"Hmph! Such weak, soft force can at most be called Thunder Four Trigrams!"
Kaido sneered with obvious disdain.
Then he raised his massive kanabo with deadly intent: "Open your eyes and watch clearly! Stupid girl! This is the real..."
"Thunder Bagua!"
WHOOSH!
The thick kanabo cut through the air and mercilessly struck his daughter with devastating force.
Violent Haki lightning scattered in all directions, instantly blasting small craters in the ground where it landed.
"GAH..."
Yamato, at the center of the attack, barely resisted for a few seconds before being sent flying by this absolutely devastating blow.
"Yamato!"
Kai cried out in alarm and quickly extended his tail to catch her steadily, but his entire body was involuntarily moved by the powerful impact.
"Kid, while fighting me, you still have the leisure to care for others?"
Kaido, transformed into his intimidating hybrid form, leaped high into the air as his Hassaikai began spinning at speeds beyond visual limits.
"Kid Kai, use your body to remember the taste of this strike!"
"Kosanze Ragnaraku!"
The kanabo, spinning to its absolute limit and wrapped in condensed black-red Conqueror's Haki that had become almost tangible, swung down heavily.
No time!
The shadow of death instantly enveloped everything!
Kai's pupils contracted sharply as he hurriedly covered his head with Armament Haki.
BANG!
The kanabo colliding with Kai's head produced an extremely dull sound.
Kaido's monstrous strength combined with his violent Conqueror's Haki impact instantly pierced through Kai's Armament Haki defense, leaving his mind completely blank.
Kai's vision suddenly went black.
The next second, his eyes rolled back and his consciousness scattered like a kite with a broken string.
No longer able to control his body, Kai fell straight down along with Yamato.
BOOM!
The massive dragon body collided with the ground, directly creating a large crater as dust and debris shot skyward.
Kaido slowly descended to the edge of the crater, looking at Kai and Yamato inside, and said coldly: "There's only one shortcut to becoming stronger: getting beaten!"
After being beaten enough times, those techniques would naturally be learned.
Suddenly, a figure rushed out from the smoke.
"I can still fight!"
The bruised and battered Yamato dragged her kanabo as she charged out, shouting loudly: "Father, I will definitely become stronger than you!"
"Mahoroba!"
The kanabo wrapped in freezing air swung toward Kaido.
"Wororororo! Then come! Don't expect me to hold back."
Kaido laughed heartily and raised his kanabo high to strike at Yamato.
Another battle of paternal love and filial piety.
It was quite a while before Kai woke from unconsciousness, grimacing in pain.
"Hiss! My skull is definitely cracked."
So when hitting his daughter, it's just regular Thunder Bagua, but when hitting me, you use Conqueror's coating!
Kai complained internally.
But complaints aside, Kai still carefully experienced the sensation of that Conqueror's coating strike.
"Conqueror's coating doesn't seem to be simple wrapping but also uses flowing techniques?"
That's right.
Kai suddenly remembered that in the original story, Luffy had first learned internal destruction and better Haki control before understanding how to use Conqueror's coating.
"Then let's try it. If Luffy could comprehend it in one strike, I can't be too far behind!"
Kai looked up with a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
Then he and Yamato became two shooting stars in the sky.
Just as Kai and Yamato were training hard, the time for trading with the World Government finally arrived.
At Southern Wano Country's Mogura Port...
Leading the team again was the same CP0 clown from last time.
"Mr. Kai, what happened to you?"
The clown looked at Kai, who was wrapped entirely in bandages with only his eyes showing, and his mouth twitched.
He hadn't heard of the Beast Pirates having any major conflicts with anyone recently.
"It's nothing. I'll be fine in a couple days."
Kai waved his hand dismissively. During this period, he had become quite experienced with injuries. Every time Teacher Kaido's lessons ended, he and Yamato always needed extensive bandaging.
Fortunately, Teacher Kaido was right. Life-and-death battles with strong opponents provided the fastest progress.
Every time Kaido beat him mercilessly, he could sense his Haki control advancing another step.
This teaching method with tangible results every time was fantastic.
It just hurt quite a bit.
After an hour of work, the World Government staff finished inspecting the goods and reported to the clown.
Learning there were no problems with the merchandise, the clown nodded and gestured for another CP0 to come forward.
That person held a small box in his hands.
Oh? Here it comes?
Kai was delighted internally while keeping his expression unchanged.
Though he didn't really need to act. Wrapped up like this, who could see his facial expression?
The clown was also somewhat helpless. He hadn't expected to see Kai in this condition when they met again.
This time he couldn't even secretly observe his facial expressions.
"This is the artificial Azure Dragon fruit we promised you."
The clown had his subordinate open the small box to show Kai.
Kai casually picked it up. It was an entirely pink fruit with its surface covered in dragon scale-like skin.
"That's right, this is it."
After confirming it was correct, Kai casually tossed it to Speed nearby for safekeeping, not giving it another glance.
"The other item in our trade, the failed products of the ancient giant experiments, are on that ship."
The clown pointed to an exceptionally large vessel and kindly reminded: "The anesthetic we gave them is wearing off soon. You should take possession quickly. They're not docile creatures."
With the transaction complete, the clown led his team away.
Kai didn't linger either, taking the artificial Azure Dragon fruit and leaving first.
As for the Numbers, others would handle their reception.
Returning to Onigashima, Kai found Komurasaki learning to play the shamisen and tossed the Devil Fruit into her lap, getting straight to the point: "This is an artificial Azure Dragon fruit. It can grant the same abilities as Kaido-san, but I don't know if it can awaken. Do you want to eat it?"
"What?!"
In her shock, Komurasaki directly snapped one of the shamisen's strings.
A fruit with the same abilities as Kaido?
Komurasaki looked at the pink Devil Fruit in her lap, hardly daring to believe it.
She had personally witnessed Kaido's tremendous power.
Now she could have it just by nodding?
Komurasaki's heart was about to melt.
"Lord Kai, is this real?" Komurasaki was so moved her eyes welled with tears.
"Of course. You're my woman. Isn't it natural for me to treat you well?"
Kai laughed and reached out to wipe the tears from her eyes.
Giving the artificial Azure Dragon fruit to Komurasaki was something he had thought through carefully.
During their time together, Kai could feel that Komurasaki's attachment to him was genuine, especially after seeing how well he had managed Wano Country.
The small details of their daily interactions couldn't deceive anyone.
Moreover, since he had Komurasaki start training, she had never taken a single day off, often pushing herself until she was covered in injuries.
Now, the Kozuki family bloodline was beginning to awaken in her.
Komurasaki's rate of progress far exceeded Violet's.
Giving her the artificial Azure Dragon fruit, Kai wasn't worried about the fruit being wasted.
As for keeping the fruit for later?
Ridiculous. Such a powerful fruit needed to be eaten immediately for safety. If something went wrong...
Kai would really cry himself to death.
After all, Zoan Devil Fruits had self-awareness, though Kai wasn't sure if artificial ones would...
But what if they did?