Kaido returned to his human form, standing there vigorously shaking his head, "I'm sober now, but why is my head still spinning?"
"Hiss~ That hurts! Damn it, who hit me?"
He raised his head and scanned the battlefield inside and out, his gaze finally settling on the culprit—Kenji.
"So it was you, you bastard!"
In an instant, old and new grudges surged, and Kaido's eyes were practically spitting flames.
At this moment, Zephyr, not far away, raised his hand to blow off the flame ash clinging to his fist, and stood up, ready to strike again.
"Zephyr, go help your two good students!"
Kenji stared at Kaido, walking towards him step by step, saying without blinking, "This kid, I'll handle him."
"Since I'm already here, I should do something an Admiral ought to do."
Kenji's steps seemed slow but were actually fast. In the time it took him to speak, he had already arrived near Zephyr.
As for Zephyr, he had been fighting fiercely, and suddenly being reassigned annoyed him.
However, he eventually shook his head, forced a bitter smile, and said, "Alright, alright, you're the Admiral now, so you call the shots."
Zephyr got up and headed to the next battlefield, while Kenji was already standing in Zephyr's spot, facing Kaido across the air.
Kenji, who had been keeping a tight, serious expression, suddenly smiled. "It's been a few years, and you're still as punchable as ever, kid."
Kenji's strength was similar to Zephyr's. While he couldn't completely dominate Kaido, suppressing him was no problem, which meant Kaido would take more of a beating.
When Kaido heard Kenji's words, he bristled a bit, the long hair at the back of his head floated up, and his eyes widened. "Don't be too arrogant! Old man!"
"I am no longer the me of before!"
As he spoke, streaks of lightning-like Haki suddenly appeared around his body, and he swung his large spiked club with both hands, its shaft covered in high-intensity Armament Haki.
He bent down and squatted to gather strength, leaving deep imprints where he stood.
"Open your eyes wide and see one of the results of my training these past few years…"
"Thunder Bagua!"
Kaido suddenly vanished from his spot, moving as fast as lightning.
Kenji said, "Heh heh, I only beat you up a few times before, is there really a need to be so resentful?"
Almost simultaneously, Kenji also rose and threw his right fist, streaks of lightning-like Haki spreading along the trajectory of his punch. The move seemed the same as before.
However, this time, Kenji used 'Sea Beast Power' when he threw his punch.
Boom!!
The next moment, Kaido's 'Thunder Bagua,' a strike that could shatter a pirate's soul with a single blow, collided head-on with Kenji's heavy punch, and endless Haki streaks exploded at once, releasing a tsunami-like shockwave.
Then, a figure was violently slammed into the ground.
It was Kaido, who was smashed into the ground, his body deeply embedded in the dirt. An average person wouldn't even be able to dig him out.
"Impossible… You can't possibly have this kind of strength." Kaido lied there with wide eyes, a look of 'questioning life' on his face.
A few years ago, he was basically on even footing with Kenji, but after years of hard training, instead of narrowing the gap or even surpassing him, he was dominated upon meeting him?
"Hey, kid!" Kenji directly raised his hand and clenched his fist, grinning.
The effect of [Sea Beast Power] greatly exceeded his expectations.
Originally, he thought he had only gained strength equivalent to a Sea Beast, but now it seemed it was far from that simple.
His most fundamental inherent strength had been replaced by the power of a Sea Beast. No matter how much a person trains, their basic inherent strength still falls within the human category, perhaps callable 'Human Power.'
But now, Kenji's 'Human Power' was amplified into 'Sea Beast Power'. Humans can enhance their strength through training, and Sea Beasts can too, though most Sea Beasts lack that awareness.
Kenji was essentially a trained humanoid Sea Beast.
The power of a mere ordinary Sea Beast would likely not be enough to knock Kaido down, but this punch, enhanced by trained Sea Beast Power and augmented by combat techniques like Armament Haki…
One could only say it was fortunate that his opponent was Kaido. If it had been someone else, they would probably have been split into two pieces: one here, one there.
Kaido was absurd, his physical defense was so formidable it didn't seem human.
"Rumor has it that Kaido might be an extremely rare Lunarian…" Kenji used to not really believe this claim, but now it seemed it wasn't impossible.
"Hey, brat, are you dead yet?"
Kenji kicked Kaido. Seeing no reaction from the latter, he simply took out Sea Stone handcuffs, preparing to end this battle.
To his surprise, Kaido immediately sprang to life upon seeing the Sea Stone handcuffs, instantly transforming into his Azure Dragon form.
"Don't think this is the end, old man!"
Kaido took a deep breath, then opened his maw and spewed a column of incredibly destructive flames.
In his Azure Dragon form, Kaido attacked Kenji almost face-to-face. As soon as the flame column erupted, Kenji felt an intense burning sensation.
"Playing with fire casually is very dangerous, kid!"
Kenji clenched his fist again, stomped the ground with both feet, and shot forward rapidly, his Armament Haki-enhanced heavy punch charging into the flame column.
This time, Kenji used a move he had learned from Garp.
"Titan Impact!"
Boom!!
The next moment, a shockwave erupted from Kenji's fist, shattering the flame column and finally bursting inside Kaido's gaping maw.
Terrifying energy erupted within Kaido's Azure Dragon body. Amidst dull thuds, Kaido's massive Azure Dragon body plummeted stiffly, black smoke curling from his mouth, nose, ears, and eyes.
He had already fallen unconscious, and before he even hit the ground, his Azure Dragon form rapidly changed back to his human form.
"Hmm, is the battle over?"
"Kaido appears to be severely injured and won't wake up anytime soon."
"Shirojishi Admiral has successfully subjugated 'Supernova' Kaido!"
The Marines responsible for the encirclement outside the battlefield cheered and began to clean up the area.
Kaido was shackled by ten Sea Stone cuffs, rendering him unable to move at all.
However, Kenji knew that this time, they likely still wouldn't be able to hold Kaido. There had simply been too many failed confinements and executions in the past.
"Everyone says Kaido's combat power is great, that he's the King of One-on-One, but I feel like this kid's unkillable vitality is what's truly absurd."
Kenji instructed his subordinates to confine Kaido and then paid no further attention to the matter.
After all, he was just here to show his presence as an Admiral of Marineford. As for other matters, others would naturally worry about them.
At this time, the battle in another part of the island was also nearing its end.
Although King possessed the bloodline of a Lunarian, his strength was ultimately limited, and the special flames that could grant him a '99% damage reduction' buff were not truly infinite in use.
After Zephyr went all out, King actually had no chance of winning the battle.
And he didn't want to escape. He had two wings, so he could have just flown away from the battlefield, as Zephyr couldn't fly and could only stand on the ground, glaring helplessly.
But King saw Kaido being captured and wanted to rush to his rescue, ultimately ending up tightly shackled with his good big brother by Sea Stone cuffs, and the two indeed ended up sharing a cell.
Kenji took the captured 'Supernovas' directly back to Marine Headquarters Base. As for the other pirates who took advantage of the chaos on Sabaody Archipelago, he naturally left them for the Marine team led by Tsuru to handle.
"Marie, give me a full-body massage… I'm sore all over from fighting." Kenji had already laid down and begun to enjoy his vacation as an Admiral.
The Supernovas had all been dealt with, so the time that followed was naturally free time, which, rounded up, amounted to a vacation.