This novel is finished, and I have posted all the advanced chapters on my Patreon https://www.patreon.com/darkshadow6395
"Soryu (Azure Dragon)!!!"
Before the cheering soldiers could finish their salute, a deafening roar suddenly crushed all other noise.
A massive, muscular figure burst through the air toward them, a faint dragon's tail trailing behind him…
"Rowen, watch out!"
Kong couldn't help but realize, with a sharp pang of bitterness, that he really had grown old. Even someone as brutally slow as Kaido was managing to outpace him now.
However, Rowen wasn't the least bit concerned. He glanced at Lucci, whom he was carrying casually under one arm, then jerked his chin toward the former agent.
"What are you standing there for? Run!"
"Once the fight starts, I won't have time to babysit you."
"..."
Lucci paused, then pulled out a small whistle and blew hard. Beep-beep!
Seeing Rowen's confused look, Lucci offered a wry smile and shook his head. "Sorry, Admiral Soryu (Azure Dragon)… but I can't move anymore."
"..."
"Tch. What a pain."
As they exchanged words, Kaido was already upon them. The very moment Rowen spoke, that massive, cauldron-sized fist was already swinging down.
"Die, Soryu (Azure Dragon)!!!"
The air itself shuddered, the world seeming to collapse under the weight of that blow.
At that instant, lightning exploded across Rowen's body. A Thunder Titan, a faceless giant of storm and fury, manifested behind him, its fist clenched as it twisted its body and punched forward.
The thunder fist moved faster than Kaido's attack, making the Yonko's legendary speed look painfully sluggish by comparison.
BOOM!!!
The explosive shockwave ripped through the surroundings, toppling entire city blocks.
"Hmph! Arrogant brat!"
Even facing that titanic blow head-on, Kaido didn't back down, regardless of Rowen's mastery of the Military Wrist: Deep Gate technique.
But before Kaido could press his strength, Rowen suddenly lifted a foot and kicked him straight in the crotch. The metallic creak of iron scraping against iron rang out, causing both Kong and Lucci to wince in sympathetic pain.
Then, under countless horrified gazes, Rowen released his punch, turning his hand into a claw and seizing Kaido's elbow joint. The Thunder Titan's arms bulged with immense power, and he yanked down hard.
THUD!!
Caught completely off guard and wracked with searing pain, Kaido's crimson scales flared red-hot. He was violently slammed to the ground, his body carving out a massive crater.
"Hah!"
Rowen flipped over, pinning the Yonko beneath him. Grabbing Kaido's face to restrict his movement, Rowen spoke calmly:
"Take him out of here, Commander-in-Chief Kong. Leave this to me, go help the civilians."
Shua!
The smoke from the impact slowly cleared. Kong, holding the limp Lucci like a ragdoll, nodded solemnly. (It was Kong who had pulled Lucci out of harm's way during his own earlier clash with Kaido.)
"I'll leave it to you, Rowen!"
Kong knew he couldn't risk dragging the rest of the Marines back into this chaos, not even now. But Rowen was different.
He was the "designated successor to the Five Elders."
That fact alone spoke volumes about his unique and necessary role.
And beyond politics, just look at Rowen's power, his reputation…
Listening to the waves of desperate cheers echoing through the shattered Holy Land, Kong hesitated no longer. He stomped both feet down and shot into the air with Geppo, vanishing into the distance.
Once they were gone, Rowen turned his gaze down at Kaido, who was still struggling violently beneath him, his claws digging so deep into Rowen's forearm that blood began to seep out.
"With the mess you've made, I'd say most of the Holy Land's top fighters are probably dead or crippled by now, huh?"
"'You all"… He meant Kaido, PX-0, and Orrick, whose whereabouts the World Government's Heavenly Network still couldn't trace.
"You've all been a huge help."
Kaido's eyes widened in surprise, right before Rowen reversed his grip on his Thunder Dragon Crescent Halberd, holding it like a dagger, and drove it straight down.
CRRRAAACK… SIZZLE!!
The sound was agonizing: first a grinding screech like a cleaver slicing through sheet metal, followed by the ripping shlraaak of metal tearing apart.
Kaido's left cheek was slashed open by the thunder halberd, the wound splitting from the corner of his mouth all the way to the back of his skull, gums and raw flesh gruesomely exposed.
But Rowen frowned. He'd been aiming for the eye.
The torn cheek meant Kaido had managed to turn his head at the absolute last instant.
Cunning, ruthless, and cruel, that was undeniably Rowen's fighting style.
The ground around them cracked as Kaido's massive body twisted, his horned head gouging out a wide, fan-shaped depression in the earth. Suddenly, he released Rowen's arm and planted both palms into the ground.
BOOM!
Both of Kaido's knees came crashing upward with enough force to flatten steel.
But Rowen was prepared. The moment Kaido released his grip, Rowen sprang back decisively, folding his legs and clashing soles-first against Kaido's knees mid-air.
WHOOSH!!
Using the impact as a springboard, Rowen shot backward like a thunderbolt, so fast that his afterimage lingered, while Kaido's rising counterattack struck only empty air, collapsing before it could even land.
zī zī…
Electricity crackled and burst forth as Rowen stepped out from the residual flash, calmly standing amidst the rubble and ruin.
Staring at Kaido rising in the distance, he frowned slightly. "You've changed a bit, Kaido."
Even from that brief clash, Rowen could sense something different radiating from him.
If the old Kaido was like a volcano mid-eruption, violent and blazing, the Kaido before him now was like an iron spear just pulled from molten lava, fierce, yet coldly restrained.
That wild, burning aura still existed… but it was now exponentially more dangerous.
Kaido didn't answer right away. He merely raised a scaly hand and wiped the blood from his newly carved scar.
"Pah!"
He spat a mouthful of blood, then picked up his massive spiked club from the ground as sheer killing intent began to radiate from him.
"I just… understood something, Soryu (Azure Dragon)."
"Oh? Let's hear it."
Rowen, having once again manifested the Thunderous Titan, now stood at over ten meters tall, matching Kaido's height. He twirled the thunder halberd between his fingers like a pen, raising an eyebrow in amused challenge.
"Being bound by the false title of 'Pirate King'… bound by the success or failure of a pirate crew… bound by grudges of the past… As long as I'm shackled like that, I'll never be able to defeat you!"
Kaido's tone was strangely detached, as if he were discussing a long-dead concept.
"It's not about strength. I just didn't understand before."
"Oh? And you understand now?"
Rowen stopped twirling the halberd. His playful tone faded as his expression grew heavy.
Oh great… the fool's having an epiphany.
"That's right!"
Wuuu!
The spiked club swung, cutting through the air with a deep, wailing wind.
Kaido let one arm hang low as he tilted his chin slightly upward. His killing intent made his eyes roll white, like those of a wrathful ghost. "I was never the type to scheme endlessly for a dream… So why bother? I'll just kill!"
"Heh! To so cleanly admit you're a fool… Truly worthy of a Yonko. Doing what ordinary men never could."
Rowen took half a step back, his tone still slightly teasing, but his eyes never left Kaido for an instant.
A fool isn't frightening. What's truly frightening is when the fool understands himself.
That is far rarer, and more dangerous, than any wise man's self-awareness.
"A fool? Maybe…"
Kaido shook his head quietly, his killing intent flaring like a raging wildfire.
"But it feels damn good to be one!"
zī zī… BOOM!!!
The moment the words left his mouth, a sky-blue flash tore through the air, Rowen's halberd shooting forward like a bolt of divine wrath, propelled by an overwhelming surge of electromagnetic energy.
The weapon ripped through space itself, leaving behind a brief, jagged black gash.
It could no longer even be called the Super Electromagnetic Cannon, its destructive power far surpassed that technique's limits!
Rowen hadn't given the attack a new name yet. But who cared, as long as it worked.
Kaido hadn't anticipated such a terrifying outburst. In the past, he would have roared in fury, meeting the attack head-on no matter how hopeless.
But this time was different. His emotions no longer ruled him, that was the unexpected gift of enlightenment.
Dodging was nearly impossible. Against the lightning-speed assault of a Goro Goro no Mi (Thunder-Thunder Fruit) user, evasion was almost meaningless.
Still, Kaido yanked back his spiked club and angled his body, shifting just enough to deflect the central force.
Creak…
BOOM!!!
The thunder halberd, charged with divine might, collided with the Haki-imbued club. But in an instant, it was like butter meeting a red-hot blade, not burned, but ripped apart by sheer cutting force.
The weapon shattered into clouds of molten iron fragments.
The blazing halberd sliced through the remnants of the club, grazed Kaido's shoulder, and vanished into the void, his scale armor cracked open to the bone.
He'd survived, barely avoiding a fatal blow. But that wasn't the end. It was only the beginning.
God's Cry – Falling Thunder Guns!
As Rowen leapt high into the air, thunder rolling behind him like a storming god's chorus, Kaido didn't retreat. Instead, he laughed, and charged straight forward, hurling aside his ruined weapon.
zī zī zī zī…
BOOOOOOM!!!
A storm of electricity exploded outward, forming a blinding mushroom cloud like a newborn sun. The sheer destructive aura of the clash made the world tremble.
Even the bedrock of the Red Line itself quaked under the shockwave's might. Such was the power of the Thunder God.
(End of Chapter)