The moment Kai finished speaking, the power sleeping inside him surged awake.
A vast pressure burst from his body, violent and unstoppable, rushing outward like a storm tide crashing against the shore. The air around him distorted. Dust rose from the ground in thin spirals before being scattered by the invisible force spreading from him.
Conqueror's Haki.
It erupted from Kai without restraint and swept forward to meet Bullet's incoming pressure head-on.
It was not weaker.
Not in momentum, not in weight, and not in the will behind it.
Around Kai, the sand and dust trembled as if the desert itself had been struck by an invisible hammer. The pressure carried a savage force that seemed capable of grinding the minds of living creatures into dust. Fortunately, there were no ordinary people nearby. If there had been, they would have collapsed before they even understood what had happened.
The only outsider close enough to feel it clearly was Crocodile.
With his strength, he would not be knocked unconscious by Conqueror's Haki so easily, but even he felt the pressure pressing against his nerves.
A heartbeat later, Bullet's Conqueror's Haki arrived.
Kai's Haki met it.
Boom!
The two forces collided in the middle of the desert, and the sound rolled outward like thunder splitting the sky.
Dark red lightning crackled at the point of impact. The air twisted violently, as if the space between them had been torn open by two invisible blades. The clash of their wills struck the ground with the weight of falling meteors, sending shockwaves racing in every direction.
Kai narrowed his eyes.
His Conqueror's Haki gradually took on a crimson hue, forming a vast field around him before surging forward.
Bullet's Haki answered in deep blue.
Crimson and blue divided the desert between them.
Neither side retreated.
Neither gave way.
The invisible force of Conqueror's Haki became visible only because two powers of equal level had collided. The result was terrifying.
The shockwave tore through the surrounding terrain. Sand erupted into the air. The ground cracked apart with sharp, brittle sounds, one fissure spreading after another until the earth looked like a shattered mirror.
When a single person released Conqueror's Haki, it mostly attacked the will and consciousness of living beings. It could knock people out, crush weaker minds, and make beasts flee.
But when two powerful Conqueror's Haki users clashed, the effect changed completely.
The force became physical.
It battered the land, split the air, and smashed apart everything caught near the collision.
Red and blue raged against each other.
Dark red lightning flashed wildly between them.
The air grew heavy.
Oppressive.
Silent.
Only the constant rumble of clashing Haki filled the desert.
The pressure was so intense that even the sky above Alabasta seemed to change. The clouds overhead were pushed apart, split by the conflict below. One side glowed faintly crimson, the other dark blue, as though the heavens themselves had been divided between two kings.
Sandstorms began to form around the battlefield.
Rocks shattered into powder. The fragments were swept up by the violent wind and scattered into the distance. Within a thousand meters, the ground became scarred and broken, covered in deep cracks and collapsing patches of earth.
This was not a fight of fists yet.
It was only a clash of wills.
And yet the desert already looked as if a battle had torn through it.
"Old era's first genius?"
Kai smiled as his coat fluttered in the storm of pressure. His white Marine cloak snapped behind him, and his hair moved with the violent wind.
"Not bad."
"But if you wanted to clear me out as small fry, this much won't be enough."
He looked straight at Bullet.
This was a collision between eras.
The genius of the old era, against the monster of the new.
A clash between two beings who had no intention of lowering their heads.
Kai had not planned to attack Bullet first. His target was Crocodile.
But Bullet had made the first move.
More than that, he had treated Kai like an insect to be swept aside.
Kai found that amusing.
"I guess this small fry is a little stronger than you expected."
He stood calmly in the middle of his crimson Haki, his expression unchanged from beginning to end.
At the same time, Bullet's face finally changed.
Crocodile's expression changed as well.
The moment Kai's Conqueror's Haki erupted, both of them understood what they were seeing.
"Hey, hey…"
Bullet's eyes narrowed.
"Is this a joke?"
"Conqueror's Haki?"
"That brat has Conqueror's Haki too?"
The boy he had dismissed as small fry had not only withstood his Haki, but had released a force no weaker than his own.
No.
After several moments of collision, Bullet could feel it clearly.
Kai's Conqueror's Haki was suppressing his.
Only slightly, but it was suppression all the same.
Bullet drew in a slow breath.
For the first time, true surprise appeared in his eyes.
He had seen countless strong people. He had sailed on the Pirate King's ship. He had fought monsters of the sea and defeated famous pirates who could shake entire regions.
But he had never seen a child like this.
A five-year-old boy with Conqueror's Haki was already absurd.
A five-year-old boy whose Conqueror's Haki could pressure his own was almost beyond belief.
"What kind of monster are you?"
Bullet stared at Kai across the battlefield, and the smile on his face became sharper.
Crocodile was no calmer.
His cigar had long gone still between his teeth. His eyes locked onto Kai, and a storm of thoughts flashed through his mind.
"Conqueror's Haki…"
"A kid has it?"
Crocodile's face darkened.
This was the power he wanted but could never obtain.
The symbol of those born with the qualities of a king.
And now, a child who looked barely five years old had displayed it in front of him.
Worse, that child's Haki had pushed back Douglas Bullet's.
Crocodile's heart trembled.
"This kid is no ordinary brat."
"No one with Conqueror's Haki this strong could be nameless."
He tried to search his memory, but the answer would not come immediately.
A moment later—
Boom!
The two Conqueror's Haki fields exploded apart.
Crimson and blue scattered into the air, dissolving into violent currents before fading completely.
The clash ended.
The desert fell silent again.
Only the aftermath remained.
Within a thousand meters, the land was broken and full of cracks. Rocks had been crushed, sand had been blown away, and the surface of the desert looked as if a giant beast had clawed through it.
Crocodile looked at the devastated terrain, then slowly turned toward Bullet.
His tone was strange.
"This…"
"This is what you called small fry?"
"Are you sure?"
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