The fight on the ground was still going, without a break.
The fight in the sky, however, had come to a short stop.
"Beast" Kaido and "Inferno" King were both keeping their animal forms, staying in the air.
The huge blue dragon and the wingless dragon stood together in the sky.
Their eyes narrowed a little, watching what the sand giant was doing.
After breaking Ghost Island, the sand giant had stopped moving, as if his job was done.
The big wound that Kaido's hot breath had made on the sand giant's waist was still there.
Looking at it from physics, the sand giant's body should have fallen apart long ago. There was no way he could still stand!
Why?
Why could the sand giant still stand, even with the huge weight of his top half pressing down on the half of his waist that was left?
This didn't make sense!
...
After thinking for a long time without an answer, King looked down and saw that the fight on the ground had started too.
Dalton was leading the Drum Kingdom's royal army, using light cannons to hold back the Beasts Pirates. The sound of cannons firing never stopped.
"Captain..."
King nodded a little, thinking about going to help on the ground.
After all, King knew how strong his captain was.
Helping?
That would be a weak thing to do, and an insult to "Beast" Kaido!
But King was surprised. Kaido shook his head and looked at the back of the sand giant.
King understood. Kaido meant for him to keep going into Alabasta, without being stopped by anything, and to keep to their plan!
"Yes, I understand."
King wasn't afraid to be alone.
If that's what his captain wanted, he would do it!
But just as King was about to use his speed to fly deeper into Alabasta, something strange happened!
The sand giant, who hadn't been moving, suddenly raised his left hand, aimed at King, who was about to fly away, and punched!
It was a "punch" that didn't fit the sand giant's huge size.
Not in how strong it was, but in how "fast" it was!
People think that big things should move slowly and heavily.
After all, to move such a big body, you have to handle a lot of pressure and use a lot of power.
But the sand giant was different.
He punched so fast that only the best fighters on the sea could keep up. Normal people couldn't even see him move!
Whoosh!
The huge fist, with the wind from it, flew at King.
At that moment, King was covered in flames, which was why people called him "Inferno".
His body was always burning with fire!
The flames flashed, and King turned into a wingless dragon. He didn't move back at all, but flew right at the sand giant.
Whoosh!
In a flash, King cut halfway through the sand giant's wrist.
Now, there was only a little bit holding the sand giant's lower arm and left hand together. The rest was gone!
If that happened to a real person, it would be a terrible sight.
It would be more like "the lower arm and left hand were only held together by a piece of skin".
"Hmph..."
After hurting the sand giant, King was going to fly away quickly and do what Kaido had told him to do.
Kaido would take care of the sand giant. He didn't need to worry about it.
But the next second, a very cold feeling ran down King's back. At the same time, he felt a warning from his sensing ability.
King quickly looked up and saw that the sand giant wasn't even paying attention to his hurt left hand. He was still swinging his left fist, hitting down at King!
More accurately, King's deadly attack hadn't stopped the sand giant at all!
The huge fist didn't shake or get weaker at all because of the hurt wrist.
It kept falling at King, even though it was "only held on by a piece of skin"!
King didn't know what to do about this strange scene, so he couldn't get out of the way and had to take the punch head-on!
Bang!
In a moment, King was knocked away like a cannonball, landing in the desert far away. It wasn't clear what had happened to him.
Kaido saw King get punched away by the sand giant, but didn't do anything.
He knew that King wouldn't be hurt badly by just one punch, and he needed time to watch the sand giant.
He didn't need to guess anymore, because the facts were telling Kaido that this sand giant wasn't just a normal, big thing made of sand!
The sand giant's movements weren't changed at all, whether his waist was broken or his wrist was cut!
Why?
Kaido couldn't figure it out.
But... why did he have to figure it out?
He was "Beast" Kaido!
No matter how strange something was, he could just crush it from the front!
Thinking this, Kaido roared and flames started to gather in his mouth again.
Hot breath - ready!
Kaido aimed at the sand giant's waist again.
Boom!
Hot flames, with a deafening roar, came out of Kaido's mouth and hit the sand giant's waist!
This time, Kaido aimed at the other side of the sand giant's waist, the only side left!
Even if having just one side of his waist was enough for him to stand, I'll blow him apart in the middle!
That way, the sand giant wouldn't be able to stand anymore.
That's what Kaido thought.
After the hot breath exploded, the sand giant made low roars, the sounds of his body moving.
Kaido looked at the sand giant, planning to watch him fall down and then destroy the city full of soldiers on the ground.
But that's when Kaido saw something that made his eyes open wide -
The sand giant's waist was completely broken.
He didn't have a middle anymore, just legs and a top half.
But even so, the sand giant was still standing, as if the broken waist had been filled with "air"!
At the same time, the sand giant swung his fist again, hitting down at Kaido!
Boom!
Kaido, in his blue dragon form, was knocked down to the ground by the sand giant's punch.
At that moment, Kaido saw a piece of sand floating in front of him.
And Kaido finally realized why the sand giant was acting so strange.
The "sand giant" wasn't a "single thing" at all, but a "group" made of many pieces of sand.
That meant that Ryan Rowan wasn't controlling the sand giant, but controlling every piece of sand that made up the giant!
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