The skies above the ocean turned dark without warning. Storm clouds gathered, and loud thunder echoed across the sea. The Whitebeard Pirates aboard the Moby Dick looked up in shock.
Well, only a few were in shock who didn't possess strong enough Observation Haki. Otherwise, almost every captain-level person on the ship had long detected the reason behind this phenomenon.
A massive dragon was flying above them. It was Kaido, one of the strongest creatures in the world. His long blue body twisted through the clouds, and his eyes burned with fury.
"Whitebeard!" Kaido roared, his voice shaking the sky. "One of your brats killed Jack! I need settlement for this debt!"
"Gurarararar... Since when do I, Whitebeard, have to give you, dragon brat, an account? My sons could do anything they want to. If you have grievances, then teach those chilly beasts of yours to run away when they see one of mine. Gurarara..." Whitebeard was, well, Whitebeard. This man wasn't afraid of anything.
The man who marched on Marineford to save one of his own in the times of his failing body couldn't show a hint of hesitation now to support his sons, even though Yuta wasn't, in anything, let alone in his own territory while his body was completely healed.
Kaido didn't like the response, as usual, and without waiting, he opened his mouth and blasted a giant beam of fire straight down at the Moby Dick.
The smile never ceased to leave the Oldbeard's face as the old man gave a loud stomp, raised his bisento, and shouted, "Gurarara! You picked the wrong day, Kaido!"
He slammed his weapon down, cracking the air itself. The shockwave split the sky in half, smashing into Kaido's fire blast and stopping it completely.
Kaido dropped down from the sky and returned to his human form mid-air, landing on the deck with a thunderous crash. The ship rocked, but Whitebeard didn't move.
Marco and the others hurriedly backed off. This wasn't a fight they could watch casually, let alone take part in.
Whitebeard coated his bisento in Armament Haki, making it shine dark. Then their weapons clashed.
A massive burst of Conqueror's Haki exploded from their clash, splitting the ocean waves and shaking nearby ships. Much like what both Whitebeard and Shanks did in their exchange before the war, this time the sky was split apart by just their Conqueror's Haki alone.
Kaido turned into his hybrid form and used his dragon strength to slam Whitebeard across the ship, but Whitebeard planted his feet, wiped the blood from his face, and punched the air, sending a quake straight through Kaido's body.
Kaido gasped as he felt his ribs almost crack. And even if they did, he couldn't say much since by the time he pondered over it, his monstrous body would have healed the damage.
Kaido roared in rage and flew back into the air, breathing fire again. Whitebeard slammed another shockwave upward, hitting Kaido directly and sending him spinning through the sky.
Though not usual, this kind of thing was still the norm regarding Kaido. He sometimes wished to die and went out to challenge strong people like Whitebeard. Kaido had attacked Marineford alone multiple times and had been defeated too. However, none was able to kill him. He always got away.
Whitebeard, though strong enough to subdue this raging beast, still couldn't kill him. Perhaps in his prime, he could have. He was incredibly strong back then. However, now his strength had suffered much.
Bruised and angry, Kaido had to fly off after a long fight. He once again had his fill with getting his bones shocked to the core. So once he had calmed down a little, Kaido decided to retreat. Much of his earlier crescendo wasn't exactly for Jack's demise but rather his own unending pursuit of death.
However, that didn't mean Kaido wasn't planning on avenging Jack. Coming to Whitebeard was just a spur-of-the-moment thing for him. Now that he was thinking straight, he planned to go after the person who was really responsible for Jack's death.
Whitebeard just watched the sky with a proud smirk, seeing Kaido fly away until he noticed the direction the dragon brat was flying off to.
"Marco... where are Ace and that brat Yuta right now?" he asked, with a little worry finally filling into his voice.
"AH, they should be around Dressrosa, perhaps Zou! Why?"
"Is that in that direction?"
Marco looked at the leaving Kaido and immediately had a bad feeling.
"Bring me Ace's Den Den Mushi," Whitebeard pursed his lips and said. He could pursue Kaido; however, there was no way he could catch up to him.
They had to warn Ace and Yuta first.
---
[Zou]
'Kozuki...'
'Kozuki'
'Man, I could swear I have heard this word before...'
As Momonosuke revealed his full name—Kozuki Momonosuke—Yuta felt a strange pull in his memory. That name, Kozuki, sounded familiar.
He detached himself from the talk happening in front of him and went into memory lane until something finally clicked inside his head.
'Motherfuc...
'I mean Granny... granny'
It was his grandmother's surname.
Yuta's eyes widened in surprise. He quickly reached into his dimensional storage and hastily started to search around. He pulled out a set of old files and papers he had once taken from his grandmother's belongings. It wasn't just hers but his own papers as well.
He might have looked like a poor teenager like every other teenager ever, but he really wasn't. He was rich, really rich. All the works he introduced from his previous world in the MHA world were enough to earn him millions.
It's just that he didn't have access to his own damn money until he came of age. He only got a reasonable pocket money as allowance from that fund and business.
Everyone in the room turned to look at him, puzzled by his sudden actions.
"What are you doing?" Maki asked, clearly confused.
Yuta flipped through the papers urgently. After a few seconds, he found what he was looking for. He held up one of the papers. "Look here," he said, pointing to a name written on the document. It read: Kozuki.
"That's my grandmother's name," Yuta said, his voice slightly shaken. How come in all this time he didn't relate to this matter?
He knew the reason, actually, because he hardly read all the manga with enough attention to know all these small things by heart.
He opened another file and showed them the front page. It had the name of a company: Kozuki Enterprise. The company is responsible for handling his works and money. He believed them since it was his Granny's company. There was proper paperwork done to ensure that he wasn't being thieved behind his back, so no worries there.
With all this money, one might wonder why Yuta himself wasn't given the Kozuki name? That only his Granny knew. She never properly adopted him. Rather, just took him in and raised him, but not a proper adoption.
There was definitely a story to that now Yuta thought about it.
'Damn it, I have to look into it once I go back.'
Back to this issue though, if the name similarities were just a coincidence, then how come the crest of both the clans are exactly the same? An image of a swan in a circle raising its wings around the circle.
The room went silent. The others leaned in to get a better look, especially those who recognized the name. Then someone noticed the crest printed in the corner of the page. It was the exact same crest used by the Kozuki clan of Wano.
Momonosuke took a step forward, stunned. "This… this is our family's crest. How does your grandmother have this?"
Everyone looked at Yuta with questions in their eyes. Even he didn't have the answers.
"I don't know," Yuta said, honestly. "She never told me anything about this. I thought she was just a normal businesswoman."
The information left everyone confused. Maki looked at Yuta with even more amazement since she was the only one who knew this wasn't even his world, wondering what this could mean.
Was his grandmother also a world traveler like him? Runs in the family? But wasn't he adopted?
"What was your grandmother's name?" Finally, Momonosuke asked.
"Ah... well, most of my life I called her Granny, but I believe it was Toki.
Kozuki Toki."
This brought another round of silence in the room. However, this silence was a little bit more exaggerated by the faces Momonosuke, Raizo, and Inuarashi were making.
They knew something. Yuta could tell.