"Is Kaido taking challengers now?"
"Always—people try to beat him to become flagship interns. No one ever wins!"
"Of course not! Kaido was handpicked by Whitebeard himself—he's a monster!"
"That rookie'll be pummeled to paste in no time!"
"I'll bet a hundred thousand Berries on Kaido!"
"Cheap—one million from me!"
Shouts and wagers filled the Paradise Cabin. Kaido bore his kanabo and strode to the far end like a living mountain. When he passed Sharn he boomed aloud:
"Hope you can withstand my full power—even for a single second!"
Twenty-one-year-old Kaido had already been tempered by the most brutal crucibles of the pirate world. Compared even to the later-era supernovas of the cruelest age, he possessed an arrogance made of iron and blood. Merely being one of Rocks' crew was enough to be wrapped in legend.
"Kaido—monsters of the world aren't only you," Sharn answered, his voice steady. He'd been strengthened once more by the Demon Compass; his recovery and mobility were sharper than before. The moment electric light crawled across his skin, even Kaido's eyes widened.
"Is that fruit power?" someone gasped.
"No idea—but I see blue-white lightning for sure!"
"This one's downright sinister!"
Among the onlookers were famed pirates and children who came to watch and learn. Two boys stood shoulder to shoulder, their aura far beyond their years: Perospero, twelve, and Katakuri, ten. They were small in age but enormous in stature—Linlin had always let them roam free, and here, at Rocks Port, they were little more than town urchins.
"Katakuri—did you see the electricity?" Perospero lisped and licked his lips for no reason, as was his habit.
"Is he really going to fight Kaido? That guy's brutal," Katakuri murmured, scarf up over his mouth—since Brûlée's disfigurement he'd hidden his face young. Even these two had to admire Kaido's presence. To thirty-year-old Linlin, Kaido was still a younger brother, but his potential rivaled Whitebeard and Shiki.
Ssssss—electricity danced along Sharn's skin. He adapted fast.
"Strike!" Kaido charged, his kanabo a comet of iron. Without the low ceiling to hold him back, Kaido became a small god of war—a butcher incensed, a killing star made flesh.
"Soru!" Sharn moved like a mirage—one step that felt like two hundred, the blur of his feet indistinguishable. At the same instant, his altered body revealed Mink traits: teeth and bone hardened into living armor, fingernails elongating into claws.
Snap. His combat form ignited. With his new physique and the crackle of electricity, Sharn combined his Shigan with his bioelectricity.
"Electro-Shigan!" he cried.
Electricity coiled around his claws and surged into his fingertips. In a single breath he unleashed nine successive Shigan strikes—each one a spear of condensed force—matched to the speed of Soru. Kaido's kanabo aimed dead center at Sharn's gut. It was a clash of needle-tip versus whetstone.
One was born of a brutal, demon-blooded fighting race, overflowing with Haki. The other was a body pushed past human limits by doubling and Mink enhancements.
Boom—lightning and shockwaves tore the air. Kaido had thought he'd seen through Sharn—he had not expected this reserve.
Both men struck; Kaido's skin blackened where the Shigan had grazed, scorched by electric pressure concentrated at a point. Sharn retreated a few steps, halting only by Soru. They traded places as if the battlefield itself had folded.
The crowd swallowed in unison. "Who is that kid? He withstood Kaido's blow!"
"Who knows? Still—another monster!"
"If I'd met that hit my insides would be crushed!"
As the astonishment spread, more people from nearby cabins rushed in—eyes wide, muttering: there's another monster among us?
Sharn's mouth bled; his organs felt as if they'd been twisted by an invisible hand. Luckily his Mink-derived traits kept him whole. Kaido's Oni-blood gave him monstrous might, but the newcomer had a toughness to match.
"Anyone know that rookie's name? He'll be famous soon!"
"Sharn—he told Kaido his name!" someone shouted.
The crowd's surprise dissolved into a new, ugly hilarity. This was Rocks' crew: lawless beasts with private ambitions. They adored spectacle.
"How exciting—fight to the death!"
"Both monsters—no justice if they both live!"
"Fight! Don't let them survive!"
As evening crept in, two huge portholes poured full moonlight into the arena. Sharn fixed his gaze on the round silver disk above, feeling a primal heat rise in his veins. He swallowed blood and pushed on—the crowd buzzed with morbid curiosity.
"Will he lose control? That'd be magnificent!"
"Maybe he'll burn out and die!"
"Moon-Lion!"
Sharn's body convulsed. Hair flashed white, falling past his waist like a waterfall, and his frame swelled taller and more muscular. A pearly-white aura mixed with crackling electricity danced over his skin—an otherworldly sight. In that light he seemed not of this world.
Kaido's kanabo gleamed as Haki infused around it—Armament Haki hardening the weapon. Observation Haki danced in their evasive maneuvers. No wonder Kaido was hailed as the strongest intern.
Sharn's eyes bled red—iris and pupil flooded crimson. Moon-fury had begun.
"Moon Assault!" he roared.
Soru and Moon-Lion combined granted him astonishing speed.
"I thought I'd not need Haki against you!" Kaido shouted. "Sharn—if you can stand my hit, join me! When I form my crew, our names will roar across the sea!"
Kaido had not yet reached his peak, but he dreamed of founding his own crew. In Rocks' fleet, every strong man craved his own flag. Rocks didn't mind; ambition was currency here.
"Kaido—you haven't won yet!" Sharn barked.
"Moon-God!" he cried, and in the same instant he flashed before Kaido in blinding white light. Electricity burst outward and seared Kaido's flesh as he slammed his kanabo down.
"Sharn—I've been thinking what to call this move!" Kaido grinned through the pain as he swung, Armament Haki sheathing his weapon. "No electricity—yet. Watching you now I'll call it Thunderous Eight Trigrams! Someday it'll have real lightning and stronger Haki!"
Inside the Paradise Cabin, electricity snaked like a living thing. Years later Kaido would still remember this clash.
"Moon-God Shigan—thirteen successive shots!" Sharn didn't bother guarding; he poured everything into offense. Haki and electric arcs braided through the air. Both men staggered back—neither felled.
Coughing blood, Sharn lunged again. "Thunderous Eight Trigrams!"
Kaido's lips curved; he steadied his stance for another heavy blow.
—The battle was only beginning.
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