The sound of flesh tightening was clearly audible, accompanied by hissing white steam, like meat being pressed against hot iron.
The savage wound torn open by Thunderclap and Flash did not truly heal.
It clamped shut.
Kaido's muscles tightened around the cut like iron cables, and his Haki crushed down until the dark-gold Reiatsu left by Nozarashi was forced out little by little.
Fresh scales ground over the torn flesh, covering the injury before it could widen.
Only a faint bloodstain remained as proof that anything had happened at all.
Zaraki watched quietly without even blinking.
'High-speed regeneration?'
No, not quite.
It was more like a toughness rooted in the very essence of life, as if the body itself refused to admit that such a wound mattered.
'Interesting.'
He could feel several gazes coming from the distant shore.
Two of them carried the sharp, heavy focus unique to Marines. They were probably Yamakaji and Gion.
Their breathing was a mess.
Farther away, that news bird carrying the Camera Den Den Mushi was so excited he was about to pass out on the spot.
His shrieks pierced through the wind from hundreds of meters away and stabbed straight into the eardrums.
The whole world was probably cheering over that slash that "brought the dragon down."
But only Zaraki himself knew the truth.
Those few attacks just now barely counted.
The repeated cuts beneath Kaido's belly had failed to leave even a proper wound.
And the Thunder Breathing strike he had aimed at the marked scale had only managed to tear open one deeper cut before Kaido's body and Haki crushed it shut.
What was that supposed to be? A massage?
Zaraki curled his lip, feeling a little bored, yet also unable to suppress the excitement rising inside him.
This whetstone was even harder than he had imagined.
Hard enough to make him happy!
"Worororororo..."
From within the deep crater, Kaido's laughter grew louder and louder, filled with the wild delight of someone who had found a beloved toy.
The azure dragon's body twisted within the smoke, shrinking violently.
Scales folded into skin, claws became hands, and a massive human shape stepped out of the crater one step at a time, Hassaikai resting against his shoulder.
His upper body was bare, revealing terrifying muscles knotted like mountain ranges.
The huge cross-shaped scar across his chest and abdomen seemed to be mocking Zaraki's insignificant result.
Kaido's eyes locked onto Zaraki.
"Not bad... brat!"
Kaido's voice sounded as if it came from deep beneath the earth's crust, carrying waves of heat.
"It's been a long time since a Marine made me bleed at all!"
He bared his teeth in a cruel grin.
"But cuts like that won't bring me down."
"Hah."
A soft laugh slipped from Zaraki's throat.
Then he did something that left every spectator dumbfounded.
From inside his already-tattered black coat, he pulled out a palm-sized white jade wine flask, yanked out the stopper, and tilted his head back for a long drink.
The harsh liquor burned down his throat and into his stomach, clearing away the slight fatigue from his repeated high-speed movements.
Warmth rose through his limbs.
"Gulp... Hah—"
He let out a long, satisfied breath, casually wiped the corner of his mouth with his sleeve, and revealed an almost comfortable expression.
That relaxed posture formed an absurd contrast with the apocalyptic battlefield around him and the overwhelming creature radiating world-ending pressure in front of him.
Kaido's smile froze on his face.
Far away, Yamakaji and Gion's eyes twitched at the sight.
'Drinking?'
'Was he joking?'
'Stopping for a drink in the middle of a battle against Kaido of the Beasts?'
'What level of arrogance was that?'
'No, this was beyond arrogance. It was naked contempt for the title of Emperor!'
"You bastard..." Kaido's voice was low, the rage within it hot enough to boil the sea.
"Don't rush me."
Zaraki shook the wine flask, tucked it back into his coat, then rolled his neck, making a series of sharp cracks.
He lifted his eyes toward the demon-god-like figure across from him, and the curve of his mouth was more brazen than ever.
"Those were just warm-ups."
"You have to tap the shell first and see how hard it is. Otherwise, if I use too much strength by accident... I might break you."
"After all, toys this fun aren't easy to find."
The air froze completely.
Kaido's eyes narrowed.
He stared Zaraki down, his gaze so vicious it looked ready to swallow him alive.
He did not laugh or speak.
His anger no longer needed words.
A burst of Conqueror's Haki far beyond anything before erupted from Kaido, heavy enough to make the air feel solid.
Black-red lightning raged around him like wild serpents, coiling over the enormous spiked kanabo in his hand—Hassaikai.
The wind died. The clouds scattered. Weaker men dropped to their knees before the club even moved.
Every second Zaraki held Kaido here was another second bought for Kizaru and Garp to close the distance.
But from the look in his eyes, Zaraki was not thinking about reinforcements at all.
He felt a prickling pain across his skin, the pure pressure of aura and will bearing down on him.
'So he's finally serious.'
The smile on his face only grew brighter.
'Now this was more like it.'
Zaraki said nothing more. He slowly lowered his body, his right hand tightening around Nozarashi.
This stance was completely different from any he had taken before.
It was not the boldness of a charged slash, nor the restrained precision of iai.
His body dropped extremely low.
His left hand braced against the ground, his right leg bent, and his left leg slid back. His whole body looked like a leopard about to pounce, every line of muscle pulled taut to its limit.
Crackle...
Dark-gold Reiatsu sparked around Zaraki in arcs that looked like lightning, wilder and denser than ever before.
They were no longer simply energy leaking outward. They seemed almost alive, gathering along Zaraki's arm and pouring into Nozarashi.
The sealed shape of the Zanpakutō gave off a piercing hum, as if something inside the blade was waking up hungry.
"What is he doing?"
Far away, Yamakaji instinctively tightened his grip around the hilt at his waist, cold sweat filling his palm.
He could feel it. A heart-stopping power was building crazily inside that seemingly tiny body.
"That opening stance..." Gion's gaze was sharp as a blade. "It's similar to the iai slash he used against Doflamingo, but... it's completely different too."
"What's different?"
"The aura."
Gion's voice was extremely heavy.
"That slash back then was ultimate sharpness and speed. The power was condensed and hidden, vanishing in a single flash. But now..."
She took a deep breath, trying to steady her pounding heart.
"Now the energy inside his body is like a volcano about to erupt. It's violent, domineering, and he isn't trying to hold it back at all! Look at his skin!"
Following Gion's gaze, Yamakaji's pupils abruptly shrank.
Beneath Zaraki's torn black coat, fine lines of blood were splitting open across the exposed skin of his arms and calves.
It was as if his body could no longer contain that power and was about to be torn apart from the inside.
What kind of move was that?
Just charging it placed such a terrifying burden on his own body.
At the same time, Kaido moved.
To answer Zaraki's provocative words, he chose the most direct and violent method possible.
"Thunder Bagua!"
With a roar that shook the sky, Kaido's figure blurred.
He was fast, fast beyond the limits of what the naked eye could capture.
One second, he had still been a hundred meters away, his massive body carrying the pressure of a mountain.
The next, he appeared in front of Zaraki like a ghost.
Hassaikai, wrapped in black-red Conqueror's lightning, came crashing down toward Zaraki's head with enough force to shatter the coast beneath him.
The atmosphere wailed. The ground under Zaraki's feet split apart.
At that moment, the world seemed to lose all sound and color, leaving only that world-ending black shadow of a club.
Facing this fatal strike, Zaraki seemed completely unaware.
He remained in that low, charged stance.
The dark-gold Reiatsu around him had already blazed to its limit, dyeing the air around his body in a violent glow.
He slowly raised his head and bared his white teeth in a silent smile, filled with the same madness and feverish hunger as Kaido himself.
"Perfect."
"Then let me show you... my real trump card."
Before the words had fully fallen, Kaido's lightning-wrapped Hassaikai had already descended with crushing force.
On the shore, whether Marine or that nearly fainting news bird, every eye locked onto the small yet dazzling figure about to be swallowed by the giant club.