As the flames dispersed, Charles watched the divine dragon dive and rapidly shrink.
"Worororo, I underestimated you, kid. You actually have such terrifying power!"
Kaido was genuinely shocked. On these seas, reputation is tied to strength. Although fame is sometimes exaggerated, every true powerhouse has a name that shakes the ocean.
He really hadn't expected an unknown youngster to break through his Heat Breath head-on.
So he adjusted his mindset, no longer treating the other side as a mere sparring partner to indulge him, but as a true opponent.
Accordingly, he took on his draconic hybrid form.
Though both transformed into dragon-men, Kaido's look was far more savage than Charles's Dragon King Battle Form.
If Charles was a human base with added draconic elements, then Kaido was a half-human, half-dragon fused together.
Sword-like horns, blue scales covering half his face, fangs jutting from his mouth—Kaido looked like a fiend crawling out of hell.
His thick limbs all became dragon claws, and a tail clad in blue scales lashed behind him, scoring a deep gouge across the ground.
"Boss Kaido… he's getting serious!" Queen muttered from the rear.
Kaido seldom fought in his hybrid form. Numbers meant nothing against the calamity his full dragon form brought, and in human form, his Thunder Bagua was something almost no one on the seas could take.
Most importantly, as Governor of the Beasts, ordinary enemies couldn't get past King and the other officers, so situations that required Kaido to fight like this were vanishingly rare.
King remembered the last time Kaido got this serious was when he clashed with that trouble-stirrer Red-Hair.
Because of concern over the Big Mom Pirates appearing later, the fight didn't last long, but everyone got a look at Red-Hair's strength.
And now Charles had shown power on that same level—the strength of a sea emperor who could rule a portion of the ocean.
Charles had no clue how shocked the onlookers were; the dragonized Kaido had all his attention.
For the first time in a while, Charles felt pressure. After Lucius, Kaido was the first opponent to give him that feeling.
So he didn't hold back either—he donned the Dragon Flame Battle Gear and brought out his trump card.
The string of surprises made Kaido break into wild laughter as he barreled in like a chariot.
"Roaring Thunder Bagua!"
It was the evolved form of Thunder Bagua, the key being the infusion of Conqueror's Haki.
Conqueror's Haki is called the "qualification of a king" for good reason. While newly awakened it only "intimidates," true masters can impose will upon reality.
Conqueror's infusion is the culmination of that ability.
The already-black kanabo had been darkened further by Armament Haki, and with Conqueror's infusion, purple-black lightning coiled around it, riveting the eye.
Charles raised a knife-hand, gathered all his flames, and chopped down.
"Fire Dragon's Wing Blade!"
His palm didn't actually strike the kanabo; what clashed hard were flame and Conqueror's Haki.
Charles frowned, because in that clash he was losing ground.
Kaido noticed it too, poured on all his strength, and swung the kanabo through.
The fan-shaped shockwave spread, blasting Charles back. He smashed through several upthrust slabs of rock before he finally stopped.
Brushing off the rubble, Charles stood. He'd lost out purely on the difference in physical stats. As a Dragon Slayer, it was the first time he'd been outdone in raw toughness by a "human."
Kaido didn't give him time to space out. With a big hop he closed in, the kanabo raining down.
Charles flashed back out of range. The ground erupted into crater after crater as Kaido's pursuit pounded it like a string of bombs.
But Kaido's wide-open swings left plenty of openings. Of course, openings are one thing; few can both seize them and have the ability to exploit them. Charles was one of those few.
Counting his horns, hybrid Kaido stood over ten meters tall—more than five Charles stacked—so the massive height gap let Charles slip up through the gaps from below.
His arms blurred, unleashing a barrage of rapid-fire punches, hammering Kaido square in the chest.
Kaido's frame shuddered repeatedly, his feet skidding back several paces and pulverizing the ground underfoot.
On the last step, his dragon-clawed foot even punched into the earth, but he steadied himself.
Then he delivered a little "health-bar shock" of his own—after eating so many punches, he didn't react at all, and swung a countering blow.
Charles didn't overcommit. He'd already pulled back, neatly slipping the strike.
But Kaido suddenly leapt, raising the kanabo with both hands and crashing it down.
"Descent of Three Worlds: Drag to Naraka!"
Clang!
Metal rang out. Kaido saw that what had blocked his kanabo wasn't Charles's gauntlet, but a hand turned into a dragon claw.
Nibelungen Ring… Activate!
Dragonized, Charles finally matched Kaido in brute strength, catching the Descent of Three Worlds single-handed.
Now Charles resembled Kaido seven parts out of ten. The difference: Charles's new-grown scales were crimson, and what spread from his back was not a tail but a pair of dragon wings.
It made Kaido wonder if Charles, like him, had eaten some Mythical Zoan. Charles gave him no time to ponder and went straight on the offensive.
He swept his arm down, forcing the kanabo into the ground, and sprang up, a side kick slamming into Kaido's jaw and booting him away.
Charles chased, the plates on his forearms turning to light and forming a War God greatsword between his hands, which he chopped down viciously.
Kaido righted himself in midair and brought up the kanabo, trading blows with the descending blade.
Blade-light and staff-shadow crisscrossed and collided, and their feet didn't stop moving, skimming fast across the flattened ground before Onigashima.
They got faster and faster; to others, they became streaks of azure and crimson colliding again and again in the sky.
Explosions rippled in the wake of the crossing streaks.
After who knew how many clashes, the entwined streams split, revealing the two combatants.
A bloody gash snaked across Kaido's waist and belly, blood pouring like it cost nothing. Charles's left shoulder had collapsed unnaturally—his scapula smashed by a single blow.
Kaido swiped a finger across the wound at his waist and glanced at the blood. His abdominal muscles writhed, the cut stanching by itself and beginning to heal.
Kaido is most famous for that undying body. Charles's slash wasn't shallow—it had even nicked his organs—but it hadn't hit anything vital, and a bit of effort set it right.
Charles hefted the greatsword and pressed his right palm hard to his sunken shoulder, pushing the displaced bone back into place.
In dragon form, his self-healing was no worse. Seeing it, Kaido's eyes burned brighter.
"Worororo, Charles, I'm having the time of my life! You are too, right?"
Spinning the greatsword, Charles leveled it at Kaido. "Of course. But I'll be even happier after I take you down."
Kaido bared his teeth, gripping the kanabo with both hands. "Same here. Once I beat you, I'm making you my subordinate!"
Charles didn't take his blade two-handed. "You're still not sober. I won't lose to you."
In the next instant, greatsword and kanabo slammed together again. The two flickered as if teleporting into each other's faces, and the ground of Onigashima began to crack under the impact.
The tumult of battle set the whole island shaking once more.
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