"I'll only say this one more time: absolutely not!"
Aeridar let out a deep, furious roar, refusing to yield an inch as his aura spiked even higher.
The two terrifying pressures collided head-on, making the air feel viscous and heavy. The onlookers even felt their bodies grow sluggish, as if the gravity of the heavens and earth had multiplied around them.
"You damned bastard…!"
Kaido growled in irritation, stirring up a rolling wave of sound as he slammed his foot hard into the ground.
BOOM!
The earth shuddered violently. The immense force shattered the ground, and the rebound launched Kaido upward like a cannonball, kicking off a fierce gale.
"Don't get cocky, Kaido! This isn't a place where you can do whatever you want!" Face cold, Aeridar shouted back angrily. Riding a gust of wind, he shot straight down, throwing a punch right at Kaido.
BOOM!
In a flash, Kaido swung the half-broken stub of his club, meeting Aeridar's fist head-on. Two massive forces erupted in an instant, rattling the air violently.
Rumble—!
Instantly, a ring of distorted shockwaves swept outward from the point of impact between the two men, sparking dozens of red-and-black lightning bolts. A hurricane-like wave of air instantly roared across the sky and earth, kicking up billowing clouds of dust.
"Aah—!"
Clinging tightly to Charlotte Linlin's corpse, Brûlée shrieked as she was nearly blown away by the shockwave.
Amidst the swirling dust, the two figures grappled in midair, trading dozens of fierce blows in barely a dozen seconds with rapid bang-bang-bang impacts, stirring up wave after wave of intense shockwaves.
"ROAR—!"
Suddenly, a violent swirl of turbulent air swept out as Kaido transformed into a massive, hundreds-of-meters-long sacred dragon, coiling through the sky.
"Hand over Linlin's body, Golden Ring Aeridar!"
"Or I'll smash the entire Clifford Kingdom to dust!"
The deafening roar echoed across the skies above Unzan Port, nearly scattering the high-altitude clouds.
"Hoo... hoo... This bastard... hoo..."
Aeridar was breathing heavily, his expression looking grim as he stared up at the dragon-formed Kaido. The sheer pressure radiating from the beast's colossal frame was immense.
Toppling a Yonko had already cost him half his life; turning around to face another Yonko right after was genuinely beyond his capacity.
Still, this was his home turf, and he was no Sengoku. Besides, Kaido hadn't brought the entire Beasts Pirates with him; facing this single man alone wasn't enough to scare him off.
"I'll say it again: absolutely not!" Aeridar's face was iron-clad as he gave a firm, unyielding refusal.
As his voice faded, as if sensing Aeridar's strain, Oliver, Zephyr, and the others stepped forward together. Doflamingo even flew up to hover shoulder-to-shoulder with Aeridar, facing Kaido as a united front.
Aeridar glanced at the gathered group, a faint smile touching his lips. He pointed a finger up at Kaido and called out in a deep, booming voice, "Kaido, you alone can't crush the Chris Pirates. If you turn around and leave right now, I can pretend none of this ever happened!"
Gazing at the six men standing in the air and on the ground, Kaido's momentum faltered slightly as his massive dragon eyes swept over the group.
"Aeridar, just hand over Linlin's body, and I'll turn around and leave immediately. How about it?"
Rumbling like distant thunder, Kaido's voice sounded considerably calmer.
"Don't push your luck, Kaido!" A flicker of anger crossed Aeridar's face as he barked irritably, "How I handle Big Mom's body is my decision. It's none of your damn business."
Pausing for a moment, a glint of dangerous intent flashed in Aeridar's eyes as he threatened, "Unless you want to taste defeat after single-handedly challenging a new Yonko crew, and see what the Chris Pirates are capable of, just to find out if we can kill you?"
"Bring your whole Beasts Pirates with you! Otherwise, just on your own, you don't cut it to make threats on my turf!"
Aeridar held nothing back, barely giving Kaido any face at all.
Everyone knew this guy was a legendary madman who constantly picked fights with other Yonko crews or the entire Marine forces all by himself, getting himself captured a total of eighteen times.
Early on, every time the Marines captured him, they tried to send him to Impel Down, but midway through the voyage, the prisoner ship would break down, and Kaido would recover, smash the ship, and escape. Later, when they caught him, they tried every conceivable execution method on the spot, but none of it worked. That's how he earned his infamous reputation.
Truthfully, if the guy wasn't genuinely unkillable paired with his ridiculous recovery speed, he would have been hacked to pieces and ground into mincemeat long ago, which was why Aeridar had zero pleasantries to spare for him.
"That brat from back then has grown up, huh! Though after beating Linlin, I wonder how much strength you've actually got left!"
Flashes of anger sparked in Kaido's eyes as two twin streams of white steam hissed from his snout.
"You're welcome to find out!"
Aeridar locked eyes with Kaido, meeting his gaze blow for blow.
A moment later, Aeridar softened his stance. "Let's change the terms. If you pull back right now, I can spare the remaining remnants of the Big Mom Pirates and leave them a way out!"
"I owe Linlin a favor, not her brats!" Kaido shook his head, refusing. "I'm still taking Linlin's body!"
Aeridar's expression chilled by a few degrees. Yet, wary of each other's hidden strengths, neither side launched another attack, leaving them locked in a tense stalemate.
"Fuffuffuffuffu~ What an exciting few days! What's the play now?" Doflamingo glanced sideways at Aeridar, letting out a series of strange chuckles.
Aeridar remained silent, his gaze fixed deeply on the ground below.
Truthfully, the battle had reached a point where dragging it on any further was pointless. More importantly, Aeridar noticed the ground beneath them was failing; water was seeping up from numerous cracks and giant craters, turning the earth into mud. It was obvious the underground bedrock of the region had been shattered, allowing seawater to seep right through.
Especially given how close they were to the coast, if they kept fighting, the surrounding tens or hundreds of miles of land would likely shatter into pieces and sink into the ocean forever. The cost of that would be far too steep.
After a long silence, Aeridar raised his head and looked at Kaido earnestly. "I need to collect some of Big Mom's tissue samples, like blood, nails, and hair. Three days from now, I will hand the body over to you intact!"
With that, Aeridar paused, his tone turning hard as he continued, "This is my absolute bottom line!"
Kaido lowered his head in thought for a moment.
Soon enough, he nodded in agreement. "Fine, but it must be completely undamaged."
"Also, the Big Mom Pirates have already lost. Leave Linlin's brats a way out."
"No problem, deal!"
Aeridar gave a solemn and decisive nod.