One Piece: The Legend of Beasts

"Mr. Kaido, everything has been set up according to your instructions... Please accept my condolences."

"...Well, I'll stay here for a while, you guys go back first."

As Kaido responded nonchalantly, the pirate in charge of the construction work on the island standing in front of him bowed respectfully to him. Just as he was about to say something else, he looked up and occasionally caught a glimpse of the young man's wooden face, so he swallowed the words that were about to come out of his mouth, and called on his subordinates to pass by Kaido one after another, walking down the gentle slope in an orderly manner, as if they were afraid of touching his reverse scale. No one dared to look back at him again, and their backs gradually turned into black dots and soon disappeared without a trace.

Not far in front of Kaido, on a square and wide stone platform, five black tombstones stood in a row. The ground around the tombstones was filled with weapons of varying lengths. The gray sky made it even more desolate.

Kaido's empty eyes swept over the names engraved on the tombstone one by one. His heart felt as if it was being pressed down by countless heavy lead blocks, so depressing that it almost suffocated him.

In an instant, anger, sadness, regret, resentment...all the negative emotions in the world seemed to be concentrated on him at this moment, swallowing him up in an instant.

Pearl-like drops of water fell drop by drop at the young man's feet, leaving puddles of water on the ground. It was unclear whether they were raindrops falling from the sky or tears in his eyes.

"It was so hard for me to find it. I ran to this place where almost no one cares so early in the morning."

Hearing the most familiar voice in the past six years, Kaido turned his head slowly and saw Lingling walking towards him with one hand on her waist. Zeus, who had just recovered from washing three days ago, floated slowly behind her. His soft body was piled with layers of snacks, and from a distance it looked like a crumbling tower. Although the pitiful look on his face was already beyond words, he still carefully maintained his balance to avoid shaking the food off his body.

"Did you choose this time to come here on purpose?"

Kaido asked in his usual cold voice. He seemed to be acting deliberately, but every time he spoke, his facial muscles would tremble slightly, and his heart was like a stormy sea and he could not remain calm.

Lingling seemed to be deliberately unaware of this. She chose an empty and flat place to sit down, staring at Kaido's face, which was even more empty and numb than his eyes. She took two cream cakes from Leiyun, who had to carry food for her, and swallowed one of them without mercy. With her other hand, she gently grasped the cake and handed it to the young man, asking casually, "Do you want to eat?"

The cake looked golden, and the milky aroma gradually spread in the air, making even those who were not used to eating desserts salivate. However, Kaido did not even reach out to take it, and did not even look at it, as if the cake had never existed.

"Oh, that's really unpleasant!"

Lingling glanced at him unhappily, and swallowed the cake in one gulp. While chewing, she glanced at the tombstones that had just been built. Suddenly, she felt an indescribable feeling in her heart, as if she was mourning the deceased. She took another bottle of beer from Zeus, gulped it down, and sighed from the bottom of her heart: "I had thought about going to their tavern to have a good meal when I came back this time, but I left first. It's so irresponsible..."

As she spoke, her eyes inadvertently revealed a trace of sadness, recalling that she had promised to accept Capona and others as official subordinates, but now it would never be realized...

"And that kid who always keeps himself locked up in the studio..."

Lingling fixed her eyes on the fifth tombstone from left to right, and a bitter smile slowly emerged on her face. "To be honest, I was quite happy when I learned that you became an official. Thinking back to how much you have taken care of me over the years, this meal is the farewell gift I prepared for you!"

Before piling half of the snacks she brought on the tombstone, Lingling wiped the sweat from her forehead. She inadvertently glanced at Kaido's body standing still like a puppet, and felt angry. She said coldly: "You don't seem to be feeling well today."

Kaido did not answer, but just raised his dull eyes and looked up at the sky.

Seeing that he was still indifferent, Lingling felt a surge of anger in her heart. She stood up suddenly, grabbed his collar without saying anything, gnashed her teeth and stared at the depressed man, shouting: "The dead cannot be resurrected! How long are you going to put on this stinky face? Where did the energy you had in lecturing the little girl go?!"

Lingling's almost deafening voice frightened Zeus who was standing beside him so much that he couldn't stop shaking, and the food on his back began to shake violently and almost fell off. But Kaido was not moved at all, and slowly moved his lifeless eyes to the woman's face, staring at the face that was distorted by extreme anger, as if he was just looking at a stranger who had nothing to do with him.

The strong wind blew across the desolate hillside, stirring up a cloud of sand, but it could never blow away the loneliness hidden deep in his heart.

He didn't know how much time had passed before he managed to squeeze out a few words from between his teeth: "Once that guy realizes my true feelings, I'm sure his injuries will get worse rapidly, right?"

"Since you think so, you should cheer me up!"

"Did you forget something...?"

Lingling was puzzled by the young man's sudden words. Just as she was about to ask more questions, Kaido's voice, like a machine, rang in her ears again, "The fool who suggested that she stay on the island that day and naively thought that Beehive Island would be peaceful from then on, was me who happened to be outside and escaped by luck!!"

When he said this, Lingling's expression suddenly turned ugly, and the look she gave the other person became much more complicated.

Kaido seemed not to notice the change in her expression, and muttered to himself, "If I had brought her and Uno with me... No! If I had stayed to guard Beehive Island! Maybe I could have prevented those tragedies from happening, and Uno and the others would have..."

With a "bang", before he could finish his words, he was hit hard in the face and fell to the ground with his body spinning.

"Mom! You are..."

Zeus couldn't help but shout when he suddenly saw this scene. He was about to step forward and say something, but when he saw Lingling's face covered with a layer of frost, he was so scared that he swallowed back the words he had prepared.

Although they have been together for six years, it was not until now that Kaido truly realized Linlin's innate super strength.

With the help of anger, her strength can be further enhanced. Kaido's right cheek, which is as red and swollen as a tomato and extremely painful, is the best evidence of this.

"...You really take yourself seriously...Don't make me laugh...Don't you consider your own worth first..."

Lingling retracted her fist and looked down at the young man who was lying on the ground groaning. Her cold eyes shot into his chest like two sharp swords, and powerful words came out of her mouth, "Do you think you are the only one who feels bad?! We who left the island with you are the same! No one can accept the reality before their eyes! Rocks has been standing in the skull since that day and has never moved! Long Bread hid in his room and cried loudly, and even fell seriously ill because of this, so you haven't seen him during this period!"

The woman's almost exhausted roar was like a huge hammer, hitting Kaido's forehead hard, causing his pupils to shrink suddenly and violently, and he sorted out the information received from his brain with an incredible look on his face.

Kaido is more likely to empathize with Longbread's experience than Rocks, who knows nothing about his past. To the man who has been wandering on the sea for many years, Chloe, who is also good at cooking and considerate, is like his daughter.

Now that he knew that she had been killed by the enemy and even her body was nowhere to be found, one can imagine the pain in that man's heart.

"As for the specific situation on the island that day, we can only get some rough information from the survivors. But since the opponent was able to defeat that girl easily, it means that you are not an opponent you can handle now! Even if you stay on the island, you will just be one more corpse!"

Lingling bent down slightly, staring intently at his wavering eyes, and said word by word, "Instead of running here to regret, you might as well help us find the whereabouts of that group of people, and then defeat them all without leaving a single one alive! So!"

At this point, she grabbed another piece of cake from Zeus and thrust it forward, almost touching Kaido's mouth, and shouted in an imperative tone: "If you are ready to fight the enemy to the death, quickly swallow this piece of cake without leaving any! I have never been so kind before!"

Linlin's words made Kaido wake up as if he had been enlightened. Thinking of Seorizu who was currently lying in bed and unable to walk, he quickly realized the responsibility he should shoulder. The confusion in his eyes gradually disappeared, and his fists couldn't help but clenched until they made a clattering sound.

——It’s really embarrassing that I would feel depressed because of something like that. If that guy knew what happened just now, I’m afraid I would be too embarrassed to face anyone in the future…

A burst of fragrant aroma pulled Kaido back from his brief thoughts. It was only then that he noticed the cake close to him. Because Lingling unconsciously increased the strength in her hands while talking, the cake was slightly deformed. But for Kaido, who had not eaten for a whole day and was starving, he could not care so much. He swallowed his saliva and slowly opened his mouth to bite the cake.

"Buru bulu~"

The sudden ringing of Den Den Mushi startled Kaido, and he suddenly leaned forward and fell on the cake. In an instant, the cream splashed everywhere, and the two behemoths fell to the ground one after the other, mixed with two screams.

"Asshole! What are you doing all of a sudden?!"

Lingling cursed and pushed away the young man who was burying his head in her sensitive parts. She didn't care about the large amount of cream on her skirt and quickly took out the Den Den Mushi from her coat. She was about to vent her anger into the microphone. Just as she answered the phone, the wild laughter from the other side startled Lingling and Kaido.

“Hahahaha! It seems like I’m not looking for the right time! Never mind that for now. Just listen carefully and gather in the hall immediately! I have something extremely important to discuss with all of you cadres!”