The Half-Beastified Kaido was equally battered, the Wolf Fang Club stuck into the ground beside him, his body a bloody mess, even the azure-blue scales on his upper body were stained dark red by the blood.
"Worahorahora... Kid, can you still stand?" Kaido spoke in a muffled voice, with a hint of exhaustion, but more...
Excitement.
Increasingly unstoppable excitement!
This rude and arrogant kid is really strong... incredibly strong!
He's grown a hundred times stronger than back at Judicial Island!!!
"Cut the crap."
Shano staggered to his feet and grinned, blood smeared on his stark white teeth, "See? I can not only stand, but I can also hit you so hard your mom wouldn't recognize you."
"Stop bragging, even I don't know who my mom is!"
Kaido roared in anger, charged furiously, his right hand transformed into a dragon claw wrapped in black-red lightning, and viciously grabbed at Shano!
Shano neither dodged nor retreated, his right fist suddenly tightened, muscles tensed once more, and he fiercely punched at Kaido!
"Come on!!!"
Bang!
The moment the fist and claw collided, a terrifying shockwave swept through the heavens and the earth, the already devastated ground cracked again, countless stones were shaken into the sky and crushed into powder by the raging aftershocks.
Both were sent flying out simultaneously, heavily crashing into the ruins.
"Cough..."
Shano spat out a mouthful of bloody foam, struggling once again to get his body upright.
His vision was already somewhat blurry, but his grin grew more malevolent.
"Is it fun, Kaido?"
He panted heavily, laughing hoarsely, "Anyway, since the night before last, after beating you from your dragon form back to your original form, I've been enjoying the fight!"
His fighting style had long caught Kaido's eye, but Kaido was equally appealing to his taste?
Punch after punch, straight to the point, constant clash, crush, combat!
Making his blood boil until it's almost evaporating, even the words 'exhilarating' don't suffice to describe it!
However...
Though exciting, it's damn tiring.
Without eating, drinking, or sleeping, no replenishments whatsoever; he's exhausted over seventy to eighty percent of his stamina and is about to hit the limit.
Kaido may have the recovery boost from the Mythical species, and might be in a slightly better condition stamina-wise, but it's bound to be extremely limited...
Wait, replenishments?
Shano suddenly realized, flipped his right hand, and a red bean bun appeared out of thin air.
He stared at the bun for a moment, then looked at Kaido, suddenly let out a quiet sigh, and fiercely crushed it into powder.
Truly pathetic, for both him and Kaido...
By comparison.
Akainu and Aokiji fought at Punk Hazard for ten days and nights?
Damn it, those Logia-type bastards...
When it comes to a clash of wills and the Marshal position, talk of holding back is nonsense; but surely there were long stretches in between where they were engaged in long-range power exchanges, you throw a few magma globs, he shoots a couple ice arrows.
Nowhere near as exhausting as the way he and Kaido are fighting!
"Worahorahora..."
Just then, Kaido finally struggled to climb up from the ruins, this ten-meter-high Half-Beast form started to falter, gradually reverting to a seven-meter-seven human form.
"Kid... you can fight harder than I imagined, a bit stronger and you might actually be able to beat me, becoming the strongest in solo combat on the seas!"
Kaido grinned, revealing blood-stained teeth, viciously said, "But at this level... it's still not enough! Far from enough! For I am... Hundred Beasts Kaido!!!"
He stomped fiercely, smashing the ground, and charged at Shano once more!
Shano similarly let out a roar, dragged his battered body, and charged towards Kaido!
"Kaido!"
"Shano!"
Their fists clashed again, not satisfied with just the left, they grabbed each other's right fists too.
Not content with just the fists, they each leaned back and with a thud, slammed their heads together!
"Damn you, Kaido!"
On the wasteland, Shano's furious shout echoed, "Who the hell has two horns on their head, stabbing me hurts like hell!"
"Miscalculated, I'm from the Ghost Race!"
Rumble!
Black-red lightning continued to weave and spread, causing the world to start collapsing and disintegrating once again...
————
Another day and night passed.
Day five, outside world.
The first rays of morning sunlight spilled down.
Mont-d'Or was completely exhausted, his face as pale as paper, with dark circles under his eyes thick as a panda's. The giant book in front of him, after days of burning destruction, had only a few pages left.
"Mama... sob, I really can't do it, I truly can't hold on any longer..." he said, his voice choked with tears.
BIGMOM eyed the book that was about to burn out, her eyes narrowing slightly.
"Just endure a little longer, Mont-d'Or!" she said sternly, "The outcome will be decided soon!"
As soon as she finished speaking—
BOOM!!!
The book suddenly exploded, the remaining pages burning to ashes, scattering all around.
At that moment, two figures were thrown out of a black hole, crashing heavily onto the top of the castle.
"Mama!"
Mont-d'Or cried out, trembling, seeming to suffer a severe mental blow. His body stiffened, and he fell backward, fainting.
But BIGMOM didn't care about him at all. She suddenly stood up from her seat and looked at the two figures.
"Captain!"
"Brother!"
"Lord Shano!"
The Endgame members were also startled and instinctively moved closer.
But the figure on the left raised a hand to stop them.
It was Shano, who had reverted to his Kami-e Martial Body form, covered in blood, nearly unrecognizable in appearance. He was barely kneeling on one knee, breathing weakly.
As for Kaido on the right...
He simply didn't bother to maintain his image, lying sprawled out on the ground, his whole body flattened like the character '木,' his chest heaving heavily.
"Wuhahaha... refreshing! Truly refreshing! But now, my stamina is really at its limit!"
He turned his head, laboriously extending a palm, "Five minutes! Truce for five minutes, then we continue, how about it, Shano!"
"Shameless." Shano rolled his eyes, "Spit out that Mythical fruit of yours, then it's a fair proposal!"
"Then no rest, let's continue fighting!" Kaido wobbled to his feet, "But you, kid, can you really still fight..."
"Don't underestimate me!" Shano said coldly.
Of course, he could still fight!
Even if his physical endurance was slightly lacking compared to Kaido, and he suffered from disadvantages in stamina recovery, so what?
He might be out of strength for the moment, but he still had a secret trump card!
Just felt that this life-saving trump card, which only had one use, wasn't necessary nor worth using in such a place, so...
"Enough!"
BIGMOM suddenly shouted, "The two of you, without external interference, clearly can't do anything to each other! Fighting to this point is enough! After all, it hasn't reached a life and death struggle, has it!"
"Mind your own business, don't stop me, you old hag!"
Kaido glared, "Your son can't hold on, so you're worried about your Cake Castle again? Such a ridiculous reason can't stop..."
"Kaido!"
Teeth clenched, BIGMOM said, "Didn't I tell you to stop? Why so stubborn? Don't forget, you still owe me a massive favor!"
A massive favor?
The others paused slightly, exchanging looks with surprise. Was there such a thing between these two?
"..."
Kaido fell silent.
He stared at BIGMOM, took a deep breath, a complex emotion flashing in his eyes, and slowly unclenched his tightly gripped fist, the fighting spirit dissipating from him.
"Hmph, Lingling, you know how to pick your time to bring this up."
Kaido snorted, but his tone was no longer as violent as before, "Fine, we'll call it a day. But it's not entirely because of you, mostly it's because of this kid. If I just killed such a worthy opponent... the days after would probably be too boring!"
"You're still the best at bragging."
Shano, having taken this time, finally had the strength to stand up straight. He let out a mocking laugh, just about to say something, when he suddenly saw Katakuri's expression change, looking up towards the sky.
This scene seemed so familiar...
Another Kaido coming?
Shano raised an eyebrow, and the next moment, as if sensing something, he suddenly looked up!
The others made the exact same reaction.
No, there was no need for Observation to sense this...
Because at this moment, the previously clear sky suddenly darkened, and a massive shadow covered almost the entire Cake Island!
"It's an island, an island!!"
Bonney's eyes widened, being the first to cry out in shock, "How could there be such a huge island, flying in the sky!"