"Wororororo! Yes, that's it, Red Hair! This is what a real battle should feel like!"
Kaido's joyous laughter echoed through the sky. Having already transformed into his strongest hybrid form, he swung his kanabo, Hassaikai, which pulsed with the dark energy of Conqueror's Haki.
"Thunder Bagua!"
Red-Haired Shanks showed no intention of dodging. He met the attack head-on, his own blade, Gryphon, coated in the crimson aura of a king.
"Divine Departure!"
Before their weapons even made contact, the two immense pressures collided. A storm of lightning crackled in the space between them.
Boom!
A massive explosion engulfed them both, but neither man was harmed in the slightest. They continued their fight, moving like streaks of light as they maneuvered through the air, their weapons clashing with a sound louder than any thunder.
At this level of combat, there were no quick victories. Both Kaido and Shanks were monsters among monsters, not just in their Haki and abilities, but in their sheer physical toughness. Unlike with the aged and ailing Whitebeard, whose body had been pierced by his own subordinate, landing a decisive blow on a perfectly balanced warrior like Shanks or Kaido was nearly impossible. Their attack, defense, speed, and reflexes were all at the absolute peak. They had virtually no weaknesses.
There was only one way to defeat such an opponent: through a grueling battle of attrition. It was a contest to see who could exhaust the other's stamina, Haki, and willpower first, forcing a mistake that would create a fatal opening. It was why the battle for the title of Fleet Admiral between Aokiji and Akainu had raged for ten days and ten nights; their strengths were so evenly matched that they could only wear each other down until one of them finally broke.
The same principle applied here. For nearly six hours, Kaido's Thunder Bagua had clashed with Shanks's Divine Departure. They were trading their strongest fundamental attacks, yet neither had shown any sign of faltering. It was clear that without a battle lasting for days, no victor would emerge from this clash.
Kaido didn't mind at all. In fact, he was thrilled. He had never had such a satisfying fight, especially against an opponent who could match him blow for blow. The longer it went on, the more excited he became.
In contrast to Kaido's exhilaration, Shanks's brow was furrowed with a hint of solemnity.
This feeling… could it be…?
As a top-tier master of Observation Haki, Shanks could feel a subtle but undeniable change in Kaido's aura as the battle progressed. It wasn't just his Haki; it was present in every single one of his movements. This was not the first time they had fought. Four years ago, their blades had crossed, and Shanks remembered Kaido's power well: it had been overwhelming, fierce, and brutally straightforward.
But the Kaido before him now was different. The raw, brutal power was still there, but it was now wielded with an unnerving level of control. Before, Kaido's power was like a raging flood, unleashed to not only kill an opponent but to tear them to pieces, wasting immense energy in the process. Now, that same flood was being channeled. The power was still enough to kill, but it was focused, no longer wasting a single drop of energy on anything beyond the objective.
Shanks was intimately familiar with this feeling. It was the same mastery he had witnessed in his captain, Gol D. Roger. It was the principle behind his own ultimate technique, which he had learned by secretly observing his captain all those years ago.
Divine Departure. Why was it called that? Because anyone targeted by the attack felt as if they couldn't possibly dodge it; as if even a god could only await their demise. The reason was simple: the power within the attack was 'alive.' It wasn't a simple sword swing that required an enemy to be in its path. Once unleashed, the attack locked onto its target, pursuing them and sealing off all escape routes, making it an unavoidable blow. That "aliveness" was a reflection of perfect control over one's power.
Shanks had only just begun to touch that realm himself. He had thought that among the pirates on the sea today, perhaps only Whitebeard and Mihawk could approach that level of mastery. He never imagined that Kaido would have reached it as well.
This was not good news. He had always believed he could use his own strength to maintain the world's balance until the next generation was ready to forge their own paths. Now, for the first time, he felt that things were beginning to spiral out of his control.
As the fight wore on, that feeling grew stronger. And for experts of their caliber, even the smallest hint of unease could become a fatal weakness. Shanks was strong enough to suppress the feeling, but the momentary shift in his aura was all Kaido needed.
A grim smile spread across Kaido's lips.
Opportunity!
"God's Advent!"
Kaido unleashed an attack that was fundamentally different from Thunder Bagua. In his reborn life, he had discarded his flashy, impractical moves—especially the various techniques from his drunken states. They looked impressive, but against a true peer, they were useless, fit only for bullying weaker opponents. His new philosophy was to simplify, to perfect the foundation of his Thunder Bagua and develop a few true one-hit-kill techniques.
God's Advent was the first of these killing moves. It was still an attack imbued with Conqueror's Haki, but this Haki was different. It was a new form of power, integrated with the energy he called 'Qi'. He had already tested it once, and the results were promising: it had nullified Admiral Kizaru's Logia form. Now, it was time to test it against a master of Haki.
Shanks reacted instantly, swinging Gryphon to meet the attack with his own full-powered Conqueror's Haki.
Then, he witnessed the impossible.
His Haki—the invisible armor of a king, the manifestation of his indomitable will—was cut clean through.
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