ONE PIECE: KAIDO'S SON

  "Who says the new king must be inferior to the old king?"

  "It's a pity he wasn't born in the Void Century..."

  "Otherwise, I would've made Joy Boy—yes, the Joy Boy you all worship—aspire to become me."

  With that, Ragnar casually flung King away.

  Boom!

  King, stunned and silent, crashed violently into the ground, leaving a deep furrow trailing behind him through the shattered stone and swirling dust.

  But pain wasn't what filled his mind—it was Ragnar's overwhelming declaration.

  > "Don't become someone!"

  > "Too bad I wasn't born 800 years ago!"

  > "Let Joy Boy want to be me!"

  Those words echoed louder than the crash itself.

  Lifting his bloodied face, King stared at Ragnar with awe and a tangle of emotions. How powerful must one's will be to support such mad ambition?

  "Ragnar…"

  Suddenly—

  "Hahahaha!!"

  A wild, booming laugh tore through the silence of Onigashima.

  From atop the massive horn, the Azure Dragon let out a thunderous roar. Kaido—his tears indistinguishable between fury and joy—was laughing.

  "You truly are worthy of being my son!" he bellowed.

  "What monstrous ambition…"

  "I've spent my whole life pursuing a name—trying to be someone else."

  "I thought Whitebeard was my greatest obstacle… but now I see—it was me! My own lack of ambition!"

  Kaido roared to the heavens, "I am Kaido of the Beasts!"

  "The world's strongest creature!"

  "And from today on… I will stop trying to be someone else! Even if I rewrite this world, I will do so as Kaido!!"

  ROOOOOOAR!

  The roar split the sky.

  Conqueror's Haki exploded like a tidal wave. The air trembled.

  BOOM! Crack!

  Bolts of dark lightning twisted through the storm above. The ground split open from the sheer pressure of Kaido's revived will—a force rivaling that of the Pirate King himself.

  "Kaido's spirit… it's stronger than before!"

  Queen's voice trembled, his eyes bulging in disbelief.

  He had followed Kaido for decades.

  Among the Four Emperors:

  - Whitebeard held the strongest strength.

  - Shanks had the strongest will.

  - Big Mom had the strongest body.

  - Kaido? His unmatched endurance was legend.

  But now…

  Now Kaido's will was burning again.

  "Could I have been wrong this whole time…?"

  King muttered, feeling the overwhelming shift.

  "Joy Boy…"

  "He was still a failure, wasn't he?"

  Ragnar's cold voice sliced through the chaos.

  > "I don't know if Joy Boy will change the world."

  > "But I do know he lost."

  > "So why try to become the second loser?"

  He stared at King, his voice laced with disdain.

  > "Should my old man waste his life living as Joy Boy's shadow? A slave to a dead man's dream?"

  "Loser…"

  The word echoed in King's skull like a war drum.

  He clenched his fists. He's right.

Everyone turned to see King, previously slumped in defeat, standing tall once again. His grip tightened around his ōdachi, the samurai sword at his side, now glowing faintly from the residual heat of his inner fire.

"Right or wrong..."

"That's not something decided by words!"

"If you want to deny my dream—then defeat me first!"

His pupils shimmered with defiance as an inferno erupted behind him, stoked by the sheer force of his will. The ground around him began to crack from the rising temperature.

"Flame Emperor!"

From King's left hand, a conflagration erupted—dense, violent, and filled with Armament Haki. The sheer heat warped the air, forcing even nearby pirates to shield their faces.

"You want to become the True King of Beasts?"

"Or the King of the World?"

"Then step over my corpse first!"

"So long as I live, the only one I serve is Kaido-sama!"

With a roar that split the air, King hurled his fire forward, a storm of flame enhanced by both his Ancient Zoan vitality and his mastery over heat-based techniques. It surged toward Ragnar like an ocean of molten light.

HISSSHHHH—!!

Flame met flesh—but there was no scream, no flinch.

Ragnar stood motionless, eyes calm, posture relaxed. At the moment the fire engulfed him, he simply… inhaled.

Fwoooosh—!!

The sea of fire—burning hot enough to melt steel—was sucked into Ragnar's mouth like mist into a vacuum. The ground sizzled from residual heat, but his body showed no scorch marks, not even the faintest burn.

"What the hell is he!?" Queen shrieked, his jaw dropping so hard it slammed into the rocky soil with a thud. "Did he just eat King's flames!?"

"That's not a Magma-Magma Fruit... and it's not Mera Mera no Mi either... Could it be... a Mythical Zoan?"

Peggy One and Ulti, barely recovered and supported by Black Maria, exchanged glances—shock and fear swimming in their eyes. Ulti whispered hoarsely:

"What kind of monster did Kaido bring back...?"

King staggered, eyes twitching slightly in disbelief.

"My flames... disappeared?"

But he gritted his fangs and quickly steadied himself.

"Dan Kong Gun (Bullet of the Flame Emperor)!"

In an instant, his body expanded and transformed—the mighty Pteranodon form of the Ryu Ryu no Mi: Model Pteranodon. With a shriek, he took flight, flames spiraling around his wings like twin serpents of destruction.

Swooping down at breakneck speed, King twisted mid-air, his flame-wrapped wings gleaming like blades as he aimed to cleave Ragnar across the spine with the force of both velocity and Armament Haki.