Chapter 186: Madara VS Kaido!
On the hillside, the strong wind howled, blowing Uchiha Madara's long black hair.
The tiny human body and the sky-obscuring azure giant dragon,
At this moment, became the sole focus of the entire battlefield.
However, high up in the turbulent, stormy sky, Kaido's huge dragon eyes, glowing like pools of molten gold, did not linger on the man standing directly below him.
He completely ignored the crimson-armored warrior who dared to meet his terrifying gaze.
To the Emperor of the Sea, an ant staring at the sky was still just an ant.
Instead, those massive, slitted reptilian pupils shifted, locking firmly onto the figure of Suzaku standing calmly in the distance.
"You persistent, annoying bastards!"
Kaido's voice rumbled from the heavens, deeply mixed with the heavy stench of alcohol and an unfathomable, world-shaking fury.
The sound didn't just echo; it turned into rolling, physical thunder, roaring and violently sweeping across the entire field like a hurricane.
"Do you honestly think that just because you were lucky enough to injure me last time, you suddenly have the guts to come to my Onigashima and run wild today?!"
The dragon's roar caused the very tectonic plates beneath their feet to tremble, striking fear into the hearts of the weak.
"First," Suzaku replied softly, stepping slightly forward.
He leisurely raised a single finger, an infuriatingly calm and confident smile plastered on his handsome face.
"That wasn't luck. It was absolute, undeniable strength."
The members of the Beasts Pirates gasped, unable to believe a human would speak so casually to their invincible deity.
"Second," Suzaku continued, smoothly raising a second finger.
His eyes narrowed, flashing with a dangerous, dominating glint that cut through the heavy atmosphere.
"From the very exact moment our boots landed on this shore, this place is no longer your territory."
Suzaku's voice wasn't particularly loud, nor was it enhanced by any devil fruit powers.
Yet, somehow, it cut clearly and precisely through the howling wind, reaching everyone's ears with chilling clarity.
Standing there amidst the tension, he even had the casual leisure to observe his enemy's physical condition.
His sharp eyes noticed that the terrifying, bone-deep scar on Kaido's body—the one they had worked so hard to inflict previously—had now completely healed.
The flesh was as good as new, leaving only a faint, slightly discolored mark on the tough, azure dragon scales.
This recovery ability truly lives up to the terrifying name of absolute "immortality."
He truly is that unkillable monster!
The very same freak of nature who was captured by the Marine numerous times, tortured, and executed countless times, yet still managed to dominate a region of the New World, lively and kicking!
"Stop your arrogant bragging, you insignificant brat!" Kaido roared, the dark clouds swirling violently around his serpentine body.
"Kaido! We're here to defeat you and completely liberate Wano Country!"
Just then, a youthful, fiercely rebellious voice shattered the heavy tension.
Yamato, tightly carrying her heavy, spiked kanabo, Genzo, leaped out from the dense crowd of combatants below.
Her white hair fluttered wildly as she pointed her weapon straight up at the terrifying giant dragon in the sky.
She grinned fearlessly, her eyes blazing with determination as she shouted loudly at her own flesh and blood.
Kaido's massive form paused in the sky, his long whiskers drifting in the wind.
He slowly lowered his colossal dragon head slightly, narrowing his eyes as he glanced at his "foolish son" who was so openly siding with the enemy.
Two scorching, sulfur-scented gusts of air violently spewed from his massive nostrils, melting the frost on the ground below.
His face was as dark and furious as the bottom of an iron pot, veins pulsing beneath his tough scales.
Yet, despite his anger, he couldn't be bothered to deal with this unfilial child right now. There were bigger pests to crush.
"Hey."
A cold, razor-sharp, and extremely impatient voice suddenly interrupted this bizarre family drama.
Uchiha Madara slowly raised his eyelids, exposing the chilling, hypnotic pattern of his eyes.
His gaze was entirely filled with undisguised contempt and a burning, bloodthirsty urgency.
"How much longer are you going to stay up there and babble like an old fool?"
Madara shifted his stance, his hands casually resting on his hips, totally unimpressed by the Emperor's display.
"Come on... stop wasting my time and let's fight to our heart's content!"
The absolute disrespect in his tone finally managed to pierce through Kaido's thick ego.
Only then did Kaido truly shift his terrifying, mountainous attention to the small man who was so blatantly provoking him.
His golden eyes scanned the battlefield below.
He quickly noticed that the annoying guy named Hashirama Senju—the one possessing that monstrous wood power who had caused him so much trouble last time—was just standing idly in the rear.
The so-called God of Shinobi showed absolutely no intention of making a move, opting to watch the show instead with a goofy smile.
So, they just sent some unknown, arrogant small fry to die first?
A brutal, intensely sinister smile flashed deep within Kaido's golden dragon eyes.
"Hmph! Do you really think any random, worthless insect can be my enemy?"
He didn't need to use his full power to crush a bug.
The massive, miles-long dragon body suddenly twisted violently in the turbulent air.
A blinding flash of light erupted in the sky, causing everyone to instinctively shield their eyes.
The sky-obscuring, terrifying azure dragon completely disappeared from the clouds in an instant.
In its place, plummeting toward the earth like a meteor, was a terrifyingly burly figure.
He was over seven meters tall, his monstrous body packed with bulging, rock-hard muscles that seemed ready to burst through his skin.
He wielded a gigantic, terrifying spiked club—the legendary Hassaikai—in his right hand.
With a deafening crash, Kaido landed on the flat ground below, the impact hitting with the force of an earthquake!
The ground shattered instantly, spiderweb cracks spreading for hundreds of meters as a cloud of dust violently exploded outward.
"Since you're in such a desperate hurry to die," Kaido growled, stepping out of the dust cloud.
His eyes gleamed with sadistic joy, towering over the comparatively tiny Uchiha Madara.
"Then let me tell you personally, my name 'Beast Kaido' is not just for show!"
Before the last syllable of his words even finished echoing, his massive arm muscles visibly bulged to an absurd degree.
The heavy spiked club in his hand, Hassaikai, instantly became entwined with pitch-black, highly concentrated Armament Haki!
But it didn't stop there.
Fierce, crackling arcs of destructive purple lightning—the undisputed hallmark of Advanced Conqueror's Haki—began to violently dance along the iron spikes!
With a roar that shook the heavens, he fiercely swung the colossal weapon forward in a devastating horizontal arc!
"Vajra Bō...!"
He didn't even need to make physical contact with the club itself to deal damage.
The sheer, absurd physical force of the swing, combined with the explosive Haki, compressed the very air into a solid projectile.
A visible, incredibly solid cylindrical shockwave, looking exactly like an invisible cannonball fired from a battleship's main barrel, tore brutally through the atmosphere!
With an ear-piercing, terrifying shriek that sounded like tearing metal, it slammed straight towards Uchiha Madara!
"Hey! Long-haired uncle! Get out of the way quickly!"
Yamato, seeing the devastating wind pressure building up, anxiously shouted a desperate warning.
She knew the horrifying, mountain-shattering power of her father's attacks better than anyone.
But Madara didn't move a single inch.
And the surrounding members of the Beasts Pirates, seeing Uchiha Madara standing completely motionless in the face of this world-destroying blow, were ecstatic.
They all showed highly cruel, mocking sneers on their weathered faces.
"Hahaha! Look at that idiot! He was completely scared stiff by the Governor's aura!"
"He can't even move his legs! Serves him right! This is what happens when you dare to challenge Governor Kaido!"
"One move! Governor-sama can turn his frail little bones to dust in just one move!"
Amidst the overlapping taunts and bloodthirsty cheers, they seemed to have already seen Madara being blasted into unrecognizable bloody pieces.
Encouraged by their captain's absolute dominance, their morale skyrocketed.
Their fighting actions also became noticeably more vigorous, frantically and recklessly slashing at the silent, deadly Ice Cavalry in front of them.
"Hmph, now you know exactly how powerful I am, right?"
Feeling the immense resistance of the shockwave hitting a solid object, Kaido didn't even bother to look at the result.
In his mind, no human without Kaido-level durability could take that attack head-on and survive.
Instead, he slowly turned his horned head towards Suzaku, issuing a deeply arrogant, victor's provocation.
"Next up is you, brat! Prepare to be crushed!"
However, the reaction he expected was completely absent.
Suzaku merely chuckled, crossing his arms comfortably over his chest.
A deeply playful, highly amused look danced in his eyes, as if he were sitting in the front row watching a magnificent theatrical comedy.
"Well, that's not necessarily true," Suzaku mused softly, his voice dripping with irony.
Kaido's heart tightened violently in his chest.
His advanced Observation Haki suddenly spiked, screaming at him that something was fundamentally wrong.
He abruptly realized that it wasn't just Suzaku who was completely unfazed.
Looking past him, Hashirama Senju, the orange-haired navigator Nami, and the rest of the crew all showed absolutely no trace of tension, grief, or surprise.
Not good!
Kaido immediately realized he had severely underestimated his opponent's capabilities.
He abruptly turned his massive head back around to look at the point of impact!
"Rumble...!!!"
The terrifying, highly concentrated shockwave of the "Vajra Bō" had completely bypassed its intended target.
Instead, it solidly slammed into the rocky hillside directly behind where Uchiha Madara had just been standing.
The sheer destructive force blasted a massive, gaping hole directly through the solid stone of the small hill!
Thick black smoke, pulverized gravel, and chunks of bedrock shot skyward like an erupting geyser!
But... where was that arrogant figure?
There was no blood, and there was no mangled corpse in the crater.
Amidst the swirling smoke and settling dust, the image of Uchiha Madara, who had just been standing firmly in place, suddenly distorted like a mirage on hot sand.
Then, with a comical, almost insulting "bang," the fearsome warrior completely vanished.
He transformed instantly into a simple, thoroughly charred wooden log, which fell to the shattered ground with a pathetic, hollow thud.
...
...
The entire, chaotic battlefield suddenly fell into a dead, absolute silence.
The wind seemed to stop.
The cruel, victorious smiles on the faces of the thousands of Beasts Pirates members instantly froze, completely stiffening into masks of utter bewilderment.
"It finally appeared!"
Suzaku, standing comfortably in the distance and seeing this iconic scene unfold, couldn't help but excitedly complain to himself.
He muttered in a low voice that only he could hear, shaking his head in sheer disbelief.
"The Naruto World's ultimate, reality-defying BUG-level skill—the legendary Substitution Jutsu! Seriously, where on earth does this entirely illogical log even hide on his body, huh?!"
It defied all laws of physics, mass, and logic, yet it worked flawlessly every single time against the strongest beings in existence.
But out on the battlefield, absolutely no one had the leisure to pay attention to Suzaku's meta-complaints.
Just as Kaido's beast-like brain was momentarily stunned, trying to comprehend how a man turned into a piece of firewood.
"Chii!"
A sharp, ghostly sound pierced the air!
A dark figure appeared directly in the space before Kaido's chest without a single shred of warning!
Uchiha Madara's physical movement was extremely fast, pushing the limits of the human eye.
His body spun violently in mid-air, utilizing the terrifying momentum to deliver a powerful, unmatched high whip kick!
The heavy, armored greave on his leg was accompanied by a piercing, high-pitched shriek that tore through the air, aimed directly at the side of Kaido's head!
So incredibly fast!
Kaido's golden pupils constricted sharply, reducing to mere pinpricks.
His brain hadn't processed the attack, but his battle-hardened, beast-like instincts gave him no time to think or hesitate.
He instinctively raised his massive, spiked club, Hassaikai, bringing his arm up in a blur.
He held the indestructible iron weapon horizontally in front of his face to desperately block the incoming strike!
"Clang...!!!"
A deafening, metallic clang echoed across the harbor, loud enough to ring the eardrums of everyone present.
However, as the strike connected, Kaido's eyes widened in profound confusion.
The anticipated, terrifying, bone-crushing force of the impact did not arrive; it felt entirely hollow, like hitting a phantom.
The "Uchiha Madara" who had forcefully kicked the heavy spiked club hung in the air for a fraction of a second.
The ghostly figure slowly turned his head, revealing a highly strange, deeply mocking smile on his handsome face.
Then, with a soft, dismissive "bang," the figure once again violently exploded into a wisp of thick white smoke and completely vanished into the wind!
Was it a clone?!
A blaring, deafening alarm instantly went off in Kaido's mind, his Observation Haki finally screaming at him from his blind spot!
"You careless fellow, I'm right here!"
A cold, arrogant voice, sounding exactly like the whisper of the grim reaper, suddenly came from the empty air directly behind him!
Unbeknownst to the Emperor of the Sea, the real, physical Uchiha Madara had already bypassed his defenses entirely.
He had quietly appeared not far behind the towering giant's back.
Madara's hands were already moving in a blinding blur, rapidly forming complex, ancient hand signs!
His chest greatly expanded, inhaling a massive amount of oxygen as chakra violently boiled within his throat!
"Fire Release: Dragon Flame Release Song Technique!"
He spat out the words with the force of a divine judgment.
"Roar...!!!"
Accompanied by four distinct, incredibly high-pitched dragon roars that rivaled Kaido's own, the air temperature instantly spiked to unbearable levels.
Four massive, ferociously detailed fire dragons, composed entirely of highly compressed, ultra-hot crimson flames, violently erupted from Uchiha Madara's mouth!
They didn't just fly straight; they separated, trailing intense, blinding light as they came from four completely different, highly calculated directions.
They moved with a predatory sentience, striking Kaido's massive, momentarily stiff body with tricky, inescapable angles that flawlessly sealed off all his potential escape routes!
"So... so amazing!" Yamato's eyes widened to their absolute limits, filled with sparkling stars of sheer admiration.
"He can even create physical clones of himself to attack and deceive the enemy! What kind of incredible, divine ability is this?! I want to learn it so badly!"
Boom...!!!!
The crimson hellfire instantly completely engulfed the massive body of the "strongest creature in the world"!
And those members of the Beasts Pirates who had just been mocking Madara, now each looked as if their throats had been squeezed tightly shut,
Their mouths agape, their eyes bulging almost out of their sockets,
Their faces filled with the horror of "this is impossible"!
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