Everyone who had been fiercely battling moments ago now stood frozen, their gazes fixed on the hooded figure.
The members of the Whitebeard Pirates gasped sharply, the cold air rushing down their throats.
Marco even subconsciously took half a step back, his eyes revealing a trace of disbelief.
"Fi... Five Elders?!" Jozu's voice trembled noticeably, his originally rock-solid diamond body now shaking slightly from shock.
Kaido's movements stiffened, his eyes filled with apprehension.
His gaze fixed tightly on the mysterious hooded figure before him, his mind roiling with shockwaves.
Clearly, he never expected that the person standing before him would be him.
"Jaygarcia Saturn... Warrior God of Science and Defense...!"
Kaido's voice carried a hint of surprise, well aware of the terror this person represented.
Saint Saturn expressionlessly adjusted his disheveled collar, his movements slow and elegant as if nothing that had just happened concerned him.
Then he slowly spoke, his voice raspy like sandpaper rubbing together, yet carrying an irresistible authority.
"Kaido, after all these years, you're still so... foolish."
His cane lightly tapped the ground, emitting a dull sound that echoed through the silent battlefield like a funeral bell from hell.
With that simple gesture, an invisible pressure instantly enveloped the entire area, weighing down on everyone's hearts like an intangible mountain.
Even the air grew thick, each breath requiring tremendous effort.
Whitebeard tightened his grip on the Cloud-Cutting Blade, veins bulging on the back of his hand, a trace of solemnity flashing in his eyes.
His gaze swept back and forth between Saint Saturn and Kaido as he pondered the situation internally.
"So the rats Ron mentioned were you old fellows... Truly unexpected, even the Five Elders have taken to the field personally..."
Saint Saturn's eyes slowly scanned the battlefield, ignoring Whitebeard, before finally settling on Kaido.
His gaze carried an arrogant contempt, as if Kaido were nothing more than an ant in his eyes:
"Do you think the World Government would allow you Pirates to run amok unchecked?"
He raised his withered finger, which resembled a dried branch yet seemed to contain boundless power,
"Especially... when you've grasped things you shouldn't have."
Kaido's dragon scales bristled with anger, each scale gleaming like a sharp blade.
His eyes widened like bronze bells as he glared furiously at Saint Saturn and roared:
"Stop putting on airs! What are you old fossils plotting?!"
"Heh..."
Saint Saturn's shriveled fingers slowly, gently stroked the top of his cane as if caressing a priceless treasure.
A cold glint flickered faintly in his pupils,
"The Yonko... have existed long enough."
Each word seemed to carry immense weight, forced out from his parched throat.
As he spoke, his cane struck the ground heavily with a dull "thud," stirring up a faint yet distinct circle of dust.
"It's time... for one or two to die." His low voice spread wantonly through the oppressive atmosphere.
The moment his words fell, Saint Saturn's figure vanished from his original position like a ghost, his speed so fast it was nearly impossible to track his movement, leaving only silence and the lingering eerie aura.
Kaido's dragon pupils instantly contracted sharply, a primal reaction to extreme danger.
He abruptly raised the Hassaikai in his hand, the previously dull ring now faintly glowing as if sensing its master's resolve.
Though already drained to the dregs, with every part of his body crying out in exhaustion and pain, he still gritted his teeth and mustered his last ounce of strength to lift the heavy spiked club.
Faint Conqueror's Haki lightning once again coiled around the club, the flickering electricity resembling the final struggle of a dying man, radiating despair and tenacity.
"You old bastard...!" Kaido squeezed out the words through clenched teeth, his voice filled with fury and resentment.
The muscles beneath his dragon scales tightened to their limit, each one stretched like a fully drawn bowstring on the verge of snapping, yet his gaze remained unwavering.
Just as Saint Saturn's fierce attack was about to descend like torrential rain—
"BOOM!!!"
A pitch-black pillar of flame, like divine punishment from the underworld, descended with a roar from the high clouds, carrying an aura of destruction as it struck precisely between Saint Saturn and Kaido.
The scorching black flames, like a ferocious beast, instantly melted a massive crater into the ground.
Boiling magma churned and surged at the bottom of the pit.
The shockwave generated by the fiery pillar spread outward like a raging tsunami, sweeping everything in its path with overwhelming force.
Saint Saturn felt an immense power crashing toward him, his body involuntarily tilting backward.
To steady himself, he hastily drove his cane deep into the ground, carving a long trail through the earth and kicking up clouds of dust.
The once-tranquil ground now resembled a field ravaged by a storm, devastated.
"What?!" Saint Saturn's crimson eyes contracted sharply, a flicker of confusion in his pupils.
He never expected such a powerful disruption to occur at this critical moment.
"Mamamamama!!!"
Deafening laughter echoed from the distant clouds, piercing through the sky and shattering the unbearably tense atmosphere.
A colossal black dragon, like a bolt of dark lightning, tore through the clouds and dove downward at breakneck speed.
Just before hitting the ground, the dragon's form rapidly shrank and transformed.
In the blink of an eye, the black dragon morphed into the immense figure of Charlotte Linlin, each step causing a faint tremor upon landing.
"Big Mom?!" Marco thought inwardly, his eyes betraying a hint of wariness.
Whitebeard, however, remained unperturbed, his calm demeanor suggesting everything was under his control.
Clearly, he'd sensed Big Mom's arrival long ago and seemed to have anticipated this turn of events.
"That old hag can't stand to see the brat Kaido die," he murmured softly, his voice carrying a precise grasp of the situation.
Jozu curled his lips, a look of disdain on his face. "Pops, you knew this old hag was coming?"
Vista promptly gave Jozu a sharp knock on the head and glared at him. "Who do you think Pops is? Of course he knew."
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