One Piece Emperors New Clothes

By: FunahoMisaki

(A/N: I own nothing and read last chapter)

Kaido merely stared at the paper for a long moment, pausing mid-drink of his sake. Linlin had been defeated. Defeated by someone who they both had considered a rookie even though Kaido had more interest in the boy than Linlin had. After all the boy had possession of the stolen Gum Gum Fruit.

But Linlin had been defeated by that tiny slip of a boy.

It was an impressive feat, Linlin had been someone that Kaido didn't fear but respected and despised in equal measure. After all she had always been stronger than him. She had been the one to rescue him when he had been caught by marines.

She had been the one to give him his Devil Fruit. She had openly admitted she wanted to have plenty of children with the most unique and strongest men she could get ahold of but had never once been interested in having his child.

Linlin couldn't get through his scales like how he couldn't get around her Iron Skin but she had been stronger, smarter, than he was. She had been crafty with a strong will and strong Devil Fruit.

She had lived for decades as a Yonko and remained undefeated and unscratched by any opposition.

And now she was gone. Gone and her territory, her children even, had sworn themselves to the rookie who had defeated her.

Kaido wondered if this brat, this gangly little thing that had managed to bring down Linlin, would be Joy Boy. It looked like he might be.

From the reports he was now listening attentively too, for once, it was sounding like this boy might be the one Kaido had been looking for.

Might be the one to finally let Kaido die in a glorious battle, might finally be the one to kill the Strongest Creature Kaido.

If this small boy of rubber had managed to bring Linlin down, with nothing but his bare fists if the reports were to be believed, then this might be the one to finally take him down as well.

Looking at his subordinates, Kaido noticed how they looked a little nervous but also were reassured of their own strength. They were surprised and nervous about this strong brat who was no longer a rookie and now an Emperor in his own right and who might be coming to Wano next. After all reports said he had to get the rest of his crew who were waiting for them before they went to Wano.

Kaido didn't even know why they were coming to his island when they now had their own expansive empire. Linlin had had plenty of islands after all, each of them filled to the brim with sweets and candies and those other savory treats that she had loved so much. So now that he had all those islands, had that entire army that had once been Linlins, under his control along with Fishman Island why would he come here?

Kaido had a feeling he knew why. The boy was conquering the world and starting with the strongest of the strong so that no one would oppose his rule. That boy, that new Yonko, wanted to be the Pirate King despite Kaido and Linlin having searched for decades and having never found it.

If he hadn't found any hints or clues on Linlin's island, even though Kaido knew she had had at least one or two Poneglyphs in her possession, then it only made sense that he would come for the next Yonko on the list. And Kaido was known to stay in Wano and Wano was a lot closer to Linlin's territory than that island Shanks liked so much or wherever that bastard Blackbeard had squirreled himself away.

Kaido supposed he should be honored. If the brat, the new Yonko, was starting with who he believed to be the strongest and working his way down then that meant that Kaido was right behind Linlin. And even then it was iffy. After all Linlin had apparently stolen one of the little captains crewmates after all and that had been why the boy had even bothered visiting Linlin first.

Kaido wondered how things might have changed had the boy not gone to rescue his crewmate. Had the little captains crewmate never been taken hostage and instead the little Yonko had come straight for Kaido at the start.

Would he have defeated the boy? Or would the world now be reading about the dethroning of the Strongest Creature?

Would it be Linlin in his place, wondering about the boy coming for her next? Or would the boy have gone after Blackbeard next and saved Linlin for third or last?

Not that it mattered. Linlin had apparently done something to piss off the boy from the start and then stolen his crewmate to add insult to injury. And the small Yonko had responded in kind. Responded in a way Kaido himself would have if Linlin had tried that with him (provided it was one of the crewmates Kaido couldn't easily replace like most of them were. Honestly he probably wouldn't even notice unless she took one of the All-Stars or Headliners) and he had been able to somehow get through her Iron Skin.

He wondered how the boy had done it. Linlin was immune to poisons, immune to physical damage from the last he knew, and had once had her entire army of children and subjects under her thumb. And now they were under Straw Hat Luffy's.

"Find my son Yamato." Kaido ordered looking at King, Queen, and Jack who nodded immediately and rushed off to find the wayward son.

If Kaido was going to be killed in battle, at long last, then he wanted to spend some time with his son before the battle started.

He had no illusions on how his son viewed him, knowing very well that his son wanted to free Wano and therefore defeat his father.

But…well…if he was going to die then he wanted to die after having spent some time with his son, hopefully being able to talk his son into there being no hostility for a while.

He had missed his bright energetic and cheerful child from before Wano, the tiny ball of fluff and horns who would curl up on his chest for a nap or ride on his head and gnaw on his horns.

Who would cheerfully call him papa while calling King Uncle King and whose bright smile would never fail to cheer up Kaido and whose happy giggles as she pranked the low ranking masses would always make him smile a little bit.

He wished that his son had never seen Oden and decided to stan the dead man.

But that was the past and there was nothing he could do about it now.

So he would instead focus on the present and spend some time with his son before what could very well be his final fight.