Chapter 369: Blue Dragon vs Eric
Yamato seemed to sense something and looked up at the sky above Onigashima.
The dark clouds began to swirl, spinning like a vortex. Accompanied by strong winds and thunder, the Blue Dragon, the master of the weather, emerged from the whirlpool, revealing his true form.
Kaido looked down at the members of the Dawn Pirates who had entered his territory. "Finally arrived, Dawn Pirates!"
"They're here!"
An unexpected voice came from directly below him, followed by a thunderous roar and an earth-shaking impact, as a huge blast rang out on the dragon's chin!
"Pierce him—!"
Eric , his body wrapped in lightning, appeared like the god of thunder. Countless blue arcs of electricity spread out, and countless lightning serpents roamed freely across Kaido's body.
The overwhelming force made the Blue Dragon snap his jaws shut in alarm!
"Breakthrough—!"
A massive pillar of lightning once again surged, lifting the powerful dragon high into the air, sending him crashing toward the skull on top of Onigashima.
"Lord Kaido!" King flapped his wings, trying to catch up, but was stopped by a hail of ice spikes blocking his way.
"Who is it?!"
"Your opponent is me." Esdeath stood on a rooftop, lifting her right foot and stepping on a corpse. "I heard you like to torture people? Let's have a nice chat since we're both torture enthusiasts."
"..."
King silently landed in front of Esdeath, his pitch-black attire becoming even more imposing as flames burned. He slowly drew his long blade.
Esdeath smiled coldly.
Yamato's eyes widened in shock. "Who is that guy? He just sent that bull-horned bastard flying!"
After thinking for a moment, Yamato changed his direction, holding his spiked club, and ran toward Kaido's position.
"Ugh—!" Kaido's body, now transformed into a giant dragon, was flying through the air after being struck.
"—Piercing Dead Shot!"
Without any unnecessary flair, Eric immediately used his most powerful single-target attack, aiming to leave an indelible wound on Kaido's body.
"My body... can't move!" Kaido temporarily lost his ability to move, watching helplessly as a spear wrapped in lightning and burning with fierce flames shot through the air toward him!
"Boom!"
The immense force nailed the wound caused by Oden's slash, bending Kaido's long body upward. The powerful shockwave unleashed sent Kaido soaring.
"Ugh—!"
Kaido screamed in agony, blood pouring out from the large X-shaped wound. His massive, elongated body began to fall, causing violent tremors when he hit the top of the skull. Stones continued to break and fall from the ceiling under the force of gravity.
"Whoosh—"
The energy-depleted fire-tipped spear flew back, refracted through the air in short arcs, and landed back into Eric 's hand.
"Ugh—!" The fallen sky dragon disappeared into the smoke, replaced by a seven-meter-tall, muscular body. "The wine has worn off..."
"Nice job, thunder kid!" Kaido shook his dizzy head, using his spiked club to prop himself up. A blood hole appeared on the X-shaped scar on his right side, surrounded by charred flesh. Blood streamed from the wound. "It's been so long since I've been injured like this."
"Are you ready to die?" Eric , maintaining his imposing presence, combined the two halves of his fire-tipped spear and twisted them back together. "Your head will be the stepping stone for me to reach the top!"
"Ohohohoho... You're really bold, thunder kid!" Kaido laughed, his muscular arms swelling, the dragon-scale tattoo on his left arm trembling as if alive.
"Thunder Eight Trigrams!"
Kaido's massive body barreled toward Eric like a heavy tank, his spiked club surrounded by Conqueror's Haki and crackling purple electricity.
'Get out of the way—' Eric instantly thought of dodging Kaido's thunderous strike. One of the advantages of the Thunder-Thunder Fruit was the ability to teleport within a magnetic field, but—
'If I keep dodging Kaido's attacks, how can I grow!?'
'I'm going to block it!!'
Eric gritted his teeth, pressing his feet firmly into the ground, his fire-tipped spear retracting back to its standing position. He was gathering strength for the next shot.
"Ha—!"
In an instant, thunder broke through layers of sound barriers, bringing down an overwhelming force that struck with full might!
Eric anchored himself with his feet, twisting his waist, and with all his strength, he sent the fire-tipped spear forward, the spear tip, wrapped in flames and thunder, piercing the air like a venomous snake's strike.
"Clang!"
The tip of the fire-tipped spear collided with the spiked club, stopping it mid-flight. The two forces collided with each other, creating a thunderous crash.
From the point of impact, a blinding light exploded, like the sun rising, as black and blue electric arcs spread like a spider web across the sky.
A terrifying storm erupted from the clash between Eric and Kaido, sweeping outward, leaving deep cracks in the hard rock beneath them.
The sky above Onigashima roared with thunder, and the storm raged on!
Although no one could see the battle between them, everyone on Onigashima knew a fierce battle was erupting.
Then, someone noticed the sky:
"The sky—it's splitting!!"
A massive crack appeared in the dark clouds filling the sky, with the clouds constantly swirling and churning at the split.
Someone with sharp eyes pointed at a black dot in the sky and asked:
"Hmm? What is that?"
...
The Invincible ship, high in the sky, was also affected by the storm. The steel warship swayed like a small boat in rough seas, rocking in the strong winds.
"Ah!" Perona screamed, gripping the railing.
"Wendy, we've finished our surveillance mission. Lower the Invincible's altitude!"
"I'll try my best..." Wendy was sweating, desperately trying to stabilize the ship.
"But, what about Darling?" Miku asked worriedly. "Darling's opponent is such a giant thing!"
"We're not in the way, that's the biggest help." Chiron reassured. "The captain is the strongest among us!"
"Alright, I understand..." Miku grabbed a fixed position with one hand, and with her other hand, her five fingers spread out. "The Battle Song of the Destroyer!"
A wave-like pattern expanded from beneath Miku's feet, and in the center of the wave, a huge pipe organ appeared, responding to Miku's call.
"What are you trying to do?"
The others were stunned.
"I at least want to offer a song for the fighters and Darling—!"
Ignoring the now-diminished swaying, Miku waved her right hand from left to right, and like drawing the trajectory of her movements, a shining band of light appeared.
"Listen to my voice—! Battle Song of the Destroyer!"
"Wait a second, this will expose us to Kaido's line of sight!" Chiron immediately raised his hand to stop her.
But Miku, wanting to help Eric , didn't listen to Chiron. She spread her index fingers and struck the light keyboard in front of her.
"March—!"
In an instant, the angel behind Miku sounded loudly, and after several iterations within the connected silver tubes, the sound resonated and spread through the Invincible's armor toward Eric 's position.
"Wendy, lower the speed! Get away from Kaido!" At this point, Chiron had to take remedial action.
"I understand!"
...
As the residual force waned, Kaido's Thunder Eight Trigrams was steadily stopped by Eric .
The weapons of the two continued to clash, with their powers surging into each other.
Their gazes crossed through the weapons they were holding, their eyes meeting in midair.
"Kaido, your moves aren't all that great either..." With his Nine-Star Plus physique, Eric was confident that he wouldn't be knocked down by his Thunder Eight Trigrams.
"Heh, being able to use Conqueror's Haki at such a young age..." Kaido gripped the Eight Slashes, glaring coldly at Eric .
From the moment they clashed, Kaido realized that Eric also had mastery over Conqueror's Haki.
Kaido suddenly asked, "How old are you?"
"Twenty." Eric grinned. "Much younger than you, old man!"
Kaido sneered. "You've made me want to kill you right here and now!"
At that moment, a song pierced through the distant space and entered Eric 's ears, instantly filling his body with strength.
"Old monster, your power is a bit small!" Eric swung his spear with full force, the power rising even further. He swept Kaido away, smashing him into the rock wall behind him.
Even Eric was taken aback by how much strength he gained from Miku's music, along with his Nine-Star Plus physique.
'This must be Miku's March, the song that grants strength to its listeners. Thank you for your help, Miku...'
But Kaido still hadn't fully transformed into his strongest beast-human form…
We can't be careless.
"Ohohohoho..." Kaido emerged from the rubble, "You really get me more excited with every second!"
"But to think someone dared to interrupt our fight—" Kaido spoke as he transformed. Within a few breaths, he became a massive, giant dragon. "Get out of my way!"
The massive green dragon spiraled upward, a fireball passed through its long body, with orange light filtering through its belly, reaching its throat. Kaido opened his massive mouth, unleashing a scorching pillar of fire like an arrow released from a bow:
"Hot Breath!"
On the Invincible, Perona screamed, "Kaido's attack is coming!"
"Quickly activate the electromagnetic shield!"
Eric didn't hesitate. He flashed in front of the fire pillar, thrusting his spear straight into it, splitting the fiery flames into eight smaller streams, scattering in all directions and turning the sky and earth blood red, resembling a grand fireworks display.
Perona, with tears in her eyes, shouted, "Captain, I love you!"
"I don't need your love."
"What do you mean by that?!"
Miku waved her hand, "Darling is the best!"
"Of course!" Eric gave a thumbs-up.
"Why are you treating the two of us differently?!"
"Think about how to deal with Esdeath first."
"Ugh—!"
"Get these small fry out of here!" Kaido's massive, sturdy body flew toward the Invincible, stepping on the flame clouds.
"Again?!" Perona collapsed to the ground in despair.
"Get down!" Eric gripped his spear, transforming into a thick bolt of lightning, smashing hard into the Blue Dragon's head.
"Ughhh—!"
The painful dragon roar echoed through the sky above Onigashima, as Blue Dragon's massive body was knocked to the ground.
The crowd below heard the dragon's anguished cry and the intense vibrations shaking the island.
"Captain Eric is amazing." Kisame chuckled, "To think he could injure that monster. It seems only a monster can defeat another monster, huh?"
"Not necessarily." Sasaki, now in his Triceratops form, charged toward Kisame , shaking the ground with his steps. "Lord Kaido won't lose!"
"Is that so..." Kisame decided to change the battlefield. "It's too spacious here, let's move inside and continue the fight!"
King furrowed his brows, "Is that Kaido's voice?"
"Don't get distracted!" Esdeath swung her sword wrapped in freezing air toward him, clashing once again with the flames. "If I don't even finish warming up, you'll die here. That would be such a buzzkill."
King's eyes flashed with malice, "You'll die here."
Esdeath smiled cruelly, "We'll see if you have the strength for that."
"Not bad, thunder kid!" Kaido, knocked to the ground, opened his dragon mouth wide, and after gathering wind, he fired off a powerful shot: "Bad Wind!"
Anger from the pain turned into a deafening roar, launching countless giant wind blades toward Eric and the Invincible, tearing everything in sight as the winds seemed to shake the earth itself.
"Whoosh—"
The giant wind blades cut through the air and reached Eric in an instant. Eric easily shattered them, but some wind blades flew past him, headed straight for the Invincible!
"Damn it—!"
"Clang, clang!"
Chiron leapt from the Invincible, his arrow wrapped in Conqueror's Haki, smashing the giant blades aiming for the group.
"Good job, Chiron-sensei!"
"
How about this move?!" The dragon's body spun like a top, creating massive whirlwinds, which surged toward the Invincible.
The steel hull of the ship rocked even more violently.
Wendy didn't hesitate, raising her hands and, unlike the timid and unsure girl she had been six months ago, she bravely met Kaido's attack. A giant whirlwind formed instantly and clashed with Kaido's tornado.
"Oh?" Kaido's dragon eyes widened. "Your subordinate's power is impressive!"
"Of course!" Eric threw his spear forcefully, and the fire and lightning-wrapped spear pierced the entire space, landing heavily in Kaido's forehead, sending a spray of blood.
"Awooo—!"
Kaido's head tilted back, and his massive body curled, coiling like a venomous snake.
"Want to compare the power of our tornadoes?!" Kaido raised his head, lightning crackling in his mouth as the roar of the dragon reverberated.
"Damn it!" Eric growled, "Big Mom, Kaido, and all the Mink Tribe use lightning. The Thunder-Thunder Fruit is useless even for dogs!"
Kaido's dragon body began to spin rapidly again, creating circles of wind and storm that launched countless strikes. "Tornado Bad Wind!"
The now denser, more powerful wind blades surged in all directions.
"Damn it—!" Eric raised his spear, gathering as much power as he could, and then swung it. "Baku Koku!"
Eric 's thunderous strike, combined with the purple flames of the fire, blue thunder's dominance, and Conqueror's Haki, created an unprecedentedly strong impact, roaring forward like a world-shaking thunder.
The shockwave from the spear created an impenetrable barrier, blocking the path of the wind blades aimed at the Invincible.
But with so many wind blades, not all could be stopped. Several wind blades bypassed Eric and headed straight for the Invincible!
(END CHAPTER)
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