The current Big Mom Pirates consisted mostly of former husbands and dozens of children born earlier.
Standing atop a hundred-meter-tall golden colossus, Tesoro's golden coat billowed wildly in the fierce wind as he looked down at the battlefield below.
"The 'Calamity' of the Beast Pirates..." He slowly raised his hand, and the golden particles across the land began to stir. Tesoro couldn't create gold out of thin air, but he could extract it directly from the earth on a large scale.
"Let me see if your flames can melt my gold."
In the distance, King's black wings sliced through the sky. In his pteranodon form, he was like a black lightning bolt charging straight toward Tesoro.
"Golden Emperor..." King's voice was bone-chilling. "Your arrogance ends here!"
With a powerful flap of his wings, high-temperature flames surged forth.
"Calamity·Fire Rain!"
A rain of fireballs, like meteors, crashed toward Tesoro, instantly boiling the sea.
Tesoro sneered. The golden colossus's hand swept out, and countless golden tentacles rose from the sea, weaving into a massive net that intercepted all the fireballs.
"Boom——!!!"
The shockwave shattered several nearby warships, but the golden colossus remained unshaken.
"Is this all the heat you've got?" Tesoro mocked.
King's pupils narrowed as he accelerated suddenly, his pteranodon claws coated in Armament Haki, aiming straight for Tesoro's throat.
"Pteranodon·Razor!"
Tesoro didn't dodge. The golden colossus's fist met the attack head-on.
"Golden Judgment·Heavy Fist!"
"Bang——!!!"
Fist clashed with claw. Haki collided, tearing through the very fabric of space.
King was sent flying dozens of meters back by the force of the punch.
"Interesting..." King stabilized himself, his eyes beneath the mask growing colder. "I'm one of the All-Stars, after all."
Tesoro grinned. "This is just the beginning."
Suddenly, King's black wings ignited with dark red flames, the surrounding air distorting from the intense heat.
"My flames..." he murmured, "are no ordinary fire."
"Calamity·Burn!"
The dark red flames transformed into a pillar of fire, piercing through the golden colossus's chest in an instant. The gold began to melt under the extreme heat, dripping into liquid form.
Tesoro frowned but quickly flashed a wild smile. "Liquid gold is still gold."
The melted gold didn't dissipate. Instead, it wrapped around the pillar of fire, countering King's flames.
"What?!" King exclaimed, hastily flapping his wings to retreat.
Tesoro pressed his advantage. The golden colossus disintegrated, turning into countless golden spikes that shot toward King from all directions.
"Golden Judgment·Thorn Prison!"
King's Observation Haki screamed warnings. He dodged frantically in midair, but a few golden spikes still grazed his wings, drawing blood.
"Tch..." King glanced down at his wound, his expression growing fiercer.
"I'll admit, you're more troublesome than I expected," King said in a low voice. "But next, I'll show you what a true 'Calamity' looks like!"
His mask shattered, revealing a face that was still somewhat handsome. Behind him, hundreds of fire dragons materialized, one towering over the rest.
"Imperial Flame Dragon King!"
Tesoro narrowed his eyes. "Finally getting serious, huh?"
He clasped his hands together, and gold rapidly gathered, forming a hundred-meter-tall golden dragon.
The fire dragon and the golden dragon faced each other in the sky, their overwhelming auras clashing.
Both lunged forward simultaneously.
The two dragons collided midair, their powers intertwining.
King's fire dragon bore a striking resemblance to Kaido's Azure Dragon form, Tesoro noted, while mine mirrors Rhett's Blood Dragon.
The moment they collided, the world seemed to lose its color.
An explosion of flames and gold engulfed the entire sea, evaporating waves and tearing apart the clouds.
When the dust settled, half of King's wing was encased in gold.
It seemed Tesoro had gained the upper hand.
The two stood apart, breathing heavily.
"It's not over yet..." Tesoro wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and the gold began to stir once more.
King's flames reignited, his gaze resolute. "Just what I wanted."
Just as they were about to clash again, a crimson mist suddenly separated them.
Rhett's voice echoed from within the mist. "Enough, Tesoro."
Tesoro paused, then grinned. "Lucky you, 'Calamity.'"
King snorted, his flaming wings slowly retracting. "Next time, I'll kill you myself."
Kaido had entered the battlefield.
Tesoro laughed. "Pathetic!"
As the crimson mist dissipated, the figures of the two men gradually vanished, leaving behind a scorched land ravaged by gold and flames.
Warfare was no child's play.
Cannon fire roared, and the smoke of gunpowder blotted out the sky. The once calm sea now floated with shattered wooden planks, burning flags, and countless corpses. Blood dyed the seawater a dark red, ebbing and flowing with the waves.
"Third squad! Seal the breach! Don't let them land!" a samurai of Wano shouted, his armor battered by cannon fire and his left arm missing, yet he still gripped his sword tightly with his right hand.
"Kill all these samurai! Kaido-sama's orders—leave none alive!" A Beast Pirate with an Animal Zoan ability lunged forward, his arms transformed into the claws of a beast, easily tearing through a young samurai's throat. Blood sprayed across his face, only fueling his excitement.
The current Beast Pirates don't yet have artificial Devil Fruit users, Rhett observed from afar. These are genuine Animal Zoan abilities, though fewer in number.
Rhett's pirate crew, though small with only eight members, was elite. But the Beast Pirates and Big Mom Pirates were not, resulting in a clash where even Whitebeard and Rhett's entire crew were engaged in battles of kings against kings.
Each fighter in Rhett's crew might face several commanders, as battles at the Pirate King level lasted for days.
The primary combatants on the battlefield were still Wano's samurai and ordinary pirates.
But if the fight continued like this, with the four emperors not directly intervening, Rhett's crew would emerge victorious.
Because of Moria—who was now far stronger than in the original story—any corpse he consumed with his shadow would reanimate as a zombie.
Most of Rhett's crew could be considered walking nuclear weapons.
"Die. The more you die, the more excited I become."
The samurai didn't falter. They stepped over the bodies of their comrades, charging forward relentlessly.
"For Oden-sama! For Wano!"
Blades flashed as a samurai severed a pirate's head, but before he could catch his breath, a chill ran down his back—a bloodied spear pierced through his chest.
"Ugh..." He looked down at the spearhead protruding from his chest, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth as he slowly knelt.
In his final glimpse of sight, there was the explosion of gold and flames intertwining in the distance, and the mutilated bodies of his comrades.