"Whew."
Kaido desperately wanted to save Big Mom, Charlotte Linlin, after she had been thrown into the sea, but honestly, the man standing in front of him right now was no pushover. The overwhelming presence radiating from him gave Kaido a terrible headache.
"Wororororo..."
"To think a monster like you was born into this world..."
"It really does make a man afraid..."
"Could Kozuki Oden's prophecy actually be coming true?"
"Bah! Nothing but a coward's excuse. Even if I lose to you today, I'll still have lost two years earlier than that bullshit prophecy said I would..."
As Kaido faced Jovian, he seemed to remember that man who had haunted him for years, the man who had once wounded him, the man he had once acknowledged.
Though acknowledged was all it was.
"Next..." Kaido looked seriously at Jovian. There was some confusion in his eyes as he asked, "Hey! Speaking of which, you're a strong man too. Is someone as strong as you really willing to be a slave to the World Government? I don't understand. I don't understand why a powerful being like you would willingly fall so low. Why don't you and I join forces? How about we destroy this world together? Flatten all those high and mighty classes, let everyone wield weapons, and create a world where power decides everything, not a world controlled by useless rulers who only know how to sit around and eat. What do you think?"
Kaido questioned Jovian. He hoped a strong man like Jovian would help him, and that they could work together to create a perfect world.
Of course, that was only what he hoped for. If Jovian refused, he would not say much about it.
After all, this world was one where the strong had the final say.
"Kaido, I don't think there's that much to say between us. If you want to fight, then fight."
Jovian's attitude was extremely simple. If they were going to fight, then they should fight. Enough nonsense.
"Wororororo..."
"I just don't want to see you controlled by that trash..."
"Listen, this world should be ruled by the strong. The weak are only worthy of bowing before the strong."
"Look at this world. Cowardly samurai, all because of one prophecy their lord casually tossed out, they could crawl into hiding and swallow their humiliation for decades. You call that patience? Bullshit. It was nothing but cowardice and weakness!"
"As for you, which side are you on? Are you a lapdog of the Celestial Dragons, or are you an unconquered true powerhouse who uses the sea as his battlefield, warships as his stepping stones, and sets out to conquer the world? Answer me, Jovian!"
Kaido stared at Jovian and asked his question.
"Overlords? The strong? The weak?"
"I'm none of those. I'm just a dragon rider mounted on the king of the Celestial Dragons!"
"Kaido, do you know what the art of riding dragons is?!"
Jovian asked Kaido in return. His expression was calm and unhurried, utterly composed, as if he were waiting for Kaido to give him an interesting answer.
"..."
"Bullshit!"
Unfortunately, Kaido disappointed Jovian. Kaido was furious, and he roared at Jovian, because the Devil Fruit Kaido had eaten was the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon. Wasn't this so-called art of riding dragons from Jovian's mouth saying he wanted to ride him? To use him, the world's strongest creature, as a mount? What kind of joke was that?
"Why are you getting so worked up? I never said I wanted to ride you. I just happen to like girls with handles on their heads. Think about it. Really think about it."
Jovian kept one hand in his pants pocket and smiled at the furious Kaido.
"Girls with handles on their heads..."
"You mean..."
After hearing Jovian's words, Kaido began to think. A few seconds later, his expression changed in shock, as if he had realized something.
"That's right..."
Jovian smiled faintly. He knew Kaido had definitely figured it out.
"Black Maria!"
"So that's it. I never expected your target to be Black Maria."
Kaido frowned, and anger appeared in his eyes.
"You never considered Yamato?"
The corner of Jovian's eye twitched. He really had never thought of Black Maria from the beginning, but on second thought, Black Maria was indeed pretty good-looking.
"Yamato?!"
"Pffthahaha..."
After hearing Jovian's words, Kaido froze at first, then burst into laughter, as if he had heard some hilarious joke.
"Hahaha..."
"A wild brat of a girl like Yamato, and there are really people in this world who like that? Are they blind? Girls should obviously be gentler the better..."
Kaido held his stomach, as if Jovian's words had made him laugh so hard it hurt. Or perhaps, in his view as a father, his daughter Yamato had no charm to speak of. She was just a completely disobedient little brat. More importantly, she was very strong, and sometimes she caused him enormous trouble, giving him endless headaches.
"I guess that's what a real dad is like."
Jovian looked at Kaido, who was roaring with laughter, and the corner of his eye twitched slightly. Although Kaido was a total idiot, and although he was the father of the girl Jovian had taken an interest in, a fight was still a fight.
He would simply hold back a little and send Kaido to Impel Down instead of killing him.
See? He was giving Yamato plenty of face.
"Brat, since you like Yamato, how about joining the Beasts Pirates? I'll make the decision and have Yamato marry you. From now on, you and I will be family, and we'll be unstoppable on these seas!"
Kaido was still trying to win Jovian over.
"Hey, hey, hey..."
"This isn't good. If Kaido really convinces Jovian, won't I be in danger?"
Aramaki clearly panicked at this moment. If Kaido and Jovian joined forces, then rescued Big Mom, three top-tier fighters would be working together. At that point, forget him, even the Navy, and even the World Government's entire rule, would be shaken.
If they then chose to cooperate with the Revolutionary Army, maybe the Navy and the World Government really could be overthrown.
"What are you thinking?"
"I'm not going to cooperate with you. I never cooperate with men unless you're willing to be my underling!"
Jovian had no intention of working with Kaido. Kaido was so poor he could barely support himself. There was no future in cooperating with Kaido. Working with Imu was much better. Not only could he XX, but Imu also had a whole army under her command, and the Navy was also under Imu. How great was that?
"Then it looks like we have no choice but to fight?"
Kaido's gaze gradually sharpened. He gripped his kanabo tightly with both hands and questioned Jovian.
"Come on. Since you're Yamato's father, I'll let you attack first."
Jovian was very generous. He crooked a finger at Kaido.
"Huff..."
Kaido slowly breathed out a turbid breath and tightened both hands around his kanabo.
"In that case, let's fight to our hearts' content!"
"Kundali Dragon Swarm!"
Kaido gripped his kanabo with both hands and rushed at Jovian at high speed. Then he rapidly swung the kanabo in his hands.
"Bang, bang, bang..."
Facing the overwhelming storm of kanabo strikes, Jovian continuously dodged while throwing punches to block.
Pitch-black lightning instantly fell toward the surroundings from the space where the two clashed.
That was the immense lightning produced by Conqueror's Haki coating.
"So scary..."
While dealing with King's attacks, Aramaki evaluated Kaido's Conqueror's Haki. That incomparably powerful Haki was enough to make even a powerhouse like him describe it as scary.
"Great Virtue, Thunder Bagua!"
Seeing that his attacks were not working, Kaido gripped his kanabo tightly with both hands and unleashed an even stronger version of Thunder Bagua.
"Zzzzt..."
Jovian was directly sent flying by Kaido's supercharged Thunder Bagua. As he flew through the sky, he released scorching heat vision at Kaido's chest.
"Ah..."
Feeling the heat vision blasting from Jovian's eyes, Kaido shouted in pain.
"Jovian, you really are powerful..."
"Looks like I can't keep holding back either!"
"Enough with these flashy tricks. Let's settle this with one final move!"
Kaido's eyes gradually sharpened. Suddenly, endless flames ignited around him. His body grew increasingly scorching, his entire flesh turning into pure, violent flame.
In the next second, the previously ordinary Kaido suddenly transformed into his azure dragon form.
And that was not all.
The flames he released directly wrapped around his entire body. Kaido went from an azure dragon several hundred meters long to a colossal being ten thousand meters in length. His head also became incomparably broad, as if he had placed a layer of Susanoo over his own body.
"Flame Dragon Torch, Rising Dragon: Flame Bagua!"
Just as King's ultimate technique was called Imperial Guardian, Fire Dragon Emperor, and the meaning it represented was that the king he guarded was Kaido, the incarnation of flame, this gigantic fire dragon, hundreds of meters wide and ten thousand meters long, capable of casually destroying Onigashima, was Kaido's final form. It was also the origin of Kaido's title as Flame Dragon Emperor.
"Whoa..."
"What the hell is this?"
"No matter how you look at it, isn't this way too ridiculous?"
Seeing Kaido transform into a ten-thousand-meter giant dragon, Aramaki's mouth hung open. Honestly, everything he saw in front of him was delivering a massive shock to his thinking. Even if he called himself the Father of Life and possessed the power to turn all of Wano Country green, facing that thing in the sky would still be enough to turn his body into ash, wouldn't it?
"As expected of the strongest creature on land, sea, and air, known as the strongest in a one-on-one!"
Aramaki had no choice but to praise Kaido's strength. Kaido was worthy of his respect.
"Boom!"
At the same time, King and Katakuri, who had been fighting Aramaki, broke free from the vines and rushed toward Aramaki once again.
"Hey, hey, hey!"
"This is the exciting part. Don't interrupt me while I'm watching!"
Aramaki looked at King and Katakuri, who were charging at him at high speed, and waved his hand. In an instant, he summoned countless vines, tying Katakuri and King back in place.
"Boom!"
And at the same time Aramaki dealt with King and Katakuri, a massive impact came from the sky.
In an instant, the entire world seemed to fall silent.
Impel Down...
"Fuffuffuffu..."
"Go ahead. Keep acting arrogant!"
"The reins of this era have already been torn away by your own hands!"
"Just wait! This world is already finished. The last Emperors of the Sea will join forces. In the end, they will unite with the Revolutionary Army and raise an enormous tide. That tide will be enough to swallow Marineford, swallow Impel Down, and the next thing it swallows will be the Holy Land Mary Geoise. The secrets of the Celestial Dragons will be revealed, and everything will come to an end!"
"Fuffuffuffu..."
"I truly look forward to seeing that day arrive!"
Doflamingo laughed loudly. He lay in his cell and mocked the entire world.
"Doflamingo, your new cellmates have arrived. Didn't you say before that being alone in your cell was too lonely? Now we've found you a few new cellmates!"
Just as Doflamingo was laughing loudly, his solitary cell was suddenly opened. Several jailers dragged him out of the cell, and under Magellan's gaze, they sent him into the neighboring cell.
"My cellmates?"
"Fuffuffuffu. Then I really have to see who they are!"
Doflamingo laughed and looked into the room next door. One glance was enough to shock him. Compared with the other rooms, this room was unbelievably luxurious. It had a table, chairs, an enormous amount of space, and even a private bathroom and shower. At this moment, two people were sitting in that room, constantly arguing.
"Kaido, why did you agree to come here? Are you insane?"
"Say whatever you want, Linlin! Since I lost, there's no excuse to make!"
Yes, the ones sitting in that room were the Emperor of the Sea Charlotte Linlin and the Emperor of the Sea Kaido of the Beasts.
And standing beside the two Emperors of the Sea were Katakuri, Cracker, King the Wildfire, and Queen the Plague.
"What the hell is going on?!"
Doflamingo was completely stunned. Even those two terrifyingly powerful Emperors of the Sea had been captured by the Marines?
"Whew."
King had half a cigarette in his mouth and kept smoking. There was nothing he could do about the situation right now.
Katakuri, meanwhile, kept rubbing his messy hair. There was nothing he could do about Charlotte Linlin being captured here either.
And most importantly, his sister Smoothie had been taken somewhere else by Jovian for the reason that her legs were too long. With his Observation Haki, he had seen some rather unpleasant things. He wanted to go save Smoothie now, but unfortunately, he simply could not get out.
"Kaido, even you were captured?"
Doflamingo did not know what to say. He looked at Kaido and asked.
"Yeah..."
"That guy Jovian is a monster. He took the title of strongest in a one-on-one."
Kaido sat in his seat. As for losing to Jovian, he had nothing much to say. A loss was a loss.
"Is that so?"
"That really is unfortunate."
Doflamingo's chest rose and fell. After taking a while to calm down, he nodded lightly. As for Kaido's words, he had no choice but to accept them.
As for Jovian at this moment, he was heading toward Mary Geoise.
He was preparing to drive away all the Celestial Dragons occupying the Holy Land.
This world did not allow people that arrogant and privileged to exist. They had to be blasted out.
In this world, it was enough for only one person to have privilege.
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