Onigumo's ship disappeared over the horizon. On the third day after that, the entire Totto Land was still immersed in the celebratory atmosphere of becoming a "Legitimate Autonomous Territory." The sugar factory doubled its production, and the World Government's flag was raised at the port — although Linlin felt itchy with anger every time she saw that flag, Longbread said, "We have to put on a full show."
Then the Den Den Mushi rang.
It wasn't the serious "blu blu blu" sound of the World Government, but the unique buzzing tone of Kaido's custom Den Den Mushi, carrying a faint dragon roar aftertaste.
Linlin was breastfeeding Perospero. When she heard the sound, she casually picked up the receiver: "Mamama! Kaido! Where's the first batch of Seastone? You promised to deliver it this month—"
"Charlotte Linlin."
The voice on the other end was not Kaido's rough tone, but a calmer, smiling male voice.
Linlin's movements froze.
She remembered that voice — on the God Valley battlefield, the one who teamed up with Garp to defeat Rocks: the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger.
"I heard you took Kozuki Oden's wife and child." Roger's voice still carried a smile, but beneath it was a cold blade. "Now, immediately, send them back. Otherwise…"
A muffled thud came from the phone, followed by Kaido's suppressed groan of pain.
"Otherwise Kaido won't live." Roger said lightly, "Then I will come to Totto Land to find you. With my entire crew."
Linlin's pupils contracted. Perospero in her arms seemed to sense his mother's emotions and burst into loud crying.
"Ro—ger—!!!" Linlin's roar shook the entire castle. "You fucking dare—"
"Whether I dare or not, you know very well." Roger interrupted her. "I'll give you three days. If I don't see the people in three days, I'll hang Kaido's head on the flagpole of Onigashima. Then… I'll pay a visit to Totto Land."
The phone hung up.
The busy tone sounded especially harsh in the silent hall.
Linlin stood still, her face ashen. Prometheus and Zeus sensed their master's rage and began burning fiercely and crackling with lightning on her shoulders. The temperature in the room rose sharply, and the air crackled.
Longbread rushed out from the kitchen: "What happened? Who—"
"Roger." Linlin squeezed the two words through her teeth. "Kaido was captured by him. He wants me to hand over Kozuki Oden's wife and child, or he'll attack Totto Land."
Longbread's spatula fell to the ground.
"The Roger Pirates… the whole crew?" His voice was dry.
"From the tone, yes." Linlin handed the crying Perospero to the nearby Homie nanny, her massive hand slamming on the table. The solid wood tabletop instantly cracked. "Mamama! Who does he think he is?! Just because he's the Pirate King, he's so great?!"
"He really is the Pirate King." Kaizer's voice came from the doorway.
He had just finished his morning training, covered in sweat, holding a towel to wipe himself. Seeing the expressions on Linlin and Longbread's faces, he stopped: "What happened?"
Longbread explained in a few short sentences.
Kaizer listened in silence, then walked to the table and picked up the Den Den Mushi that was still emitting a busy tone.
"Roger…" he said softly, "this is indeed troublesome."
"Troublesome?!" Linlin grabbed the entire table — along with everything on it — and smashed it hard on the ground. "I'm going to Onigashima! I'm going to tear Roger apart! Mamama—!"
"If you go, you'll be sending yourself to death." Kaizer's voice was very calm. "The Roger Pirates are at their peak right now. Rayleigh, Jabba, Oden… they are all monster-level fighters. Totto Land has just started, you still have a child to take care of. If we fight head-on, we have no chance of winning."
Linlin glared at him, her eyes bloodshot: "Then what do you suggest?! Hand over Hiyori? Toki is already dead! What do we hand over? Her corpse?!"
"Handing over the corpse is also an option." Kaizer said. "But Roger won't believe it."
He put down the Den Den Mushi and looked at Longbread: "Any reaction from the World Government side?"
"We just signed the agreement yesterday. Even if they receive the news today, it's too late to react." Longbread smiled bitterly. "Besides, the Marines would love for us and Roger to fight each other to mutual destruction. They won't come to support us."
"Then we do as Roger said." Kaizer said.
Both Linlin and Longbread froze at the same time.
"I'll go to Wano alone." Kaizer continued. "I'll take Hiyori with me. Tell Roger that Kozuki Toki used the Time-Time Fruit to escape to the future, and we couldn't stop her. Hiyori can be returned to them, but Kaido must be released."
"Are you crazy?!" Linlin roared. "Roger will kill you!"
"He can't kill me." Kaizer said.
Linlin wanted to say more, but Kaizer raised his hand to stop her.
"Listen to me first." He walked in front of Linlin and looked up at his angry wife. "There are some characteristics of my ability… that I haven't told you about yet."
He drew the knife at his waist — a trophy brought back from Wano, its blade gleaming coldly.
"Linlin, watch carefully."
As soon as he finished speaking, the blade flashed.
Kaizer's left arm was severed at the shoulder, falling to the ground with blood gushing out.
"Kaizer—!!!" Linlin screamed and lunged forward.
But Kaizer was faster. He reversed the knife and stabbed it straight into his own heart.
The tip of the blade emerged from his back, dripping with blood.
Linlin froze in place. Longbread's pipe fell from his hand.
Then, under the shocked gazes of both, Kaizer's body began to disintegrate — starting from the wound, turning into black particles that scattered into the air. Three seconds later, a complete Kaizer appeared in the same spot, while the "corpse" on the ground had already turned to ash.
The newly reborn Kaizer bent down and picked up the severed arm. The wound on that arm was slowly regenerating, the flesh wriggling, but at a noticeably slower speed than normal.
"My revival… can be anchored to body tissue." Kaizer raised the severed arm. "As long as a part of the tissue remains intact, I can revive from there."
He handed the severed arm to Linlin.
Linlin blankly took it. The arm looked very small in her massive palm, but it was still warm, with a faint but clear pulse.
"You keep this." Kaizer said. "Put it in the safest place in Totto Land. If I get trapped, captured, or sealed in Wano… I will have the IBM kill me. Then, I will revive from this arm and return here."
Longbread reacted first: "So you deliberately left this part of your tissue… as a 'revival anchor point'?"
"Yes." Kaizer nodded. "No matter how strong Roger is, he can't stop me from committing suicide. As long as I can kill myself, I can revive. So they can't keep me."
Linlin looked at the severed arm in her hand, then at Kaizer's intact left shoulder — a small stub of a new arm had already begun to grow there.
"But…" Her voice trembled. "It hurts, right… dying so many times…"
"I know." Kaizer said. "But this is the only way. I'll go alone. I'm mobile and a small target. Best case, the negotiation succeeds. If it fails, I'll just kill myself and come back. But if you go—"
He didn't finish, but the meaning was clear.
If Linlin went and got trapped, Totto Land would be finished. Perospero was still small, Longbread couldn't hold everything together, and the islanders who had just settled down would scatter.
Linlin's lips trembled. She looked down at the severed arm in her arms, then up at Kaizer. For the first time, fear appeared in her huge eyes.
Not fear of the enemy, but fear of "loss."
"Kozuki Toki is already dead." Kaizer continued. "I'll just say she used the Time-Time Fruit to escape to the future, and we couldn't stop her. Roger can't travel through time to verify the truth. I'll knock Hiyori unconscious and hand her over. As for Kaido… I'll save him if I can. If I can't, it's his fate."
He walked in front of Linlin and reached out — with his right hand, since his left arm hadn't fully regrown yet — and gently patted her calf.
"But you must promise me one thing."
"…What?"
"If I don't come back — although the probability is very low — you cannot go to Wano for revenge." Kaizer said word by word. "Take Perospero, take Totto Land, and live well. When we are strong enough, then we can settle the score."
Linlin stared at him for a very long time.
Finally, she nodded hard and hugged the severed arm tightly to her chest — as if holding the most precious treasure in the world.
"Mamama…" She smiled, but the smile looked worse than crying. "You must come back. Otherwise, I'll eat this arm and make sure you can never return!"
Kaizer also smiled: "You won't do that."
He turned to Longbread: "While I'm gone, Totto Land is in your hands. The inspectors will arrive in a few days — handle them. Don't delay the sugar factory orders, and continue researching Seastone processing. Also…"
He paused.
"If I don't return in three days and don't revive… then assume I'm dead. Take Linlin and Perospero, leave Totto Land, and start over somewhere else."
Longbread looked at him deeply, bent down to pick up the fallen pipe from the ground, and lit it again.
"Come back alive." He exhaled a puff of smoke. "That barrel of wine is still unopened."
"I will."
Kaizer took one last look out the window at Totto Land — the busy port, the green fields, the white smoke rising from the sugar factory chimney. Then he walked out of the castle without looking back.
Shadow and Phantom emerged behind him, turning into black mist and merging into his shadow.
At the port, a small fast ship was already prepared. Longbread had arranged it in advance — fast and low-profile.
Before boarding, Linlin caught up. She was still holding the severed arm, and in her other hand she carried a cloth bag.
"Take this with you." She stuffed the bag into Kaizer's hands. "There's food inside, and… this."
Kaizer opened the bag. Besides dried meat and fruit, there was a silver-white fruit with gear-like patterns.
The Time-Time Fruit.
"You…" Kaizer looked up.
"Mamama! Just in case it comes in handy!" Linlin grinned, but her eyes were red. "If you can't win, use this to escape! Escape to the future! Come back when you're stronger!"
Kaizer was silent for a few seconds, then put the fruit away.
"Wait for me to return."
He untied the mooring rope and raised the sail.
The sea wind blew, carrying the salty taste and the scent of distant lands.
As the ship left the port, Kaizer looked back. In the top-floor window of the castle, Linlin stood motionless, holding the severed arm and Perospero.
He waved.
Then he turned the rudder and sailed at full speed toward Wano Country.
Three days later, Onigashima.
From afar, Kaizer saw the island that Kaido had transformed into a fortress, but at this moment Onigashima was shrouded in an eerie silence. There were no patrol ships, no noisy banquets, not even seabirds — they all flew around it.
He hid the ship in a concealed bay and sent Shadow and Phantom to scout.
Ten minutes later, Phantom returned to report: "Onigashima is under the control of the Roger Pirates. Kaido is chained with Seastone in the center of the square, heavily injured. Roger himself is in the castle hall. Rayleigh, Jabba, and Oden are all there. The other crew members are scattered across the island."
"Oden's emotional state?"
"Extremely unstable. His soul fluctuation is like boiling magma."
Kaizer nodded. As expected.
He went ashore and moved stealthily. With Observation Haki and Soul Affinity fully active, he slipped past all the sentries like a ghost and entered the interior of Onigashima.
The scene in the square made his pupils shrink.
Kaido — that arrogant and invincible Beast Kaido — was now pierced by more than a dozen Seastone chains and nailed to the ground. Most of the scales on his Azure Dragon form were broken, one dragon horn was snapped off, and blood had pooled into a dark red puddle beneath him. He was still alive, but every breath carried bloody foam. His eyes were half-open, filled with overwhelming rage and humiliation.
The Roger Pirates' crew members were sitting around in small groups, drinking, eating meat, and playing cards, completely ignoring Kaido. That casual, indifferent attitude was even more humiliating than direct insult.
Kaizer bypassed the square and headed toward the castle hall.
In the hall, Roger sat on the main seat that originally belonged to Kaido, legs crossed, holding a wine jug. Rayleigh stood beside him wiping his long sword. Jabba leaned against the wall yawning. Oden paced back and forth like a trapped beast, his hand constantly on the hilt of his sword.
"Three days have passed." Oden's voice was hoarse like sandpaper. "Linlin's people still haven't come."
"What's the rush." Roger took a sip of wine and grinned. "They will come. Kaido is still useful to Linlin, and… I heard Linlin just gave birth to a son. She probably doesn't want a full-scale war with us."
"But Toki—" Oden's voice choked. "And Hiyori—"
"Calm down, Oden." Rayleigh didn't look up. "If Linlin's people dare to harm them, I will personally tear Totto Land apart. But right now, we need hostages for the exchange."
Kaizer took a deep breath outside the door and pushed it open.
Four pairs of eyes turned to him at the same time.
Roger raised an eyebrow.
Rayleigh's hand moved to his sword hilt.
Jabba stopped yawning.
Oden drew his blade instantly: "It's you—!!!"
The blade slashed toward him, carrying rage and killing intent. Kaizer didn't dodge — because he knew this slash wouldn't hit.
Clang—!
Rayleigh's long sword blocked Oden's dual blades.
"Wait." Roger put down the wine jug and looked at Kaizer with interest. "You're Kaizer? The Marine lieutenant who deserted, Linlin's husband?"
Kaizer nodded: "That's me."
Oden's eyes were bloodshot: "Where are Toki and Hiyori?!"
"Kozuki Toki used the Time-Time Fruit to escape to the future." Kaizer's face remained unchanged. "I couldn't stop her. Hiyori is in my hands, unconscious for now, and temporarily safe."
"You're lying!" Oden roared. "Toki would never abandon me—"
"But that's the truth." Kaizer interrupted him. "If you don't believe it, you can go look for yourself. See if you can travel through time."
Oden froze.
Roger stared at Kaizer for a few seconds, then suddenly burst into laughter: "Hahaha! Interesting! Kid, you've got guts, coming here alone!"
"Negotiation doesn't require many people." Kaizer said calmly. "One person is enough."
"Negotiation?" Oden gritted his teeth. "What qualifications do you have to negotiate?!"
"I have Kaido's life." Kaizer looked at Roger. "And the lives of your crew members — if war breaks out, Totto Land is indeed no match for the Roger Pirates. But I can trade Kaido for Hiyori, then kill myself. You can't kill me, but Kaido will die. Totto Land and the Roger Pirates will become mortal enemies, a fight to the death."
He paused.
"Captain Roger, you have just conquered the Grand Line and are at the peak of your fame. Do you really want to start a war with an undying enemy at this time? Especially when this enemy now has legal status from the World Government — attacking her would be attacking the World Government's face."
The hall fell silent.
Rayleigh narrowed his eyes. Jabba whistled. Oden's hand holding the sword trembled. Roger, however, grinned wider and wider, his smile growing happier.
"Well said." Roger clapped. "Clear logic, solid threats, and you even brought up the World Government. Kid, you were really wasted in the Marines."
He stood up and walked in front of Kaizer — this red-haired man was only a little taller than Kaizer, but the aura he emitted felt like a mountain pressing down.
"But you got one thing wrong." Roger grinned, showing his snow-white teeth. "I, Roger, have never been afraid of any enemy. World Government? Celestial Dragons? Marines? Heh heh…"
His Conqueror's Haki erupted without warning.
It wasn't aimed at Kaizer — it spread indiscriminately. Tables and chairs in the hall instantly shattered. Walls cracked. The ceiling rained down dust. Shouts of alarm came from the square outside, and even Kaido let out a painful groan.
Kaizer gritted his teeth and endured. The Ox Talisman's power surged through his body. Armament Haki covered him completely. Soul Affinity operated at full strength. Only then did he barely avoid fainting.
But his legs were trembling.
This was… the future Pirate King's Haki?
"However—" Roger suddenly withdrew his Haki and patted Kaizer on the shoulder. "You're right. There's no benefit in fighting now. I can release Kaido, and you can have Hiyori back. But there are two conditions."
"…Please state them."
"First, from now on, Totto Land must never set foot in Wano again. The Seastone supply ends here. If any of your ships appear in Wano's waters, I will sink them."
Kaizer nodded: "Acceptable."
"Second." Roger's smile turned dangerous. "I want you to take one slash from me."
Oden suddenly looked up: "Captain!"
Rayleigh also frowned: "Roger, there's no need—"
"There is a need." Roger stared at Kaizer. "This kid just said he can't be killed, can't be trapped, can't be captured. I'm very interested."
He drew the long blade at his waist — not a famous sword, just an ordinary pirate blade, but in his hand it emitted the aura of a Supreme Grade blade.
"Take one slash from me. If you don't die, you take Kaido and leave Hiyori behind. If you die…" Roger grinned. "Then consider yourself unlucky."
The hall fell into deathly silence.
Rayleigh and Oden both looked at Kaizer.
Kaizer was silent for three seconds.
Then, he smiled.
"Fine."
He removed his own blade and threw it on the ground. Armament Haki covered his entire body. The Ox Talisman's power flooded his limbs. Soul Affinity perception was fully open — not to dodge, but to "see."
To see the trajectory of Roger's slash, to see his soul fluctuation, to see the flow of his killing intent.
Roger also smiled.
"Interesting."
He raised his blade.
No flashy starting stance. No power buildup. Not even any killing intent.
Just a simple vertical slash.
But the moment the blade fell, Kaizer "saw" it —
It wasn't one slash.
It was ten thousand slashes.
It was the slash of "principle" that could cut fate, cut space, cut everything.
Impossible to dodge.
Impossible to block.
He could only take it.
Kaizer closed his eyes and concentrated all his power into his arms, crossing them in defense.
The blade fell.
Time seemed to freeze.
Then—
Crack.
Kaizer's arms were severed at the elbows.
The blade's momentum didn't stop, slashing through his chest, abdomen, and legs.
His body was split in half from the middle. Internal organs and blood gushed out.
He was deader than dead.
Oden's eyes widened.
Rayleigh sighed.
Roger sheathed his blade and looked at the two halves of the corpse on the ground, raising an eyebrow: "That's it?"
Before he finished speaking.
The corpse began to disintegrate, turning into black particles that scattered into the air.
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away in Totto Land, in the deepest part of the castle cellar —
The severed arm in Linlin's arms suddenly began to grow.
Bones extended. Muscles wove together. Skin covered it.
In just ten seconds, a complete arm formed.
Then came the shoulder, torso, head, and legs…
Kaizer appeared naked in the secret room, kneeling on one knee, breathing heavily.
[Death Confirmed] [Revival Anchor: Left Arm Tissue] [Respawn Location: Anchor Point Location] [Revival Complete]
He raised his head, looked at Linlin who was holding the severed arm with a dumbfounded expression, and grinned.
"Success."
Then his vision went black, and he fainted.
Linlin was stunned for two seconds, then screamed and lunged forward: "Kaizer! Kaizer! Wake up! Mamama! Doctor! Call the doctor—!!!"
Meanwhile, in the hall on Onigashima, Roger stared at the spot where Kaizer had disappeared. After a long time, he suddenly burst into loud laughter.
"Hahaha! Interesting! So interesting!"
He turned to Rayleigh and said: "Release them. Give Kaido back to Linlin and Hiyori back to Oden."
"Captain?" Rayleigh was puzzled.
"That kid didn't lie." Roger sheathed his blade, his eyes deep. "He really can't be killed. And…"
He looked outside the hall, toward the direction of Totto Land.
"He took one slash from me. Even though he died, he still 'took' it. That's enough."
Oden still wanted to say something, but Roger waved his hand.
"Go bring Hiyori back. Then…" He looked at the barely breathing Kaido in the square. "Heal this stupid dragon and throw him back to his ally."
Rayleigh nodded and turned to leave.
Roger walked to the window and looked out at the sea.
"An undying ability… legal status from the World Government… Linlin's husband…"
He muttered to himself, then smiled.
"A new era is coming."
Sea wind blew across Onigashima, carrying the smell of blood and alcohol.
Meanwhile, in the cellar of Totto Land, Linlin was holding the unconscious Kaizer, crying and laughing at the same time.
"Mamama… idiot… big idiot…"
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