Chapter 134: Magic Defense!
"Alright, alright."
Suzaku waved his hand, the motion casual and dismissive. His demeanor was infuriatingly relaxed, making it seem as though he were mediating a petty squabble between two schoolchildren rather than standing at the epicenter of a potential war between Emperors.
"I understand your 'good intentions'!"
He first turned his head slightly, offering a smile to Charlotte Linlin. However, the smile held no warmth. It was a razor-thin curve of the lips, containing a hint of knowing mockery that seemed to pierce through her political facade and see the greedy soul beneath.
"However, Linlin, you might have forgotten one thing."
Suzaku turned his back on Big Mom—a gesture of disrespect that made the Charlotte Family executives gasp audibly. Katakuri's fingers tightened around his trident, Mogura, but he didn't move. His Future Sight was screaming at him to stay put.
Under the gaze of the entire audience—the trembling Underworld Emperors, the sweating Marines, and the terrified homies—he led his people. Step by step.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
His boots clicked rhythmically against the biscuit-tiled floor of the ruined venue. He walked past the furious Charlotte Linlin. He walked past the debris of the wedding cake.
He walked straight up to the gaping hole in the venue where the massive, looming figure stood.
He walked straight up to Beast Kaido.
The distance closed. Fifty meters. Thirty meters.
The air grew heavier with every step. The pressure radiating from Kaido was not just spiritual; it was physical. It felt like walking into a blast furnace. The smell of high-proof alcohol, ozone from the Haki lightning, and the metallic tang of ancient blood assaulted the senses.
Ten meters away, Suzaku stopped.
He tilted his head back, looking up at the man before him who was as burly as a demon god from the depths of hell. The size difference was stark—Suzaku appeared like a child standing before a giant. Yet, his presence was not overshadowed in the slightest.
The curve of his lips grew increasingly brazen, transforming into a smirk of absolute challenge.
"All this time, I, as a person, have never been afraid of trouble!"
He said it lightly, his tone conversational. Yet, his voice carried an unparalleled, tyrannical arrogance that echoed off the broken pillars of the Chateau.
"Because I have always only gone looking for other people's trouble, and I have never been afraid of others looking for mine!"
The wind howled through the hole in the roof, flapping Suzaku's captain's coat like a war banner.
"Yonko Kaido? The 'Strongest Creature in the World'?"
Suzaku's gaze swept over Kaido. He scanned the massive horns, the dragon-scale tattoo on his left arm, the thick kanabo club, and the jagged scar on his abdomen.
That look was not the look of a rookie gazing upon a legend. It was not the look of a pirate looking at an Emperor who ruled the seas. It was more like a scholar examining an interesting, but ultimately understandable, biological specimen.
"Before our Suzaku Pirates appeared on this sea, I wouldn't argue with you calling yourself the Strongest Creature! It was a fitting title for a boring era."
Suzaku placed one hand on his hip, his posture relaxed.
"But now, we have arrived."
His voice suddenly deepened. The playfulness evaporated, replaced by the weight of an undeniable proclamation.
"It's time for that title of yours to be passed on!"
"If we judge the 'Strongest Creature' by your standards—brute strength, durability, destructive capacity!"
He chuckled, a low sound that grated on Kaido's ears. Suzaku glanced carelessly behind him, gesturing with a thumb toward his crew members who stood like statues amidst the chaos.
"Then among my companions, pick any one of them... which one of them is not a so-called 'Strongest Creature'?"
Boom!
These words struck the audience harder than a cannonball. They were even more shocking than Kaido suddenly appearing in the territory of a fellow Yonko!
The Underworld Emperors—Du Feld, Stussy, Morgans—felt their brains short-circuit.
What did he say?
His companions... are ALL "Strongest Creatures"?
Kaido's golden, reptilian pupils suddenly contracted to vertical slits. The alcohol-induced haze in his mind cleared for a split second, replaced by sharp, predatory instinct.
Seeing Suzaku's fearless appearance, the suicidal hobbyist began to calculate in his heart: Was this the reason Linlin wanted to protect him? Is he purely arrogant, or does he have the fangs to back up this bite?
Only then did Kaido truly turn his gaze toward the people standing behind Suzaku. He finally looked past the Captain to see the monsters lurking in his shadow.
He looked at Uchiha Madara. The man with the wild black hair stood with his arms crossed, his expression one of utter indifference. Yet, inside that man, Kaido sensed a dormant volcano—an energy that wasn't Haki, but something equally potent and ancient, feeling like a beast waiting to be unleashed. The red eyes of that man... they looked at a Yonko as if looking at dirt.
He looked at Senju Hashirama. The man with the long brown hair stood with a goofy, relaxed posture, but the life force radiating from him was blinding. It felt like standing in front of an endless forest, a vitality so overwhelming it rivaled the sea itself. Kaido's instincts screamed that this man's stamina might be bottomless.
He looked at Ulquiorra Cifer. The pale man with the helmet-like mask fragment and tear tracks on his face. He had his hands in his pockets, slouching slightly. He had no "presence" in the traditional sense—no Haki, no killing intent. Just a void. A terrifying emptiness. Looking at him felt like staring into a black hole where all life ceased to exist.
He looked at Albedo. The beauty in the white dress with black wings at her waist. She wasn't even looking at him. She was staring at Suzaku's back with a look of fanatical devotion. But the energy radiating from her was dark, abyssal, and terrifyingly dense, like a fortress that could never be breached.
Every single one of them exuded a terrifying aura that made even him—Kaido, the man who sought death—feel a tremor in his heart!
Monsters, Kaido realized, his grip tightening on his club. He has gathered a crew of actual monsters.
"As for that Elephant Tusk Jack..."
Suzaku's voice pulled everyone's thoughts back from the abyss. His tone turned cold, stripping away any pretense of politeness.
"He sought death himself. He dared to come look for trouble with me, barking like a mad dog at a passing caravan."
Suzaku shrugged, as if discussing stepping on a cockroach.
"His death was well deserved. He was weak. And in this sea, the weak die. Isn't that your philosophy, Kaido?"
The veins on Kaido's forehead began to bulge. The air around him began to distort.
"This matter should have been me coming to settle the score with you," Suzaku continued, ignoring the rising killing intent. "As a newcomer who just stepped into the New World, to have your subordinate come to my door looking for trouble—it made me very unhappy!"
He extended a finger and wagged it at Kaido, revealing a smile that was designed to make Kaido's fury rise to a boiling point.
"This debt! We hadn't even had time to go find you to collect it, but you delivered yourself right to our door."
"Tsk tsk, that works too. It saves me the trouble of sailing to Wano and dragging you out of your cave. What's that called in the idioms of the sea?"
Suzaku snapped his fingers.
"Oh, right. A narrow path for enemies!"
Silence!
A deathly, absolute silence descended upon the Whole Cake Chateau.
Every single word Suzaku spoke was like a resounding slap, fiercely hitting Beast Kaido's face!
It was a total deconstruction of the Yonko's authority.
Not only did he admit to killing Jack—one of the three All-Stars, a calamity worth a billion Berries—but he also completely blamed Kaido for poor discipline! He scolded the Emperor like a parent scolding a child for letting their pet run loose.
Not only did he ignore Kaido's desire for revenge, but he also defined this encounter as a convenience for himself.
Furthermore, not only did he provoke Kaido face-to-face, but he also directly denied the title of "Strongest" that he relied on and was proud of!
What arrogance!
What tyranny!
"Wororororo... Good... Very good!"
Kaido threw his head back and laughed. But there was no humor in it. It was the sound of a tectonic plate shifting. It was the sound of disaster.
"Wororororo!"
Crackle. Zap.
Dark red electricity began to spark around Kaido's massive body. The Conqueror's Haki surrounding him was so dense it materialized into visible black lightning, wildly flickering around his torso and arms, disintegrating the nearby debris.
"What big talk, Suzaku Brat!"
His gigantic spiked club, Hassaikai, was lifted with one hand. He pointed the blackened steel weapon at Suzaku's brow. Every word seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth, heavy with the promise of violence.
"When this old man was dominating this sea, you stinking brat weren't even born yet! You think killing Jack makes you a king? You dare to challenge this old man?"
The pressure in the room spiked. Weaker souls among the guests foamed at the mouth and collapsed, knocked unconscious by the sheer proximity to Kaido's rage.
The moment the words fell, Kaido's figure vanished!
No, not vanished!
Instead, the biscuit ground beneath his feet instantly shattered into powder. A crater formed from the sheer force of his launch. His massive body, moving at a speed exceeding the limit of human vision, turned into a black afterimage.
He rushed wildly toward Suzaku!
It was a terrifying collision launched with the momentum of a thunderbolt. It was a freight train made of muscle and Haki.
"Thunder... Bagua!!!"
When those two words roared out from the depths of Beast Kaido's throat, the sky over the entire Cake Island seemed to darken instantly. The clouds swirled in panic.
That was not a metaphor, but a reality. The clash of Haki was affecting the weather itself.
The Conqueror's Haki and Armament Haki, condensed to the extreme, turned into thick, jagged bolts of black and red lightning. They wrapped around the massive spiked club, screaming like a thousand tortured souls.
Before the club even arrived, the shriek tearing the atmosphere had already transformed into a visible shockwave.
WHOOSH!
The wind pressure alone peeled away layers of the biscuit ground beneath Suzaku's feet, sending shards of sugar and stone flying like shrapnel.
"Oh god!" Morgans screamed, clutching his camera 1, his feathers nearly blown off by the gale.
This strike was the rage of the "Strongest Creature." It was a blow swung by the tyrant who had ruled the New World for decades. It was the attack that had one-shot powerful rookies time and time again.
It was Kaido's absolute violence!
Carrying a shriek that tore through everything, with the momentum of splitting heaven and earth, it smashed down directly onto Suzaku's seemingly slender body!
However.
Facing this majestic, world-ending strike, Suzaku did not move.
He did not dodge. He did not draw a weapon. He did not even lift an eyelid.
He just stood there, hands in his pockets, letting the fierce wind whip his clothes and mess up his hair. The playful, mocking smile was still hanging on his face, as if he were watching a gentle breeze rather than a meteor strike.
Just an instant before the destructive gale wrapped around the spiked club was about to touch Suzaku's hair—
A flicker.
A pure white figure appeared, blocking him.
There was no sound of movement. No buildup of speed. One moment the space was empty; the next, she was there.
"Don't even think about using your filthy hands..."
Albedo had appeared there without anyone noticing. Her black wings were spread wide, casting a shadow over Suzaku.
On her stunningly beautiful and flawless face, the usual seductive smile she reserved for her beloved was gone. In its place was a mask of bone-chilling killing intent and absolute contempt for the insect who dared to blaspheme her god.
"... to touch Suzaku even slightly!"
The moment her words fell, she simply raised her slender right hand lightly. She didn't clench a fist. She didn't coat it in black Haki. She simply held her palm open.
Buzz...!
A strange, low-frequency humming sound echoed, vibrating in the teeth of everyone present.
A polygonal barrier, composed of pure, translucent dark purple energy, materialized out of thin air in front of Albedo. It was covered in profound, glowing geometric patterns and runes that no one in the One Piece world had ever seen.
"High-level magic... [Indestructible Guardian Wall]!"
The next instant, Kaido's "Thunder Bagua" arrived!
BOOM? No.
There was no explosion.
There was only one sound...
"Clang"!!
The sound was so crisp, so high-pitched, and so absolute that it was heart-stopping.
Time completely froze at this moment.
Morgans forgot to take a picture. Stussy forgot to breathe. Big Mom dropped her cake.
Everyone saw the most unbelievable scene of their lives: Beast Kaido's spiked club, carrying the force to shatter mountains, had smashed squarely onto that seemingly flimsy, purple magical barrier.
Then, it stopped.
It came to a dead, sudden halt.
The black and red lightning wrapped around the club twisted and screamed wildly, trying to tear through the defense. Sparks of Haki flew in every direction, melting the floor.
Yet, the club couldn't advance an inch.
Not a millimeter.
Kaido's powerful strike was completely and casually... absorbed by the seemingly fragile magical barrier, and then, reflected!
[Akarin Note:
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