This light, mocking greeting echoed eerily within the main hall of Onigashima. The entire Beasts Pirates, thousands of elites, stood there dumbstruck at this moment. It was a supreme humiliation for their crew. Since the end of the Rocks era, on these seas, even the man hailed as the world's strongest, Whitebeard Edward Newgate, could not have possibly blocked Kaido's full-strength club strike with just a bare palm that hadn't even been hardened with Armament Haki! Is this guy even human?!
"Arrogant Marine..." Heavy panting leaked from deep within Kaido's throat, turning into visible white airwaves that blew away all the shattered stone slabs beneath their feet. He suddenly released his grip on the spiked club, stomped hard on the ground, and his massive body retreated dozens of meters to create distance.
Boom—! The violent black and red Conqueror's Haki pressure intensified several times over at this moment! The materialized gale stung the faces of the surrounding Gifters, nearly peeling their skin off.
"The boss has completely lost it! People are going to die! Get away, fast!" Queen's eyes bulged in terror. Dragging his incredibly elastic fat, he scrambled and rolled out of the hall's ruins, diving into a distant pile of boulders while shivering uncontrollably.
High up in the sky, "Wildfire" King spread his wings, hovering among the clouds. Under that iconic mask, a large bead of cold sweat slid down his temple as his eyes remained fixed on the slender figure below wearing the coat of justice. It was all too bizarre! Even for the Lunarian Tribe—the so-called strongest race in the world in terms of defense—there was absolutely no way to find such an effortless solution in that clash of pure physical monstrosity! What kind of monster was hidden inside the human shell of this Marine Admiral codenamed "Calamity"?!
"Roar—!!!" A sudden, ear-piercing sound of grinding muscle and bone rang out. Kaido's already massive, demon-god-like human form expanded rapidly with the wind! His limbs elongated infinitely, fine blue scales burst through his skin, and the hideous twin horns atop his head shot toward the sky.
In less than two seconds! A blue dragon hundreds of meters long, blotting out the sun, let out a roar and coiled upward! Its incomparably massive body forcibly shattered the top of the Onigashima fortress!
Rumble! Tens of thousands of tons of rubble, mixed with broken steel, fell frantically from mid-air. Above the clouds, lightning flashed and thunder rolled. The Azure Dragon extended its immense head, its golden vertical pupils looking down at the tiny human figure below, its long dragon whiskers dancing wildly in the gale.
"Worororororo!" A frantic laugh rolled down from deep within the clouds, shaking the angry seas around Onigashima and sending layers of white foam crashing against the shore. "To be able to catch my club with one hand, you truly have the capital to be arrogant! Among the lapdogs raised by those trash in the World Government, a monster has finally appeared who can make me enjoy myself a little!"
The Azure Dragon suddenly flipped half a turn in the rolling black clouds, and its dragon maw, large enough to swallow a city, opened wide. Sizzle—! The oxygen within a radius of several kilometers was sucked dry in an instant. An incredibly terrifying, destructive heat was frantically compressed and gathered deep within the Azure Dragon's throat!
A blinding, deep orange-red light instantly illuminated the night sky of Wano Country! Even the civilians deep in the mountains of Kuri could see that despair-inducing celestial phenomenon. The extreme high temperature caused severe atmospheric distortion and refraction above Onigashima, making the surrounding scenery look bizarre and surreal.
Orochi went limp under a table, tears and snot flowing freely as he clutched his head, so terrified he even forgot to use his Mythical Zoan Yamata no Orochi ability. "That lunatic! Does he not even care about my life?!"
The Beasts Pirates' lackeys who hadn't run far enough were in even more miserable shape. Before the flames even touched them, a layer of oily sweat had already been cooked out of their skin, their hair curled and charred in patches, and they couldn't even let out a cry for help.
"Die! Calamity!!!" The Azure Dragon let out a tyrannical roar. Bolo Breath!!!
Boom—!!! An orange-red pillar of fire, over a hundred meters in diameter and piercing through heaven and earth, poured down from the dragon's mouth! Everything in its path was completely burned through. Wherever the fire pillar passed, giant rocks melted directly into crimson magma, pulling a destructive net of heavenly fire across the air.
The bullseye of the target was precisely Cain, who hadn't even changed his stance. The storm made that coat of justice flap loudly. Facing the ultra-high-temperature breath capable of erasing an island from the map, Cain raised his right hand, extinguished the half-burned cigar, and flicked it aside. Simultaneously, his left hand pressed firmly onto the pitch-black hilt at his waist.
Clang—! The sound of the blade leaving the scabbard was exceptionally crisp and clear amidst the sound of explosions. As that slender black blade completely left the confinement of the sheath! A pressure even more domineering and superior than the Azure Dragon in the sky suddenly awakened from within Cain.
Top-tier Conqueror's Haki. Black and red aura swirled up from beneath Cain's feet, tightly entining onto the edge of the black blade. In the center of their confrontation, the space instantly produced a visible collapse and sinking phenomenon! The sky full of falling rubble turned silently into the finest dust halfway through as it touched this absolute field of pressure.
"Since you like playing with fire so much." Cain gripped the hilt with both hands. The Admiral's coat flew in the gale, and his muscle lines bulged beneath his custom Marine shirt. He gathered 100 points of Physique strength, which surpassed the limits of mortals, combined with the swordsmanship of a peak Great Swordsman.
Without any complicated or flashy starting stance. From the bottom up. He swung the blade. "Getsuga—" Cain's voice was very soft, yet it clearly reached everyone's ears. "—Tensho!"
Swish—!!! An ultimate black and red crescent-shaped slash, hundreds of meters long and spanning the entire sky of Onigashima, broke free from the pitch-black blade! Carrying a violent will that tore through the firmament, it surged straight up against the orange-red heavenly fire falling from the sky!
There was no world-shaking explosion of energy. The expected scene of equal forces canceling each other out in a stalemate did not appear either. Under the horrified gazes of Queen, King, and countless pirates. That terrifying black and red crescent sliced incredibly smoothly into the ultimate Bolo Breath that was enough to melt an island!
From the very center, it was split in two! Boom! Boom! The two split pillars of fire brushed past both sides of Cain's body and crashed into the inner sea behind him. Tons of seawater instantly evaporated into white mist, leaving the seabed exposed and dry. The crescent slash's momentum remained undiminished, charging into the clouds with an all-destroying sharpness!
Above the clouds, the Azure Dragon's golden vertical pupils suddenly constricted! That immensely large dragon body felt the threat of death and instinctively wanted to roll and dodge. But it was too fast! So fast it exceeded the limits of Observation Haki's capture.
Rip—!!! The black and red half-moon glow brushed past the Azure Dragon's massive head, split the thick thunderclouds, and disappeared into the infinitely high reaches of the firmament.
"Roar-aaaaah—!!!" In the sky, a shrill and agonizing roar suddenly erupted! It started raining. Except, it was a rain of blood. Scalding dragon blood fell from the clouds, drenching the remaining ruins of Onigashima in red.
"Thud!!!" A sharp, heavy object larger than a house slammed down beside King's feet, creating a crater dozens of meters deep. King stiffly lowered his head. His eyes behind the mask lost focus as he stared blankly at the bottom of the pit. It was a blue dragon horn, covered in spiral patterns, with a base cut as smooth as a mirror.
The thousands of Beasts Pirates members present, including the Three Disasters, collectively lost their voices at this moment. They craned their stiff necks, staring blankly at the Azure Dragon in the sky clutching its broken horn and letting out painful screams, then back at the massive, steaming dragon horn on the ground.
One strike. Just one strike. It broke the "Strongest Creature's" dragon breath and even severed one of his horns?
"Wororo... cough... Wororororororo—!!!" The painful roar soon turned into a morbid, frantic laughter. Kaido's massive dragon head looked down at the figure on the ground. The blood flowing from the broken horn made his hideous face look even more distorted. Far from being afraid, he was excited to the extreme. I can die! I can really die! This man can really kill me!
Amidst the rain of blood, Cain performed a very flashy one-handed blade flourish, flicked his wrist, and precisely sheathed Zangetsu. He walked over to the dragon horn that was taller than himself, reached out a finger, and tapped it lightly, producing a crisp sound like jade.
Then, he looked up and gave Kaido in the sky a kind smile. "Hey, Kaido. This horn of yours... it's worth quite a bit, isn't it? I think I'll use it to offset, say, 100,000,000 Berri. You don't have any objections, do you?"
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