those who had shown hesitation, cowardice, or ambition—
it would cause severe losses to the Beast Pirates' military strength.
Even in the lawless New World, where pirates could be recruited like weeds, such devastation would take time to recover from.
Suddenly—
BOOM!
A deafening thunderclap tore across the sky.
A white bolt of lightning split the heavens and crashed down toward King.
It struck the damaged mask in his hand with pinpoint precision—
Crack!
In a flash of blinding light, the mask—King's last defense against his true identity—was shattered to dust.
"Hmm...?"
Kaido narrowed his serpentine eyes, lifting his massive head to see the source of the lightning.
When his eyes landed on the one responsible—Ragnar—his colossal dragon body lowered, and the suffocating bloodlust in the air began to thin.
"Ragnar... Master, what is the meaning of this?"
King, startled, had nearly called him by name but caught himself and corrected his tone mid-sentence.
Ragnar's tone was calm but cutting:
"You think killing everyone here will stop the truth from leaking out?"
The surrounding pirates stirred in alarm, but Ragnar ignored their reactions completely.
"At best, it buys time."
King's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"This is Onigashima, the heart of the Beast Pirates."
"You don't seriously believe the World Government hasn't already infiltrated us?"
As he spoke, the eye between Ragnar's brows—his third eye—began to glow ominously, sweeping across the crowd.
Any pirate caught in its gaze felt as though they were being peeled open—mind, soul, and secrets exposed.
King fell into silence.
"Wano is a closed country..." Ulti murmured.
"Wano is closed," Ragnar replied coldly.
"But the Beasts Pirates aren't. And the World Government never stops moving."
Ulti shut up immediately.
King took a slow breath, struggling with the weight of what this all meant.
"So... you're saying we just let them live?"
"You don't need that mask anymore," Ragnar said plainly.
"Even a nobody has the right to walk beneath the sun—
So why not you, King of the Wildfire?"
"Or have you, the fearsome All-Star, the right-hand of an Emperor...
Lost the courage to live in the daylight?"
King stood there, stunned.
Live in the sun...
What a luxurious dream...
"But what about the World Government?" Queen interjected, hesitant.
As a former MADS researcher, he knew just how badly the World Government wanted the last of the Lunarians.
"You don't understand... They'll never stop hunting him. The Lunarians—"
"If you're afraid of the World Government," Ragnar interrupted coldly,
"Then you have no business calling yourself a pirate."
As he spoke, his third eye locked suddenly on a shifty figure hiding among the pirates—
one who immediately froze under his gaze.
"Soru!"
Almost the instant he locked eyes with Ragnar, the agent stomped down with incredible force. His figure blurred, flashing away at astonishing speed toward the direction of the Beast Pirates encampment.
"Rokushiki?"
A trace of gloom appeared in Fukuro's eyes.
"That's the real deal... Not something picked up off the battlefield."
As a former member of CP9, and once hailed as a genius on par with Rob Lucci, Who's-Who recognized it immediately.
In the New World, there were countless pirates who had mimicked the Six Powers (Rokushiki).
But the majority had only learned scraps, stolen techniques without the foundational training that World Government agents received since childhood.
"Someone from Cipher Pol has infiltrated!"
Queen turned and glanced nervously at Kaido.
As expected...
Kaido's killing intent surged to a terrifying level. The air itself seemed to twist under the oppressive aura of the Strongest Creature in the World.
"You dare trespass here? Seeking death!"
King the Wildfire's wings spread wide with a loud snap, but before he could even take off—
Boom!
The ground exploded beneath him.
Ragnar had already moved. One stomp transformed the very terrain beneath them—Geppo-hardened earth warped as if alive.
The World Government agent didn't look back.
He had only one thought: Escape!
This wasn't just about survival anymore.
"A Lunarian…"
"…King the Wildfire is a surviving Lunarian!"
His mind raced. If he made it back alive and reported this, it would be enough to leapfrog straight into CP0. The Lunarians were a race long believed extinct—used, hunted, and experimented on by the World Government.
But just as he passed the hundred-meter mark, he staggered.
His legs—caught!
Looking down in panic, he saw the very ground rippling and rising like liquid steel, entangling his legs like hardened vines.
"Tekkai won't help… this is no ordinary earth…"
"Rokushiki: Soru—!"
He tried again—but his legs wouldn't budge. The soil had transformed into some kind of living metal under Ragnar's technique.
"Finger Gun!"
He stabbed downward with his index finger like a rifle shot, Shigan crackling through the air.
Clang!
It was like punching steel. The force echoed out, but the mudstone didn't even crack.
"…Impossible…"
As realization set in, the agent's breath grew shallow. Both Shigan and Geppo had failed. Even Kami-e wouldn't save him now.
He had been captured before he could blink.
His ambition, his mission, his future—all bound in earth and silence.