"You bastard!" Sentomaru's eyes blazed with fury. His giant axe hummed as pitch-black Armament Haki instantly enveloped its blade, cleaving down towards Caesar's head.
Caesar hadn't expected Sentomaru to actually try to kill him. He screamed and scrambled away in fear. "I'm sorry! I really know I was wrong!"
Doll's figure flashed. Her slender hand precisely pressed down on the handle of Sentomaru's axe. "Calm down. A small fry like him isn't worth risking our lives over. Just let him go with Kaido!"
"Small fry?" Caesar, who had been fleeing around the room, immediately exploded with rage upon hearing this. His face turned the color of liver, and he was so angry his nose seemed to twist. "What does an ignorant woman like you know about a scientist's value? I am Caesar Clown, the genius scientist who will change the world! Ten thousand times more important than that hack Vegapunk!"
"Then we can't let you go even more!" Sentomaru said, raising his axe to strike again.
Caesar was terrified and began fleeing for his life once more. "I misspoke! I'm actually not important at all!"
In the midst of this chaos, the entire island suddenly began to shake violently.
Accompanied by deafening roars, the alloy dome of the laboratory was violently ripped open by a ferocious shockwave, revealing the stormy sky outside.
Kaido's massive, sky-obscuring Azure Dragon form circled above. Each beat of his wings stirred up hurricane-like shockwaves.
The high-energy laser beams fired by the automated Border Dome defense system struck the dragon scales, only producing a few fleeting sparks that vanished instantly, not even leaving a white mark.
"Which one's Caesar? Hic~" The dragon in the sky hiccuped, his draconic eyes scanning below blearily.
"It's me, Kaido-sama! I'm right here!" Caesar jumped up and down, waving his arms frantically.
"Oh. Come with me. Hic~" Kaido said, his eyes still heavy with drink.
"Kaido-sama," Caesar's eyes shifted, and he suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs, "why not take Vegapunk too? Let him be my assistant! His Lineage Factor technology can help us mass-produce Zoan-type Devil Fruits!"
"That damn bastard!" Murderous intent filled Doll's eyes. Having encountered Kaido in a drunken state was a rare opportunity, and they might have gotten through this.
Kaido's huge draconic eyes immediately sharpened, his dragon whiskers twitching with excitement. "Vegapunk? I've heard of him. He's here too? Excellent! He comes with me. From now on, you will be his assistant."
Hearing Kaido's words, Caesar, who had still been laughing smugly, instantly froze. "Kaido-sama, I meant he would be my assistant..."
"Idiot! You're just a second-rate scientist. How can you compare to Vegapunk?" Kaido snorted, reeking of alcohol, disdainfully swishing his dragon tail.
Caesar was so angry he nearly ground his teeth to dust, but he didn't dare utter a word in front of Kaido, only lowering his head in frustration.
"Where's Vegapunk? Hand him over now!" Kaido roared, acting like a drunken maniac.
Doll tried to stall for more time. "Kaido, I know you don't fear the Marine's power, but Dr. Vegapunk is the World Government's Chief Scientist. If you dare take him, you will incur the World Government's relentless, endless pursuit! The Three Admirals, the Warlords, CP0… all their forces will be deployed to hunt you down!"
"Bring it on!" Kaido laughed maniacally, his thick dragon body writhing in the air. "The one who can kill me hasn't been born yet! Perfect chance to stretch my muscles."
Sentomaru and Doll exchanged a glance, then launched their attack simultaneously.
Sentomaru's giant axe, imbued with sharp Haki, slashed towards the dragon's head. Doll drew a specially made pistol from her waist, firing three Seastone bullets that shot through the air.
Yet Kaido merely waved his dragon wing casually. The violent shockwave sent both of them flying backward, crashing through several walls before finally stopping amidst the rubble.
"So this is an Emperor's power... Too strong. We're not even in the same dimension!" Doll's heart turned cold. She knew she was no match for an Emperor, but she never imagined she wouldn't even last one move.
Sentomaru burst from the rubble, once again placing himself in Kaido's path. "I'm Sentomaru, the man with the world's strongest defense! Don't think you can take the Doc from me!"
"Oh?" Kaido's dragon whiskers fluttered wildly in the gale. A flicker of surprise passed through his golden slit-pupiled eyes. "You're much stronger than those useless Marines, brat. Want to join me?"
"What nonsense are you spouting? I'm the Doc's bodyguard! What kind of bodyguard surrenders first?" Sentomaru covered his entire body with Armament Haki.
"Then die," Kaido said impatiently, tilting his head back to spew a Bolo Breath.
Fortunately, he retained some shred of sobriety and didn't use his full power, or everyone in the lab would be dead.
Even so, Sentomaru's full-force strike was blasted away by the dragon breath, and he was buried in the rubble.
"Vegapunk! I don't want to say it a third time!" Kaido roared impatiently.
Doll forced down her injuries, leaping up, her sword aimed directly for Kaido's left eye.
But Kaido simply waved a dragon claw casually, swatting her down into the ground like a fly.
"Don't... even think... of taking the Doc!" Sentomaru staggered to his feet from the rubble. Blood streamed down from his forehead. His arms trembled with intense pain, yet he still clutched his giant axe tightly.
Step by step, he positioned himself in front of Vegapunk, axe blade pointed at the sky-obscuring Azure Dragon.
Kaido lowered his dragon head. His hot breath blasted against Sentomaru's face. "Admirable courage. Sadly, courage alone can't save your life."
His dragon claw descended like a meteor. The ground instantly cratered into a pit dozens of meters deep.
Sentomaru coughed up mouthfuls of blood but still used the axe haft to desperately hold back the dragon claw.
"Interesting!" Kaido laughed wildly, increasing the pressure. Dragon scales and axe haft ground together, producing blinding sparks.
With a sickening crunch of breaking bones, half of Sentomaru's body was crushed into the bedrock. Yet he still used bloodied fingers to claw at the dragon's scales. "As long... as I have... one breath left... you won't... get past..."
Vegapunk shook his head. "Kaido. I'll go with you. Let him go."
"Wororororo! Dr. Vegapunk truly is an intelligent man..."
Just then, the sound of a Den Den Mushi rang out abruptly.
"Purupuru purupuru, purupuru purupuru..."
The Den Den Mushi was answered by someone. A slightly impatient voice came from the other side.
"The World Government issues a special mission: spare no cost to protect Vegapunk. Setsuna, can you handle it?"
"A minor task," came a voice tinged with a lazy tone from the shadows of the lab.
The call ended. Everyone's gaze shifted toward the source of the voice as Setsuna walked out calmly.
'Phew, good thing he woke up,' Vegapunk thought to himself, feeling a slight relief.
"So you're Setsuna? That brat who killed Shiki?" Kaido's dragon eyes blazed with excitement.
"That's right. It's me," Setsuna said, looking up directly at Kaido. "I'm afraid you won't be taking Dr. Vegapunk with you."