Kaido was indeed a strange fellow.
One moment he was calm, furious, happy, sad, humiliated, furious, and calm again.
His mood swings were so constant that he was a perfect example of a bipolar person.
"Wororororo! That's right, that's right!" Kaido said, laughing loudly and fearlessly. "Traveler, you are strong. I admit that."
Extending his arm with the spiked club, his Haki surrounded the weapon as his aura took on an even more visible form.
Flying but not moving, Kaido continued speaking in his deep voice: "Few people in this whole world have made me feel the pressure I'm feeling now. One of them is the Pirate King, another is my former captain, Rocks. Now I understand why you dare to do what you did. But, boy. Don't underestimate me too much!"
When he finished speaking, he lunged forward like a purple blur.
"Kaido. You can feel proud of yourself," Zaydas replied. "At least your endurance is something incredible. But, I'm sorry, it's not that I underestimate you, it's just that you're weak."
He shook his head, adding, "But, out of respect for your courage not to run, I will grant you a dignified death."
Zaydas murmured in his mind: 'Fafnir.'
Kaido, hearing his words, didn't seem to take them too seriously. However, just as he was about to reach Zaydas, he abruptly halted his advance.
In front of him, he saw something he would never forget — not even in the afterlife.
Dragon. A word he liked. A simple word that symbolized his monstrous power.
However...
What the hell was that in front of him?
How could something like that even exist in this world?
Before Kaido, the air twisted, as if the very world had stopped to witness what was emerging. The ground shook, the sky darkened. Red lightning tore through the clouds violently, and then, it appeared.
Zaydas in his dragon form: Fafnir.
A colossal dragon, red as the oldest blood, emerged from the distortion in the air. His presence wasn't just overwhelming — it was suffocating, crushing, as if gravity itself bent to his will.
Each beat of his immense wings made the world tremble.
His eyes, patterned like the Rinnegan, deep and incandescent, emitted a dangerous bluish-green glow, hovering over Kaido with a mix of calm and indifference.
Fafnir's scales didn't shine — they burned. A vivid crimson light pulsed from his skin like lava under pressure. His body was too vast to be comprehended in a single glance. There was a trace of cruel nobility in his form, like a deity born to destroy.
Twisted horns, black as obsidian, arched back from his head, and a mane of fire flowed down his spine like a molten river. His claws could tear mountains apart, and his teeth… his teeth were ancient swords, sharpened by ages of war.
He did not roar.
Zaydas didn't need to roar.
His mere appearance was the sound of the end.
Kaido, the Beast Emperor, froze in the air. For the first time, he understood something he had never felt so clearly: fear!
Zaydas, still with a serene expression, watched beside the creature. The contrast was almost poetic. The man and the monster. But who was the real monster there?
Kaido was no longer sure.
Zaydas slightly tilted his neck, as if allowing the enemy one last moment of consciousness.
Looking at that enormous dragon head, Kaido felt small.
'Is this my end?' he wondered.
When he felt the simple breath of the red dragon, the hot wind that hit him was strong and warm enough to make him feel dread.
The grip of his hand around his club tightened, he resisted giving up, but he couldn't find the strength to attack.
Kaido's face turned pale, and his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth with anxiety and resignation. He couldn't utter a single word. Besides that, his Beast Pirates crew hadn't even arrived yet. Worse still, even if they all did, deep down he knew they wouldn't stand a chance against this red dragon before him.
Since when had he become a coward?
He himself couldn't understand.
But one thing was certain to Kaido now: His days were numbered.
"What are you!? And what do you want from me?" Kaido shouted.
Opening his mouth, Zaydas's voice sounded distant and close at the same time: "I am the Traveler and I want your life."
"Get away from Kaido-sama!!!" King appeared.
He flew in Zaydas's direction like a small mosquito heading toward an adult human.
However, Zaydas simply looked in his direction, and from his shadow, something very fast moved and swallowed King, retreating immediately back into Zaydas's shadow.
It all happened so fast, Kaido didn't even have time to react.
King simply disappeared without a trace.
"You bastard...!"
Kaido used all his strength and attacked.
But, to his total surprise, the dragon before him didn't even move.
"Bang!"
The club struck Zaydas's dragon face squarely, but nothing happened.
Not even a mark, or a simple scratch.
Absolutely nothing.
"H-How is this possible?" Kaido was on the verge of madness. "There's no way such a huge gap in power exists?!"
...
Ignoring him, Zaydas looked at what appeared on his retina.
[+23,998 AP!]
Alongside the AP value, he also saw notifications about having acquired King's abilities — whether from the Devil Fruit or even powers as a Lunarian.
Zaydas turned it all into nutrients for his ability: [Degenerate].
[The unique ability [Degenerate (Rank S)] has ranked up to Rank S+!]
...
Meanwhile, the Beast Pirates crew stopped their movements. Some rubbed their eyes while others simply didn't want to believe what they were seeing, refusing to accept this reality.
"King!!!"
"King-sama!!"
The sight of King being swallowed by some kind of shadow made their feet root to the ground as they screamed.
Some cried, others cowered.
...
In the Flower Capital, the mere presence of Zaydas in his dragon form caused several people to faint.
Some out of fear, others because their minds were too weak to withstand even a mere fraction of his aura that hit them, even though it wasn't hostile.
Meanwhile, in the white castle, Hiyori couldn't comprehend what she was feeling at that moment.
Fear? Perhaps. However, she felt an indescribable sense of joy at seeing King disappear and Kaido fall into despair.
'Could we finally be free?'
Although frightened by the colossal being that was saving them, Hiyori's thoughts were shared by the people of Wano Country.
...
With racing thoughts, Zaydas considered thousands of ways to kill Kaido.
In the end, he chose the simplest and most direct way.
At the tip of his claw, a black-and-red sphere was created from the Power of Destruction.
With a flick of his finger, he sent the sphere toward Kaido, saying: "Take it."
Obviously, Kaido wasn't going to just stand there waiting to die.
He tried to dodge, but what seemed to be moving fast—yet still dodgeable—suddenly increased in speed as Kaido found himself trapped by an invisible force.
"Bang!"
With a sound resembling a gunshot, the sphere struck Kaido's back.
"Woroahhhhhhh!"
Like thousands of ants biting him, Kaido felt his body being corroded by the attack, disintegrating little by little.
The screams of his crew were heard in the distance, but he didn't have time for that now, because he saw the even more terrifying sight of a giant mouth full of teeth coming toward him and swallowing him whole.
...
Inside the stomach of 'Zaydas', but in reality of 'Fenrir', Kaido fought for freedom. However, after being struck by the Power of Destruction and afflicted in the stomach by [Dissolve], [Absorption], and [Corrosion]; his struggle gradually ceased until he could no longer continue.
[+68,416 AP!]
Canceling his dragon transformation, Zaydas returned to his human form with his hair slicked back.
Just like when he devoured King, Kaido's abilities were also consumed, including his Devil Fruit.
However, even when used as nutrients for [Degenerate], it wasn't enough to raise his power rank again.
'Well, there's no rush.' He looked in the direction of the Beast Pirates crew.
"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
It took some time to react, but when it finally sank in, the people of the Flower Capital began to scream loudly.
Their cries were like thunder in a storm, causing vibrations in the air.
This was the cry of freedom after so many years living under the rule and enslavement of people they deeply hated.
Without exception, in the midst of the screams, they wept like children.
Meanwhile, the Beast Pirates crew was also screaming—but for very different reasons...