Chapter 42: When Beasts Rule the Horizon
Loki and Ren exchanged countless blows for hours, their laughter echoing across the sea like rolling thunder. Each clash sent shockwaves rippling across the ocean, parting waves and shredding clouds.
Neither man showed signs of fatigue. Instead, their grins only widened, as if this titanic battle was nothing more than a long-awaited greeting.
"Dogahahaha! You don't tire easily, Money King!" Loki roared, Ragnar shifting between hammer and squirrel mid-combat.
Ren spun his staff effortlessly, deflecting another strike. "You're not exactly light either, Giant Prince."
Ragnar leapt in squirrel form, darting across invisible pathways in the air before reforming as a hammer mid-swing. Ren intercepted it, the impact bending the sea beneath their feet.
Loki's eyes gleamed fiercely. "Shall we stop playing?"
Ren's smile sharpened. "Finally."
Both of them began to transform.
Loki's massive frame erupted with power, scales bursting across his skin as his body expanded at an impossible rate. Wings tore open the sky, and a colossal serpentine dragon emerged, its body so enormous it stretched across miles of ocean.
He was a humongous dragon, his shadow alone covering a vast stretch of sea like an eclipse. The clouds swirled violently around his horns.
Yamato's eyes widened. Morgan began sweating profusely in his balloon, feathers trembling.
Just the shadow of that dragon was enough to give nightmares to any man who dared look at it.
Even the Whitebeard Pirates, already sailing toward Wano, could see the dragon's outline floating on the sea from miles away.
Marco stared upward. "You've gotta be kidding me… what kind of monster is that?"
Vista tightened his grip on his sword. "That presence… it's suffocating."
Even Whitebeard fell silent.
A memory surfaced in his mind—Rocks D. Xebec visiting Elbaf repeatedly. The Devil Fruit Rocks once desired for King Harald to consume. One of two fruits Rocks had claimed were necessary to conquer the world.
Sweat formed slowly on Whitebeard's forehead.
"If Rocks had gotten that fruit…" he muttered under his breath, trailing off. He didn't even want to imagine the monster his former captain would have become.
Just then, a brilliant golden light ignited beside the dragon's shadow.
"Hahahahahahahahahaha!"
Ren's laughter carried across the sea all the way to Wano.
His beast form began to expand, golden fur erupting as his body grew to match the dragon's monstrous size. Muscles swelled, tail lashing behind him, and his staff elongated proportionally.
The Monkey King stood tall, matching the dragon in sheer scale.
Their presence alone made the sky and sea tremble violently.
When the dragon's claw collided with the Monkey King's staff, the impact was catastrophic. Even without Conqueror's infusion, the sheer physical force generated wind currents that spiraled outward like typhoons.
Massive waves surged across the ocean, some even reaching the shores of Wano.
Everyone watching swallowed unconsciously.
The wind currents tore through sails and rattled buildings. Even seasoned pirates felt their instincts screaming in alarm.
Among the Whitebeard Pirates, a chill ran down every spine.
This was primal fear—the ancient fear humanity carried since the dawn of time. The fear of standing before creatures far beyond their scale.
It was uncontrollable, absolute, and instinctual.
Yamato stared upward, eyes shining instead of shrinking.
"Hahahah! How could Ren lose to a flying lizard?" she shouted boldly, gripping her kanabo.
Fear flickered in her chest, but it was nothing compared to the trust she had in him.
Her Conqueror's Haki began to stir within her.
She stood firm, refusing to shake, even as two Mythical creatures tore the heavens apart above her.
"No way I'm going to fear them just because they're big," she muttered fiercely. "Just you wait. I'll become just as strong as you… and surpass you!"
At that declaration, her Conqueror's Haki flared violently.
The space around her turned blood-red as crimson lightning erupted outward in jagged arcs. The air trembled around her like a war drum beating.
Morgan stared at her speechlessly.
He had stopped clicking photos the moment Loki transformed. Partly from fear, partly because the scale of the battle was too massive to capture in a single frame.
Now he found himself staring at Yamato instead.
"S-She's awakening even more…?" he whispered.
Above the sea, Ren and Loki both felt the surge.
Loki's massive dragon eyes shifted briefly toward Wano. "Dogahahahaha! The people around you are very interesting!"
Ren grinned, baring sharp golden teeth. "She'll surpass both of us one day."
Loki roared with laughter. "Good! The world needs more monsters!"
The dragon inhaled deeply, ancient power gathering in his throat. The ocean below began to boil slightly from the heat of compressed energy.
Ren tightened his grip on his staff. "Going to breathe?"
"Dogahaha! Don't die!"
A massive beam of dragon fire erupted, splitting the sky itself.
Ren swung his staff forward, channeling his monstrous physical strength. The golden aura around him intensified as he smashed the incoming blast sideways.
The redirected fire carved a canyon through the sea, steam exploding skyward.
The dragon descended with a claw strike immediately after.
Ren met it head-on. Dragon claw and Monkey King's staff collided again, this time infused with raw Conqueror's Haki.
Black lightning tore the heavens apart.
The sky split once more, and this time it remained divided, clouds refusing to close.
Every clash made the ocean tremble as if the world itself might crack.
"You're holding back," Loki accused mid-grapple, massive wings beating violently.
Ren smirked. "So are you."
Loki's eyes gleamed. "Dogahaha! I want to see how far you go!"
Ren pushed back, forcing the dragon slightly upward. "Then keep watching."
Another collision. Another explosion of wind and lightning.
The shockwaves reached Wano again, rattling rooftops. Samurai looked skyward in stunned silence.
Whitebeard exhaled slowly. "He's fighting that thing head-on… without fear."
Marco nodded. "And laughing."
Back on the battlefield, Loki's colossal body coiled around Ren briefly, attempting to restrain him.
Ren planted his staff against the dragon's scales and pushed outward with overwhelming brute strength.
The dragon was forced back several hundred meters across the sea, waves splitting around his body.
"Dogahahahaha!" Loki's laughter boomed joyfully. "Yes! That's it!"
Ren laughed just as loudly. "You're not the only ancient monster in this world!"
Their eyes locked—gold against molten crimson.
Above them, the sky remained torn open like a scar across the heavens.
Below them, the sea churned violently, unable to calm under their presence.
And on the shores of Wano, Yamato stood firm beneath crimson lightning, her own Conqueror's will burning brighter than ever.
The Monkey King and the Dragon King clashed again.
And the New World trembled.