Inside Kurozumi Orochi's mansion, the flickering candlelight cast eerie shadows across his fear-twisted face.
Kurozumi Orochi wore a smile of false serenity: "What did you say?! Lord Kaido... ran away?!"
His trembling hands lifted a teacup, failing spectacularly to bring it to his lips.
"My lord, what should we do now?"
"How should I know?! Are you absolutely certain Lord Kaido has left?!" He sprang from his seat, his wide kimono sleeves sweeping across the table and sending porcelain crashing to the floor. The shattering echoed sharply through the silent room.
The spy kneeling on the floor trembled violently, forehead pressed against the tatami: "Y-yes! The Beasts Pirates have completely evacuated Onigashima! Lord Kaido transformed into a dragon and flew away!"
"BASTARD!!!"
Orochi kicked the spy aside, screaming hysterically.
His Yamata no Orochi Devil Fruit powers threatened to manifest uncontrollably, serpentine scales faintly visible along his neck.
"How could he... how could he abandon me?!"
Staggering backward, he collapsed onto the tatami, his back drenched in cold sweat.
"It's over... everything's over..."
He knew exactly who these people were—infamous pirates whose names shook the seas.
Rhett, Whitebeard—any one of them could crush him effortlessly! And now they'd joined forces!
"No... I can't just wait for death..."
Scrambling to his feet, he frantically ransacked the room, yanking open drawers and overturning cabinets until he finally retrieved a Den Den Mushi from a hidden compartment.
With shaking fingers, he dialed a number.
"Hello?! It's me! Prepare a ship immediately! I must leave Wano at once!!!"
His subordinates scrambled to gather gold and treasures while Orochi himself changed into a merchant's disguise, attempting to conceal his identity.
That idiot thinks a hat will fool me? Rhett would have laughed if he weren't so disgusted.
"Hurry! Faster!" Orochi shrieked, constantly glancing out the window where the mist swirled ominously, as if Rhett's crimson fog might swallow the entire mansion at any moment.
A trusted aide hesitantly suggested, "Lord Shogun, should we... take the hostages? They might still be useful—"
"Take nothing!" Orochi slapped him across the face. "Survival comes first!"
Only one thought consumed him now—escape!
The farther, the better!
He'd climbed to this position largely through Kaido's support and Oden's naivety.
Rhett wasn't as easily deceived as Oden.
Kurozumi Orochi adored his lofty status—only the threat of imminent death could make him abandon it.
With the wealth he'd amassed over the years, he could still live lavishly outside Wano!
Yet just as they were about to slip out through the secret passage—
"Well, well, if it isn't 'Shogun' Kurozumi?"
A mocking voice drifted from the shadows.
Orochi froze, slowly raising his head.
At the end of the blood-misted corridor, outside Kurozumi Orochi's mansion, the night wind abruptly stilled.
The air solidified for an instant.
"BOOM—!!!"
The mansion's main gates exploded, wood and stone shrapnel raining down like a storm!
Two figures stepped through side by side—
On the left, Whitebeard Newgate.
His white cloak billowed as he dragged Murakumogiri behind him, the blade's edge scraping sparks across the stone floor.
Each step sent tremors through the ground, his Conqueror's Haki surging like a tsunami down the hallway, extinguishing every candle.
"Gurararara..." His laughter rumbled low. "So you're Orochi??? Where you off to?"
On the right, Rhett.
His crimson cloak swirled with blood mist, Black Tide resting casually on his shoulder. A smirk played on his lips, his scarlet eyes glowing eerily in the dark.
"Ah, Lord Shogun—" He tilted his head as blood mist suddenly pinned the escaping guards against the walls. "Out so late? How unsafe."
Two demons at the gates—what an honor for Kurozumi Orochi. A once-in-a-lifetime experience.
I'm not human anymore! Orochi instantly transformed, his eight serpent heads thrashing wildly yet producing no sound.
Eight heads for the taking, Rhett mused. Just like the legends.
Orochi saw Marco's blue flames flickering outside the window, while Enel's lightning illuminated the courtyard like daylight.
The floor was liquefying into flowing gold, and all shadows twisted unnaturally, sealing every escape route.
"I... I am the Shogun!" Orochi finally forced out a strangled whisper, his throat constricted by blood mist. "Wano... needs me..."
His eight heads writhed, cold sweat dripping between scales. Staring at Whitebeard's imposing figure, a desperate idea struck—
Whitebeard was Rhett's senior after all. If he couldn't convince Rhett, maybe Whitebeard would listen. The man was famous for adopting sons.
And he was the Yamata no Orochi!
If only he knew how pathetic that sounds, Rhett would have sneered.
"Father Whitebeard!" Orochi prostrated himself, forehead slamming against the golden floor. His voice trembled with feigned sincerity. "Please hear me out! This was all Kaido's scheme!"
Rhett raised an eyebrow, amused by the performance.
Absolute bullshit.
Seeing Whitebeard hadn't immediately struck, Orochi pressed on eagerly: "I—I was coerced! Kaido controlled my family, forced me to be his puppet shogun! Father, you know me, since childhood..."
Crocodile tears streamed down as he crawled toward Whitebeard's feet.
Whitebeard frowned and kicked him away.
*BAM!*
Orochi crashed through a wall, genuine tears welling up now.
Rhett strongly suspected Kurozumi Orochi was crying from pain.
"These years... I secretly saved many Wano citizens! Spare me, and I'll help the Kozuki reclaim Wano!"
Whitebeard studied him silently, his gaze inscrutable.
Thinking he'd found an opening, Orochi added hastily: "I know Kaido's secrets! His Devil Fruit's weakness! Just—"
"Gurararara..." Whitebeard's sudden laughter shook the entire mansion.
Before Orochi could react, Whitebeard loomed over him, his Haki's pressure suffocating.
"Brat..." Whitebeard's voice rumbled like thunder. "Who the hell do you think I am?"
Orochi's pupils contracted.
"I AM—" Whitebeard's massive hand seized Orochi's throat, lifting him effortlessly, "THE MAN WHO SAILED WITH ODEN!!!"
*CRACK!*
Orochi's neck snapped audibly, all eight heads shrieking in agony.
Rhett lazily picked his ear. "Oi oi, Uncle Newgate, don't kill him yet. This bastard's life belongs to Oden."
With a disgusted snort, Whitebeard tossed Orochi aside like garbage.
The eight heads drooped limply, all former arrogance gone.
"Clink clink"—Doflamingo's golden chains coiled around Orochi, binding him tightly.
"Let's go, 'Lord Shogun'." Doflamingo grinned. "Time to meet your master."