"Hahahahaha! Kaido, you don't seem quite as terrifying as the rumors make you out to be!"
White Ghost dismissed his greatsword and cracked his golden, clawed fists together, grinning in his half-dragon form.
Across from him, Kaido bared his teeth in a wide grin of his own. He slung the kanabo back over his shoulder and flexed his knuckles.
"Worororororo… Let's hope your strength is as hard as your mouth, brat!"
"Heh."
White Ghost let the Armament fade from his fists and lowered his stance, body coiling like a spring.
"Come on then, 'Emperor'."
Kaido mirrored him, also letting his Haki bleed away as he sank down into a boxer's crouch.
The two of them stared at each other in silence for a heartbeat.
Crack—!
They launched at the same instant. The ice beneath both of them spiderwebbed and shattered as they kicked off.
"Hahahaha, Kaido!"
"Wororororo, brat!"
BOOM!
Their fists collided mid-charge—pure, uncoated flesh and bone.
The surrounding ice fractured again, fissures racing outward in jagged lines.
Aokiji rolled his eyes at the sight.
…Yeah, I'm done fixing your side of the field. You two monsters can break as much as you want
"Again!"
White Ghost laughed wildly, raining punches toward Kaido.
"Wororororo! Your body's still a little behind mine, Marine—but to reach this level at all isn't bad!"
Kaido wasn't about to back down. His own fists flashed, trading blows with White Ghost's.
"ORA ORA ORA ORA!"
"MUDAMUDAMUDA!"
Their hands blurred, their faces twisted in matching expressions of murderous glee, each punch crashing into the other's fists or guard.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
Every single collision blasted out a shockwave, exploding the ice in deafening bursts.
"Gurararara… An iron body, huh? Garp, looks like your marines produced another real monster."
Garp knocked Murakumogiri aside with a punch and glanced over, then burst into laughter.
"He's my disciple—that much is only natural!"
"Oi oi oi…" Chaton risked a glance between exchanges with Katakuri. "Are those two even human? That's what you call humanoid war dragons, right there!"
"You still have time to worry about other people?"
"Mochi Thrust!"
Katakuri morphed his arm into a block of mochi, wrapped it around his trident, spun it like a drill, and drove it toward Chaton.
"Damn!"
Chaton crossed his arms, coating them in Armament to block—
But Katakuri's eyes flashed crimson. His left arm liquefied, stretching flat and rectangular as it whipped around.
"Mochi Punch."
The unexpected side strike caught Chaton square in the face, sending him bouncing across the ice.
"BASTARD! You actually punched my handsome face—my handsome face!" he howled, clutching his cheek.
The moment his fingers brushed the swelling skin, he hissed.
"Ah—ow ow ow… damn that hurts…"
Katakuri took in Chaton's sleazy, scribbled-on-looking face and remembered those words about being a "handsome genius."
The disdain in his eyes was immediate and obvious.
"…Hey! What's with that look?! You looking down on me?!"
Enraged, Chaton's body shifted, fur sprouting and limbs thickening into a boar-like half-beast form.
Katakuri snorted.
"It's just a wild boar. Don't call it anything fancy."
Chaton's pig muzzle twisted.
"Shut up! So what if you can see the future with Observation Haki… In this form, I'm fast!"
"Then show me."
Katakuri moved in without more talk.
"Gladly!"
Chaton charged to meet him. In beast form, his speed really did spike—enough that Katakuri's future-sight began to strain to keep up.
WHAM!
Down by the dragons, Kaido's fist sank into White Ghost's abdomen, driving him back.
White Ghost let the momentum carry him away, then flickered above Kaido in a blur of Geppo.
"Dragon Drop Kick!"
He snapped his leg down in a savage overhead kick, boot slamming into Kaido's face and sending the emperor stumbling back.
"Wororororo… That body of yours isn't bad. In that case…"
DUANG—!
A black sheen of Armament flowed over Kaido's fists.
"You think that scares me?"
Armament wrapped around White Ghost's hands as well.
"Hm?"
Kaido's eyes narrowed as he felt it up close.
"…You damn brat. Highest-level Armament, huh? How the hell did you train that?!"
He charged, unleashing a storm of Haki-infused punches.
"How'd I train it?"
White Ghost blocked and countered, expression flat.
"Why would I tell you that?"
Inwardly, he remembered all too well: letting lightning blow his body apart again and again; reforming; repeating; over and over, to polish his Armament to the limit.
If it hadn't been for his mythical Zoan regeneration, he'd have died a hundred times.
"Dragon Claw Fist!"
White Ghost's hand twisted into a taloned grip, slamming into Kaido's chest.
Sparks flew where claws met skin.
"Wororororo… So what if it's top-tier Armament? You still can't break my diamond-hard body!"
Kaido laughed and smashed a fist into White Ghost in return.
"Yeah? What about top-tier Armament plus internal destruction?"
White Ghost's lips curled.
"Huh—?"
Before Kaido could fully react, pain exploded from deep inside his chest.
"You bastard! Ryuo-style internal Haki hurts, dammit!"
White Ghost laughed in his face.
"Hahahaha! Figuring it out now, Kaido? Try that so-called indestructible defense against this."
"Don't get cocky, marine!"
Kaido yanked his kanabo back into his hand and swung it down at White Ghost's head.
"Heh."
The greatsword flickered back into White Ghost's grasp as he met the blow head-on.
CLANG!
They separated, then crashed together again.
Every single clash, Kaido could feel that hateful Haki chewing at him. No matter how many times he'd tried, he'd never reached that level himself.
"Thunder Bagua!"
"Power Slash!"
BOOM!
Their collision annihilated another massive stretch of ice.
CLANG!
Farther off, Gion and King bounced away from each other, both landing lightly.
"Marine… I'll admit your swordsmanship is impressive," King said calmly. "But your Haki is still a step behind."
"I have no need for a pirate's evaluation."
Gion lifted Konpira again, eyes cold, and charged right back in.
"Damn marines…"
Kaido's patience snapped.
His body surged and elongated, scales rippling outward as he roared into his full dragon form, several hundred meters long.
"Going to take it upstairs, huh?" White Ghost looked around at the shattered ice and rising water. "Guess we're out of footing anyway…"
He let his own body stretch and twist, golden scales rippling as he surged into the air as a winged golden dragon.
"ROOOOOAR—!!"
"ROOOOOAR—!!"
One azure dragon and one golden dragon spiraled higher into the sky, massive forms circling.
"Bolo Breath!"
Kaido's maw opened wide, heat coiling into a beam of destruction.
"Right back at you!"
White Ghost's own jaws glowed as he gathered energy.
Two pillars—one a "normal" searing flame, the other bright gold—lanced out and collided.
BOOM—BOOM!
The impact sent rippling explosions across the sky. The air itself burned, temperature spiking in an instant.
"Fall back, fall back!" Morgans squawked from his hot-air balloon, feathers puffing out. "Why are they like this?! How did it turn into a fight in the sky?!"
Everyone below looked up.
Where the beams met, space visibly warped, heatwaves rolling out in brutal gusts of hot wind.
"This… this kind of destruction… Is that really something a human can do?" Strawberry muttered, swallowing hard.
He remembered sneering at White Ghost back at headquarters. Looking at that flaming vortex in the sky, he couldn't help thinking—
If he pointed that at me, I wouldn't even have a body left.
"Oi oi oi… White Ghost is really something," Momonga muttered, hacking aside a pirate as he glanced up.
A blazing slash cut toward him.
"Damn marine, don't ignore me!"Fossa snarled, sword wreathed in flame.
"Heh. I'm not."
Momonga's own blade burst into flames as he met the attack.
CLANG!
Fire scattered from the clash as Fossa staggered back.
"Damn… this guy hits like a Sea King…"
"You're facing a Headquarters elite vice admiral, pirate," Momonga said mildly around his cigarette. "It'd be a bit embarrassing if I didn't have that much strength."
CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!
Momonga pressed the attack, forcing Fossa to retreat nonstop. When he finally spotted an opening, he slapped Fossa's sword aside.
Fossa's chest was wide open. His eyes went wide.
Too slow!
Momonga raised his blade for a finishing cut—
A slim figure blurred in, sword flashing, and knocked the strike away.
"Oh?" Momonga exhaled. "Another one. Whitebeard Pirates, Twelfth Division Commander Haruta."
Haruta—a short man with brown hair and blue eyes, wearing green-and-white old-world clothes and tight white pants—held his thin rapier at the ready.
"Fossa. Can you still fight?"
"Thanks, Haruta—I can still move!"
"Then we go together. A Headquarters Vice Admiral isn't easy prey."
"Right!"
Fossa didn't stand on pride.
If you could gang up on someone, why insist on a one-on-one?
"Oi oi oi… You pirates really have no shame, huh?" Momonga complained lightly.
But there wasn't a hint of panic on his face. If anything, he looked faintly amused.
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