"You've already tested it plenty of times, haven't you, rookie?"
Roger's voice rang out once again, making Queen shudder violently.
"What kind of monster are you?!"
Queen roared as he stared fixedly at Roger.
Then, gritting his teeth, he suddenly launched the head and neck of his Brachiosaurus form outward, separating them from the main body while the torso and limbs remained behind.
Like a giant serpent, the extended neck coiled around Roger, crushing him tightly.
"Boom!"
Without even needing much force, Roger's body trapped in the middle exploded into pieces, scattering like dust through the air.
Yet the next moment, the ashes gathered once again.
Roger sighed helplessly.
"My mask's gone."
"If Mr. gets angry later and really kills you, then you'll truly have to face hell."
Picking up his sword once more, terrifying Conqueror's Haki erupted again.
"BOOM!"
Both of Roger's arms shattered apart.
At the same time, two bloody wounds split open across Queen's brachiosaurus neck.
"OWW!! It hurts, it hurts!"
Screaming miserably, Queen leapt high into the air.
Straightening his massive neck, he plunged downward toward Roger like a living missile.
"BOOM!!"
The earth shook violently.
The impact shattered the ground apart.
"Pant... pant... pant..."
Covered in more than ten wounds, Queen stared at Roger's slowly reforming body and nearly cursed aloud.
Haki was useless.
Every hit genuinely destroyed the body completely.
It wasn't like a Logia using future prediction to elementalize and avoid attacks.
So this bastard could really resurrect infinitely?!
How could such an ability even exist?!
Roger reformed once again, once again holding his sword, and once again asked:
"Rookie, continuing?"
"Or surrendering?"
Roger's answer was a barrage of rockets.
At this point in time, Queen's arms were still intact, his technological modifications mainly focused on his brachiosaurus form.
And before figuring out Roger's endless resurrection ability, he intended to stall with artillery fire.
But before his thoughts even finished, Roger, who previously hadn't bothered dodging, suddenly used Observation Haki to evade every attack.
His sword descended once more.
"Ah!"
A flash of cold light swept past.
One of Queen's front legs in brachiosaurus form was slashed again along an earlier wound, blood spraying everywhere.
"You bastard!!"
Roaring furiously, Queen swung his tail horizontally.
Roger lowered his head to avoid it and rushed forward.
His regenerated right hand tightened around the sword hilt once again before slashing down onto the same front leg.
"AHHH... Roger, you bastard!!"
Meanwhile, at the central battlefield.
Kaido, who had just smashed Oden flying moments ago, stared intently at Rowan approaching him.
"Rayleigh... Roger... the cloaked man..."
"Gaban never ate a Devil Fruit."
"And if you were Gaban, Roger wouldn't hand me over to one of his crew."
"So who exactly are you?"
Rowan ignored Kaido completely and instead glanced toward Oden within the ruins.
"Do you think you're a qualified ruler?"
Oden forced himself to stand, panting heavily.
"Whether I am or not..."
"At a time like this... I cannot fall."
"Give me... ten minutes... I can"
"There are no ten minutes."
Rowan spoke in the calmest tone possible, yet every word was merciless.
"Five years ago, when you failed to choose mutual destruction..."
"Then today's version of you could only arrive here with eight retainers and one traitor..."
"To walk straight into the enemy's ambush."
"At that time, once you failed, it would have meant the fall of Wano itself."
"You wasted five entire years."
"During those five years, your enemies kept growing stronger, while you spent your time dancing in the streets, convincing yourself it was some noble sacrifice."
"So tell me..."
"Do you think your son, Kozuki Momonosuke, will have a future greater than yours?"
Oden was just about to answer confidently when Rowan cut him off immediately.
"Think carefully, Oden!"
"This isn't about whether you trust your son or not."
"This concerns every single citizen of Wano!"
The words fell, and Oden fell silent.
Impossible.
How could Momonosuke possibly surpass him?
Haki or Ryuo, as Wano called it required unwavering conviction born from one's spirit and willpower.
Comparing his own childhood to Momonosuke's...
It was obvious.
Momonosuke lacked that kind of determination.
Whenever something happened, his first instinct was always retreat.
"Hey!!"
At that moment, Kaido's dissatisfied voice rang out.
"If you're switching opponents, then switch already."
"How long are you two planning to chat?"
Rowan looked toward him.
"After fighting that guy for a while, I figured I'd let you rest a bit."
"BOOM!"
Kaido slammed his kanabo into the ground and spoke bluntly:
"No need."
"After I kill you, I still want to test what the Pirate King's immortal body feels like."
"Wasn't that old man executed back in Loguetown?"
"So you're the one who brought him back to life."
"Hahahaha..."
"If the World Government learns that information, your bounty over two billion will probably skyrocket again."
"This is getting more and more interesting!"
Kaido's eyes locked tightly onto Rowan.
He too had survived the God Valley incident.
Back then, he had glimpsed a portion of the World Government's true power.
Just a portion of it was enough to chill someone to the bone.
And Roger's final words before his execution at Loguetown had completely ignited the Great Pirate Era.
Countless people rushed to sea to become pirates.
Among the mixed crowd of trash and monsters, there would always emerge a few exceptional individuals.
Those pirates naturally restrained the Marines' forces and stood opposed to the World Government.
But even Roger himself probably never imagined that after dying...
he would one day be resurrected and become a combat force again.
At that moment, Rowan's hand gripped the hilt of his Asauchi.
"Oden..."
"The future of this world was never destined to be smooth sailing."
Oden's heart trembled violently.
The future of the world...
Ever since reaching Laugh Tale and learning the hidden truth of the world, Oden understood that the future more than twenty years later was deeply tied to Wano's own future.
The mission of opening Wano's borders had been decided eight hundred years ago.
And there was also that final sentence carved upon the stone tablet.
What exactly...
was he still hesitating for?
After delivering the final words that struck directly into Oden's heart, Rowan ignored him completely and instead gripped his blade tightly while facing Kaido head-on.
In memories from another life, people endlessly argued about Admiral-tier versus Emperor-tier combat strength.
But the pressure Kaido radiated now was completely different from Sakazuki and Borsalino.
The future Marine Admirals lacked Conqueror's Haki.
That alone already explained many things.
Yet Sakazuki later became a special case.
After becoming Fleet Admiral, he even possessed the resolve to directly rebuke the Five Elders themselves.
That wasn't the mindset of a mere obedient dog.
And such a mentality...
very likely could allow him to awaken the power of Conqueror's Haki.
"Cloaked man... join me."
The very first sentence during their standoff was Kaido extending his sincerity.
"Join the Beasts Pirates."
"I can make you vice-captain of the crew."
"Other than me, everyone in the Beasts Pirates would obey your orders."
Rowan looked toward Kaido.
"That's indeed a very sincere offer."
"But your ideals are different from mine."
"Or rather... my ideals are something most powerful people in this world would never accept."
In a world filled with supernatural power, the idea that the strong and the weak should possess equal fundamental rights to life was something no one would acknowledge.
Even Roger if his companions were humiliated, he would erupt in fury and wipe out an entire nation's military.
Whitebeard treasured family above all else.
As long as his crew members didn't betray him, then murder, arson, and plunder were simply what pirates did.
Kaido truly wanted to overturn this world.
But what he desired even more was to become the King of the World.
To become yet another evil dragon.
Big Mom dreamed of building Totto Land, a nation where every race lived together peacefully.
Yet because of her hunger cravings, she would casually destroy island after island.
These monsters fundamentally differed from the Revolutionary Army's ideology at the level of basic human rights.
Or rather...
from the very beginning, the Revolutionary Army reshaped by Rowan had already chosen to stand against the entire world.
"What a shame."
Kaido sighed after taking another swig from his gourd.
"Then let's begin."
"Although I can tell your Haki isn't stronger than Kozuki Oden's..."
"Since you're their leader, then you must have your own methods."
Rowan didn't reply.
Instead, the next instant.
"BOOM!!"
An overwhelming burst of Conqueror's Haki exploded outward.
But unlike Oden, Roger, or Rayleigh, this Conqueror's Haki did not spread outward to clash against Kaido's.
Instead
"Bzzzz"
The Asauchi in Rowan's hand vibrated intensely, as though communicating directly with him.
"All the sins of this world shall return to ashes."
"Ryujin Jakka."
As the release chant was spoken, the surging Conqueror's Haki was instantly absorbed completely into the blade.
"WHOOSH!"
Scorching flames erupted skyward from the sword.
Within the crimson blaze, strands of black fire flowed ominously.
"This kind of temperature... how could it possibly be ordinary fire?!"
For the first time, Kaido's expression became incomparably grave.
At that moment, he finally understood why the man before him carried a bounty exceeding two billion berries.
And he finally understood why Oden, Roger, Rayleigh, and the others all centered themselves around him.
Clearly...
he had been the true opponent from the very start.
Oden merely stepped forward first.
"Haaa... ready, Kaido?"
The instant the words fell, Rowan slashed horizontally.
Under Shikai release, the terrifying consumption was enormous.
Rowan couldn't afford a prolonged battle.
A swift conclusion was the best option.
"BANG!"
Kaido's spiked kanabo was coated in Armament Haki and wrapped in Conqueror's Haki.
Yet even such power only melted before that terrifying heat.
After a single collision, Kaido was blasted backward.
Within mere seconds, the kanabo in his hands had already melted into molten iron.
Even with Haki protecting them, the hands gripping the weapon had still been severely burned.
"This kind of terrifying heat... it's impossible for this to be ordinary fire!"
Rowan did not immediately chase after him.
Because while Kaido was still shocked by the temperature of Ryujin Jakka's Shikai.
space coordinates had already flowed silently across the ground to beneath his feet.
The black "Spark" symbol climbed upward and settled into place.
Locked on.
"This..."
"...is the flame born from the rage and hatred of every oppressed soul in this world after eight hundred years of suffering."
"It will burn away all the sins of this world..."
"And liberate the entire world!"
"ROAR!!!"
The next moment, Kaido directly abandoned his hybrid form.
A massive azure dragon coiled through the skies.
After only a single exchange, he already understood if he clashed head-on a second time, that terrifying heat would absolutely melt him alive.
At the same time, the immense consumption behind Rowan's power also exposed its weakness.
Just like Devil Fruit abilities consumed stamina, the three forms of Haki did as well.
And the opponent's flames, capable of evaporating the sea itself, naturally demanded an even greater expenditure.
The next instant, storms gathered within the dragon's maw.
Lightning intertwined as the storm swept downward, carrying countless wind blades across the battlefield.
Centered around the azure dragon, the ground was shaved flat layer by layer.
The dragon's eyes remained grave.
The moment those wind blades approached the cloaked man, they were instantly erased by the terrifying heat.
But because of that, all the strange weapons the cloaked man had scattered around the battlefield earlier had also been swept away completely.
As long as he stayed alert against those teleportation-marking weapons then he could drag the battle into an aerial war of attrition!
"Mm?!"
The dragon's eyes suddenly widened.
Because the man he had been staring at moments ago had vanished.
The next instant, horrifying heat appeared directly behind his dragon body.
The warning from Observation Haki exploded violently through Kaido's mind.
Run run run!!
Black flame clouds erupted at full speed.
But no matter how fast he was he could never be faster than Rowan's descending blade.
"You bastard!!"
Roaring furiously, Kaido swung his dragon tail backward without caring about the terrifying heat.
He absolutely could not allow that flaming blade to land.
That horrifying temperature could not be blocked by any Haki.
The instant it connected, it would cut directly into his body.
"BAM!"
The dragon tail howled through the air.
The sword suddenly changed direction and slashed horizontally.
"WHOOSH!!"
Flames seemingly capable of burning the heavens themselves exploded outward, turning the skies above Onigashima into a rippling inferno.
The blazing blade was only obstructed for a single instant.
Then the entire dragon tail was severed apart beneath the explosion of flames.
The detached tail hit the ground and instantly turned into ashes.
"ROOOAAARRR!!!"
Within Kaido's furious dragon roar, Conqueror's Haki erupted continuously while Armament Haki desperately sealed the wound at the severed tail.
Even so, part of the flesh had already carbonized.
Only by burning away a section completely did he prevent the flames from spreading through the rest of his body.
"You bastard!!"
Using flame clouds to accelerate through the air, Kaido's enormous body shot high into the sky, widening the distance between himself and Rowan.
Observation Haki expanded to its limit as he constantly guarded against Rowan suddenly appearing again.
At the same time, Kaido was rapidly analyzing the teleportation ability.
Why after he had already destroyed all those strange marking weapons could the man still appear directly behind him?
The dragon head turned.
Across his body, ten black symbols emerged under the stimulation of Armament Haki.
The next instant, Rowan appeared again simultaneously.
"ROAR!!"
Kaido's dragon claw slammed toward him while his enormous body twisted away in evasive motion.
"WHOOSH!"
Scorching flames erupted once more.
"BOOM!"
Under the swing of Ryujin Jakka, one dragon claw exploded apart before instantly burning into black charcoal and falling from the sky.
"ROOOAAARRR!!!"
The agony of losing a claw, combined with overwhelming rage, caused Kaido's roar to echo across all of Onigashima.
Armament Haki erupted violently throughout his body.
Extreme heat currents continuously scorched the location of the spatial mark.
Kaido's remaining dragon claw was already prepared.
If he could not remove the mark with Haki in the next moment then he would tear out the flesh itself.
No matter what, he could not allow the opponent another opportunity to strike.
Otherwise he would truly die.
Against such terrifying flames, even Big Mom's steel-balloon body would be unable to withstand them.
Teleportation-like speed combined with flames that no defense could resist this battle was fundamentally impossible to fight normally.
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