"Sticky Meteor!"
Trebol grabbed the thick, slick, tea-brown mucus secreted from his body and turned it into a "Sticky Chain," hurling it onto the high tower behind him.
Then he yanked hard.
The hundred-meter-tall structure came crashing down at once, blocking the incoming lightning.
Almost at the same time, the terrifying toy army of human heads began to move, with Sugar lurking among them, waiting for an opening.
The lightning tore straight through the massive building.
Nami clapped her hands, and the enormous thunder energy under her control transformed into a lightning net, piercing every enemy in the area with streaks of electricity!
This girl… she's so strong!
Sugar's expression changed as she dodged the lightning.
At a speed almost too fast to follow, she swept past Nami's range and charged straight at Vivi.
She was clearly planning to eliminate one opponent first!
But—
Baccarat, who had quietly hidden herself the moment the battle began, flicked a coin.
Gambler's Misfortune!
All accumulated luck was cashed out, and the misfortune was assigned to Sugar!
Under Sugar's disbelieving gaze as she lunged forward, a banana peel suddenly appeared beneath her feet, making her slip for just an instant—
And in the next moment, she crashed headlong into a mass of yellow sand.
Before she could even struggle, the sand swallowed her whole.
No matter how those tiny hands slapped and flailed, they could not break apart the living, writhing yellow sand!
"Sugar!"
Trebol immediately tried to rush to her rescue.
But violent lightning struck at that exact moment!
Boom—!
Nami smashed a fist down onto Trebol's head.
The berserk lightning instantly ignited the tea-brown mucus, but before the explosion could even erupt, it was devoured by even more terrifying lightning!
A blinding flash burst forth.
Trebol's entire body was charred black, and with his eyes rolled back, he collapsed unconscious.
"One of the Donquixote Family's top officers? That's all?"
Nami flicked her hand disdainfully and looked at the wobbling head toys around her.
She merely extended five fingers and beckoned—
A bolt of lightning descended from the sky, blasting every last one of them apart!
It's over.
Hiding off to one side, Baccarat let out a sigh of relief.
She had done what she was supposed to do. At this rate, blending into the team later on should go very smoothly.
"Recover the target. Prepare to withdraw."
Nami issued the order.
She could sense that the battle on the ground was growing fiercer and fiercer.
Whether it was Zoro vs. King, or Ren vs. Kaido—
The battle between swordsmen was still going on.
But it was obvious that Zoro was still being suppressed.
And truthfully, Ren's side was much the same.
After blasting Kaido into the earth with one strike, the Six-Winged Fallen Angel had immediately pursued him downward.
Kaido, having taken a beating, counterattacked by twisting his body and whipping up several massive tornadoes, then opening his mouth and spitting out thousands upon thousands of wind blades.
Each and every blade was sharp enough to slice through steel with ease.
But Ren No. 2 didn't even bother dodging. He slammed straight into them head-on.
The moment the tornadoes and wind blades touched the crimson armor, they vanished as if they had melted away.
The Protective Qi Barrier and the tremendous energy had reached a stable circulation, condensing into that blood-red suit of armor.
It possessed an astonishingly high temperature, along with the corrosive nature of the Blood Demon Art.
Ordinary attacks would first be weakened by the corrosive Blood Demon aura, then melted away by the extreme heat on the armor's surface.
Even stronger attacks, after getting through those two layers, would still have to face the tenacious qi shield.
Then came the damage reduction from the Indestructible Vajra Glazed Body, along with his resistances and other enhancements.
If it was merely an attack on that level, it simply posed no threat to Ren in his Phase Two: Fallen Angel state.
"Kaido, it's time to wake up!"
Ren dove down and thrust with his blade.
In the next instant, the Thunderflame Greatblade released a beam of light, stabbing straight toward Kaido's eyeball.
"Wake up to what exactly…?"
A dragon claw wrapped in Haki seized the beam—
And then came an enormous explosion.
Scorching firelight swallowed the azure dragon before crashing down onto the earth.
With a thunderous roar, dust surged hundreds of meters into the air, and in the next moment, a towering humanoid figure rose up from within the haze.
He had a human body, but his skin carried a bluish tint and was covered in incomparably hard scales.
Six sharp horns pointed toward the sky, like two tridents fused into one.
With a casual sweep of his massive tail, he stirred up fierce winds and blew away the smoke.
He revealed that form—
Kaido's hybrid form!
"Damn, that hurts."
Kaido touched his forehead and felt the sting there, then raised the bloodstained palm before his eyes.
His drunken face showed a trace of surprise.
"How many years has it been since I last bled? You're unexpectedly capable, brat."
Whoosh—
The black-and-crimson Six-Winged Fallen Angel appeared not far away.
"If I could cut off your hand, then maybe I'd accept that compliment."
Holding the Thunderflame Greatblade, Ren looked at the astonishingly calm Kaido and also noticed the cut on his hand.
The corner of his mouth twitched.
That thrust from the Thunderflame Greatblade had naturally been Body and Soul Obliteration, a strike already capable of piercing King's defenses.
In the Fallen Angel state, all of Ren's power had been perfectly integrated, allowing him to unleash ten parts of strength as a full ten parts of output.
The power of Body and Soul Obliteration was even stronger than before.
And yet, against Kaido, it had still only managed to barely break his defense.
The only thing worth being thankful for was that Kaido had finally started using Haki.
At last, Ren understood what Luffy in the original timeline had felt when facing Kaido.
The guy was absurdly, outrageously tough.
"Worororo… you're thinking too much, brat."
Kaido laughed loudly as he drew out his Hassaikai and rested the kanabo on his shoulder.
Still looking a little lazy and drunken, he continued, "But being able to make King go all out means you're no small fry either.
Brat, how about joining under me? Become one of my men.
The positions of the Three Calamities are already taken, but you can challenge for them. How high you climb will depend on your own ability.
Oh, right—
That pink dragon over there is one of your subordinates too, isn't it?
I'm very fond of Zoan Devil Fruit users. For the sake of two talented people like you—
If you want to all join my Beasts Pirates, that's fine too."
Unexpectedly, Kaido extended an invitation, as though he didn't care at all about the injury he had just suffered.
He merely fixed his aggressive gaze on the Six-Winged Fallen Angel before him.
"Of course, that's on the condition that you explain this artificial Devil Fruit business clearly.
That thing is what I use to build my artificial Devil Fruit army.
In this world, only Zoan Devil Fruit users are truly suited to becoming part of an army."
"…Sorry, but we have no intention of becoming pirates."
"Worororo… interesting answer. You actually don't think of yourselves as pirates?"
"Just because the World Government labels me a pirate doesn't mean I see myself as one."
"What a strange fellow."
Kaido looked a little surprised, then belched indifferently.
"But if that's your answer, then I'll just have to beat it out of you, won't I?"
"The logic of fists is always universal."
Ren slowly raised the Thunderflame Greatblade.
It was less a blade and more a high-energy mass constrained within an intense magnetic field.
Just by releasing its power, the surrounding environment rapidly heated up and changed.
"Worororo… then there's no helping it."
Kaido showed a rather savage grin.
Then his whole body transformed into his beast form—an azure dragon!
His enormous body stretched beneath the gloomy sky, and with the slightest movement, violent air currents whipped through the heavens.
He opened his mouth and sucked in a huge volume of air, swelling his belly into a massive bulge.
Then he unleashed a thunderous roar!
"Demolition Gust!"
Thousands upon thousands of wind blades screamed through the air, each strike equivalent to a slash from a Great Swordsman.
The merciless blades of air sliced through Dressrosa's rocky cliffs and even surged toward the buildings deeper inside.
On the opposite side of where the golden giant had fallen, the still-intact district was instantly shredded apart.
Nearly a quarter of the entire kingdom vanished beneath the storm of wind blades.
And this—
Was merely a greeting attack from Kaido.
Ren forced his way forward against the wind blades, likewise ignoring the horrifying large-scale destruction.
"Not working, huh? It looks like they're melting away… Worororo!"
Kaido roared with laughter, his massive dragon body whipping up several extremely violent tornadoes.
The wind speed was strong enough to lift boulders weighing dozens of tons.
Yet even that disaster-level might still could not slow his enemy down.
Devil Fruit ability?
It seemed Kaido had realized something.
He opened his mouth and spat out Blast Breath.
When that dazzling torrent of crimson flames lit up the gloomy sky—
The rapidly approaching Fallen Angel had no choice but to halt.
The Thunderflame Greatblade transformed into a straight beam of light, cleaving through Blast Breath the instant it was released!
"You really are interesting!"
In the blink of an eye, Kaido shifted into his hybrid form, his smaller body dodging the incoming beam.
Then he stamped down with force and swung Hassaikai!
"Thunder Bagua!"
Like furious thunder resounding through the heavens, the strike of ultimate speed smashed into Ren's six wings as they moved to block.
At the same time, the Thunderflame Greatblade—its temperature having risen sharply—slashed into Kaido's azure scales.
Boom—!
A deafening blast erupted.
Ren was sent flying on the spot, crashing headfirst into a bridge in Dressrosa thousands of meters away.
Kaido wiped a hand across his waist and abdomen, once more finding a streak of blood.
The wound was small, but it had indeed broken through his Haki defenses.
"Fire? No… temperature? And this method—internal destruction? Worororo… this is getting more and more interesting!"
Kaido laughed wildly as he leaped into the air, chasing the meteor-like trail of flames.
Then he landed on the twin bridges flanking Dressrosa's King's Plateau.
And what greeted him was a black-and-red blade of light released in an instant!
Thunder Breathing, Fifth Form: Heat Realm Thunder!
Blood Demon Art, externalized internal qi!
Using technique itself as the method of output, Ren pushed ten parts of strength to achieve the effect of twelve!
That blade of light was not a flying slash. Wrapped in unrivaled destructive power, it turned the bridge into a land of molten lava just by skimming across the ground.
Kaido did not dodge.
He swung Hassaikai and smashed the blade of light apart by sheer force.
The scattered fragments blasted everywhere, and the uncontrolled chunks of ultra-dense energy triggered explosions so violent that half the bridge collapsed outright!
House-sized chunks of rubble rained down from above.
Ren darted and maneuvered among them, while Kaido—gripping Hassaikai—pursued him relentlessly, smashing down terrifying blows like earthquakes.
Because of their speed, the battlefield between the two expanded at an astonishing rate.
Amid one savage thunderous crash after another, a violent tremor suddenly erupted atop the King's Plateau at the end of the bridge.
Immediately afterward, Doflamingo's mansion and the Donquixote Family's stronghold were torn to pieces in an instant.
Ren flew backward and smashed through the far end of the buildings, and the shockwave that followed turned the entire area into ruins!