Don Chinjao kicked off the ice wall and shot forward through the air toward Kaito Arisawa.
More precisely, his leap carried him slightly higher than Kaito at first.
But as the distance between them closed, Chinjao suddenly leaned his upper body downward.
Using the inertia of his descent, he dove toward Kaito headfirst.
"Eight-Impact Fist — Headless Strike!"
As he plunged downward, his once-flattened head was coated in thick Armament Haki, while the shockwave power of the Eight-Impact Fist condensed around it.
The terrifying force stirred the surrounding air into visible spiraling currents that howled around his body.
Not bad.
Watching Chinjao's smooth series of actions, Kaito felt a trace of admiration.
But admiration did not slow his reaction.
At the same moment Chinjao angled downward, Kaito tilted his own upper body and instantly adjusted his position in midair.
He twisted his body as he moved, rotating so that he shifted from facing downward to facing upward.
Boom!!
An inverted golden hook kick shot upward.
As Kaito narrowly avoided Chinjao's descending strike, his right foot slammed heavily into Chinjao's head.
Armament Haki coated Kaito's leg.
A violent burst of power erupted from the impact.
A shockwave exploded between Kaito's foot and Chinjao's skull, sending ripples through the surrounding air like waves across water.
Chinjao had clearly not expected such a fast reaction.
Nor had he expected the explosive power behind the counterattack.
The moment Kaito's foot struck his head, Chinjao's eyes bulged wide as though they might pop from their sockets.
At the same time, the surface of his famously tough skull visibly rippled inward.
Whoosh—Boom!
In a single overwhelming motion, Kaito kicked Chinjao away.
Chinjao's body shot downward diagonally and smashed once again into the ice below.
A thunderous explosion echoed.
Shards of ice burst outward in every direction.
This time, Chinjao's body embedded directly into the iceberg's surface.
The impact carved a human-shaped crater into the ice wall.
"Waaah—!"
A painful cry escaped him.
Chinjao coughed violently, blood spraying from his mouth and staining the ice in front of him crimson.
"It hurts!!"
The attack had struck directly at his head.
When he struggled free from the ice wall, he instinctively grabbed his skull with both hands.
Then—
He froze.
The pain on his face vanished.
It was replaced with complete disbelief.
His hands carefully touched the top of his head.
The familiar flattened surface was gone.
Instead—
His skull had regained its long-forgotten tapered shape.
"It's back!"
"Hahaha!! My cone head is back!!"
Though he could hardly believe it, the sensation beneath his fingers was undeniable.
Overcome with emotion, Chinjao burst into tears of joy and laughed wildly.
Meanwhile, Kaito landed calmly on the ice field.
He crossed his arms and looked at the ecstatic pirate leader with amusement.
"Go ahead and celebrate," Kaito said casually.
"I picked the perfect angle when I kicked you."
Indeed—
Chinjao's head returning to its cone shape was no coincidence.
When Kaito kicked him earlier, he had deliberately chosen the exact angle needed to restore it.
In other words—
The recovery of Chinjao's cone head was intentional.
The laughter abruptly stopped.
Chinjao stared at Kaito in astonishment.
"You're joking."
"You're saying you fixed it on purpose?"
"Who would believe something like that?"
After a brief moment of disbelief, Chinjao sneered.
"You must have seen my head return to its cone shape and gotten scared."
"That's right—once my cone head is restored, my strength returns to what it was before!"
As he spoke, Chinjao confidently ran his hand across the sharp cone atop his head.
The restoration of his cone head had clearly boosted his confidence.
Even though he had been completely overwhelmed earlier, he now believed he could turn the tide of battle.
"Suit yourself," Kaito replied lightly.
"If believing that makes you feel better."
He truly didn't care whether Chinjao believed him or not.
After all, the only reason he had restored the cone head was simple.
A stronger opponent made for a better target.
The moment Kaito finished speaking, he moved again.
Without hesitation, he pushed off the ground.
His body vanished instantly.
In the blink of an eye, he shot forward at a speed beyond what the naked eye could follow.
A flash of red appeared in Chinjao's eyes.
Though regaining his cone head had filled him with confidence, it hadn't made him careless.
The moment Kaito moved, Chinjao immediately used Observation Haki to track his opponent's movements.
But even though he perceived the attack—
His body couldn't react in time.
Before Chinjao could properly respond, Kaito had already reached him.
Kaito leaped upward.
His right leg whipped downward toward Chinjao's head with explosive force.
With no time to dodge, Chinjao could only raise his left arm and coat it with Armament Haki to block.
Boom!!!
Just like earlier, Kaito's foot came crashing down.
But this time something was different.
Kaito's leg hadn't even touched Chinjao yet—
And Chinjao's arm was already struck.
"Damn it…!"
The moment the invisible blow landed, Chinjao realized what had happened.
His expression twisted in shock and anger.
"It's Armament Haki… external release!"
That was correct.
The reason Kaito's kick had struck before making contact was because the Armament Haki coating his leg had been released outward.
External release allowed Armament Haki to travel through the air like a shockwave.
When concentrated properly, the resulting impact was even stronger than direct contact.
Under the invisible strike, Chinjao's arm visibly rippled.
The force pressed his arm inward—
And smashed it straight into his own cone-shaped head.
Boom!!!
Both of Chinjao's feet lifted from the ground.
Unable to withstand the impact of the released Armament Haki, his body spun violently as he was sent flying.
He tumbled through the air along the ice wall.
After spinning for dozens of meters, Chinjao finally managed to stabilize himself.
Clenching his teeth despite the pain in his left arm, he dropped onto the ice on all fours in a somewhat embarrassing landing.
Whoosh!
The moment he stopped moving, Kaito arrived.
Without giving Chinjao a moment to recover, Kaito swung his left leg in another fierce whip kick aimed straight at Chinjao's head.
Damn it!
Chinjao's Observation Haki had already seen the attack coming.
Realizing how quickly Kaito had followed up, he clenched his teeth.
This time—
He didn't raise his arm to block.
Instead, he thrust his newly restored cone head forward to meet the kick directly.
Boom!!!
From a distance, Chinjao's sharpened cone head collided violently with the Armament Haki coating Kaito's left leg.
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