The excessively violent power was like a dragon turning beneath the earth, causing the ground to bulrow and sink unnaturally, tearing open abyss-like chasms one after another.
Before the fireball had even fully dissipated, one corner of the already shattered land suddenly caved in.
A full quarter of this area sank into the surging sea in that instant!
The seawater flooded all the way to where the colosseum had once stood.
This meant that Dressrosa...
had permanently lost a portion of its territory!
That was a disaster on an entirely different level from merely losing a cliff wall!
"Worororo... looks like that went a little too far. No... it's more a problem with that brat's methods.
He compressed way too much energy into his attack. Under normal circumstances, even adding Haki shouldn't have made something that powerful.
But then again, that's also why I ended up like this, huh..."
Kaido stood by the river of magma, surveying the utterly miserable battlefield.
Then his gaze dropped to the wounds on his own body.
Opposite the cross-shaped scar Oden had left behind,
there was now a savage blackened scar running straight down from his collarbone, splitting through his ribs, damaging his organs, and only stopping at his thigh.
"How incredible."
That was Kaido's evaluation.
"It cut through my Conqueror's Haki Infusion and advanced Armament Haki, and even melted scales, muscles, blood, and more...
If I hadn't used some methods to protect my insides the moment that attack hit,
part of my body probably would've been permanently vaporized.
Once I protected the inside, there was no time left to save the outside.
Or rather, it had already vaporized the instant I was struck.
The parts that could've regenerated were completely gone. The high heat erased any room for them to knit back together.
There's no way to recover from that now."
If nothing unexpected happened, this scar would truly remain on his body forever, in a way he never would have imagined.
Permanent scars of this kind were usually the result of the special properties of Conqueror's Haki Infusion, which prevented healing abilities from restoring them.
But what he had encountered this time was something completely unique.
Who knew where that brat had gotten so much energy from, let alone how he had compressed it all into a single blade?
The strangest part was that the blade had actually endured it.
"His Haki hasn't even reached its peak, yet he still managed something on the same level as those monsters.
Even if he used some trick, some Devil Fruit ability, it's still way too outrageous for someone his age."
Kaido spoke with genuine admiration, then looked across the magma river.
Since he had been cut to this extent, naturally his enemy could not have come out unscathed either.
How should Ren's condition be described?
Blown apart? Scattered all over the ground?
No.
Neither.
That last strike had been launched seriously, and Kaido had even wrapped it in a huge amount of lightning.
A normal small island would have been smashed to pieces by that blow alone.
So how could an enemy whose Haki was inferior to his fare any better?
Before stronger Haki, weaker Haki was meaningless.
Even if that guy's qi was strange.
But Kaido remembered very clearly that earlier, a Thunder Bagua wrapped in both Armament and Conqueror's Haki
had blown Ren into fragments, and yet he had still recovered.
So this time, Kaido had attacked seriously.
To describe it more accurately, it would be better to say he had crushed him into dust!
The entire Six-Winged Angel had shattered under that club like glass being smashed apart!
"..."
Kaido swept his Observation Haki across the entire country just like that, and a trace of anticipation appeared in his expression.
If he wasn't dead, then today might finally become truly entertaining.
And to his delight, he captured Ren's aura.
The next instant, the reformed Ren appeared within the magma river, seeming to absorb the heat and turn it into his own power.
Kaido frowned slightly at that.
Weak.
Far too weak.
Completely incomparable to the one from before.
"Hey, hey, how did you—"
Kaido had just opened his mouth when he suddenly stopped and looked toward the far end across the magma river.
Something was coming!
Wind?
No... something even more special!
Pebbles on the ground suddenly trembled and floated up, as if they had lost all gravity.
And what they represented
was the source's emotions!
Anger, turbulence, fury!
"That's enough already, isn't it? If this goes on any longer, don't you think it's gone too far?!"
An angry voice, resolute footsteps, and an appearance never seen before.
A blind man in a purple robe suddenly arrived on the scene!
"This country has already suffered too much! Are you even going to take away their homeland too?!"
The intruding Issho opened his blank white eyes and drew part of his cane sword.
Just that motion alone stirred up a terrifying gale on the spot.
The great fire in this area, the river of magma, even the seawater flooding onto the land—
all of it reversed at that moment!
Even the Ren who had just reassembled himself was pressed firmly in place.
"Hm?"
Kaido frowned slightly, seemingly surprised by the other man's power.
It was a type he had never encountered before, but in terms of sheer level, there was no question that this man stood in the same class as him.
Because he could feel it instinctively.
This blind man was no simple figure!
And what happened in the next moment proved Kaido's judgment.
"It ends here! Ren, your intentions, Kaido, your crimes together with Doflamingo's—everything ends here!"
Issho fully drew his cane sword, and the instant the tip touched the ground, the earth began to tremble violently.
An invisible yet tangible weight pressed down upon the land, as if an unseen giant hand had begun to move.
The abyssal cracks closed, the magma cooled, the submerged landmass rose, the seawater reversed, and the shattered cliff fragments were forced back into the gaps.
The massive collapse caused by Ren and Kaido's battle was repaired through an utterly unbelievable method.
"This feeling... gravity?"
Kaido instantly identified the power acting on him and the surrounding area.
Gravity... in this world, no material can escape the constraints of gravity.
Wind, fire, water, lightning—even the earth, the sky, even the formation of this planet itself—all bear the imprint of gravity.
But if Issho has made his move, then that means the battle in the underground port has already been decided?
Ren watched the scene unfold and did not find it strange at all.
He looked in the direction Issho had come from, and through Observation Haki, he sensed that one of the two presences that had been fighting earlier had disappeared.
Hm.
Not someone I know.
If that's the case, then King is probably in grave danger...
The moment victory and defeat in the underground port had been decided, Sugar had been targeted to the utmost limit.
Trebol and the others had no ability to contend with Nami at all.
Just like how the other officers were unable to block Nojiko's Blast Breath.
In terms of pure fighting strength,
even Doflamingo himself might not have been able to gain an advantage against Nami.
Of course,
combat experience was another matter entirely.
In any case, Nami herself did not like going out onto the battlefield to fight and kill. She preferred floating around in the sky discharging lightning everywhere—or recharging Ren.
This time, she had entered the battle because they desperately needed her presence here.
Zoro was currently fighting King, and the two had entered a prolonged struggle.
It was clear Zoro was at a disadvantage, but the injured King also couldn't finish him off anytime soon.
Big Sister Nojiko was the enemy's target, and any reckless movement would draw King's pursuit.
Vivi did not possess the kind of battle power that could decisively settle things in a short time.
So in the end, the one teleported in was Nami herself, and her target was naturally Sugar, that extremely important officer.
The Toy-Toy Fruit user!
All the toys in Dressrosa were her handiwork.
The condition for undoing the ability was for the user herself to lose consciousness.
Baccarat's Soul-Shattering Horn never even got the chance to be used; Vivi directly suffocated Sugar with sand, knocking her out.
And then, the Toy-Toy Fruit lost its effect.
The toys running around one by one all returned to their original forms, and along with that, the vanished memories of the citizens returned as well.
So, while cleaning up the aftermath and trying to protect the civilians, Issho personally witnessed those toys turning back into people.
Including the toy soldier he had protected!
That meant that beneath Dressrosa's passionate, vibrant facade, shocking evil had been hidden all along.
The Tontattas appeared at just the right moment, and with the assistance of the Angels of Glory, found the former King Riku underground.
After confirming Doflamingo was dead, King Riku and Violet told the truth together.
Everything the kingdom had suffered.
The truth behind the great fire.
Everything Doflamingo had done.
All of it was like a blaze that ignited the fire in Issho's heart.
He was still that man of justice. He had not yet truly grown old!
He hadn't even needed anyone to guide him.
Issho simply followed the direction of his own heart and acted on his own.
He passed through the area where Zoro and King were fighting.
He hesitated for a brief instant, but in the end still chose to make a move, unwilling to let those two continue demolishing the place.
He drew a gleaming section of his cane sword, and a terrifying Gravity Tiger swallowed up the visibly alarmed King.
In the next instant, he flung him into the distant sky like taking out trash!
"It ends here."
Issho walked forward coldly, ultimately choosing not to attack Zoro.
This man had been protecting that pink dragon who was protecting the civilians. Those two... no, rather, these people were all on the same side.
He had no interest in widening the scope of his attack.
He only wanted to end this war!
Boom—!
A tremendous explosion resounded, accompanied by light that illuminated the sky.
Issho's pale white eyes "saw" the existence of two suns.
After a moment of silence,
even knowing there was a high chance he had been used,
he still walked through the ruins to stop the disaster from happening.
If the fighting continued, Dressrosa would probably disintegrate entirely.
With that thought in mind,
Issho made his move at this moment, shocking Kaido immensely.
"There's actually a monster like you in a place like this? Worororo... this just keeps getting more interesting!"
Kaido laughed loudly and looked at Ren.
"Is he your ally?"
"No. Mr. Issho is a good man.
If civilians and this homeland weren't being dragged into it, I don't think he would have made a move because of me."
Ren had returned to his Six-Winged Angel form, but the terrifying aura of energy around him was gone.
In its place, he now held an hourglass in his hand.
"Worororo... and you still dare to show yourself?"
"Kaido, do you really think your Observation Haki would let an enemy you want to hunt just slip away?
Don't joke around. This entire country is within the range of your Observation Haki, isn't it?
If you turned into a dragon, with your speed, how could I possibly escape?"
Ren let out a scornful laugh and looked into the distance.
His passive Premonition Perception activated, warning him of the "bad" that was approaching from afar.
"And besides... if I don't at least meet him face to face, I'll regret it."
The next second, a yellow light suddenly lit up in the distant sky.
At first it was small, then it grew larger and larger in an instant, until it became a humanoid figure of yellow light.
Marine Headquarters Admiral—Borsalino!
(End of Chapter)