Chapter 373

"You'll know in a moment; allow me to keep you in suspense for now."

Sima Di smiled faintly, still offering no answer.

"Sigh~ Fine, I truly yield to you, you riddler..."

Luffy looked utterly defeated; in the end, he still could not pry an answer from Sima Di's lips.

Within the Border of the Kingdom.

In a village.

"Mama... Mama! Big Mom is so hungry! Big Mom wants to eat!"

"Give me food! I want to eat!"

The gigantic Big Mom, eyes blood-red, was wreaking havoc throughout the village.

Neither the villagers nor the village's houses and buildings could escape her poisonous claws.

She casually grabbed a villager and shoved him into her mouth.

Ever since falling into the Lava Hell, Big Mom had been plummeting downward.

No one expected that beneath the Lava Hell lay a passage filled entirely with seawater.

It led straight to the Border of the Kingdom.

Big Mom was thus rescued.

However, by the time she regained consciousness, she had lost her reason.

She had become a monster that knew only destruction.

Now, her mind was entirely consumed by a single thought:

Eat! Eat! Eat!

Devour everything before her eyes!

Until her belly was completely full!

"Heavens! What kind of monster is this! My house!"

"Forget the house, run quickly! She's coming this way!"

"Who can save us! My child!"

The village was filled with cries of anguish.

The strongest people they had ever seen in their daily lives were merely thugs and ruffians.

When had they ever witnessed such a scene of world-shattering devastation?

Just as the villagers were in deep grief, the sky instantly darkened!

The sky, previously clear for ten thousand li, was suddenly covered with dark clouds, with thunder and lightning flashing!

A massive dragon shadow darted through the clouds!

"That... that is Lord Kaido!"

"Lord Kaido has arrived!"

"Excellent! We are saved!"

The villagers were actually not particularly fond of Kaido,

but in their despair, they could only place their hope upon Lord Kaido.

Praying that Lord Kaido would save them from the depths of suffering and fire...

Within the clouds, Kaido, transformed into a giant dragon, had his Observation Haki constantly active.

The moment he arrived, he instantly locked onto Big Mom below.

"As I thought, it is you, Big Mom!"

His eyes were filled with surprise and joy.

Big Mom truly did not die!

This is good;

if Big Mom also joins their ranks, the combat strength of the Mendelian Alliance will rise several tiers.

However, Big Mom's current state seems rather off.

Kaido pondered for a moment, controlled his dragon body, and dove downward!

After landing, Kaido transformed back into human form.

He slung his personal weapon, the spiked hammer, over his shoulder and looked at Big Mom.

"Big Mom, that's enough; come with me!"

Big Mom raised her head, looking at Kaido before her, who was roughly her own size.

Immediately, her eyes sparkled, and drool streamed down.

"Eat! Such a huge meal! Big Mom is hungry! Give me food!"

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The author's other work, "Grand Navigation: On the Straw Hat, Only Ultimate Moves!", concludes today, 540,000 words; if interested, click the author's name to read.

48. Kaido vs Big Mom!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Big Mom took steps, dragging her massive body, and sprinted through the village.

The shock caused a large area of surrounding buildings to collapse.

Kaido frowned; it seemed that mere words would not suffice to take Big Mom away today.

Then let us resort to force!

"Big Mom, snap out of it for me!"

Screech~!

Kaido let out a roar, and instantly lightning crackled around him; countless arcs of electricity spread through the air, climbing up his spiked war hammer.

"Thunderous Eight Trigrams!"

The colossal thunder hammer slammed down violently, a terrifying shockwave sweeping across the entire village, as if ready to explode the very space.

The furious blast wave obliterated every house; debris flew everywhere, and even hard wood and stone turned directly to powder, scattering across the ground.

Aah~! Big Mom's piercing scream pierced the heavens, thunderous and deafening, sending shivers down the spine.

Boom~! Boom~! Boom~!

Continuous explosions erupted; the entire village instantly became ruins. Big Mom lay sprawled amid the debris, drenched in blood, motionless.

Throughout the entire process, Kaido did not even glance at the villagers who had survived.

He was no benevolent savior; he had come only to take Big Mom.

Save people?

Such a Bai Chi idea—he had never held it before, does not hold it now, and never will in the future.

Without another word, Kaido's body twisted violently, transforming once more into a thousand-meter-long dragon.

His dragon claw reached forward, snatching up the unconscious Big Mom lying on the ground, then roared upward, piercing through the clouds toward his lair.

On the spot, the villagers stared at the village now unrecognizable from Kaido's attack, their faces ashen.

They had originally believed that with Kaido's arrival, things would improve.

But they never expected that Kaido's actions were even more brutal than Big Mom's.

"It's over, all is over—centuries of ancestral accumulation, all gone."

"Oh God! Someone, please stop this tyrant!"

"Alas~ Kaido is one of the Four Emperors; even the Navy has no way to stop him. Who could possibly do anything? We must accept it."

"Everyone! Hold on tight! Merry! Activate the energy thrusters!"

Amid Franky's shout,

the Merry suddenly blasted a stream of energy, propelling the ship upward from the sea's surface.

After flying continuously through the air for over a minute, it landed on the sea several kilometers away!

At the same moment, Zoro, who had been leaning against the rail, turned deathly pale.

He stared in horror at the sea where they had just been.