"Hmph. I'll admit, I don't have anything like that."
Kaido narrowed his eyes and looked Cain up and down, taking in the pink-and-white battle outfit covered in Uta designs before breaking into a grin.
"But if you're willing to give me one, I wouldn't mind trying it on."
"Heh. In that case, I'll make sure yours comes with a giant pair of red shorts. We'll see whether you've actually got the nerve to wear them in public."
"Oh?"
Kaido raised an eyebrow, and that disturbingly paternal tone crept back into his voice.
"You haven't even called me Dad yet, but you're already thinking about buying your old father presents? I'm touched, my dear son."
"…Why does everything you say somehow sound incredibly creepy?"
Cain felt as though Kaido had somehow trapped him in a conversation he could never win.
Enough talking.
Cain kicked off the ground and vanished into a blur, closing the distance in an instant before bringing his staff down with crushing force.
"Eighty Gods Vacuum Strike!"
"What kind of son calls normal father-son bonding creepy?"
Kaido laughed and swung Hassaikai to meet him.
"Just accept your fate and become my son!"
"Thunder Bagua!"
Both weapons were coated in Conqueror's Haki and should have clashed without physically touching, but the sheer force both men poured into their attacks drove them together anyway.
Neither yielded a single step.
Conqueror's Haki exploded at the point of impact, red-black lightning lashing wildly across the battlefield. The ground around them broke apart layer by layer as rings of pressure ripped through the earth and hurled shattered stone outward.
Far below, ordinary fighters still locked in battle were caught by the pressure and collapsed in waves.
The force surged skyward as well. Rather than merely splitting the clouds, it blasted the entire sky clean, leaving not even a trace of mist overhead.
Kaido continued pushing against Cain's weapon, then suddenly narrowed his eyes.
"This move of yours…"
"I thought it looked familiar before, but now I can see it clearly. It's got Thunder Bagua written all over it, and you even fight with a club like I do."
He grinned triumphantly.
"And you still claim you're not my son?"
Cain stared at him in disbelief.
Since when had Kaido become this talkative?
Maybe it was something about Wano itself. Just like the arc Cain remembered, everything here somehow became needlessly long-winded.
"This technique isn't based on Thunder Bagua alone!"
Cain drove his weapon down harder and forced Kaido back several steps.
"There's Roger in it, and even some of Rocks. Stop claiming everything you recognize belongs to you!"
As for why Cain fought with a staff in the first place, the answer was embarrassingly simple.
None of the people who had trained him early on had been proper weapons instructors.
His teacher, Black Arm Zephyr, fought with Haki and a massive Seastone mechanical arm.
His grandfather, Iron Fist Garp, had built an entire legend around punching things.
And Fleet Admiral Sengoku had barely demonstrated weapon combat at all; the most memorable thing Cain had ever seen from him was a Buddha Palm Shockwave.
Between the three of them, nobody had taught Cain how to properly hold a sword, much less maintain one.
Bladed weapons needed care. It wasn't as though you could toss one into a corner and expect it to stay perfect forever.
Cain wasn't a swordsman, and until someone forged a blade into a permanent black blade, his habits would probably leave an ordinary sword rusting or chipped to pieces after a few serious clashes.
A staff was far more practical.
Even after Rayleigh and Shanks later gave him advice, the fighting style Cain had developed on his own was already too deeply ingrained to completely change.
Besides—
who said you needed a sword to use a swordsman's technique?
"Divine Departure!"
The moment Cain forced Kaido backward, he followed with Roger's signature attack.
The blow drove Kaido dozens of steps across the ruined ground.
Kaido had barely stabilized himself and dispersed the remaining slash when Cain planted the end of his staff against the ground, vaulted high over Kaido's head, and pulled back a fist already packed with terrifying force.
"Undersea Drop!"
The punch smashed straight through the roof of the skull dome and carried Kaido down into the rooms below.
Stone exploded in every direction.
Kaido landed flat on his back amid the shattered floor, but instead of looking angry, his grin only widened.
"This is getting good!"
He laughed openly, excitement burning brighter in his eyes.
"How long has it been since I had an opponent this satisfying?"
And this brat was the very person Kaido had already decided should become his son.
If that was the case, then naturally he needed to communicate with Cain the same way he had always communicated with Yamato—
by beating the hell out of him.
Kaido sprang back to his feet, uncorked the sake gourd hanging at his side, and drained it in several enormous gulps before tossing the empty container away.
His body shifted into hybrid form.
Sake ran down the corner of his mouth, but he didn't bother wiping it away. His eyes were burning with pure exhilaration as he smashed one foot into the ruined floor and launched himself straight through the ceiling.
He burst back into Cain's view.
"Me, Rocks, Roger, Garp, even one of Linlin's Homies…"
Kaido laughed.
"Just how many people I know have been mixed into that fighting style of yours?"
"Show me whether you actually deserve that title people gave you—Rocks of the New Era!"
Cain transformed into his own hybrid form.
Both men lunged at the same instant.
A pink streak and a purple streak tore through the sky above Onigashima, weaving around one another at incredible speed before colliding again and again.
Every impact released another burst of Conqueror's Haki powerful enough to make the sea below churn violently.
…
"What's happening?!"
"An earthquake?!"
"No! It's the battle above us!"
"That's insane!"
Down on the main battlefield, swords were still clashing in comparatively ordinary fashion, but the sky over Onigashima had become something else entirely.
Wave after wave of Conqueror's Haki pressed down from above. Each collision churned the atmosphere so violently that the clouds never had a chance to reform.
Ashura Doji looked toward the skull dome, where the two combatants had become little more than streaks of light moving too quickly to follow.
"So that monster old man's grandson really can fight Kaido head-on."
Even while speaking, he casually leaned aside to avoid Jack's incoming slash.
Yamato was also watching Cain's battle whenever she had the chance.
The layers of rock prevented her from seeing much, but even she could feel the pressure of those clashes crawling across her skin.
"Looks like Cain's doing pretty well."
She grinned—
then abruptly bent backward as Queen's attack swept over where her head had just been.
Queen had already transformed into his Brachiosaurus hybrid form. His enormous tail smashed through a section of rock where Yamato had been standing moments earlier.
"You've still got time to watch someone else's fight, Young Master Yamato?"
Queen grinned foolishly as he spoke, but there was nothing playful about his attacks.
Every strike deliberately targeted Yamato's injured arm.
Fortunately, Yamato was agile enough to narrowly block or evade him each time.
After previously fighting Zephyr, she was hardly unfamiliar with opponents whose bodies were packed with mechanical modifications.
Queen possessed a ridiculous variety of technological weapons, but Yamato had already frozen many of his joints in layers of ice.
Queen could shatter the ice through brute force every time, yet the constant cycle of freezing and breaking still bought her valuable openings.
Yamato suddenly slipped around his flank.
"Thunder Bagua!"
Her kanabo smashed into the side of Queen's head, visibly denting his round face.
Queen shook himself violently. The pain made him bare his teeth, but it also thoroughly enraged him.
He seized Yamato and hurled her into a distant wall, smashing stone apart around her.
"This is your fault!"
Queen roared.
"I know you're already injured, but you're leaving me no choice!"
He glanced toward the enormous number of Beasts Pirates Bella had frozen and clenched his teeth.
"Our losses are way too high."
"So just accept the baptism of my viruses!"
He reached for one of his plague weapons.
Yamato pushed herself out of the rubble and charged straight toward him without the slightest hesitation.
"I won't let you!"
"For everyone…"
"For Ace…"
"For the child in our belly…"
"And for every single person in Wano!"
The samurai nearby knew exactly what she meant and continued fighting without even blinking.
The Beasts Pirates did not.
For one extraordinary moment, the battlefield seemed to freeze.
"EEEEHHHH?!!"
Queen's eyes shot completely out of their sockets before snapping back into place.
"W-W-W-W-WHAT?!!"
A child in the belly?
Not long ago, Yamato had fought Kaido nearly to the death over that blond-haired brat.
And now she was shouting about a child?
Could she possibly mean—
Queen slowly looked down at the virus weapon he had been preparing to activate.
A bead of cold sweat rolled from his chin.
If Young Master Yamato really was carrying a child and he unleashed one of his plagues on her…
Kaido would dismantle him personally.
Possibly literally.
"…Nope."
Queen immediately tossed the virus weapon aside.
"Forget it. Virus weapons are off the table."
He reluctantly settled back into a normal fighting stance.
He would rather take another Thunder Bagua directly to the face than risk finding out whether Yamato had been serious.