Oden stepped across the field of corpses, thick beads of blood dripping from Enma's blade.
He wasn't fighting Kaido or Charlotte Linlin. He knew his own strength wasn't on par with Newgate or Rhett, and he trusted his brothers.
Instead, Oden was locked in mortal combat with Kaido and Linlin's executives, killing one after another. At this point in time, Kaido and Linlin's forces hadn't yet reached their peak from the original story—Rhett couldn't even recognize several of the Tobiroppo, who were probably just throwaway characters.
He knew that this was how a Pirate King's battle worked.
In the distance, the dying cries of samurai reached his ears, each one stabbing his heart like a sharp blade.
He had to move faster, even faster—every second he delayed, more of Wano's samurai fell. For every one he killed, hundreds of samurai would be spared.
"There you are, Kozuki Oden."
The voice came through the smoke.
Jack's towering figure gradually emerged, his mammoth trunk swinging behind him.
But it didn't end there.
Flanking him, Cracker was wiping blood from his sword, Daifuku's genie slowly rose from the lamp, and Oven's palms glowed with dangerous red heat.
Oden didn't slow his pace.
Enma scraped sparks against the air as his fighting spirit suddenly surged.
He had anticipated encountering powerful enemies—just not four at once.
Oden stood at the very center of the battlefield, where the fighting was fiercest.
No misplaced mercy. No laughable kindness. Only the resolve to protect his country by taking lives.
Finally, Oden looked like a proper daimyo.
Rhett: As the old saying goes, "spare the rod, spoil the child"—heheh, Oden calls Whitebeard "big brother," eheh.
Jack let out a deafening roar, instantly transforming into his mammoth form.
The killing intent of the four enemies pressed down on Oden like a physical weight.
"You can trade blows with Kaido-sama? You're not worthy, you naked-dancing clown!" Jack grinned, the temperature of his palms rising sharply. "Let's see what you've got."
Oden didn't answer.
"Come at me all at once," Oden said, assuming his two-sword style starting stance. "I'm in a hurry."
Before the words faded, all four figures lunged at him simultaneously.
Oden's pupils contracted slightly—this would be a death match, but he had no choice.
Once again:
For the samurai who were dying, he had to take down these four powerful enemies here, as quickly as possible.
All four figures lunged at once. Oden's pupils contracted, and Enma and Ame no Habakiri instantly left their scabbards!
Jack struck first, his mammoth trunk swinging like a steel whip, splitting the ground open with a meter-wide gash. Oden sidestepped and countered with a slash at the trunk, but Cracker's biscuit greatsword blocked it!
"CLANG—!"
Sparks flew. Oden's blade was deflected, and Daifuku's genie attacked from the side, its steam-wreathed giant fist aimed at his head!
"Peach Garden: Flowing Fire!"
Oden crossed both swords, unleashing a burst of flaming sword energy that forced the genie back. But before he could catch his breath, Oven had closed in behind him, his red-hot palm striking toward his back!
"Heat Wave Strike!"
"Sizzle—!"
Oden twisted just in time. He realized he couldn't dodge completely, and he knew the gap in strength was there—but trading wounds worked in his favor.
The extreme heat still scorched his shoulder, the smell of burning flesh filling the air.
He gritted his teeth and swung his blade to drive Oven back, but Jack's ivory scimitars were already swinging down at his head!
"Die!"
At the critical moment, Oden caught the scimitars with Ame no Habakiri while thrusting Enma straight at Jack's throat!
Jack was forced to retreat, but Cracker's biscuit soldiers were already swarming from all directions, their swords raining down on Oden like hailstones!
Oden's blade became a blur of afterimages, slicing through biscuit soldier after biscuit soldier, but more copies kept coming from the edges of the battlefield.
Daifuku's genie continuously released high-temperature steam, cutting off his movement options.
Oven circled on the periphery, waiting for opportunities to burn through Oden's guard with his Heat-Heat Fruit ability.
Even if Oden wanted a quick victory, it wasn't something that could be finished in a day or two.
A war of attrition—it wasn't honorable, but it was brutally difficult to fight against.
"What's wrong, Kozuki Oden?" Jack sneered, his mammoth-form body like a small mountain. "Your blade is slowing down!"
Oden didn't answer. His breathing had grown ragged, sweat and blood dripping from his chin.
He knew this couldn't continue.
Oden smiled bitterly to himself and muttered, "A daimyo of Wano? At this rate, are you still worthy?"
Oden's gaze suddenly turned fierce.
He deliberately dropped his guard, letting Oven's scorching palm strike his left shoulder—
"Sizzle!"
Flesh burned, but his Enma simultaneously pierced through Oven's abdomen!
"What?!" Oven's eyes widened in disbelief at the blade in his gut.
Oden twisted the hilt violently, black flames erupting: "Peach Garden: Ten Hands!"
"BOOM!"
Oven was blasted away by the strike, crashing into a distant rock wall, his fate unknown.
But the price—
"Stab!" Cracker's biscuit soldiers finally found an opening, driving a sword into Oden's lower back!
"Got you!" Cracker grinned.
But Oden reached back, grabbing Cracker's wrist, and forcibly pulled the blade out of his own body, blood spraying everywhere: "No... I've got you."
"What?!"
"Peach Garden: Cross Slash!"
Oden's crossed blades sliced through the biscuit soldier's shell, tearing a vicious cross-shaped wound across Cracker's chest! Cracker screamed, his biscuit armor shattering as his real body retreated rapidly, blood gushing from his chest.
Jack, enraged, charged at full power in his mammoth form, the ground trembling violently! Olen dodged barely, but Daifuku's genie slammed a fist into his back, sending him flying into the ruins.
"It's over!" Jack charged toward the ruins, intending to crush Oden!
From within the dust and smoke, a black-red flash of sword light suddenly ignited!
"Peach Garden: White Waterfall!"
Oden's figure emerged like a ghost, his blade becoming a waterfall of light that severed Jack's scimitars and continued onward, splitting open his chest!
"Argh—!" Jack collapsed to his knees, blood gushing from the massive wound.
Daifuku's genie roared as it charged, but Oden had no strength left to dodge. He took a deep breath and crossed both swords—
"One last strike..."
"Peach Garden: Remnant Moon!"
The sword light rose like a crescent moon, slicing the genie in half. Daifuku himself was blasted away by the shockwave, his lamp rolling across the ground.
The battlefield suddenly fell silent.
Oden knelt on one knee, propping himself up with his swords. His left shoulder was charred black, blood poured from the hole in his lower back, and his right leg was scorched down to the bone by Oven's heat wave.
(Only in One Piece could this happen—if this were Naruto, he'd have died eighty times over, right?)
But all around him—
Jack lay unconscious, Oven was embedded in the rock wall, Cracker had more breath going out than coming in, and Daifuku's lamp was shattered. However, pirates from both crews were already closing in again.
This was Kozuki Oden, severely wounded. Anyone who killed him would rise to prominence in an instant.
"Not enough..." Oden struggled to his feet. "I have to kill... even more..."
In the distance, the war cries of the samurai could still be heard.
He knew he couldn't fall yet.
A stream of blood mist surged into Oden's body, repairing his wounds, keeping him from dying, barely restoring some of his combat strength.
Within the mist carried Rhett's acknowledgment: "Now that's more like it! Oden, it's okay to be weak, but you can't be a coward."
After receiving basic treatment, Oden charged back into the battlefield, continuing to fight alongside the samurai.