Chapter 138: The Stunned Crowd!
BOOM...!
It wasn't a sound; it was a physical sensation that ruptured the eardrums of every soul on Whole Cake Island.
A visible, palpable shockwave of crimson lightning erupted from the center of Hashirama Senju's body. It didn't spread like a ripple; it expanded like a tsunami, a tidal wave of pure spiritual pressure that sought to bring the world to its knees.
The ground beneath them—the hardened biscuit floor that Big Mom had reinforced with her own soul power—screamed. Under the impact of this Haki, the earth was overturned. Layers of cookie and stone were peeled back and shattered piece by piece, as if an invisible, gigantic plow were being dragged across the island by a god.
The air grew heavy, thick with the scent of ozone and ancient forests. Weaker pirates in the distance foamed at the mouth, their eyes rolling back into their heads as their consciousness was forcibly extinguished by the sheer weight of Hashirama's will.
"Hmph! It's just Conqueror's Haki! Like who doesn't have it in these seas?!"
Kaido roared, his voice a mixture of mockery and genuine fury. The veins on his forehead pulsed like writhing snakes. To him, this was a challenge to his very existence as an Emperor.
"Is this the power you were hiding? Is this the best you can do?!"
"It's nothing special!"
Kaido stomped his foot, shattering the ground further, and likewise unleashed his own fiercely violent Conqueror's Haki without a shred of reservation!
CRACK!
Black-red lightning, thick as ancient trees, shot from his body into the sky. It carried the aura of a beast—violent, chaotic, and hungry for destruction. It slammed violently into Hashirama's crimson Haki!
The world lost its color.
The sky was torn apart at this moment!
Above the island, the thick layer of clouds that perpetually shrouded Totto Land was bisected. Two forces representing the absolute peak of willpower in the world fiercely clashed in the firmament.
It was a battle of concepts. Kaido's black-red lightning, representing dominance through fear and violence, intertwined and ripped at Hashirama's crimson lightning, which pulsed with a majestic, life-affirming authority. The two energies churned the thick clouds into a massive, continuously rotating vortex that spiraled upward into the heavens!
The sky seemed to have been punched open, revealing the terrifying, dark void of the upper atmosphere below the stars!
"This... this Conqueror's Haki!"
On the sidelines, Charlotte Katakuri stood frozen. His scarf flapped wildly in the turbulent air, whipping against his face like a lash. His crimson eyes, usually calm and analytical, were now filled with unmasked shock.
He wasn't just seeing the clash; with his advanced Observation Haki, he was feeling it.
"Completely... completely unexpected!" Katakuri muttered, his voice barely audible over the roaring wind. "The quality of a newcomer's Conqueror's Haki... a mere subordinate of the Suzaku Pirates... can actually contend equally with Kaido? With a Yonko who stands at the apex of the seas alongside Mama?"
"Ma mamamama..."
A chilling, amused voice drifted over from the throne.
"My good son, you still haven't seen clearly."
Katakuri was stunned by her words. He turned to look at his mother, then suddenly widened his eyes, staring intently once more at the sky ripped apart by Haki.
He focused. He pushed his Observation Haki past the visual spectacle.
And then, he saw it!
In the center of the vortex where the black-red and crimson lightning intertwined, the balance was shifting.
Kaido's black-red lightning—the manifestation of his tyrannical will—was being "devoured." It was being pushed back, inch by inch, by that crimson Haki which seemed to contain endless life, history, and an unshakable majesty!
"It's actually... superior?"
Katakuri's breath hitched. "Kaido is being suppressed in a clash of wills?"
How could this be?! Kaido was the strongest creature! His will was iron! But this man... this Hashirama Senju... his will felt like the earth itself. Immovable. Eternal.
Just as Katakuri's mind reeled in shock, attempting to process this impossibility, Hashirama moved!
He didn't give Kaido any time to react or recover from the Haki clash. He slammed his hands together in a prayer seal, the sound echoing like a thunderclap.
"Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands!"
Hashirama shouted the name of his ultimate technique with burning passion. But then, he paused.
"Wait... no!"
Hashirama blinked, realizing he might be going overboard too soon. He awkwardly cleared his throat in the middle of the battlefield.
"Ahem, my mistake! Wrong Jutsu! That one is too big for this island!"
He quickly changed his hand seal.
"It's Wood Golem Jutsu!"
RUMBLE RUMBLE...!
The reaction was instantaneous. The entire ground of Whole Cake Island began to groan and tremble violently, as if a leviathan were waking up beneath the crust!
CRACK! SNAP!
Countless gigantic wooden beams, thick as castle towers, burst out from beneath the cracked cookie ground. They writhed and twisted like giant pythons brought to life by a god. They didn't just grow; they exploded upward, shattering the sweet architecture of the island.
They rapidly grew, coiled, intertwined, and combined in a way that completely defied the laws of physics and biology!
In just a few breaths, the chaos took form.
A colossal wooden figure, hundreds of meters tall, seemingly walked out of myth and legend. It rose from the earth, casting a shadow that swallowed the entire wedding venue.
The Wood Golem stood like a titan guardian. It had a majestic, furious face carved from ancient timber, and a massive wooden dragon was coiled around its torso, its jaws poised to strike.
Its sheer size was so immense that even Kaido's massive hybrid form—which terrified giants—looked somewhat "petite" in comparison!
Whoosh!
Hashirama flashed, leaping from the ground and landing steadily on the wooden figure's head. He crossed his arms, his red armor gleaming in the sun, looking down at Kaido, who now seemed as tiny as an ant.
"Hmph... is this also your ability?"
Kaido looked up at the sky-obscuring wooden figure. His neck craned back, his eyes narrowing.
Far from being afraid, the corners of his mouth twitched upward. The sight of such power didn't deter him; it provoked him into even greater, more savage aggression. His blood boiled with the thrill of battle!
"A giant puppet made of wood? Interesting!"
Kaido spun his massive spiked club, Hassaikai, creating a whirlwind.
"Stop messing around with these flashy tricks! Do you think size matters to me?!"
"Watch me tear it to shreds!"
"Roaring Thunder Bagua!"
Kaido roared and leaped high!
His legs, packed with explosive muscle power, shattered the ground as he launched himself into the air. His massive dragon-human body turned into a blur, tracing a jagged black streak of lightning through the air.
He was fast. Impossibly fast for his size.
He charged aggressively toward the wooden figure's head, his spiked club coated in advanced Conqueror's Haki, carrying world-destroying power. He intended to smash through the golem's defense and obliterate Hashirama's main body in one hit!
However, what he faced was no longer Hashirama himself.
It was the Wood Golem's right hand.
The plain, unadorned wooden fist, which was several times larger than Kaido's entire body, moved.
The speed at which the fist was thrown was not fast. To an observer, it might have even appeared somewhat slow and heavy. But in Kaido's eyes, as he flew towards it, the perspective shifted.
The fist filled his entire vision. It sealed off all space for evasion. It felt less like a punch and more like a divine mountain descending from the heavens to crush a sinner!
"Come on!" Kaido screamed, swinging his club.
Immediately after.
BANG...!!!
A massive sound erupted—not like a punch landing on a body, but like the roar of a war drum beaten by a god! The collision created a shockwave that flattened every building within a one-mile radius.
There were no screams. No struggles.
The physics were undeniable.
The moment Kaido's figure made contact with the wooden figure's fist, the result was decided.
He was like a baseball struck full force by a grand slam bat.
"Guh-!" Kaido's eyes bulged.
His momentum was instantly halted and reversed. He accelerated backward tenfold faster than he had approached. He turned into a black meteor, trailing smoke and blood.
He was fiercely, directly... smashed back down!
BOOM!!!
His massive body pierced through the hard cookie ground below like a kinetic bombardment. He smashed through the crust, through the bedrock, through an unknown depth of strata.
The earth vomited dust and debris hundreds of feet into the air.
Ultimately, the impact left a bottomless, massive sinkhole in the depths of the island, its edges covered in spiderweb cracks that spread all the way to the coast!
Thick smoke billowed up from the pit, obscuring the fate of the Yonko.
The entire world instantly fell into a deathly silence.
The wind stopped. The shouting stopped. Even the sea seemed to calm down in fear.
Everyone's gaze was fixated, dumbfounded, on the giant wooden figure that was slowly retracting its fist, steam rising from its knuckles.
In that moment, whether they were the dark overlords watching from afar with trembling hands, or the battle-hardened members of the BIG MOM Pirates, everyone was stunned!
What... just happened?
This thought spread wildly through everyone's mind like a contagion.
That was Kaido!
The strongest creature in the world! The man who jumped from Sky Islands for fun! The man who broke guillotines with his neck!
It was "Beasts" Kaido, who reigned over the New World with his immortal body and absolute strength! And he had just been swatted away like a fly?
"Ma... mamamama!"
Charlotte Linlin's laughter rang out again, breaking the silence.
Only this time, the laughter was filled with a much hotter greed and possessiveness than before. It wasn't the laugh of a precarious ally; it was the laugh of a collector who had found the Holy Grail.
Her pink eyes were locked onto the figure of Hashirama standing atop the wooden figure's head. Her massive tongue licked her lips, drooling slightly. She looked at him not as an enemy, but as a unique, coveted collection piece. A prize greater than any Giant.
"It seems that Suzaku was right... Not only that man named Uchiha Madara, but even a randomly appearing cadre is this strong..."
"Wood style... Life force... Haki superior to Kaido..."
"Ma... Mom, I really want the people in this pirate crew more and more! I want his genes! I want him in my family!"
On the other side of the venue, hiding behind a pile of rubble, the president of the World Economy News Paper, "Big News" Morgans, had gone completely insane.
His bird face was etched with feverish excitement. His feathers were ruffled, and his wings blurred into afterimages as he frantically pressed the shutter of the visual Den Den Mushi in his hand.
Click! Click! Click!
"Big news! This is it! This is the scoop of the century!"
"This is absolutely big news that can overturn the world's perception! The balance of power is dead!"
Morgans excitedly shouted to Ramu (Ram), who was standing nearby, calmly dusting off her maid outfit. He snatched shots from every angle—the crater, the golem, Hashirama's stoic face.
"Suzaku Pirates! You are truly incredible! I declare you the strongest! The papers tomorrow will sell out in seconds!"
Ram glanced at the crazy bird, her expression flat.
"Mhm mhm, of course our pirate crew is amazing!"
Ram puffed out her small chest, looking completely matter-of-fact. She didn't seem surprised in the least. To her, seeing Hashirama or Madara destroy a landscape was just a Tuesday.
"Lord Suzaku's judgment is never wrong. These new recruits are... acceptable."
Just then...
"ROAR!!!"
A dragon's roar, saturated with endless humiliation, fury, and pain, suddenly exploded from the bottomless giant pit!
The sound was no longer a simple roar. It was a savage howl, like that of a wild beast whose pride had been shredded!
Boom!
The ground shook violently again, cracks widening.
The next second, a massive column of energy blasted out of the hole.
An incomparably massive azure figure, wrapped in soaring dust and broken rock, burst out of the giant pit!
It was no longer the hybrid form.
Kaido had abandoned his humanoid shape. He ascended into the sky, his body elongating, his scales shimmering with azure light.
He transformed into the full, sky-obscuring form of the Azure Dragon!
He coiled through the air, his massive body wrapping around the Wood Golem, his claws digging into the timber.
However, this time Kaido did not hesitate at all. There was no banter. No testing.
His massive dragon head suddenly opened wide!
[Akarin Note:
Your Support Keeps This Story Alive!
If you're enjoying this novel, your support means the world to me. Simple actions like leaving a review, power stone, comment, or sharing the story let me know you're out there. It's the greatest motivation for me to keep updating until the very end and ensures this project continues.
For those who wish to support me more directly, you can join my Patreon at [patreon.com/AkarinTL]. As a thank-you, you'll receive access to 50 advanced chapters.
I hope I am still worthy of your support. My life truly depends on this... haha, I know I'm so shameless.]