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BOOM!!
After completing a full combo, Rowen spun with thunder swirling around him, bringing his final kick crashing down from the sky.
With an ear-splitting explosion, his heel dropped like Tekkai-reinforced steel onto Kaido's crown. A crisp, cracking sound followed. The moment his knees buckled, they smashed hard into the ground, sending up a thick cloud of dust.
Kaido's remaining right eye widened in disbelief, staring blankly into the void ahead, his twisted expression filled with rage and denial.
"Impossible!"
"I... I, Kaido the Great…"
"Am actually about to lose?!"
The title of "strongest in a duel" had become something Kaido himself was addicted to, because it had always been true. Even at his peak, Whitebeard would've had a rough time going head-to-head with him.
Kaido always believed that only Whitebeard at his prime, that peerless legend who stood among the "Three Great Legends," was worthy of a true fight to the death.
But now…?
Rowen's attacks were vicious and precise, every strike aimed at the vital points on his head. Not once did he go for the arms, torso, or legs, not even for convenience.
In humanoid form, Kaido had no gaps or weaknesses like in his Azure Dragon form. So why waste effort hitting non-lethal spots?
Every move, every strike from Rowen hit only critical areas!
The repeated blows caused severe brain trauma, his limbs went numb and powerless, and the electrical surges in his body destroyed his nerve endings. Several times, the paralysis effect had prevented him from even reacting.
"Guh… WAAARGHH!!"
At that moment, Kaido's throat went tight, and his head slumped forward as he coughed out a pool of dark blood. His nose burned, and both snot and bile spilled uncontrollably from his mouth.
This sickening, unbearable feeling reminded him of when he was a scrawny little brat.
He remembered being caught stealing, getting kicked in the stomach, writhing in pain, and vomiting from the gut-wrenching agony.
He couldn't understand it then, but now, he had no choice but to accept a terrifying truth:
"If this fight goes on… I'll die!!"
The third-stage Awakening of the Goro Goro no Mi (Thunder-Thunder Fruit) combined with Rowen's world-class martial arts made his offensive power more lethal than even Whitebeard in Kaido's memory!
And only Kaido himself knew the truth: Was it really impossible for the Marines to execute him?
The answer was no.
Those public displays of execution were just a formality. Sure, he was as tough as steel and didn't need to consciously defend himself to survive most things.
But if hit again and again, focusing damage on specific points, he could still be beaten to death.
Normally, before that could happen, his Zoan Awakening would kick in. He'd slowly recover stamina, gather strength, and then escape using the mobility of his Azure Dragon fruit.
Unless they locked him down in a prison made from hundreds of tons of Seastone, regular Seastone cuffs and bindings couldn't hold him. He could even rip the walls down with them still on.
That's why the Marines resorted to executions.
Now, Rowen had reached that same tier.
Even while shackled with Seastone, he was still terrifying. Years of high-intensity training had given their bodies exceptional resistance, and their unshakable will let them push past physical limits with sheer determination.
As this thought struck him, Kaido's heart trembled.
"I have to, "
BOOM!!!
Before the idea could even fully form, another devastating blow landed on the back of his head, causing Kaido's eyes to roll white as his forehead was smashed straight into the rock layer.
The ocean floor here had already been completely obliterated by Rowen's rampage. The shockwaves had shattered the seabed, what used to be a trench just a few kilometers deep, and in some parts only a few hundred meters, was now utterly destroyed.
What remained was a massive crater, like an aerolite impact site carved into the sea!
This pit sank hundreds of meters deeper than the rest of the seabed, a cataclysmic scene.
"You're... exhausted, Kaido." A voice like thunder spoke softly in Kaido's ear.
The Thunder Giant opened his mouth as he spoke. With one hand, Rowen grabbed Kaido's hair, yanking his head back.
Then he crouched down beside him, face expressionless, and said coldly:
"This is what war truly is!"
"A life-or-death war!"
"More uncontrollable than firebombs dropped on a dried-out prairie, more terrifying than a wildfire, it never stops… this is WAR!"
"So tell me, Kaido, what exactly were you thinking just now?"
Hearing that, Kaido instinctively opened his mouth.
"I…"
BOOM!!!
"Sorry. I'm not interested in hearing it."
Dragging Kaido by the hair, Rowen slammed his head into the ground. With ruthless force, he lifted him again, then slammed him down. Then again. And again.
RIP…
Strands of hair were torn out by the roots, taking chunks of bloody scalp with them.
Blood sprayed across his face, but Rowen didn't even flinch. The lightning and flame crackling around him instantly seared the blood, while his fingers dug into Kaido's flesh, pushing deeper,
BAM!! BAM!! BAM!!
Kaido screamed in pain, his madness rising, but by now, the paralysis effect from Rowen's lightning had reached a critical threshold. His arms convulsed like someone with epilepsy. No matter how many times he tried, he couldn't even grab the hem of Rowen's coat.
"Man… your skull's really hard. No matter how much I smash it, it just won't break!"
Rowen smashed Kaido over a hundred times in a row. Though Kaido's flesh was torn, and his nasal bones shattered, he still wasn't dead, only severely weakened.
Thinking for a moment, Rowen grabbed Kaido with his right hand, then raised his left hand toward the ground.
"Maybe the ground wasn't hard enough. But that's okay… I've got something better for you."
Shhhht, WHIRRRR!!
With a metallic whir, dozens of thin white needles popped out from Rowen's arm and shot into the ground, forming a reinforced 'cutting board'.
Seeing the distinct gray sheen, Kaido's swollen eye twitched. His pupils shrank in horror.
"Seastone!!"
"Correct."
After the launchers retracted back into his arm, Rowen grinned.
"A little gadget Caesar made for me. Great for workouts or sneak attacks. Pretty handy, don't you think?"
His voice suddenly turned ice-cold.
"And just now… I figured out a third use for it."
As he said this, Rowen tightened his grip on the wildly struggling Kaido, aligning his face with the Seastone needle bed, then slammed him down with brutal force.
"AAAAAARRRGHH!!!"
BOOM…!!!
CRASH-THOOOOOOM!!
Suddenly, a terrifying shockwave burst outward. A cloud of blood exploded into the air.
Rowen felt a jolt in his chest, as if he'd been hit by a ten-thousand-ton battering ram, and was immediately launched like a cannonball, smashing into the surging sea.
"Azure Dragon!!"
"You're not getting away with this!!!"
Back at the site, Kaido trembled as he ripped out the Seastone needles embedded in his face. Then his entire body erupted in scaly armor, transforming into a massive sky-blue divine dragon and shot up toward the heavens.
"Don't even think of escaping!"
Although Kizaru didn't understand what had just happened, he wasn't about to let Kaido go. Just now, the situation had been too dangerous for him to intervene, but now was different.
Light-speed,
"Get lost!!"
Before Kizaru could even move, Kaido whipped around and roared, unleashing five massive blasts of Hot Breath infused with Busoshoku Haki (Armament Haki) straight at him.
If he tried to stop Kaido now, it was possible to halt his escape, but at the cost of certain death!
"Nope. That paycheck… definitely not worth my life."
Kizaru quickly found an excuse, abandoned the attack, and dodged at light speed, evading the scorching blast.
But just as he watched Kaido flee, he noticed something strange about the way Kaido was flying…
"He's missing… an arm?!!"
Kizaru's eyes widened in absolute disbelief. He gasped.
"Ho…ly… sh*t!!!"
(End of Chapter)