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As he finished speaking, Kaido clenched his fist. The scale armor on his palm split open, releasing a smell of seared flesh. Even his blood had been scorched dry by the lightning.
However, he didn't care at all. His arm muscles bulged explosively.
"I'm the strongest Undying one!!"
If two people had similar abilities, Kaido would pit them against each other, taking the victor as his subordinate.
This philosophy ran through the entire founding of the Beasts Pirates, and applied to Kaido himself as well.
The reason there was no second Mythical Zoan user in the crew… was simply because Kaido didn't need one.
He alone was the strongest Mythical Beast Fruit user, and that was enough!
Likewise, there only needed to be one "Undying One", and he would be that one.
Faced with Kaido's ferocious attack, Rowen's eyes narrowed slightly, and he softly called out:
"Admiral Kizaru!"
"Got it!"
In an instant, particles of light gathered behind Kaido and coalesced into form. Kizaru spread his hands wide, and currents of electricity and beams of light shot out from the void.
This was the manifestation of the powerful fusion of awakened abilities, an automatic defense clashing against Rowen's thunder.
Different opponents required different fighting styles. Against someone like Kaido, fancy moves were utterly useless.
So Rowen didn't bother with tricks like Gungnir or lightning clones. Instead, he focused his power into one single devastating point, piercing through the surface to strike the core.
Kizaru had the same idea.
However, the destructive power of the Glint-Glint Fruit was wasted on an "iron turtle" like Kaido. In this battle, just like in their previous attempts to defeat him, Kizaru's greatest value lay in the terrifying battlefield control his Logia abilities provided, supported from the side.
Just like now,
Sunshine Illuminates All!
Buzz, !!
With a deafening hum, the world instantly changed color!
Lead-colored clouds were replaced by brilliant golden radiance. The intense light made it seem as if the sun had fallen from the sky.
It was so dazzling that one could barely keep their eyes open. Everything became gold-tinted, almost like darkness, where not even your fingers were visible before your eyes.
But it wasn't just light.
Countless invisible particles of light filled the air. Under Kizaru's control, they swept forward in a unified torrent, like nano-scale sandpaper, ruthlessly scouring everything in range.
For an ordinary person caught in this, being ground to powder would be the only possible outcome.
However, their opponent was Kaido, the famously indestructible "Hundred Beasts"!
Even this terrifying ultimate move only caused Kaido to tighten his Armament Haki, stand firm with eyes closed, and endure the abrasive light storm.
His clothes were instantly shredded into rags, but his exposed blue scale armor still glimmered with a dark sheen, completely unscathed.
"Make it quick! I can't hold this for long!"
Inside the golden world, Kizaru called out urgently.
Maintaining a technique of this magnitude was difficult enough under normal conditions, let alone now, when he was low on stamina.
"Leave it to me!"
Rowen, of course, wouldn't waste time. Using his Awakened power to resist the eroding light particles, he charged forward, raising the Thunderfall Spears in his hands.
This time, he raised them together with the Thunder Halberd.
Whoosh…
Locking onto Kaido's enormous form in his line of sight, Rowen exhaled a slow breath. In the next instant, his eyes snapped wide, and he dashed forward.
Awakening Technique: Dragon-Sealing Sky-Locking Formation! The premise of activating the Dragon-Sealing Sky-Locking was this, Rowen needed to channel lightning through his opponent's body. He didn't need it to be fatal, he just needed the current to pass completely through.
However, Kaido's body… let's not even mention it.
Without the extreme piercing power of the Thunderfall Spears, there was no way Rowen could break through that layer of Armament Haki.
Suddenly, a white laser slashed through the golden world. Kaido sensed danger and opened his eyes to dodge.
But the next second, Kizaru intensified the light storm, directing it into Kaido's eyes, causing the dragon to roar in agony.
Rowen seized the opportunity and hurled the Thunder Halberd straight at him.
Whooosh!!!
Kaido felt a sudden chill in his chest. In the distance, Kizaru dismissed his technique and reappeared, panting heavily.
Kaido looked down in confusion at the completely intact wound, dumbfounded. Just as he was about to speak,
BOOOOMMMMMM!!!
His 20-meter-tall half-beast form crashed heavily into the ocean.
Yet not a single wave was stirred.
Instead, the entire sea surface collapsed, forming a massive crater one kilometer in diameter and over a thousand meters deep.
Using a magnetic line, Rowen had linked Kaido to the planet's magnetic field, converting the raging field into absolute gravity, crushing the sea downward like a massive piston.
Rowen flashed to the bottom of the pit, dispersed the surrounding seawater with a burst of lightning, and shouted as he drove the Thunder Halberd into the bedrock.
Boom… RUMBLE!!
The solid rock cracked open with countless deep ravines. Rowen held the halberd with both hands to steady himself, then took a long, deep breath.
"If it were anyone else… being hit by that move would almost guarantee defeat."
"What can I say… it's Kaido, after all."
Rowen turned his head quietly.
In the center of the crater, Kaido stood embedded in the fractured bedrock, his feet crushed into the stone, fists clenched tightly, back perfectly straight,
still standing tall.
Even Whitebeard had been forced to kneel on one knee, using his naginata to prop himself up under that same horrifying pressure.
But Kaido?
Not even that could make him lose his balance!
Such physical resilience… truly unmatched in this world!
Kaido gave no reply.
His head hung low, hiding his expression. But if you could see his face, you'd notice both eyes bloodshot, like a beast filled with bloodlust and fury.
The crushing pressure he was under came from the planet itself. With Rowen's deeper development of the Goro Goro no Mi (Thunder-Thunder Fruit), its power had evolved far beyond what it once was.
This was pressure that could compress even Tekkai (Iron Body) users into a metal pancake.
Kaido wasn't afraid of being crushed to death, but even he couldn't move an inch under it.
"Did it work?"
Kizaru suddenly flashed into this deep ocean region. Towering walls of water tried to rush in from all sides, but the moment they touched the chaotic magnetic field, they were pulverized into vapor.
Kaido stood motionless, fists clenched and arms drooping, like he was frozen in place.
Kizaru raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"So… the Goro Goro no Mi can be used like this too? Rowen, you might just be a pioneer."
"And with your fame and this many techniques developed, whoever inherits the fruit after your death will start off with a terrifyingly high ceiling."
Rowen: "..."
"Shut up! If you've got nothing useful to say, then don't say anything at all!"
Rolling his eyes, Rowen waved his hand, and a pile of food and water flew into an open area, returning to its original size in midair.
"Eat something and rest. This battle isn't over yet."
"Ohh!! Vegapunk made this for you too? What a crazy invention!"
Kizaru's eyes sparkled as he watched the scene, then walked over and frowned.
"No newspapers? I like to read the paper with my afternoon tea… Also, could you give me a chair? As an Admiral, I shouldn't be sitting in the mud, should I?"
Rowen: "..."
"That's enough, you idiot. Keep talking and I swear I'll let him out right now!"
凸(艹皿艹)
"My apologies. Please don't do that!"
Kizaru immediately straightened up and respectfully apologized.
Then, he fully relaxed and plopped right into the mud, panting heavily. It was hard to believe that the usual sleazy and flippant Kizaru could ever end up looking this exhausted.
Chī la…
Tear,
He opened a packet of bread and started chewing while sipping plain water, speaking between bites.
"To be honest, Rowen… Akainu made it sound super urgent. But what exactly was so dangerous that it made him send us here despite our stamina being nearly drained?"
Rowen said nothing at first. He pressed a hand on his Thunder Halberd and lit a cigar.
"For your own good… it's better if you don't know."
"Oh? Even I'm not allowed to know?"
Kizaru narrowed his eyes slightly. He already had a guess.
Just then, Kaido, who had been silent all this time, raised his head and grinned with effort.
As he moved, the magnetic storm surrounding him surged violently, amplifying the pressure that pinned him like a nail being hammered into the earth.
"Hey… You bastards seriously underestimate me, don't you!?"
"These shackles? If I want to break free, I will break free!"
"Oh? And then what?" Rowen subtly gestured to Kizaru not to worry. He glanced at Kaido with a smirk.
"If you think you can… then be my guest. Show me what you've got."
"Tch, what do you take me for, an idiot?!"
Under Rowen's amused gaze, Kaido's expression darkened.
There were only two ways to escape the Dragon-Sealing Sky-Locking Formation:
Brute force: Overpower the planetary magnetic field and tear through it.
Technique: Sever the magnetic threads and scatter the magnetic storm, like how Whitebeard used the Gura Gura no Mi's internal resonance to escape, even at the cost of injuring himself.
But the second method had a major flaw…
"Don't think I don't know what you're scheming, Azure Dragon!"
Kaido's face turned serious. His cold, vertical pupils locked tightly onto Rowen.
"I've never underestimated any opponent. Your cunning reputation is well-known. I've always kept my guard up."
"It's the electric current, right?"
Suddenly, under Rowen's surprised gaze, Kaido grinned wide.
"You're using the paralyzing effect of lightning to erode my body. The longer the fight goes, the more electricity builds up, until the body collapses, and the bioelectric signals inside go haywire, rendering the opponent completely immobile."
"For anyone who's not a Logia user, or just a regular person, that's an incredibly lethal effect!"
"This entire move of yours is built for that outcome. If I cut the magnetic thread, the raging current would get trapped inside my body. And you… you'd never want to absorb that mess."
"Don't think I haven't noticed, you've been ogling my body this entire time, Azure Dragon!!"
Ssssss...
Okay… I get the logic. But what the hell kind of line was that?!
Rowen took a deep puff of his cigar, face turning serious.
This… This is exactly what I was afraid of! It's not that I fear thugs, I fear thugs who are well-educated!
(End of Chapter)