"I don't know how he did it either. My database doesn't have any record describing this situation, but…" Mozambia glanced at Smoker, then paused. "You understood, right? The reason they stopped Kaido's attack just now."
At the moment Kaido unleashed his Hot Breath, Rowen and Kizaru teamed up to deflect the attack's direction.
At that time, Mozambia was still puzzled, if it was just Hot Breath, there was no need to be so tense. After all, Smoker's Smoke-Smoke Fruit was a Logia type.
But now, he understood.
They'd die!
They would definitely die!
Thinking they could avoid damage just by relying on the Logia ability, even dispersing their bodies to form a Fog World, which further lowered their defense, getting hit under such circumstances would be unimaginably brutal.
"Over a decade ago, I also participated in an encirclement against Kaido. Back then, I wondered why, even though there were three Admirals with longer attack ranges, more suited for restraint, the main attacker was Garp, a Vice Admiral."
Mozambia took a deep breath as the nutrient conduit quickly supplied his brain.
"So that's why!"
Kaido was not Whitebeard; there was no need to guard against his long-range attacks. Instead, each punch and kick of his carried terrifying, destructive power. Therefore, the attack range Logia users pride themselves on meant overly dispersed strength, which was utterly useless in a fight against Kaido.
"Ugh...!" Smoker's forehead broke out in a cold sweat upon hearing this.
Just thinking about how foolishly he had opened his Fog World to prepare for Kaido's attack made his back immediately drenched with cold sweat.
That kind of behavior was like a slab of butter repeatedly jumping on a hot pan, a death wish squared.
"This really isn't a battle we can participate in, even if we mastered Awakening of the fruit." Smoker gave a bitter laugh and stared off into the sky.
After the strike, Kaido, back in humanoid form, didn't fall.
Using the momentum from his punch, he twisted his body and surged upward, his nearly ten-meter tall massive frame sweeping up, locking onto Rowen.
"Soryu (Azure Dragon)!!"
Kizaru was the culprit who revealed his weakness, but what Kaido feared more was Rowen's terrifying lethality! Especially since Rowen was wielding that weapon, the familiar feeling drove Kaido to madness.
"Hmph! Trying to dogfight me in the air? You've got the wrong opponent." Having left the Blue Dragon Form and lost the flight ability given by his Mythological Beast form, fighting Rowen in the sky was extremely difficult.
Kaido was no exception!
Seeing Kaido charge, Rowen's entire body ignited with radiance and an armor naturally formed from condensed lightning at its peak. Even a piece of steel thrown in would instantly burn to ash.
With both hands gripping the lightning Dragon crescent-sided halberd, Rowen neither dodged nor avoided but slammed down heavily.
Boom… clang!
The clash of fist and halberd sent a shockwave that made Rowen's chest tighten, but Kaido felt worse, unable to leverage the force, he was directly blasted away and fell downward.
Blink!
Shua!
In the next second, Rowen flashed behind Kaido and continued to swing the halberd, the crescent blade gleaming coldly, aiming for Kaido's neck.
Chank!
At a critical moment, Kaido turned and punched again, once more deflecting the thunder halberd's strike.
But this was not the end, it was only the beginning.
Shua! Shua! Shua!
While falling, Rowen activated the Heavenly Network, capturing planetary magnetic fields, allowing him to appear simultaneously above, below, left, and right of Kaido.
His rapidly flashing forms were impossible to track, and each heavy halberd strike fell like a thunderbolt.
Ding Ding Dang Dang!
The dense clanging of metal echoed through the sky like a forge hammering iron. Kaido's eyes nearly spewed flames, but facing Rowen, who held the advantage in both aerial combat and speed, he could only keep swinging his fists, trying to seize any opportunity to land a punch the moment Rowen revealed himself.
Neither could really hurt the other, but from an outsider's perspective, Rowen was clearly pinning Kaido in place, immobilizing him!
"You actually managed to suppress Kaido? No wonder even Garp died at your hands." Kizaru held his chest, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
Not only was Rowen skilled at fruit abilities, his close combat prowess was exceptional, a monster without weaknesses. The power he wielded truly earned the title of "World's Strongest."
But...
"Now's not the time for your performance." Kizaru's thoughts clicked into place, understanding Rowen's plan. Kaido was also a Devil Fruit user, and seawater was a massive counter to him.
Rowen continuously pressured Kaido as they fell, no doubt aiming to imitate that battle at G-5 years ago and knock him into the sea.
Kaido had deliberately left the Blue Dragon Form, successfully avoiding exploitation of his body's structural weaknesses, but at the cost of losing flight, making him easier to target.
Thunderbolt Fury·Final Scene!
At less than a hundred meters above the sea surface, the successive impact strikes pushed air, causing the seawater below to crater deeply.
Rowen's eyes narrowed as his multiple illusory figures merged into one. His body wrapped in a storm of lightning and wind, he slammed down on Kaido with overwhelming force!
"Don't even think about it!"
That defeat years ago was the one Kaido could never accept, not a fight to the death, but completely toyed with by the opponent in front of him.
Now the other side was repeating the same trick. Naturally, Kaido refused to repeat that failure.
"Consider yourself honored, asshole! You're only the third person to force me to use this move!" Rowen frowned silently at this.
The third? Such an "honor" wasn't very pleasant.
To be Kaido's trump card and have only two others force him to unleash it, that meaning was terrifying to contemplate. But hesitation wasn't Rowen's style. As the thunder halberd illusions coalesced into one, the arrow was drawn and had to be fired.
He let out a roar, slamming the heavy halberd down.
"Hah!!"
Kaido roared back, reaching up with both hands, attempting to catch the White Blade barehanded. For anyone else, that would be suicidal, but for Kaido, maybe he could actually pull it off.
Boom...
Bang rumble!!
A thousand-meter-long flash of light in the void passed in an instant. After a brief pause, the sea cracked open with a fathomless chasm.
The power of the thunder strike seeped into the earth, tearing apart the seabed's foundation, instantly drying the muddy silt and sending up a cloud of dust.
But that was all there was.
Looking at Kaido, who held the thunder halberd's crescent blade firmly with both hands, Rowen fell silent for three seconds and then asked,
"So, what exactly are you going to show me?"
Before him, Kaido's size had doubled. His muscles coiled like iron, the Blue Scale armor fitting tightly to his body, shining with a metallic luster that gave an unbreakable impression.
But no matter how much he changed...
"Isn't this just Zoan's Half Beastify? Are you kidding me?!"
He had taken a midpoint between "human" and "dragon" — becoming a "dragon-man."
Zoan forms usually come in two stages:
One is "Half Beastify."
The other is "Full Beastify."
Any Zoan user can do that, if it were Rob Lucci, he could even pull out variations like "Kami-e Martial Body" or "Muscle mode" for his Half Beastify form!
That's it!
The two stared at each other weirdly. After a moment, Kaido opened his sharp-toothed mouth.
"You're pretty good to make me look this ugly! But that's as far as it goes! Next, I'll show you what despair really means!"
So...
'You ignored what I said?'
Rowen looked at Kaido in shock, realizing for the first time that Kaido actually cared about appearances.
"Could it be that you only did a form change in front of two people just because you think this form is too ugly?"
Rowen couldn't help but ask, hoping to deny his suspicion.
To be honest, Kaido's humanoid form's dominance like a god or demon, and the Blue Dragon Form's holiness and dignity were all fine, but this half-human, half-beast look was indeed pretty ugly.
Give him some clothes, and he could cameo as the East Blue Dragon King on a neighboring film set.
There was a long silence in response.
"Transforming into this form not only grants me the flexibility of the humanoid state, but also the ability to ride clouds and fly like the Mythological Beast Blue Dragon fruit! Your aerial advantage? Gone!"
"So you really did ignore my question!!!"
(╬￣皿￣)＝○＃（￣＃）３￣）
Rowen roared and kicked, stomping on Kaido's transformed face.
"Don't act willfully, asshole! Are you a three-year-old kid?!"
(End of chapter)
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