BOOM!!!
A wave of pressure descended—
distinct from Charlotte Linlin's imperial presence.
It was on her level in sheer power…
but far more feral, far more brutal.
Lucian slowly looked up,
his ever-calm golden eyes narrowing slightly as they rose toward the sky.
And for the first time—
Lucian stopped moving.
A black dot rapidly expanded in his field of view.
Not a meteor—
an attack.
A devastating projectile cloaked in black lightning,
radiating heat powerful enough to vaporize steel and melt islands.
Heat Breath.
BOOM!!!
Even before the breath hit,
its searing pressure swept across the land.
The air itself twisted and warped.
The target?
Lucian—
moments away from executing Charlotte Linlin.
But Lucian… remained unbothered.
Just a flicker of cold disdain crossed his face.
He glanced at Linlin below—
saved at the last second, now staring upward in shock and confusion.
Then he let go.
He abandoned the kill.
A blow within his grasp.
A victory denied.
Without turning fully,
he simply raised his left hand and shifted slightly.
A golden circular shield unfurled before him.
Sun God's Aegis.
And then—
the black lightning-charged Heat Breath collided head-on with the thin-looking barrier.
No explosion.
No shockwave.
Only a sharp, ear-splitting screech of friction as energy met energy.
The lightning.
The molten heat.
All raged—uselessly—against the divine shield.
Behind the light—Lucian stood unmoving.
The heat breath—stopped cold.
And since it couldn't pierce Lucian's defense—
it veered slightly,
slamming into the ocean beside Whole Cake Island.
What followed…
was a miracle.
Tens of thousands of tons of seawater—
vaporized instantly.
A 1-kilometer-wide pillar of steam shot into the sky,
piercing the clouds.
All around, the ocean boiled.
The sea became a death zone.
That was just the aftershock.
"Wo-ro-ro-ro-ro-ro!!!"
A thunderous, booming laugh echoed from the heavens—
pure, wild, euphoric.
Everyone—even Lucian—looked up.
And there, blotting out the sunlight—
a massive shadow descended.
A dragon.
Towering. Azure. Mythical.
Its scales glistened like oceans.
Its body twisted like a mountain range in flight.
A king of beasts—looming in the sky.
Kaido.
Captain of the Beasts Pirates.
The "Strongest Creature Alive."
His enormous lantern-like eyes locked onto the tiny golden figure below.
Not with hatred—
but with gleeful madness.
Like a child who'd just found his favorite toy.
"Interesting! What an interesting little brat!"
Kaido's voice shook the heavens.
"To stop my Heat Breath head-on?!
Hah—looks like that old crone Linlin finally found someone worth fighting!!"
And with that—
his serpentine body coiled, ready to strike.
"Let me see what you're made of!!"
"Dragon Gale—Destructive Winds!!"
Multiple massive tornados surged from the ground,
twisting into a cataclysmic storm.
They merged, roared, and raged toward Lucian—
devouring everything in their path.
The ground itself was ripped up and hurled skyward.
The earth split into deep ravines.
An island-erasing calamity.
Lucian slowly… shook his head.
And then whispered:
"Is that all?"
The voice wasn't loud,
but Kaido heard it.
His massive dragon eyes narrowed.
Confused.
And then—
Lucian stepped forward.
Into the oncoming storm.
HUMMMM—
His body began to shine.
First light—
then pure light.
He shed his form—
becoming a golden sun no more than a few meters wide.
And then—
FWOOOSH—!
That golden sun shot forward—
into the heart of the storm.
And in an instant—
The tornados paused.
Frozen mid-spin.
And then,
from their center,
light and heat erupted.
Stone.
Metal.
Wind—
all vaporized on contact.
The superheated sun obliterated everything.
Even the wildest winds—
burned, boiled, erased.
In one second,
a storm that could level an island
was undone from within.
Nothing remained—
just floating ash.
The light faded.
Lucian reappeared.
Unscathed.
Unshaken.
Floating above Kaido's massive dragon head.
"What?!"
Kaido's eyes shrank.
His attack—nullified.
His blind spot—breached.
His opponent—above him.
Before he could react—
Lucian raised his right leg.
Golden light coiled around it—
turning it into a blazing divine hammer.
Lucian looked down.
And stomped.
BOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!!
Sound and fury detonated.
Lucian's seemingly small frame released impossible force.
Kaido's massive dragon head—
was smashed down.
Slammed out of the sky.
Head-first.
Crater-bound.
DOOOOOOMMMM!!!
Whole Cake Island—
and dozens of surrounding islands—
shook violently.
The ground cracked and collapsed,
forming a crater centered on Kaido's skull.
Shockwaves swept outward in rings,
leveling everything.
One stomp.
From ten thousand meters in the air—
Kaido, the "Strongest Creature Alive,"
was beaten into the earth.
Silence.
Then—
A roar.
Filled with pain.
Twisted with glee.
Insane.
Unhinged.
"Wo-ro-ro-ro-ro…! IT HURTS! Damn, that HURT!!!"
"INTERESTING!! SO DAMN INTERESTING!!"
"YES!! THIS—THIS IS THE FIGHT I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR!!!"