The blind man stood calmly in the ruined plaza, one hand gripping his shakujō—a cane-sword wrapped in purple gravity smoke. Despite his gentle posture, there was the silent illusion of a single man standing against an entire army, as if an admiral of legend had stepped onto the battlefield.
Not far away, in the debris of the estate that had been shattered by brute force, a massive and violent aura surged to life like a slumbering beast awakened.
"WHO DO YOU THINK… I AM?!"
The furious roar thundered out from the ruins like a beast breaking loose from hell.
He was the Beasts Pirates' living disaster—Jack the Drought!
With an explosive tremor, a massive mammoth, clad in ancient fur and armored tusks, stormed out from the shattered building. Its trunk, thick as a mast, swept through a nearby structure in a single blow and whipped toward the blind man with a roar of splintering stone.
Vice Admiral Fujitora's brow furrowed slightly beneath his blindfold. "Hmm… seems you're a troublesome one. Then allow me."
He raised his sword-staff.
"Gravity Blade: Tiger!"
A vortex of purple gravity surged from the blade as he slashed horizontally. The entire world seemed to warp under the pressure.
BOOM!!
The air exploded. The immense gravitational force crushed every structure ahead of him like paper. The mammoth's sweeping trunk—and Jack himself—were caught in the wave of gravity and smashed backwards into rubble.
BOOM!
Jack's massive Zoan body shattered another building as he crashed through it. A plume of dust and wind spiraled into the sky, pressure howling through the ruins.
From afar, Kurozumi Orochi and his retainers stood frozen, their faces pale.
"Th-This monster…" Orochi stammered, gulping loudly.
Kyoshiro (Denjiro) stood protectively in front of the shogun, one hand never leaving the hilt of his katana. His face was grave. This wasn't just some brawler—they were witnessing the overwhelming might of a Marine Admiral.
Jack the Drought—possessor of the Ancient Zoan: Elephant-Elephant Fruit, Mammoth Model—was one of the Three Calamities under Kaido. A pirate with a bounty of 1 billion berries. And yet, he had been overpowered in a single blow.
In the face of such devastation, Fujitora remained composed. "It seems today I may finally cut down a sliver of darkness."
He turned slowly toward Orochi, extending his gravity-imbued cane-sword once again.
Suddenly—
BOOM!
A shadow blitzed behind him.
"Hm?" Fujitora furrowed his brows.
He turned sharply and slashed.
CRASH!
Another deafening impact rocked the square. The very ground beneath Fujitora cracked and crumbled. Jack had reverted partially to his hybrid form—his human body still retaining the mammoth's head and shaggy brown fur. His Zoan Awakening had triggered.
High on the building wall, Solomon Carl raised his brow. "Ah… the Awakening of a Zoan."
Fruit Awakening—an advanced transformation only achieved through intense mastery of a Devil Fruit.
When awakened, Paramecia like Katakuri could influence their environment, turning buildings and terrain into mochi. Typically, such terrain manipulation was reserved for Logia, but Katakuri proved otherwise.
For Zoan, awakening didn't change the environment—but transformed the user: massively enhanced durability, reflexes, strength, and near-limitless recovery. A beast that refuses to die.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Jack roared and attacked again, hammering at Fujitora with mammoth fists and primal fury.
"I'm Jack the Drought, blind fool!" Jack bellowed. Muscles bulged, veins protruded. Each punch shook the ground.
But Fujitora's smile never faltered.
He calmly blocked each blow with horizontal gravity slashes, deflecting Jack's monstrous power. The moment his blade landed on Jack's arm, a burst of purple smoke erupted.
Jack stumbled.
"What—?!"
The ground beneath him cracked as he struggled to stand.
"Old man! What have you done to me?!"
BOOM!
Fujitora responded gently, "Just altered the gravity beneath your feet."
In the next instant, Jack's body—and the very earth beneath him—rose into the air.
"Damn you! What kind of power is this?!"
Jack flailed in the air, trying to force himself back down.
Fujitora calmly pressed his cane-sword into the ground again. "And now… I return you to it."
From the clouds above, a shadow appeared—a small black dot that rapidly grew.
On the outer walls, Carl's eyes twitched. That trajectory… the target area covered not only Jack—but the entire Shogun's mansion.
"…Not again."
"Th-The sky! Look!" Orochi shrieked in horror, pointing.
"Meteorite?! Again?!" Orochi's voice cracked.
"Kyoshiro, do something!!"
But Kyoshiro, usually composed, began sweating. This wasn't one meteorite.
There were five.
One was manageable. With his blade, Kyoshiro could split it in half. But five at once…
"What is this old man doing?!" Jack screamed midair, noticing the incoming meteors. His pupils shrank with horror.
"I offer you a gift," Fujitora said quietly, though his blade still hummed with cosmic force.
Just then, a sonic screech tore through the sky.
KIIIIIIIIIIIIII!
A pterosaur engulfed in flames soared across the sky, faster than the meteors.
It collided with the falling fireballs.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
One after another, the meteors burst into rubble, shattered by the beast's flaming wings.
Dust and shattered stone rained down like ash.
From below, Carl narrowed his eyes at the flying creature.
"…King."
The last remaining obstacle in Wano.
Kaido was gone.
Of the three Calamities, Queen was a lunatic and Jack a brute—but King the Wildfire was different.
Cold, composed, and dangerously powerful.
He had once stood alone to block Big Mom from entering Wano. That fact alone spoke volumes of his courage—and his strength.
"Now this… this might be troublesome," Fujitora said softly, eyes raised to the sky.
Even with his power, eliminating Orochi under the protection of Jack, King, and the rest of the Beasts Pirates…
That wasn't going to be easy.
Even an Admiral would be tested here.
Your Excellency Carl over there," a voice suddenly rang out from behind the scorched stone wall. It was Issho—the blind Marine Admiral known as Fujitora—his smile calm as ever.
"Would you be willing to lend your strength in the next phase?"
"Huh?" Carl blinked, visibly caught off guard.
But before he could say anything, the panicked voice of Kurozumi Orochi broke in.
"Who else is over there?!" Orochi's expression twisted in terror. "Guards! Seize him immediately! Take him down!"
With the threat of death looming over him every second, the paranoid Shogun saw every unfamiliar face as an assassin.
"Yes, Lord Orochi!"
The remaining Oniwabanshu exchanged nervous glances, then scrambled toward the wall's direction—choosing to engage the newcomer in the white kimono rather than the blind monster in purple standing calmly in the courtyard.
Compared to the one who had just casually cleaved Jack the Drought, they figured the other might be the safer bet.
…They were wrong.
"Tsk," Carl sighed, raising two fingers before him. "I just came to watch the show, but—[Scatter—Senbonzakura]."
The sky shimmered.
Thousands of tiny, glinting sakura petals materialized mid-air, dancing in a mesmerizing cascade.
The guards' eyes widened as the petals descended.
"What a beautiful—"
Chi! Chi! Chi!
Slivers of invisible blades tore through their armor and flesh.
Blood sprayed in rhythm with the petals, staining the stones beneath in crimson bloom.
Issho, watching from the courtyard, nodded slightly. "Your Excellency Carl. I will remember your help."
Regardless of Marine internal politics, Fujitora was a man of principle. Kindness given, kindness returned.
"You and your damned theatrics," Carl muttered under his breath, slightly annoyed. If you hadn't shouted my name, I wouldn't have had to get involved at all…
Above, wings beat heavily.
"That's…" King the Wildfire, the last of the All-Stars, narrowed his burning gaze at Carl from the sky. He recognized that face.
"Solomon Carl."
As Kaido's top enforcer and the one who handled intelligence in the Beasts Pirates, King had read every report filed by CP0 and the underworld. Carl's name had recently become a classified high-level Marine threat.
This man was supposed to be stationed in East Blue, under Admiral Kizaru's wing.
So why the hell was he in Wano?
Carl scratched his head and laughed dryly. "Well, uh, I just came looking for something."
In the courtyard, Issho's cane sword suddenly clicked forward. His expression, though blind, was resolute.
Shing—
In one fluid motion, Fujitora slashed upward with a gravity-enhanced strike.
Jack, who had been struggling to rise, froze—then a thin red line ran down his massive chest.
"Jack!!" King roared, but it was too late.
BOOM!
The massive All-Star was sent crashing through a nearby building, debris exploding outward.
"Yikes… that's gotta hurt." Carl grimaced. "Saying the bravest lines… while getting the nastiest beatings."
"Damn it!" King growled, fury flashing in his eyes. He drew the obsidian katana at his hip and burst forward with flaming wings.
Clang!
Steel rang out as King's sword met Issho's, their weapons locking in mid-air. Sparks flared in the space between them.
"Kuroshiro!" Orochi shrieked, scrambling backward like a cornered rat. "Take care of that one over there!"
Even his pompous arrogance couldn't blind him to the reality: these were monster-level beings far beyond his league.
"Understood," said Kuroshiro, the shogun's elite bodyguard, his usual mocking smile gone. His eyes locked onto Carl, who stood calmly amid falling sakura.
The man in the white kimono…
It was the same one who had dismantled a unit of Beasts Pirates soldiers single-handedly at the casino.
Kuroshiro's instincts flared—this man wasn't just allied with Fujitora.
He was just as dangerous.
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