Hammer: '???'
'When the hell did I ever sink a pirate ship under the Beasts Pirates?'
This all traced back to their journey toward G-1.
At that time, Mihawk was still aboard the Warhammer. During the voyage to the G-1 base, Mihawk had sliced apart a pirate ship while testing his blade, and that ship just so happened to belong to a pirate crew under the Beasts Pirates.
"Hammer, we really did sink a ship carrying the Beasts Pirates' emblem before. Mihawk was the one who cut it apart."
Lance walked over and explained the previous incident.
Hammer was furious.
'That damned Mihawk!'
'Why didn't he cut a few more times while he was at it?!'
'Now Kaido had come knocking at my door!'
'Damn it!'
"Forget it. There's no point dwelling on it now."
"They're already here. I can't exactly refuse the challenge, can I?"
"Hmph!"
Thinking this far, Hammer strode forward and stood by the shore, looking up into the sky.
"You're pirates! I, Hammer, am a Marine!"
"Beating you people is perfectly natural!"
"And didn't you come here looking for trouble yourself?"
Kaido burst into laughter as his massive dragon body circled overhead.
"Damned Marine!"
"If that's the case, then fight me!"
"I heard you're the strongest among the Marine rookies!"
"I wonder who's stronger between you and that bastard Sakazuki!"
The moment he heard Kaido wanted to fight, Hammer immediately shouted:
"Kaido! I'm warning you, take a good look at who's behind me!"
"One punch from him might send you right back to God Valley!"
'Hmph.
'You damned geezer Garp, you think you can just sit this one out?'
'Dream on!'
Sure enough, Hammer's words instantly caused the advancing Kaido to stop. Narrowing his eyes, he looked toward the rear.
And the moment he saw who was there, Kaido froze.
'Why was Garp here?!'
As someone who had participated in the God Valley incident, Kaido knew exactly how terrifying Garp was.
Although he had crossed hands with Garp again afterward, every single encounter ended with him getting beaten senseless.
That bastard's iron fists hurt like hell.
"Hahahaha! Hammer brat, you're actually using this old man as a shield! Nice one!"
"But this old man never agreed to help you!"
"Kaido came looking for you, not me. This old man's staying out of it!"
Garp laughed loudly, making it crystal clear he had no intention of helping Hammer.
Hammer was instantly furious.
"Old bastard! He's a pirate and we're Marines!"
"And you still won't help me?!"
Garp casually picked his nose and answered calmly:
"You go fight first."
"If you can't win, this old man will help afterward."
Hammer was dumbfounded.
Kaido's eyes lit up.
"Wororororo! Hammer!"
"Looks like your backup isn't planning to save you!"
"Come then! Let me witness the strength of the Marines' rising star!"
As he spoke, Kaido transformed back into his human form and charged down from the sky wielding a gigantic spiked club.
This club was no ordinary weapon.
Its name was Hassaikai, Kaido's favored weapon.
"Thunder Bagua!"
Kaido opened with a killing move right from the start.
Facing the future attack that would one day educate Monkey D. Luffy, Hammer didn't dare show even the slightest carelessness.
"Tch. I don't want to become Pirate King, so there's no need to give me King's Haki PTSD!"
"Absolute Space!"
With the battle already upon him, Hammer naturally had no intention of retreating.
The Hammer-Hammer Fruit activated.
Absolute Space instantly transformed the area around Hammer into a vacuum domain.
BOOM!
Hassaikai slammed down onto Hammer's head with incomparable destructive force.
But protected by Absolute Space, the attack never actually touched Hammer's body.
Even so, the overwhelming impact kicked up massive clouds of dust.
"Hm? What kind of ability is this?"
"Why does it feel like my attack got blocked?"
Kaido at this time was still relatively young and full of curiosity.
But Hammer had no intention of explaining anything to him.
"Kaido, this isn't a suitable place for us to fight!"
"Let's take this battle onto the sea!"
As he spoke, Hammer threw the long-absent Ice Azure Sword toward the ocean, then clenched his right fist and lowered into a stance.
Terrifying hammer force compressed rapidly within his fist.
The sight instantly made Kaido's eyes widen.
"That's Whitebeard's ability, you bastard! Impossible!"
Faced with Kaido's shock, Hammer immediately sneered back:
"Hmph. Ignorant pirate!"
"Tremor Hammer!"
His right fist smashed forward.
Terrifying vibration force slammed directly into Kaido's chest.
The over-six-meter-tall Kaido was blasted flying backward by the strike and sent hurtling toward the sea.
Meanwhile, because of the Ice Azure Sword's descent, the ocean surface had already frozen into an enormous field of ice.
Kaido's body crashed heavily onto the frozen surface.
"Hm? Where did this ice field come from?"
"You still have time to look around?! I'm not done yet!"
"Chest Breaking Hammer, Tenfold Barrage!"
During the moment Kaido was distracted, Hammer had already repositioned himself.
From above, he unleashed ten consecutive strikes toward Kaido's head.
Ten Surface Break Hammers coated in Armament Haki blasted toward Kaido all at once.
"Hmph! Don't underestimate me!"
Kaido was still a powerful figure in his own right.
Facing the incoming attacks, he immediately raised Hassaikai, coating it with Armament Haki to block Hammer's barrage.
"Your Hassaikai is made of metal, right?"
Suddenly, a strange glint flashed through Hammer's eyes as he asked a completely battle-irrelevant question.
Kaido was momentarily stunned, but still answered:
"Of course."
"And it's an incredibly durable metal."
"Hehehehehe…"
Hammer suddenly stopped attacking and instead began laughing to himself.
His face was filled with mockery.
On the shore, Lance, Shirley, Hina, and the soldiers aboard the Warhammer all felt a chill crawl from the soles of their feet straight to their scalps upon hearing Hammer's laughter.
Lance's mouth twitched as he turned to Shirley.
"I have a feeling Kaido's about to suffer. What do you think…?"
Shirley said nothing.
She simply nodded heavily.
Hammer suddenly moved again.
This time, he released no aura whatsoever.
He was simply faster.
More agile.
Kaido immediately spread his Observation Haki, guarding against a sneak attack.
Then Hammer flashed directly in front of him and smashed a heavy punch onto Hassaikai.
DUANG!
Kaido instantly felt an intense vibration travel up through his hands.
'Why isn't he attacking me?'
'Why's he hitting my weapon instead?'
While still confused, Hammer continued unleashing punch after punch, every single one landing on Hassaikai.
This completely bewildered Kaido.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing?!"
Kaido violently swung Hassaikai, blasting Hammer backward before immediately launching a long-range attack.
Terrifying air pressure erupted from Hassaikai and blasted toward Hammer.
"Soru!"
Hammer didn't dare take it head-on.
Using Soru, he dodged instantly, then charged right back toward Kaido, or rather, toward Hassaikai.
"I refuse to believe it!"
"Take this hammering!"
Within mere moments, Hammer unleashed dozens of punches onto Hassaikai.
Finally, heaven rewarded perseverance.
That familiar voice appeared.
[Ding! Autonomous Imbuement Complete!]
[Target detected: Meteoric Iron Weapon , Hassaikai.]
[Granted effect: Frail as a Chicken.]
[Due to the target's special material composition, effect upgraded to: Kidney Deficiency and Weakness!]