“What the hell, Miko?!”

Kaido’s shout caused his house to vibrate. Let’s go back five minutes to see the cause of his outburst. It was a normal morning in the Kaido household. Kaido was sitting in the living room reading a manga called Baki with interest.

“Hm…I think I would love to test my strength against fighters like these. They seem fun to fight.”

It was while he was relaxing he heard his doorbell. He looked at time and immediately knew who was at the door. He stood up and made his way to the door.

“….Is it strange that I know what time he normally comes here?....It’s better to not think about it too much.”

He opened the door and as he expected, Miko was at the door.

“Yo, Kaido. We’ve come to visit.”

“Yeah, Yeah. Come in.”

Kaido gestured Miko to come in and watched as he and his group entered the house.

“Huh?”

It was after they entered the house that he realized that something was off….The number of people was far above the usual.

“?!”

When he took a second look Kaido saw some familiar faces that shouldn’t be in this country.

“Yo, Kaido.”

Ace waved at Kaido with a smile on his face. Kaido looked him and the others with shock before getting enraged and shouted.

“What the hell, Miko?!”

He poked Miko’s chest.

“I didn’t hear anything about them being here which means that you snuck them in! Do you know that this could be seen as preparation to attack the country from the inside?!”

“I know.”

“Then why did you do it?”

“Because I didn’t want the Pillars to be aware of my movements, so I brought them in secret.”

“In secret? And yet you came here? They’ll definitely know now.”

“I doubt it. I have my ways.”

“You have your-?”

Kaido paused and he slowly realized something.

“Wait….How were you able to bring them here without Bloom knowing in first place?”

“Like I said, I have my ways.”

Kaido looked at the smiling Miko and then sighed.

*BAM!*

He suddenly punched Miko in the stomach and forced him outside of the house. Kaido ignored everyone’s shocked reaction and stepped out of the house.

“Ah~. It happened just as Miko said it would.”

Luka placed her hand on her waist with an exhausted expression.

“So what do we do now? Try to break them up?”

Tessa asked.

“Nah. Miko should know what he’s doing.”

Momo said. She turned and her eyes widen. She pushed Tessa out of the way and formed a spell circle to defend an attack. The attacker was using a rapier and was someone very familiar to Momo.

“Calm down, Hana! You’re not under attack!”

“Momo?”

Hana leaped back with her rapier in her hand and looked around vigilantly.

“Are these people with you?”

“They are. They’re Miko’s apostles and family.”

Hana raised her rapier with a cold look on her face.

“What’s happening right now?”

“….Well, Kaido and Miko are having a small disagreement but it’s nothing serious. If you wait you’ll see that it’ll be resolved.”

“…..Fine. Because of the time we’ve spent I’ll give you time. However, I’ve already request backup. So your time is limited.”

“I understand.”

Hana brought her rapier down.

“If I sense that you’re enemies I’ll move to kill, got it?”

Momo nodded. Meanwhile, Miko was laid out flat on the ground.

“That hurt more than I expected.”

He sat up after hearing footsteps and saw Kaido walking towards him.

“You know why it came to this right?”

Kaido asked with a serious look on his face.

“Of course.”

“Then I’ll just ask you once. What are you planning, Miko?”

Miko started laughing and then jumped to his feet.

“You know Kaido, I’ve just realized that despite knowing each other for a while we’ve never had a fight.”

“Miko, don’t do this.”

Miko started grinning and spread his arms.

“You want to know what I’m planning right? You want to know if I’m friend or foe don’t you? Then you’ll have to beat it out of me, Kaido Khan.”

“Hey, this wasn’t what he said would happen.”

Sora spoke with an anxious tone.

“That idiot.”

Luka started frowning.

“….Looks like there’s nothing to worry about.”

Hana sheathed her rapier with a smile on her face.

“Miko is just teasing Kaido like he usually does.”

(Hana is sensitive to the emotions of others. She probably attacked Tessa earlier because she sensed hostility from her when Miko was attacked. The fact that she disarmed herself means that she sensed no hostility from Miko. This works in our favor.)

Momo thought.

“Tsk. Looks like there’s no reasoning with you.”

“There isn’t.”

“Don’t come crying to me later!”

Kaido charged forward and threw a punch at Miko’s chest. Miko lifted his arm and blocked the punch while stepping back.

“?!”

He was shocked when his feet was forced off the ground and he was blown back. He twisted his body in the air and landed with his arm dangling at his side.

“I stepped back to reduced the force of impact, but I was still blown away.”

He lifted his dangling arm with his other hand.

“It’ll be hard to use this now.”

He smiled and looked up at Kaido. The moment Miko saw Kaido’s face, his eyes widen and then narrowed and had a sharp glare a few seconds later. Kaido didn’t notice the change in Miko’s expression and moved towards him again. He clenched his fist and threw another punch, this time aiming for his face.

*Bam!*

A dull sound resounded as Kaido’s fist smashed into Miko’s face. Miko’s body bounced off the asphalt and few times before rolling for nearly 10 seconds before stopping. When this happened everyone was frozen in shock, this included Kaido himself.

“Did he…?”

“Yeah…I think he did.”

Kaido looked at Miko with shock before mumbling.

“Why didn’t he dodge? He had enough time to dodge or even counter…Instead, he took the hit without defending himself.”

“…….”

Miko silently sat up with a bloody face.

“Mi-”

“Kaido, What the hell was that?”

“What?”

Miko suddenly started gritting his teeth.

“I SAID WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!”

His shout shook the area and caused everyone to flinch. He sprung to his feet and glared at Kaido with hateful eyes.

“You…Just now…What was that look on your face?”

Miko remembered when he looked at Kaido’s face after getting punch. What he saw was worry and concern.

“You didn’t even hit me with all of your strength and yet you’re worried about me? Who the fuck do you think you are?”

An oppressive and dark aura started leaking from Miko’s body. His fingernails turned into black claws and his feet turned into fangs. His bright blue eyes darken and seemed to reflect a bottomless abyss.

“The thing I hate the most is being underestimated by people, especially those I respect.”

His arm that was dangling to the side became lively again as he clenched his fist tightly.

“Don’t fuck with me, you brat. I’ll fucking slaughter you and everyone in this goddamn country!”

Hana suddenly redrew her rapier in a rush. Her hand was shaking and her body was covered in cold sweat.

“W-What is that….I’ve never felt such powerful bloodlust.”

She mumbled.

“This is bad.”

Momo moved to step between Miko and Kaido but before she could-

“What’s going on here?”

She saw Jin and Sapphire appear nearby. When she saw them Hana’s face brighten up. Jin looked around and paused at Luka and others before looking at Miko.

“I said what’s going on here, Miko?”

Miko slowly turned his head and looked at Jin.

“Who the fuck are you talking to? Do I look like one of your lackeys? Show respect when you utter my name.”

Jin was taken aback. Not by Miko’s tone but the intense hostility that he felt from him.

“Miko.”

Momo drew his attention.

“That’s enough. Remember what you’re here for.”

Miko looked at her in silence before sighing. His features returned to normal and the oppressive aura surrounding him disappeared.

“Forget it.”

Miko looked at Jin.

“Tell Bloom that I want to meet her later tonight. It’s very important.”

After saying that he started walking away.

“Wait. Explain why did you sneak your Apostles in this country.”

Miko stopped and spoke with it looking back.

“Just to be clear, Jin. I’m not afraid of you nor do I care about how far you’re willing to go for Bloom. So don’t push your luck. If any of you believe that I’m a threat to your queen, then come at me; I’ll take you all on, I don’t care who. Other than that, thank the heavens that I haven’t decided to burn this place to ground and reduce you all to ash.”

He turned around and showed Jin a devious smile.

“Because trust me, brats. Miko’s more than capable of doing it.”

After saying that, he continued to walk away.

“Wait, Miko. Why did you come here first before telling Bloom that you brought your apostles?”

Kaido shouted at Miko’s back but he got no reply. Miko continued to walk away unbothered.

“He wanted give you warning as a friend.”

Hina said.

“A warning? About what?”

“Miko believes that the Pillars will soon make their move and you’ll be their first target. He wanted to help you out by letting you know as soon as possible but….”

Hina looked at the departing Miko.

“You seriously pissed him off so I don’t know if he still plans on doing it. So I’m doing it in his stead.”

“I see….Tell him thanks for me.”

Hina nodded.

“Hey, don’t be sad.”

Ace wrapped his arm around Kaido’s shoulder in a friendly manner.

“While it’s true that I haven’t seen Miko that pissed in a while, it’s not like you did anything wrong. Miko wanted to mess around a bit and your egos just clashed for a bit. That’s all. Don’t take it to heart.”

Ace stepped away and waved at him.

“Well, the Boss is pissed and it’s our job to calm him down so we got to go.”

Everyone left together leaving Jin and Kaido’s group behind.

“What was that all about?”

Jin asked Hana.

“I…I have no idea.”

“Hm?”

“What’s wrong, Kaido?”

Sapphire asked after seeing Kaido looking at a piece of paper.

“….It’s nothing.”

(Was that alright? Didn’t you go to help him?)

Tia talked to Miko in his head while he walked alone.

“It’s being taken care off.”

(And your rift with Jin Makoto? Was it okay to provoke him?)

“Jin is the least of my problems. My mind is completely focus on my conversation with Bloom later.”

(Depending on how it goes you might have to go to war right?)

“I’m going to war regardless. It’s just that who I’m fighting haven’t been decided yet.”

(Are you sure about this?)

“….No, but I believe that it must be done.”

Miko walked in silence for a while before Tia finally spoke again.

“You sure love walking the thorny path, don’t you.”

Miko smiled when he heard her.

“It’s only path I know after all.”