"Poof…"
Kaido's burly figure bent like a shrimp, his massive body folding inward as blood sprayed violently from his nose and mouth. His eyes turned bloodshot, veins bulging across his face. Behind him, the shockwave formed a fan-shaped pillar of compressed air, while the ground beneath their feet collapsed continuously.
The entire island began to tremble.
A gigantic sinkhole spanning nearly ten thousand meters formed in an instant. Surrounding barren mountains broke through the soil and rose upward, while a terrifying pressure surged into the sky, piercing straight through the thick cloud layer.
"Fly for me!"
The divine dragon roared.
Lucien poured out the last bit of power in his body. Kaido transformed into a streak of light, tearing through the air with a shrill sonic boom. The ground on both sides of his flight path exploded violently, and the already shattered surface caved in even further.
Rolling dust swallowed everything.
When the hurricane-like wind finally dispersed the smoke, the mountains and ridges in front of Lucien were gone. In their place remained a thousand-meter-wide canyon that stretched endlessly into the distance, as if the land itself had been ripped open by a god.
"This…"
Ulti trembled as she stared at the scene. If that attack had landed on her directly, she would have died without even leaving a corpse behind.
Even King, who had remained silent the entire time, felt cold sweat slide down his forehead.
"Phew…"
Lucien exhaled deeply, spitting out turbid air. The Great Might Heavenly Dragon just now had been the result of his full power.
Since acquiring this ability, it had grown from three meters, to ten meters, fifty meters, five hundred meters, and now over a thousand meters. The larger the manifestation, the more terrifying its destructive power became.
"Crack… crack…"
The once stagnant sky shifted again. Thunder raged as dark clouds gathered. The battlefield was no longer recognizable, deep ravines crisscrossed the land, and towering hills rose around the epicenter of their clash.
Everything had been rewritten.
Suddenly, that chilling aura returned.
From within the ruined canyon, a massive dragon claw emerged, gripping the ground and slowly pulling something upward.
A violent storm swept through the area.
A humanoid monster walked out of the dust.
Ferocious dragon horns were wrapped in thick black hair. His entire body was covered in bluish-green scales that reflected a cold metallic sheen. Two massive dragon claws gleamed with deadly sharpness, and every step of his muscular dragon legs left deep claw marks in the earth.
Lucien narrowed his amethyst eyes, feeling an overwhelming pressure radiating from the monster in front of him.
A dragon.
An Eastern-style divine dragon, but twisted into a half-beast humanoid form.
"Roar!"
Kaido roared wildly, unleashing a hurricane of killing intent. The bloody wound on his abdomen regenerated visibly, flesh knitting together in seconds.
Rolling dragon might flooded the entire island.
Countless creatures and humans collapsed to the ground, trembling uncontrollably. Those with weak willpower fainted on the spot.
"Zoan-type, Mythical Beast…"
"He really is a monster."
Lucien's purple spiky hair whipped violently in the storm. His body was still wrapped in light flames, golden lightning crackling nonstop around him.
In truth, Lucien had never been certain about Kaido's ability.
There had been endless speculations online, divine dragon, Qilin, eight-headed serpent, or even that Kaido himself was a dragon who simply used a human form. Whether it was a Devil Fruit or something else entirely, no one had ever confirmed it.
But none of that mattered.
What mattered was one thing.
Kaido could make him feel pleasure.
"Boom crack!"
The storm surged forward as the crust beneath their feet shifted violently. The two of them burst out toward the sea, Kaido flying low over the surface, while Lucien attacked from above, his body blazing with light flames.
Wherever they passed, thousand-meter waves rose into the sky. Countless sea creatures were torn apart by the shockwaves alone.
One sacred and radiant.
The other fierce and brutal.
They fought from the island straight into the open ocean.
Kaido, now a true humanoid tyrant, slashed at Lucien with claws sharp enough to split steel.
Lucien blocked with his right arm and instantly reached out with his left hand, aiming straight for Kaido's eyes.
Kaido reacted immediately, blocking with one hand while driving his knee forward. The atmosphere in front of him exploded layer by layer.
The collision created a violent pressure wave that spread outward, forcibly compressing the turbulent sea into a massive bottomless pit.
Lucien flipped backward in midair and landed on the sea surface, light flames burning beneath his feet as he gasped for breath.
Across from him, Kaido also stood on the ocean.
His bluish-green scales shimmered with cold light. A massive tail swayed behind him, dragon horns towering with long whiskers fluttering beneath his chin.
He slowly straightened his body.
Then he laughed.
A mad, unrestrained laugh.
The already dark sky split in half, and behind them, the sea churned violently as hurricanes formed, waves connecting heaven and earth.
In this apocalyptic weather, the entire world revolved around only the two of them.
Their eyes locked.
They charged at the same time.
Sonic booms tore through the air.
Lucien clenched his fist and smashed toward Kaido. His left index and middle fingers shot forward like venomous fangs, stabbing straight at Kaido's wrist.
Kaido blocked with his arm.
The bluish-green scales were as hard as diamonds. Lucien's Finger Pistol barely managed to draw a thin line of blood.
Kaido grabbed Lucien's crystal-like arm with terrifying force.
Lucien's face twisted slightly in pain. Even with Armament Haki hardening and Iron Body reinforcement, Kaido's claws still pierced into his flesh.
Lucien leaned backward and kicked Kaido's chin.
Time seemed to slow.
A shockwave spread outward.
Kaido's jaw dislocated as he was launched into the air, blood spraying from his mouth.
But Lucien did not let him escape.
He grabbed Kaido's dragon foot mid-flight and smashed him straight into the sea.
The impact was like mountains collapsing into oceans.
The sea split apart, revealing a dark abyss beneath, as if leading directly into hell itself. Kaido's massive figure disappeared into the depths.
Lucien rose into the air and looked down.
His entire arm was shredded, five deep claw marks exposed bone, but the wounds regenerated in seconds.
However, Lucien frowned.
Kaido was not afraid of seawater.
Even Lucien himself would lose strength if fully submerged, despite his Demon body and Soul Fruit. That weakness was absolute.
Yet Kaido showed no signs of being affected.
That meant only a few possibilities.
Kaido himself was a dragon.
Or his Devil Fruit was artificial.
Or Kaido was simply a living bug that ignored common logic.
As Lucien expected, the sea began to boil.
The ocean exploded upward like a volcanic eruption.
Kaido burst out of the water, his right leg sweeping toward Lucien with a deafening sonic roar.
The atmosphere shattered.
A red glow flashed in Lucien's amethyst eyes.
He stepped in close, appearing directly in front of Kaido's leg. His right arm expanded rapidly, veins bulging as a thousand-meter divine dragon once again unfolded across the sky.
"Great Might Heavenly Dragon!"
Boom!
A colossal explosion shook the heavens.
Lucien's entire right arm burst with blood, dark red mist spraying everywhere as a massive mushroom cloud formed in the sky.
Kaido spat out blood and turned into a streak of light, flying toward the distant horizon.
Lucien appeared above him, leaving behind a long trail of burning light.
His left fist was already raised high.
At the same time, his shattered right arm regenerated at a visible speed.
Kaido's sunken chest also recovered rapidly.
With a ferocious snarl, Kaido smashed his elbow upward and drove his fist toward Lucien's head.
The wind howled.
Lucien blocked with his right arm, while his left fist continued forward without hesitation.
With the force of collapsing mountains and raging tsunamis, Lucien slammed Kaido straight into another island.
Kaido vanished into the sea again.
A white arc of light streaked through the sky, piercing through two towering mountains.
The land overturned violently.
Lucien's feet dug deep into the ground as he slid across the surface, finally stopping amid the ruins.
A massive broken gully stretched before him. The surrounding jungle had been completely split apart, extending endlessly into the distance.
Lucien dropped to one knee.
His right arm had exploded again. Half his face was crushed, blood and flesh mangled beyond recognition.
Yet his lips curled upward.
Awesome.
He loved this feeling.
The pain, the destruction, the madness.
This was real pleasure.
This was the climax he lived for.
____
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