On the beach, corpses piled up like mountains.
The samurai formations had been broken. The Beast Pirates' zoan users laughed maniacally as they trampled their defensive lines.
"Form up! Hold the line at all costs!" Denjiro's voice was already hoarse. His blade was stained with blood, and three pirate corpses lay at his feet.
But there were too many enemies.
A half-rhinoceros zoan user charged into the crowd, laughing wildly. His skin was as hard as iron; the samurai's swords sparked harmlessly against it.
He swung his giant axe, instantly cutting two samurai in half. Their blood spilled onto the sand, trampled into mud by the charging feet that followed.
"Die, you Wano trash!"
Kawamatsu struck from the side, both fists lashing out: "Rokuryu!"
"BAM!" The rhinoceros zoan user's head burst like a watermelon.
But before Kawamatsu could catch his breath, a club struck him from behind.
"PFFT—!" He spat out a mouthful of blood and stumbled to his knees.
"A rare species? I hear you're worth a lot." A pirate licked his blade as he closed in.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck down!
"20,000,000 Volt Thunderbird!" Enel, in the middle of his battle with Queen, called out from the sky, turning the pirate into charcoal with a stray shot.
Enel's Mantra was at full power. With Rhett not entering the fray, he was the strongest battlefield controller.
Kawamatsu looked up with difficulty, only to see an even more despairing sight—
On the distant horizon, another wave of Big Mom Pirates warships was approaching.
Cracker, half-dead, was directing his biscuit soldiers to form ranks and swarm toward Enel.
Inside a makeshift medical tent, Stella's hands never stopped healing the samurai's wounds.
"Hold on... hold on..." The gentle-hearted, soft-natured woman silently wept as she treated them. Outside the tent, the cannon fire never ceased.
Even after witnessing the deepest darkness, she still treated everyone around her with kindness—that was Stella.
A young samurai apprentice crouched in the corner, clutching his fallen master's sword.
His eyes were hollow, his master's final words echoing in his ears:
"Live... to witness Wano's dawn..."
Suddenly, the tent flap was thrown open.
Outside, Laboon was smashing enemies who tried to attack the tent, one fin stroke at a time. Whether they were zoan users or ordinary men, they all went to sleep before Laboon. Perona floated overhead, releasing her Negative Hollows to reduce Laboon's pressure.
"Retreat! The beachhead has fallen!" Kin'emon, drenched in blood, rushed in. "Everyone evacuate immediately!"
Stella looked at the severely wounded on their cots who couldn't be moved. She bit her lip. "But what about them..."
Kin'emon's sword was dripping blood, his gaze pained but resolute: "This is war."
The samurai who had received partial treatment and could barely move picked up their weapons.
"Lady Stella, pull back quickly. We feel ready enough. This was always our war. Thank you very much for caring for us all this time."
"CHARGE!!! BROTHERS!"
In the flashes of explosions, samurai who refused to retreat could be seen raising the Kozuki banner high, turning to ash in the flames.
"Fire! Keep firing!" On the Beast Pirates' warships, gunners loaded ammunition frantically.
"BOOM—!"
A cannonball struck a samurai assault boat directly, sending wood and flesh flying. The sea turned dark red, severed limbs bobbing in the waves.
"Hel... help me..." A drowning samurai grabbed onto a floating plank. His legs had been blown off. But in the next moment, the Big Mom Pirates' Homies surged over him, swallowing him completely.
"Mamamama~ Drown them!" The Homies shrieked with laughter.
The samurai threw themselves into the sea one after another, using their bodies to form human bridges for their comrades.
"Quick! Board their ships!" An elderly samurai, his body drenched in blood and his left arm gone, still bit down on his sword and gripped a ship's rope with his right hand.
"You old fool, looking for death!" A pirate raised his pistol and shot him point-blank in the forehead.
The old man's body fell into the sea, but more samurai had already climbed aboard via that bloody path.
Among the debris floating on the sea, a broken katana silently sank to the bottom.
Kaido and Charlotte Linlin watched the steadily increasing number of zombies. They could no longer stand idly by.
Kaido stood at the ship's bow.
His gaze swept across the brutal battlefield below. The Beasts Pirates were still fighting, but the samurai's desperate counterattacks were gradually breaking their lines.
"A bunch of useless trash..." Kaido's draconic pupils blazed with fury. He gripped his kanabo "Hassaikai" tightly. "Can't even handle a few samurai!"
In the distance, Charlotte Linlin stood atop Zeus the thundercloud, Napoleon clutched in her hand. Her laughter was manic and twisted: "Mamamama! Kaido! Your subordinates are useless!"
Kaido snorted coldly: "Shut your mouth, old hag."
They locked eyes and read the same thought in each other's gaze—
It was time to enter the fray themselves!
Just as Kaido leaped into the air, about to transform into his azure dragon and dive into the battlefield—
"BOOM—!!!"
A blood-red curtain suddenly rose, spanning the sky like a waterfall, forcibly cutting off Kaido's path!
"What?!" Kaido's draconic pupils contracted.
Within the blood mist, Rhett's figure slowly materialized, the Black Tide Greatsword slung over his shoulder, a cold smile on his lips: "Where are you rushing off to, Kaido? But I don't feel like fighting you today."
At the same time, Whitebeard's naginata, coated in Conqueror's Haki, slashed toward Kaido.
"Gurarara! Kaido brat, your opponent is me!"
Kaido spewed dragon flames to block. The shockwave from their clashing Conqueror's Haki instantly shattered every building within a hundred meters!
"Newgate!" Kaido's eyes flashed with fury. "You think you can stop me?!"
Whitebeard laughed: "Try me!"
Charlotte Linlin stood atop Zeus, Napoleon wreathed in wild Conqueror's Haki. She looked down at the battlefield shrouded in Rhett's mist, which was still expanding.
"Mamamama—!!" Her laughter shattered the clouds. "Blood brat, if it weren't for that bastard Roger, I'd make you my husband!"
Rhett's figure slowly emerged from the blood mist. He looked up at Linlin, a dangerous smile curling at his lips:
"Big Mom... I don't like old women."
Linlin's smile instantly froze. Napoleon pointed at Rhett: "Arrogant brat! Your soul belongs to me!"
"Ikoku!"
The greatsword, wrapped in devastating Haki, swung down at his head!
Rhett didn't dodge. He raised the Black Tide Greatsword to meet it—
"Mist God Style: Blood Dragon Dance!"
"BOOM—!!!"
The moment their swords collided, the entire battlefield went silent!
Then, a terrifying shockwave exploded outward. Buildings within a kilometer radius collapsed. The sea surged with towering waves.
Any pirates or samurai who couldn't escape in time vanished into that sea. This was why the four didn't want to enter the fray.
Fighting Big Mom, Rhett couldn't spare too much focus for life-giving. His mist could barely manage to siphon the life force of the freshly dead just to keep the dying samurai from perishing.
In the distance, Whitebeard and Rhett continued their fierce battle against Kaido and Linlin. But the true protagonists of this battlefield were no longer them.
Instead, it was the nameless samurai and pirates. Their blood dyed the entire sea red.
—This was war.