"What a bizarre power..."
"He's not only reshaping the terrain like a god but hardening mud and stone to a level tougher than steel!"
"It's like he's fused multiple Zoan and Paramecia abilities into one!"
As the captured CP agent lay pinned, Queen exhaled in relief. But curiosity got the better of him. He crouched and knocked on the earth below.
Clang clang!
Even granite wouldn't ring like this.
And yet, the soil and rock beneath his feet were tougher than high-grade weapon steel.
"So damn hard..." Queen muttered, a fascinated grin creeping onto his face.
"Flame Emperor!"
King, having reached his limit, unleashed his fury. Flames surged from his right arm as he hurled them directly at the helpless agent.
"AHHHHH!"
The fire enveloped the agent in an instant. Flames consumed his body, and his cries echoed across Onigashima.
His legs, pinned by hardened earth, gave no chance for escape. He could only burn.
"Master, this is just the beginning," Queen warned in a rare moment of seriousness. "If you kill World Government operatives... the Navy, the Cipher Pol elites, maybe even the Admirals... will come."
He hesitated, then added, "You should tell King to keep a low profile."
"So what if it's the Navy? So what if it's the World Government? Even if they send Admirals—" Ragnar's voice was steady and cold. "Anyone who dares touch my people... will die."
"HAHAHAHA! That's my kind of man!" Kaido burst into laughter. "Well said! Admirals?! Let them come! If they dare set foot in my Wano, I'll slaughter them and drink with you after!"
The massive azure dragon resting on the horn of Onigashima suddenly unfurled its body and took to the sky. With a roar that shook the heavens, Kaido soared upward and disappeared into the clouds in mere moments.
No one looked surprised.
Not the Three Calamities, not the Tobiroppo, not even the lowest-ranked grunts.
Kaido was always like this—aloof, reckless, untamed. The strongest beast of the seas never lingered in one place. He'd leave Wano to pick fights with Emperors, challenge the Navy Headquarter solo, and somehow still return alive.
"True Lord..."
King stood still, fists trembling.
Those words—so absolute, so fiercely loyal—brought back memories.
He had once heard those same words from Kaido himself.
But this time, they hit harder.
Ragnar's words weren't just bold. They were overflowing with conviction—more resolute and more unwavering than even Kaido's.
"True Lord! True Lord! True Lord!"
A murmur began to swell among the Beasts Pirates.
Shock painted their faces.
Ragnar, who had just dueled King to near-death, didn't punish him.
Instead, he protected him.
Blatantly, even irrationally.
That sort of loyalty—one that placed kin above all else—struck a deep chord.
Many who had been tempted by the 100 million bounty now lowered their heads in shame.
Still, there were some who sneered inwardly. To them, money was worth more than any "loyalty."
After all, a quiet report could make them rich.
But far more among them felt a rising respect, awe, even devotion.
King's treatment spoke volumes.
If Ragnar would protect him, someone who had just fought him fiercely—then maybe, just maybe, Ragnar would protect them too.
"He's even more charismatic than Lord Kaido..." Queen thought, incredulous.
"He really pulled it off," whispered Black Maria.
A man with no background, no reputation in the New World.
And yet... in half a day, he had taken hold of Onigashima.
Not through brute strength alone.
But through command. Through conviction.
"Another one... stronger than me," Who's-Who muttered bitterly.
He hated it—but deep down, he couldn't deny the weight of Ragnar's rise.
Whether it was strength or will, he was utterly overwhelmed—so much so that he couldn't even fathom rebellion, let alone voice discontent.
"I didn't expect that Kaido—that brute—could actually have a child this powerful," Ulti murmured, her gaze fixed on Ragnar, who now stood at the heart of the crowd, surrounded not by opposition but reverence. Tens of thousands of pirates had gathered, and none dared challenge his authority.
A rare flicker of admiration danced in her usually combative eyes.
"Sis... don't tell me the True Lord knocked your head into fan mode?" Page One grumbled beside her, giving her a sidelong look.
"You looking to die?"
With her injuries mysteriously healing at a monstrous pace—bones knitting and blood ceasing like magic—Ulti's forehead slammed into Page One's face with a thunderous bang.
Stars exploded in his vision as he stumbled back.
"...True Lord, this level of fanfare... it's too conspicuous," Queen muttered cautiously, his voice lowered so only the inner circle could hear.
"The World Government is watching, and so are the Yonko... no, former Yonko factions, revolutionaries, underworld emperors, Cipher Pol, and God knows who else."
With Ragnar now seated atop the throne once claimed by Kaido, the last shred of resistance in Queen's heart dissolved into dust. He still remembered how, after defecting from Vegapunk's lab, the World Government had branded him a threat and sent assassins after him. King had endured the same. Now, Ragnar had shown he could protect even someone like King—who had been a rival just weeks ago.
Queen knew better than to underestimate someone who inspired loyalty like that.
"I want to show off," Ragnar replied coldly but clearly, eyes sharp like polished obsidian.
Queen flinched.
"The balance of the Yonko... the era of checks and stale power... it's been dragging on for too long. Isn't it time we ended it?"
The words dropped like a thunderclap.
Even the seasoned warriors—the All-Stars, the Flying Six, and the ambitious Zhen Que elites who once dreamed of Kaido's seat—were struck silent. The oppressive aura that surged from Ragnar was different from Kaido's monstrous force. It wasn't just power—it was intent.
A god-like intent that defied the rules of the world.
For a moment, all of them had a strange vision.
A massive, vertical pupil opened in the heavens—piercing, judgmental—casting its gaze across the Grand Line.
It was an eye that refused to accept the current world order.
"The times... are about to be outrun," King muttered, almost reverently, as he looked at the man now seated only a few steps away.
Queen, Fukurokuju, Black Maria—even Sasaki, Who's Who, and the remnants of the Numbers—all stood straighter.
Because as they followed King's gaze, the realization struck them simultaneously:
This man—just 28 years old—wasn't here to claim Kaido's legacy. He was here to end the Great Pirate Era. With his own hands.