The sky—clear just moments ago—suddenly dimmed.
Heavy clouds surged and gathered like raging waves.
A jagged, zigzag bolt of lightning tore down through all of God Valley, followed by rolling thunder that shook the air.
Then—
a blue-green claw burst out of the clouds.
Another bolt fell.
And in everyone's stunned gaze, that claw grabbed the lightning in its hand—then viciously hurled it toward the ground near Romu's crater.
BOOM!
Purple lightning detonated, instantly turning several meters of land into scorched earth.
Caught off guard—
the already weakened Sengoku was blasted away, tumbling across the ground.
"Damn Marines—stay away from Captain Romu!!"
A furious roar exploded.
From the clouds, another claw reached out.
Both claws grabbed the storm mass—then tore.
The gathered black clouds were ripped in half.
Up above Romu's crater—
Kaido was coiling in the sky.
A long serpentine body covered in blue scales.
A qilin-like head, deer antlers rising from his crown.
Two whiskers fluttering without wind.
A carp-like tail swaying restlessly.
He had fully transformed—
into a sky-dominating Azure Divine Dragon, commanding thunder and swallowing clouds.
At that moment, everyone's attention snapped to Kaido's sudden change.
A dragon.
A real Azure Dragon.
Hundreds of meters long, circling inside lightning and thunder, radiating terrifying pressure.
"This is… Kaido??"
"Didn't Romu say Kaido ate the Fish-Fish Fruit?"
Whitebeard stared, shocked.
"It is the Fish-Fish Fruit."
Shiki appeared beside Whitebeard at some point, arms folded, staring up at Dragon Kaido.
His voice was low.
"But he's completed awakening."
"So more accurately…"
"That fruit is now the Mythical Zoan—Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon."
His tone was heavy.
He wasn't shocked by Kaido's appearance alone—
but by Kaido's talent.
Whitebeard was the same.
"Three months…"
"Awakened in three months?"
"Romu's squad leader's talent is insane…"
Shiki shook his head.
"You and I know how hard awakening is."
"Out of a hundred Devil Fruit users, ninety-nine die without ever awakening."
"And most don't even know it exists."
"Awakening in three months isn't just talent."
"It's compatibility."
"Only when a user's compatibility with a fruit is absurdly high—plus enough talent—can they awaken this fast."
"You need both."
He paused, lit another cigar, and shifted his gaze from Kaido to Romu's crater.
Inside, he cursed silently.
Underground markets say that fruit is worth at least a hundred million.
Romu let his crew eat it without hesitation…
If it were anyone else, Shiki would never believe it.
Because if people could truly identify compatibility, awakening would be everywhere.
But this was Romu—
a monster who had ground Shiki's twisted pride into the dirt.
"Damn it…"
"Why did that monster die by someone else's hand?!"
Rage spilled from him again, his striped robe snapping in the wind.
Nearby, Big Mom stared up at Azure Dragon Kaido.
A low, delighted laugh rumbled from her throat.
"He actually awakened…"
A strange light flickered in her eyes—unreadable.
Wang Zhi, John, and Silver Axe only glanced up briefly.
"Idiot. Making this kind of noise now is basically suicide."
"It's good for us, though. Let's see if he can create some chaos."
"Right. Hope he lasts a bit."
They shifted their eyes toward Kong and the others.
If there was even the slightest opening, they'd gamble everything to escape.
But in truth—
Kong and Garp weren't treating those three as threats at all.
Their focus stayed on Kaido.
"He awakened…"
"And he's Romu's squad leader…"
"Again—Romu…"
"Good thing we got rid of him before he fully grew up, or else…"
"…Enough talking. Clean up the battlefield."
"This time, wiping out the Rocks Pirates… the credit will be huge…"
"Garp!!"
"…Uh, what did I just say? Forget it. Take that back."
They spoke—and without meaning to, their eyes drifted toward Romu's crater again.
Garp, acting dumb as always, changed the subject and yelled toward Sengoku:
"Sengoku!"
"Need help?"
Sengoku scratched at his hair—now scorched and frizzed by lightning—and waved him off.
"Just… hurry and clean up."
Then he signaled a group of CP agents to probe Romu's crater.
He himself started walking toward Kaido.
In the sky, Kaido saw Sengoku and the CP unit moving closer to Romu's crater again.
Fire ignited in his lantern-sized dragon eyes.
Hot air hissed from his nostrils.
"Damn it!"
"I told you to stop!"
Kaido raised his massive head.
Flame gathered in his mouth—then expanded a hundredfold.
In his heart, Romu couldn't possibly die that easily.
Even taking that crystal beam head-on—
Romu had to be unconscious, not dead.
Kaido would buy him time.
"Azure Dragon Heat Breath!!"
A scorching beam erupted from the abyss of his maw—two meters wide—blasting toward the CP unit.
Sengoku—still charred—swelled again into the giant golden Buddha.
He raised both palms, not dodging at all, and met the beam head-on.
"This won't work," Sengoku snarled.
"That breath is strong… but not enough."
He forced it aside.
Kaido's eyes turned wild.
"If… if Captain Romu really died…"
"Then none of you get to live!!"
He gathered power again.
Another roar.
But this time it wasn't a pure flame pillar—
it was a violent blue wind blade, like countless glowing sickles, merging directly into the fire beam.
Fire borrowed the wind.
Wind fed the fire.
The instant the wind breath and flame breath fused—
BOOM!
The pillar exploded into a sky-filling demonic blaze.
The sickles turned blue-red, and the energy surged several times over.
Fire chased wind.
Smoke and flame swallowed the heavens.
The entire God Valley turned blood-red under that storm of flame and blades.
Sengoku's golden eyes widened.
He hadn't expected Kaido could fire two attributes—
and he definitely hadn't expected the fusion would multiply the power like this.
In a blink—
a twenty-meter-wide furnace of wind-flame swallowed Sengoku and swept toward the CP unit.
Inside the scorching storm, the golden Buddha clenched his teeth.
His body crackled with sizzle-sizzle burning sounds.
"Damn it…"
"Why is everyone I run into a freak?!"
Sengoku regretted it.
He'd underestimated Kaido.
In his current state, even using Buddha Impact might not fully block this.
Trying to tank it with palms was madness.
But it was too late to change.
He could only endure the fire's searing heat and the wind-blades' tearing cuts with his body.
His veins bulged.
He could feel it—
this hybrid breath already had Marine Admiral-level damage potential.
His remaining stamina evaporated fast.
Even his Buddha light flickered.
Finally—
the breath burned out.
The storm vanished.
Less than ten seconds had passed, but to Sengoku it felt like a century.
He gasped, greedy for normal air.
His injuries weren't catastrophic—
but he was still in Buddha form, and his glow had dropped to half.
The other half was burned black, steaming.
Then he looked down at the CP unit.
Fury poured into his eyes.
They were basically BBQ.
Even those still alive had lost all ability to move, twitching on the ground.
From afar, Kong frowned and turned to Garp.
"Roger and I will watch Rocks."
"You go help Sengoku."
"In his current state, he can't handle Romu's subordinate."
Garp nodded.
"Rocks isn't dead. I can still feel his presence."
"You two hold the crater."
"I'll deal with that lizard and come back—then we finish Rocks together."
Kong answered immediately.
"I feel it too."
"Don't worry."
"With the two of us here, he won't flip this."
"Go help Sengoku. The guy's had a miserable day."
Garp cracked his knuckles.
Armament coated his fists.
He shot across the battlefield.
"Don't get cocky, pirate!!"
A thunderous boom—
and Garp crossed hundreds of meters in an instant, punching into Kaido's dragon body and smashing off several scales.
Kaido's insides churned in pain.
His massive body rolled through the air, stirring the sky into chaos—
but he steadied himself quickly.
No fear.
With absurd regeneration, Kaido counterattacked immediately.
A dragon roar tore the clouds.
His body spun like a drill.
"Tatsumaki Bad Wind!!"
The air condensed into a spiraling storm.
Garp swung again.
"I'll show you a tornado!!"
BOOM!
Kaido's spinning body stopped dead and rolled in agony.
Sengoku joined in too—
and the two of them hammered Kaido together.
Even awakened and stronger than ever, Kaido couldn't fight back.
They slammed the hundreds-of-meters-long dragon down from the sky into the ground.
And they didn't stop.
Fists rained.
Rock shattered.
Dust exploded.
Kaido's breathing turned shallow.
Nearby Marines finally snapped out of their shock and started cheering again.
"Vice Admiral Garp is invincible!!"
"Justice will win!"
"Victory is ours!"
The situation didn't change.
Kaido's awakening became only a brief interruption.
And as the Marines recovered, their earlier frenzy returned.
Now they looked at the broken pirates not as enemies—
but as military merit and promotion made flesh.
"Ha! After wiping out the Rocks Pirates, I might make Lieutenant Commander."
"Lieutenant Commander? I killed twenty-three pirates—should be about the same."
"I don't care about rank… but if Xiaofang hears how heroic I was…"
"Then hurry up! Kill!"
"Kill!!"
"In the name of Absolute Justice—erase the pirates!!"
Like autumn wind sweeping fallen leaves—
within minutes, over two-thirds of the pirates in God Valley were dead.
Only a handful of strong ones held on.
Everyone—Marine and pirate—understood:
the ending had already been written.
Screams echoed across the valley.
But then—
deep underground, forty meters down in the crater—
two bright eyes snapped open.
Romu.
Romu wasn't dead.
Pain exploded from his abdomen.
He sucked in a cold breath and murmured:
"What… am I…"
His injuries had been so severe his consciousness had blanked for a moment—
but it returned quickly, and the memories surged back.
BOOM!
Romu forced his body, breaking free from the rock pinning him.
He pressed his hand to his lower abdomen—about three inches below the navel.
There—
a faint green glow shimmered.
"So…"
"Sengoku was a scheming bastard…"
"Good thing I left a Life Essence stored in my abdomen."
That was one of Romu's life-saving methods.
As long as he wasn't instantly killed, the Life Essence would slowly release vitality—
reviving him.
Romu exhaled slowly.
Cautious as ever, he didn't burst out immediately.
Instead, he spread his Observation Haki and scanned the battlefield.
As expected—
with Rocks and him both down, the Rocks Pirates collapsed like a landslide.
Even Whitebeard and the others were only barely holding on.
"Hm?"
Romu's lips twitched.
"Kaido…"
"He awakened??"
Awakening in three months surprised even Romu—
but he kept scanning.
Soon, he caught the faint aura he wanted.
Rocks' presence—weak—about three hundred meters away.
Romu's eyes sharpened.
He seemed to make a decision.
Above ground—
no one had noticed Romu had awakened yet.
◇ I'll drop one bonus chapter for every 10 reviews (leave a review/comment!)
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 60 chapters ahead on P@treon: patreon.com/KageNaruto