Uta raised one hand and immediately fired several laser beams straight at Kaido.
She had seen more than enough of Vegapunk's technology by now, and with the sheer flexibility of her abilities, recreating a few weapons on the spot was hardly difficult.
Before the beams could reach their target, a black figure swept in front of Kaido.
King spread his wings and blocked every shot, then glanced back over his shoulder.
Kaido's voice rumbled behind him.
"Go."
King needed no further instruction. He beat his wings and shot after Uta, while she deliberately drew him away from the main battlefield.
Within moments, the two had disappeared into the distance.
The sky above Onigashima suddenly felt much emptier.
Only two dragons remained, facing each other across the clouds.
Their Conqueror's Haki clashed without either of them moving, and the pressure alone made the surrounding air tremble.
"You're late, brat."
Kaido was the first to speak, a mocking edge in his voice.
"I was starting to think you wouldn't show."
Cain had already filled his lungs and prepared to launch straight into battle.
Kaido's remark immediately ruined the moment.
"Uh… something came up."
Cain muttered the excuse vaguely.
There was absolutely no chance he was going to admit that he had accidentally lost track of time in Uta's company.
The battle lust he had carefully built up was thrown completely off balance by the sudden small talk.
Why the hell was Kaido trying to chat?
Cain cleared his throat.
"Everyone below has already started fighting. Shouldn't we get on with ours too?"
"The hell we should."
Kaido cut him off immediately, his dragon eyes fixed intensely on Cain.
"First, we talk."
His tone became more serious.
"Tell me something, brat. Do you feel it too?"
"That hunger for battle."
"That excitement burning its way out from inside your bones."
Cain paused.
Then, almost unconsciously, nodded.
He hadn't expected Kaido to be experiencing the exact same thing.
"I see…"
Kaido's expression changed.
The simple battle lust in his eyes was replaced by something stranger—almost as though he were examining Cain with newfound understanding.
"Then I think I finally get it."
"You and I must have gone through something similar."
"World Government bastards experimenting on you since you were a kid. Even having a Marine hero for a grandfather couldn't save you from that sort of fate."
Cain's eyes narrowed.
"Hold on. I think you've misunderstood something—"
The longer Kaido spoke, the stranger this became.
Why did Kaido suddenly look as though he had discovered a kindred spirit?
And where the hell had the World Government experiment story come from?
Kaido completely ignored Cain's objection.
"For a while, I kept wondering where that Devil Fruit of yours came from."
"But now that I've felt this…"
His eyes sharpened.
"I know."
"If I'm right, it came from me."
"The World Government took my blood years ago and used it for research."
"Looks like those bastards actually succeeded."
Cain fell silent for a moment.
Then he decided there was no reason to lie.
"…You actually guessed that part correctly."
"My fruit really is a copy of yours."
He immediately added,
"But that doesn't prove anything else."
"Looks like you still don't understand."
Kaido's voice suddenly took on a strange depth.
Then he spoke the words Cain absolutely did not expect.
"My son."
Cain stared at him.
"Why are you talking like Whitebeard now?"
"Stop randomly calling people your son. I am not your son."
Kaido looked offended by the rejection.
"You were willing to take Linlin as your mother, but being my son is suddenly unacceptable?"
His reasoning became increasingly absurd.
"You ate a fruit created from my blood. That means my blood flows through you."
"So naturally, you belong with the Beasts Pirates."
"What kind of insane logic is that?!"
Cain's dragon face visibly twisted.
"The Big Mom thing happened because I owed her too much and couldn't easily reject her! I never actually agreed to—wait, no!"
He shook his head.
"Are we fighting or not?!"
"Of course we are."
Kaido grinned, fire suddenly glowing deep inside his throat.
"But if you lose, you'll obediently become my son."
"Bolo Breath!"
"I don't have some weird hobby of collecting fathers!"
Cain opened his own jaws.
"Bolo Breath!"
Two torrents of scorching dragon fire collided.
The explosion transformed the air between them into a blazing sea of red.
Before the shockwave had even faded, Cain whipped his tail and used the blast to propel himself toward Kaido's flank.
Kaido didn't bother turning his head.
His own tail lashed backward.
The two enormous dragon bodies collided once before immediately separating, each stabilizing among the clouds.
Cain looked down at himself.
Something about that exchange had felt different.
The fire inside his chest hadn't weakened.
It was burning even hotter.
Kaido had clearly noticed as well.
His jaws opened in a wide grin, dragon fangs shining white against the surrounding flames.
"You feel it too, don't you?"
"Then let me explain it."
Kaido's eyes narrowed.
"You know Devil Fruits can reach another state, right?"
"Awakening."
Before Cain could answer, Kaido's massive body suddenly twisted through the clouds in a smooth arc.
A moment later, he was already directly in front of Cain.
His jaws opened almost against Cain's body.
A razor-sharp green blade of wind wrapped in Conqueror's Haki erupted at point-blank range.
"Demolition Gust!"
Cain's enormous dragon body had no room to dodge.
He could only unleash Conqueror's Haki and force the attack back.
Kaido tilted his head aside as the reflected blade flew past him.
Before he could continue speaking, Cain's body had already coiled around his neck.
"Thunder Roar!"
Cain's dragon roar transformed into lightning wrapped in Conqueror's Haki and blasted directly into Kaido.
Kaido defended with his own Haki while forcing Cain downward toward Onigashima's skull dome.
As they fell, he continued speaking as though this were a casual lecture rather than a battle.
"A Devil Fruit awakens when the user's body and mind finally reach the level required to fully match its power."
"I never bothered deliberately chasing it, but my body reached that threshold a long time ago."
Cain suddenly adjusted his position and reversed their momentum, forcing Kaido toward the skull dome instead.
"Heh."
Cain tightened his grip.
"So this is just you bragging about how incredible you are?"
His Conqueror's Haki erupted.
Kaido immediately answered with his own.
The two forces collided violently as they fell, but Kaido didn't struggle against Cain's hold.
BOOM!
Both dragons crashed into Onigashima.
Dust and shattered stone exploded outward.
Almost simultaneously, both men reverted to human form.
Two weapons immediately collided within the smoke.
CLANG!
The recoil sent them sliding apart.
Kaido stared toward Cain through the drifting dust.
"I'm not bragging."
"I'm admiring you."
"When we clashed in Totto Land, nothing like this happened because you hadn't yet reached the level where you could truly match me."
"But now…"
Kaido's grin widened.
"Your body, your mind, and your Devil Fruit have all crossed that line."
"That's why we're reacting to each other like this."
"You feel it, don't you?!"
Kaido pressed one hand against his chest and laughed wildly.
"The will inside your Devil Fruit is identical to the one inside mine."
"That's how I know with absolute certainty where your fruit came from."
"The animal instinct living inside both fruits has been restless ever since we met!"
Cain visibly paused inside the smoke.
It was such an absurd theory that even Vegapunk might never have considered it.
And yet—
Cain could feel it.
Something inside the copied fruit really was waking up.
Responding.
Almost as though it recognized Kaido.
"Same ability. Same Devil Fruit."
Kaido swung Hassaikai and blew the remaining smoke away.
"At this point, our abilities alone can't decide which of us is stronger, because they come from the same source."
He pointed the kanabo toward Cain.
"So come on!"
"Let's settle this with the simplest thing there is."
"A straight fight."
Then Kaido actually extended one hand toward him.
"And when you lose…"
"You'll become my son."
His expression remained excited for several seconds.
Then confusion slowly crept across his face.
His eyes moved downward.
"…What the hell are you wearing?"
Cain, who had been settling into a fighting stance, immediately turned bright red.
He instinctively tried angling his body away.
Unfortunately, there was no hiding the outfit.
It was almost entirely pink and white, with an enormous chibi Uta printed across the front.
Around the design were cheerful phrases like:
VICTORY FROM THE START!
CAIN WILL WIN!
Objectively speaking, the design itself was actually pretty good.
The problem was that absolutely nobody should be wearing something like this while preparing for a life-or-death battle against one of the Four Emperors.
Cain simply hadn't had another option.
He had been in such a hurry that morning that he was forced to wear whatever Uta had prepared for him.
After several seconds of unbearable embarrassment, Cain finally stopped trying to hide it.
He raised his weapon toward Kaido and shouted with far more confidence than he actually felt.
"My girlfriend made it for me!"
He pointed accusingly at Kaido.
"Do you have one?!"
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