"Vice Admiral Kuzan, it looks like Kaido came here specifically to play with you," Bardock remarked casually, acting completely innocent.
If this were Akainu standing in front of him, Bardock would have never turned back, even if it meant risking a direct confrontation with Kaido. But knowing Kuzan's temperament, he felt a bit more confident playing the bystander.
Kuzan gave Bardock a severe side-eye. "I have ears. I clearly heard him say he was looking for you brats."
Regardless of who the Yonko was actually targeting, as a Marine Vice Admiral, Kuzan couldn't just sit back and watch Kaido run rampant.
"Urororororo! Don't get in my way, Navy dog! Bolo Breath!"
High in the sky, the colossal Azure Dragon opened its massive jaws, unleashing a devastating, kilometers-long pillar of superheated fire.
Even from a distance, everyone on the ship could feel the apocalyptic, blistering heat radiating from the blast. If left unchecked, that single breath attack would instantly boil the surrounding ocean and vaporize everything in its path.
In a flash, Kuzan leaped high into the air. "Ice Block: Pheasant Beak!"
A massive bird of solid, ultra-cold ice soared up to meet the apocalyptic flames. A series of deafening, chained explosions rocked the sky. The ice bird and the fiery breath violently canceled each other out, instantly generating a thick, blinding fog of steam that blanketed the entire ocean.
"Demolition Gust (Kaifu)!"
Countless invisible, razor-sharp crescent wind blades tore through the dense fog, raining down indiscriminately on everything below.
Kuzan casually dissolved into freezing air, allowing the lethal wind blades to pass cleanly through him, subsequently freezing the churning ocean back into a solid ice continent. The ice was violently sliced apart by the wind, only to be instantly refrozen the very next second.
Bardock and his crew were caught in the massive area-of-effect attack. Acting quickly, Bardock and Daz Bonez stepped to the front of the deck, unleashing a flurry of their own flying slashes to precisely parry the incoming wind blades and protect the White Dragon.
"El Thor (Judgment of God)!"
Using his Mantra to pinpoint Kaido's exact location within the fog, Enel thrust his wrist upward. A colossal, apocalyptic pillar of divine lightning crashed down from the heavens, completely engulfing the Azure Dragon in blinding light.
"Urororororo! Are you trying to tickle me?!" Kaido's booming laughter echoed from within the lightning strike.
Shedding his dragon form in mid-air, Kaido transformed back into his towering, muscular human state. He casually drew his massive spiked kanabo, Hassaikai, and swung it with terrifying force.
"Kongo Tekki (Vajra Arrow)!"
A massive, cylindrical blast of compressed air and Haki shot toward Enel like a hyper-lethal cannonball.
Enel's immediate instinct was to dissolve into lightning and dodge. However, a microsecond later, he realized that if he dodged, the attack would completely obliterate the White Dragon behind him.
Before Enel could figure out how to block it, he realized Bardock had already stepped in front of him. Wielding both of his swords, Bardock perfectly aligned his blades and unleashed a concentrated, overlapping cross-slash.
"Nitoryu: Overlapping Slash!"
It was a highly advanced, heavy-hitting technique, and seeing it deploy instantly put Enel at ease.
Bardock, however, wasn't satisfied at all.
His Overlapping Slash technically 'lost' the clash against Kaido's casual Kongo Tekki. The air blades shattered upon impact, though they successfully generated enough kinetic force to safely deflect Kaido's shockwave off its trajectory, sending it crashing harmlessly into the ocean.
'Even if I were at 100% stamina right now, my standard slashes wouldn't be able to cleanly overpower that attack,' Bardock calculated internally. 'To beat that, I'd need to use a devastating giant's technique like 'Hakoku' (Sovereignty), or my own upgraded 'Hakoku: Shatter'. Unfortunately, those moves require far too much wind-up time.'
With a heavy thud, Kaido finally landed on the frozen ocean. The battlefield was now a tense triangle between Kaido, Kuzan, and the White Dragon.
"Urororororo! I'm in a fantastic mood today! To think I'd just take a casual stroll and run right into you brats!" Kaido laughed uproariously, resting his kanabo on his shoulder. "Listen up, kids! Don't say I never gave you a chance! Join the Beast Pirates, and I'll make you all Headliners right now!"
"Arara... I can't just pretend I didn't hear that, Kaido," Kuzan interrupted, stepping forward.
There was absolutely no way Kuzan was going to let Bardock's crew join a Yonko. Setting aside the terrifying combined combat power of Bardock and Enel, allowing a warmongering lunatic like Kaido to acquire Nico Robin—the only person alive who could read the Poneglyphs—was a genuine apocalyptic threat to the world.
Kaido completely ignored Kuzan, keeping his intense, predatory gaze locked squarely on Bardock's crew.
Bardock sighed heavily. He hadn't even set foot in the New World yet, so why the hell was he suddenly dealing with enemies of this catastrophic caliber?!
"Thank you for the high praise, Teacher Kaido, but I—"
Before Bardock could even finish politely declining the offer, Kaido, lacking any shred of patience, suddenly erupted.
A terrifying, suffocating wave of Conqueror's Haki violently exploded from the Yonko's body. The sheer, physical pressure of the King's Haki crushed the air itself, rushing toward the White Dragon like a tidal wave, completely ignoring Bardock's bizarre 'Teacher Kaido' remark.
Seeing the incoming wave, Bardock sighed. There was no point in hiding his trump cards anymore. If he didn't counter, his crewmates behind him would instantly be knocked unconscious or worse.
Bardock's eyes sharpened, and he unleashed his own Conqueror's Haki to form a defensive wall.
The two invisible waves of King's Haki violently collided over the frozen ocean. The air began to literally crack and warp, sparking with terrifying streaks of black and red lightning. The atmosphere sounded like a string of massive firecrackers violently detonating.
High above, the dense storm clouds violently churned and split right down the middle. If Bardock had bothered to look up, he would have realized he had just officially unlocked the legendary 'Sky Splitting' achievement.
Kuzan, standing nearby, witnessed the entire clash perfectly. His expression grew incredibly complex. Knowing Bardock possessed the Supreme King's Haki made deciding how to handle this rookie crew infinitely more difficult.
Overall, Kaido's Conqueror's Haki was noticeably denser and more overwhelming than Bardock's. However, despite the gap in experience, Kaido's aura couldn't completely crush Bardock's defense.
Seeing the rookie successfully hold his ground, Kaido wasn't angry; in fact, he was absolutely thrilled. His desire to recruit Bardock skyrocketed. While some insecure pirate captains might fear subordinates who possessed the qualities of a King, Kaido actively sought them out.
"Urororororo! You're making me like you more and more, brat!" Kaido grinned wickedly. "How about this?! Join me, and I'll immediately promote you to the Tobi Roppo! Hell, an All-Star Lead Performer position isn't completely off the table if you prove yourself!"
"Ice Ball!"
Kuzan instantly launched a barrage of freezing ice pillars at the Yonko. He had originally been fine with stalling for time, but if Kaido was going to keep aggressively raising his recruitment offers, Kuzan wasn't going to wait around to see if Bardock was tempted—especially knowing the World Government was about to slap massive bounties on the crew's heads anyway.
Despite seemingly ignoring the Marine, Kaido had been keeping a close eye on Kuzan using Observation Haki. Seeing the ice approach, Kaido moved with terrifying, explosive speed.
He effortlessly dodged the freezing pillars, closing the distance to Kuzan in the blink of an eye.
"Thunder Bagua!"
Kaido swung his kanabo with devastating, imperceptible speed.
Standing on the ship, Bardock didn't blink. He had his Golden Fiery Eyes fully activated, pushing his kinetic vision to the absolute maximum. 'Teacher Kaido' was offering a live, masterclass demonstration of top-tier combat, and Bardock was determined to analyze every single micro-movement!
Kuzan didn't conjure an Ice Saber this time. Instead, he coated his fists in incredibly dense, pitch-black Armament Haki and stepped right into the strike's path. Hand-to-hand combat and absolute Devil Fruit mastery were his true specialties. Facing a Yonko, the lazy Vice Admiral was finally getting completely serious.
KRACK-THOOOOOM!
The kanabo violently clashed against Kuzan's fists. The resulting shockwave was infinitely more devastating than anything produced during Bardock and Kuzan's earlier duel.
Watching the sheer kinetic force tear the ice continent apart, Bardock silently noted the conclusion: There was still a very visible, undeniable gap in raw power between him and the true apex predators of the sea.
The clash between the two powerhouses was blindingly fast. In the span of a few seconds, they exchanged dozens of catastrophic blows. Kaido repeatedly utilized Thunder Bagua, but he executed it from completely different, unpredictable angles—sometimes prioritizing imperceptible speed, other times prioritizing raw, bone-crushing power.
Bardock realized that if he were standing in Kuzan's shoes right now, he would have likely already been overwhelmed by the sheer ferocity of the assault.
However, Kuzan completely lived up to his status as a future Marine Admiral. His defense was absolutely watertight. He flawlessly blocked or deflected Kaido's terrifying strikes, and his chilling counterattacks forced Kaido to remain constantly on guard.
Suddenly, both men backed off, took a breath, and violently charged at each other for a final, massive clash.
"THUNDER BAGUA!" "ICE GLOVE!"
"What?!" Enel gasped from the deck, his eyes wide in sheer disbelief. Today was his very first time witnessing a true clash between Blue Sea monsters, and his Mantra hadn't missed a single detail. "Their attacks... they aren't even touching each other!"
Bardock narrowed his eyes, observing the massive gap of violently crackling black lightning between the kanabo and the fist.
Setting aside Kuzan's Ice Glove technique for a moment, Kaido had just infused this specific Thunder Bagua with Advanced Conqueror's Haki (ACoC).
It was a profound realization for Bardock. It was entirely possible to physically clash against Advanced Conqueror's Haki even if you didn't know how to use it yourself. The original three Navy Admirals (Kuzan, Borsalino, and Sakazuki) were never confirmed to possess Conqueror's Haki, yet their mastery of their Devil Fruits and Advanced Armament Haki (Emission/Internal Destruction) allowed them to stand toe-to-toe with Yonko who did.
Watching the clash, an incredibly foolish, Saiyan-like instinct suddenly flared in Bardock's chest. 'Man... I really want to jump down there and take a Thunder Bagua to the face just to see how much it hurts.'
He quickly shook his head, violently slapping his cheeks to discard the suicidal thought. Returning his focus, he continued safely spectating the masterclass battle from the sidelines.