Starting with Kengan beating up the Pirate King

Chapter 100, Fourth Road Sign (where the main text is located)

"Katakuri-nii! There are still some intact houses on Cake Street 3, 6, 7, and 9. Armand-nii is requisitioning them as temporary medical facilities to house the wounded and some homeless residents. We need to mobilize a large number of doctors and medicines from the surrounding area!"

"Katakuri-nii! The Candy Coastline to the southwest has been severely damaged, and seawater is showing signs of backflow. Owen-nii has already gone there, but you may need to go and take a look yourself."

"Katakuri-nii-san! Chocolate Street has been completely destroyed, and the number of victims is probably..."

"Katakuri-nii! Brûlée saved many people with her powers, but now almost all the mirrors on the island are shattered. We need..."

"Katakuri-nii-san, the head chef, Longbread-sama, twisted his back when the castle collapsed..."

"Brother Katakuri!"

On Whole Cake Island, the fighting gradually subsided. But there was still much to be done after the war.

Amidst the calls of his younger siblings, Katakuri was as busy as a spinning top, not only making various arrangements but also calming his panicked younger siblings.

The world has never suffered such destruction, and Big Mom's children have never been in such a state of fear and anxiety.

Under the protection of the Four Emperors, the only thing that could frighten them in the past was their mother.

But today's several unexpected events and numerous battles have almost completely overturned their understanding; the battle at the top of the world is indeed so terrifying.

Not to mention them, even Katakuri felt very heavy-hearted, but he knew he couldn't show it and could only remain calm.

What worried him most was his mother's condition.

After making arrangements for each place, he looked at the open space not far away, where the figure of an old woman, bound by layers of chains, lay asleep.

"Even her breathing has become shallow. Mom has never been this weak. I don't know when she will wake up... Damn it, what did the World Government do to Mom to make her go to such a state?!"

Fortunately, not long after the mother went berserk, the man subdued her with almost no injury.

His gaze shifted to the other side, where Guan Yi was sitting cross-legged on the ground, having Robin bandage his wounds.

The fact that the world has been spared today is almost entirely due to this man's awe-inspiring performance.

He instantly destroyed the Nightmare Buster Call, which consisted of ten warships; severely injured and repelled Marine Admiral Kizaru; annihilated three members of the Knights of God; single-handedly confronted Shamrock, the leader of the Knights of God, and Commander-in-Chief Gringus; killed Shamrock and frightened Gringus away; and stopped his rampaging mother...

Each of these items, taken individually, would shock the world, yet one person completed them one by one in just a few hours!
Katakuri was unaware that Kaneki had once faced Im, the mastermind behind the World Government, but what he knew was enough to inspire his heartfelt respect for the man before him.

Despite being the youngest and least experienced man, after this incident, the World Government's vigilance and hostility towards him will likely far exceed that towards Mom and Kaido. Within the Three Emperors Alliance, he will also gain a greater degree of dominance.

—If Mom doesn't wake up and recover quickly, we will lose most of our say in the alliance, and may even be on the verge of being eliminated.

Katakuri didn't care about those things, or about the One Piece ruling the world, but that was his mother's dream, and Tales Kingdom had been destroyed for it to be what it is today. If he were to be eliminated like this, all the calamities Tales Kingdom had suffered today would have been in vain.

'If Mom doesn't wake up soon, the Big Mom Pirates will probably gravitate more towards this man, and might even be driven by him...'

This war made Katakuri realize that his strength was not enough to protect his younger siblings; he needed to become stronger!
And... just as Katakuri was sorting through his somewhat chaotic thoughts, Pudding ran over quickly, calling out anxiously, "Katakuri-nii-san! Cook is missing!"

"……What?!"

Not far away, Guan Yi also frowned and looked up.

Cook, that's Ye Huohuo's alias!
A few minutes later, beneath the messy, collapsed cake castle, Guan Yi and Katakuri listened to the report from Big Mom's soul creation, the Homies.

"After Mom and that red-haired man started fighting, Lord Cook hid in our workshop and went into hiding with us."

"When the cake castle collapsed, the head chef stepped forward and used his powers to transform the cake castle into real cream to protect us..."

"But we don't know what happened, we suddenly lost consciousness for a while."

"Yes, when we woke up we were lying in cream, and Lord Cook, who was originally among us, was nowhere to be found!"

Guan Yi and Katakuri are both people who have used Observation Haki to its fullest extent, but even with Guan Yi's maximized perception, he could not find any trace of Ye Huohuo, not even the route he was taken away.

Did Im make it himself?

After leaving me, she didn't go straight back to the Holy Land, but instead came here.
As for why...

'Could Im sense everyone's hometown? So, after discovering that Ye Huohuo, like me, had no hometown, he took him away?'

Guan Yi was somewhat troubled. If that was the case, it would be almost impossible to rescue Ye Huohuo from the Holy Land and from under Im's nose.

Just then, his Observation Haki detected a powerful aura rapidly approaching in the distant sky, and he looked on in silence.

"You've come to nurse the dead child." A blue dragon appears and disappears in the clouds.

Kaido is finally back!

……

"what--!!"

The Holy Land, deep within Mary Geoise.

Amidst the tranquil, sacred flowers, a piercing scream echoed.

The scream came from Grimm, the commander-in-chief of the Knights of God, who had fled in panic. He was shrouded in eerie will-o'-the-wisps and was rolling on the ground.

The flames had no temperature, were extremely cold, yet they corroded the soul and eroded the bones, making it unbearable. Under such burning, the Ancient Saint Grimm quickly transformed into a near-skeletal form, constantly wailing in agony.

"Lord Im!"

"Lord Im! Please have mercy on me!"

"Give me another chance! Give me another chance! I'll kill him!"

Beside the tumbling Grimm, the Five Elders knelt before Im, who sat high on the throne, feeling a sense of shared sorrow, yet dared not utter a single word in Grimm's defense.

They could sense that Lord Im was filled with anger that had not been seen for decades!
Finally, the black fire died down. The Ancient Saint Grimm lay there almost as a 'wreck,' but he still had a barely perceptible breath.

Im's cold voice echoed.

"this is the last time."

"M's world... is not yet complete. The flames of this rebellious world must be extinguished."

The Five Elders finally dared to look up at Im.

"Yes, Lord Im!"

“Elbaf.” Im slowly uttered the name of the giant kingdom of Elbaf: “Their target is there, where the fourth Road Poneglyph is located. Let…the battle take place there, and extinguish…their lights.”

"Yes!" The Five Elders accepted the order and left.

Elbaf? The Five Elders didn't know how Im knew the enemy's target, but what Lord Im ordered must be correct.

It seems that this is the place of the final battle. We must gather all available forces to kill Kaido, Charlotte Linlin, and especially that Flame Tiger Ian. We didn't take him seriously at first, but now he seems to be a formidable enemy of the World Government, comparable to Rocks!
This time, we have to succeed!

……

"Elbaf?" Guan Yi heard the name of this place from Kaido while walking with him on Whole Cake Island, which was gradually returning to order and beginning reconstruction. It seemed to make sense.

"Has the location of the fourth road sign's historical text been confirmed in Elbaf?"

"It's not entirely certain, but a 50% probability is enough, isn't it?"

Kaido said, "Linlin and I haven't been idle all these years. We've had a few suspects and targets for some time now. We've eliminated the other targets, and the last one left is Elbaf!"

Only there, the conditions are met for a place inaccessible to ordinary people to bury the fourth historical marker. Even Rocks and Roger both set foot on Elbaf's soil multiple times!

As they spoke, the two arrived at the area on Whole Cake Island where Guan Yi had fought Kizaru, Im, and Grimm, and where the island had suffered the most damage.

Kaido gazed at the desolate land scorched by flames and laughed loudly, "Wow, wow, wow... You're really something, kid. A year ago you were just a guy who could only run away from me in a panic, but now you have such power!"

You saw that monster, right? Come with me to Elbaf, let's get the last Poneglyph!

That monster is unkillable. Only by obtaining the four Road Poneglyphs, finding Laugh Tale, and discovering the One Piece can we perhaps gain the power to kill it.

It doesn't matter if Lingling is unconscious. She has an old grudge against the giants, and going to Elbaf might bring unnecessary trouble. Just the two of us, with a few elite soldiers, will be enough!

Going to Elbaf?

Guan thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "No, let's not go there yet."

"……Um?"

"Kaido, tell me first, how did you get these injuries?"

(End of this chapter)