The battle ended too quickly.
When Linlin and Kaido unleashed their full power at the same time, Kozuki Oden didn't even get the chance to struggle.
His dual blades were sent flying. His body flew backward like a rag doll, smashing through three walls before stopping. He plowed a trench more than ten meters long across the ground and finally collapsed in the ruins, blood spraying from his mouth and nose. He couldn't even stand up.
Kaizer's side also ended quickly. With the Ox Talisman boosting his strength and his undying body, he became a human demolition machine. Oden's subordinates fought desperately, but their swords and blades left only white marks on his body at most, while one punch from him could shatter a person's sternum.
Although he died three times — once pierced through the heart in a group assault, once with his head blown apart by concentrated gunfire, and once with his neck severed in a desperate final counterattack — each revival made him more familiar with the rhythm of battle.
When Linlin and Kaido finished dealing with Oden and turned around, Kaizer was pinning the last samurai to the ground, his arm driven straight through the man's chest.
"Mamama! Well done!" Linlin clapped, shaking dust from the ruins. "You held off so many all by yourself!"
Kaido shouldered Hassaikai and walked over, his crimson eyes scanning Kaizer up and down. "Your strength has increased quite a bit. And…" He stared at the rapidly healing wounds on Kaizer's skin. "That undying body of yours is getting more and more troublesome."
Kaizer pulled out his blood-drenched arm and flicked the minced flesh off his hand. "You flatter me."
He looked deeper into the ruins. Oden was still lying there, his chest rising weakly, but he had already lost consciousness. His subordinates were either dead or injured, with no strength left to resist.
Kurozumi Orochi crawled out trembling from his hiding spot, his face full of flattering smiles. "Ka-Kaido-sama! Linlin-sama! You were both so amazing!"
"Shut up." Kaido glanced at him. "These people are yours to handle. From now on, you will be the shogun of Wano. But the annual tribute — Seastone, weapons, grain — if even a little is missing, I'll let you taste what it feels like to be roasted by dragon breath."
"Yes, yes, definitely! Definitely!" Orochi nodded like a woodpecker.
Linlin interrupted: "And don't forget my thirty percent!"
"Of course, of course!" Orochi said hurriedly. "It will be delivered to Totto Land on schedule every month!"
It seemed the matter was settled.
But Kaizer didn't relax. His soul perception remained fully active, scanning the entire ruins of the shogun's residence. Behind a collapsed folding screen, there were two faint soul orbs — one warm and resilient, the other young and fearful.
Kozuki Toki and Kozuki Hiyori.
He walked over and kicked away the broken wood. Behind the screen, a white-haired woman in a kimono was tightly hugging a green-haired little girl. Blood stained the corner of the woman's mouth — she had clearly been injured in the earlier battle — but she still protected the child with her body.
"P-Please don't hurt Hiyori…" Kozuki Toki's voice trembled, but her eyes were firm.
Kaizer said nothing. He simply reached out and grabbed her arm — it was very thin, as if it would break with a twist. With his other hand, he picked up Hiyori. The little girl was so scared she even forgot to cry.
"Kaizer?" Linlin walked over, tilting her head at the mother and daughter. "What do you want them for?"
Oden struggled to raise his head from the ruins. Seeing his wife and daughter captured, his eyes nearly split with rage: "Let… let them go… I'll give you Wano… anything you want…"
Kaido and Orochi let out mocking laughter.
"Kozuki Oden." Kaido walked in front of him and stepped on his back. "Are you too confident or just too stupid? You know Roger, you know Whitebeard, yet you came back alone to throw your life away?"
Orochi also slithered closer with a sleazy grin: "Exactly! We thought you would bring reinforcements! And this is all you've got?"
Kaizer looked at Oden's blood-stained face. In the original story, this man willingly let himself be boiled to death for the people of Wano. Noble-sounding, but frankly stupid.
He had two major backers in Roger and Whitebeard but chose to return alone to play the hero.
"Kaido." Kaizer spoke up. "Leave these two to me to handle."
Kaido raised an eyebrow with an ambiguous smile: "What? Having Linlin isn't enough? You want someone else's wife too?"
"Kaido!" Linlin glared at him. "Kaizer definitely has his own ideas!"
"Fine, fine." Kaido waved his hand. "Since Wano is already in our hands, you can deal with these captives however you like."
He turned and patted Orochi's shoulder: "This place is yours now. Lock up Oden and his men. 'Entertain' them properly."
Orochi nodded repeatedly, a cruel light flashing in his eyes.
Kaido looked back at Linlin: "The Seastone I promised you — the first batch will be sent to Totto Land next month. I, Kaido, keep my word."
"Mamama! That's more like it!" Linlin nodded in satisfaction.
Kaizer didn't stay any longer. He dragged Kozuki Toki with one hand and carried Hiyori with the other, then turned and left the ruins. Linlin looked confused but still followed.
When they returned to the ship, Perospero was crawling on the deck. Not even a month old, he could already scurry everywhere, so fast that the guards were having headaches. When he saw Linlin return, he giggled and crawled over, hugging her leg.
"Mamama! Perospero!" Linlin bent down, picked up her son, and gave him a big kiss. "Did you miss Mommy?"
Kaizer threw Toki and Hiyori onto the deck and said to the nearby guards: "Bring a whole crate of fruit. Any kind of fruit, one full crate."
The guards quickly obeyed.
Toki sat up, hugging the terrified Hiyori, and looked at Kaizer warily: "What do you want?"
Kaizer didn't answer. He simply watched the crate of fruit being brought onto the deck — apples, oranges, bananas, all common varieties.
"Kaizer," Linlin walked over holding the baby. "What exactly are you—"
Before she could finish, she suddenly felt a strange power fluctuation surge from Toki. It wasn't Haki or a Devil Fruit ability, but something older and more mysterious.
Toki's eyes began to glow. Her white hair floated without wind, and ripples like water appeared in the surrounding space.
"Time-Time Fruit…" Linlin recognized it. "She wants to time-leap!"
Kaizer had been waiting for this exact moment.
The instant Toki activated her ability, he moved. Without using Haki or Devil Fruit power, he simply drew his blade — a standard Marine longsword taken from his storage space. The blade gleamed coldly in the sunlight.
A flash of steel.
Toki's movements froze. She looked down and saw a thin red line appear on her neck, then blood sprayed out. Her head rolled off, eyes still open, filled with disbelief.
"Mommy—!!!" Hiyori screamed.
Linlin covered Perospero's eyes, but she herself stared wide-eyed at the scene.
Kaizer flicked the blood off his blade and walked over to Toki's headless corpse. The body had not completely lost its vitality yet. The Time-Time Fruit's power was running wild — the surrounding space distorted, the wood grain on the deck flickered in and out, and the flow of time became chaotic.
He activated Soul Affinity.
Inside Toki's corpse, a special soul fluctuation was dissipating. It wasn't an ordinary human soul, but something rule-based, deeply bound to the concept of "time."
Kaizer reached out and activated his Ghost-Ghost Fruit ability — not to extract the soul, but to "guide" it. Purple light spread from his palm, wrapping around the escaping fluctuation like fishing line, slowly pulling it in.
"Go," he said softly.
The purple glow carried the Time-Time Fruit's soul fluctuation and drifted toward the crate of fruit.
At first, there was no reaction.
But a few seconds later, the fruit inside the crate began to tremble violently. Apple skins formed spiral patterns. Oranges turned a strange silver-white. Bananas became even more twisted…
Finally, one apple stopped trembling.
Its skin had completely turned silver-white, covered with black patterns resembling clockwork gears, radiating a unique "time" aura — both ancient and brand new.
Paramecia-type: Time-Time Fruit.
Kaizer picked up the fruit. It felt cool in his hand, and he could sense the rules of time slowly turning inside it.
He turned around and looked at the now-terrified Hiyori.
The little girl huddled beside her mother's corpse, trembling all over, tears streaming down her face.
Kaizer walked over and raised his knife.
"Kaizer." Linlin suddenly spoke.
The knife stopped in mid-air.
"She's just a child," Linlin said. Her voice lacked its usual madness and instead carried something… maternal? "And you already took the Time-Time Fruit."
Kaizer was silent for a few seconds.
He sheathed the knife and took out a Seastone chain from his storage space — something Longbread had given him before departure, saying "it might come in handy."
He bound Hiyori with the chain and tossed her to the guards: "Lock her in the hold. Send her one meal a day. Don't let her die."
The guards quickly obeyed.
Linlin walked over and looked at the Time-Time Fruit in Kaizer's hand. "Are you going to eat it?"
"No." Kaizer shook his head. "This fruit's ability is too special. It's not suitable for me. Besides…"
He paused. "I already have the Ghost-Ghost Fruit. Eating another one would kill me."
In truth, the system had told him his demi-human bloodline could allow multiple fruits — because his soul-binding trait made the "Devil's curse" ineffective. But he didn't plan to say that, nor did he want to eat it. The Time-Time Fruit involved time rules — used well, it was heaven-defying; used poorly, it could destroy him.
He preferred to keep it… for someone trustworthy.
Or as a bargaining chip.
"Mamama! Makes sense!" Linlin grinned. "Then what do you plan to do with it?"
"Keep it for now," Kaizer put the fruit into his storage space. "It might be useful later."
He looked into the distance. Wano's cliffs stood like a black silhouette against the setting sun, with waterfalls creating colorful rainbows in the mist. That country now belonged to Kaido and Orochi. Oden was captured, his subordinates wiped out, and the Time-Time Fruit had changed hands.
The first step of the plan was complete.
"Let's go home," Kaizer said. "Perospero should be hungry."
"Mamama! Yes, yes!" Linlin quickly checked the baby in her arms. "Oh no, his diaper is wet! Quick! Set sail! Back to Totto Land!"
The sails rose. Sea winds filled them.
The ship slowly sailed away from Wano's waters. Kaizer stood at the stern, watching the island gradually disappear.
This time, history had been rewritten.
Oden did not suffer five years of torment and boiling punishment — he was captured directly. Kozuki Toki was dead, the Time-Time Fruit was taken by him. Hiyori became a prisoner, and Momonosuke… most likely sent to the future by Toki in her final moments.
But none of that mattered anymore.
What mattered was that Totto Land would receive a stable supply of Seastone, the alliance between Linlin and Kaido had initially formed, and he… had obtained the strategically important Time-Time Fruit.
"Kaizer." Linlin walked to his side. Perospero was already asleep in her arms. "What are you thinking about?"
"I'm thinking…" Kaizer turned to look at her. "Will all our future children be as strong as Perospero?"
"Mamama! Of course!" Linlin said proudly. "My children will naturally be the strongest!"
She paused, then suddenly lowered her voice: "But next time… can you tell me before you kill someone? That slash just now scared Perospero."
Kaizer was stunned.
He looked at Linlin — this crazy woman, this future Emperor who killed without blinking — was now acting like any ordinary mother, worried that her child would be frightened.
"Okay," he said. "Next time I'll be careful."
Linlin nodded in satisfaction, then yawned. "I'm sleepy. I'm going to sleep. You should rest early too."
She carried the baby into the cabin.
Kaizer stayed alone on the deck. The night wind blew, carrying the scent of sea salt and faint blood.
He opened the system interface.
[Wano Country Mission Completed]
[Contribution Assessment: A]
[Rewards Dispensed: Conqueror's Haki Awakening Opportunity (Activated), Storage Space Expanded to 50 cubic meters, Ox Talisman Fusion Increased to 20%]
[New Ability Unlocked: Time-Time Fruit Custody Permission (Can extract/seal)]
Conqueror's Haki awakening opportunity…
Kaizer closed his eyes and felt the newly born, restless power inside his body. It wasn't the hardness of Armament Haki, nor the sharpness of Observation Haki, but a kind of… "kingly" pressure.
He didn't know how to use it yet, but the system said the opportunity was activated, which meant it could awaken at any time.
The storage space had expanded to 50 cubic meters, so he could store a lot more now.
The Ox Talisman fusion had increased, making power control more precise.
Everything was getting better.
He looked at the silver-white Time-Time Fruit inside his storage space. The gear-like patterns glowed faintly in the darkness, as if breathing.
The power of time…
If used properly…
"Master." Shadow's voice came from the shadows. "Unidentified ships detected ahead. Three vessels, flying pirate flags, approaching."
Kaizer opened his eyes.
Soul perception fully activated.
Three ships, each with hundreds of soul orbs. Among the brightest ones… they felt familiar.
"They are people from the Roger Pirates," Phantom added. "They should be looking for Oden."
Kaizer frowned.
Trouble had still come.
However…
He looked toward the cabin. Linlin was inside. Perospero was inside. The Time-Time Fruit was in his hands.
And Kaido probably hadn't gone far yet.
He took a deep breath.
"Change course, avoid them," Kaizer ordered. "Full speed back to Totto Land."
"Understood."
The ship changed direction and quietly sailed toward the deep sea under the cover of night.
If you want to read 100 chapters ahead and support the story, check my P@treon: patreon.com/inkshield