Clang!
The black club in Yamato's hand fell to the ground. She looked down at the blade burning with violet flames that pierced through her body. Trembling, she raised her hand as if to resist.
Lucia's expression remained cold. She swiftly pulled out her sword, and with it, the last bit of Yamato's strength drained away as she collapsed to her knees with a heavy thud.
Kneeling before Lucia, Yamato murmured,
"I... I am Kozuki Oden... the strongest man. How could I..."
Lucia leaned down, gripping Yamato's chin. With a harsh crack, she dislocated her jaw, rendering her silent.
Grabbing Yamato, Lucia dragged her over to Carl.
Carl stood with his arms crossed, observing the battles in the sky. Lucia, now standing behind him, spoke softly,
"Young Master, this one's a Mythical Zoan user. The fruit's quality isn't bad. You'll probably like it."
At her words, Carl turned to glance at Yamato lying on the ground.
Even after being battered to this extent, Yamato glared at Carl with eyes full of hatred.
Carl raised a hand slightly, and a vortex of darkness appeared in his palm. Yamato was instantly sucked up, her face slamming against Carl's hand with a loud smack.
Looking at her blood-streaked face, Carl spoke softly,
"A life lived under brainwashing... what a pity."
Before his words fully landed, Yamato's eyes turned blood red, and her aura vanished entirely. Her brain was already destroyed, and the Devil Fruit she possessed was now stored within Carl's Dark Bible.
Thus, the main forces of the Beasts Pirates were completely annihilated. After Akainu and the others easily wiped out the remaining fodder, they all gathered around Carl.
Carl surveyed the field of corpses strewn across Onigashima, speaking in a calm tone,
"It's time to end this."
With a snap of his fingers, the shadow clones fighting Kaido in the clouds disintegrated into swarms of black bats that scattered into the air.
Kaido, covered in deep, ghastly wounds inflicted by the shadow clones, hesitated for a moment before hurriedly descending through the clouds toward the ground.
But when he saw the carnage on Onigashima, his massive dragon eyes filled with bloodshot veins, and his furious roar echoed across the sky.
"MARINES!!!"
Akainu snorted, magma bubbling from his fists as he prepared to shoot into the sky. However, Borsalino held him back with a smile.
"Let Carl handle Kaido," Borsalino said lightly.
Hearing this, Akainu paused. His earlier reaction had been pure instinct.
Carl smiled faintly at Kaido's dragon face, twisted with rage. With a flap of his wings, he shot toward the heavens.
Kaido opened his maw wide, releasing a barrage of massive green wind blades toward Carl.
"Destructive Wind!"
For such straightforward elemental attacks, Carl didn't even bother dodging. The wind blades passed harmlessly through his body.
Kaido could only watch as Carl closed the distance. Compared to Kaido's enormous dragon form, Carl's figure seemed minuscule.
Enraged, Kaido twisted his massive body, lunging directly at Carl in a full-body charge.
Carl remained unfazed. One of his arms became enshrouded in spiraling darkness, transforming into an enormous shadowy hand that pressed against Kaido's massive head, halting his charge instantly.
A faint smirk tugged at Carl's lips as the shadowy hand clenched tightly around one of Kaido's horns. With a mighty swing, Carl hurled Kaido through the air like a rag doll.
Kaido's massive dragon body became a swirling green ribbon, the violent motion scattering the dark clouds above Onigashima.
The spectacle was awe-inspiring. Even those in the Wano Capital caught sight of it.
In the Shogun's castle, Orochi stared blankly at the scene, muttering,
"Is that... Kaido? Who is he fighting?"
Never before had Kaido been humiliated like this. Enraged, he roared as his body turned crimson, radiating intense heat that distorted the air around him.
"Flame!"
Hoping the searing heat would force Carl to release him, Kaido was instead thrown higher into the sky.
Carl followed leisurely, unaffected by the heat. It was nothing more than a mild discomfort to him.
Above, bolts of Conqueror's Haki lightning crackled in the stormy skies, each as thick as a barrel. The battlefield became a scene of apocalyptic chaos.
Thud!
A giant, pale-yellow dragon horn crashed to the ground, its surface gleaming like polished glass.
In the skies above, Kaido hovered, one horn missing. His crimson eyes glared at Carl, rage and exhaustion mingling in his breath as blood dripped from his battered, scale-shedding body.
Carl, in stark contrast, appeared unruffled, the Marine cloak draped over his shoulders billowing in the high winds.
By now, Kaido understood Carl's strength far surpassed his own—a gap wide enough to spell his death.
Yet, as someone who never admitted defeat, Kaido's resolve only deepened. Even if he perished, he would force Carl to pay a price.
Kaido inhaled deeply, his massive body spiraling downward. At a certain height, he coiled himself, expelling waves of flame to enshroud his entire form.
Crimson Conqueror's Haki flashed around his head as Kaido transformed into a fiery dragon once more.
With his gaze locked onto Carl, Kaido roared thunderously,
"Kaen Daiko!!!"
The blazing dragon shot upward in a spiral, its speed and power unmatched.
Carl gazed at the oncoming fiery dragon with calm indifference. The cursed blade Muramasa in his hand shimmered with a strange black light.
In the next moment, the blade extended, transforming into a massive hundred-meter-long black energy sword crackling with shadowy lightning.
"Shadow Blade."
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+255 chapters on p@treon/tambeerg