"Roaring Thunder Eight Trigrams!" Kaido bellowed, swinging his mace with world-shattering force.
"Divine Departure!" Carl countered, his blade Hei Yao flashing with a dark, terrifying light.
The two attacks didn't even touch; the sheer pressure of their Conqueror's Haki caused the space between them to explode. A violent hurricane erupted from the point of impact, sending purple-black lightning dancing across the sky and sea. The island began to groan and crack under the strain, and the heavens themselves seemed to tear apart.
Neither man gave an inch. They remained locked in a stalemate, pouring their Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki into the clash. As the shockwaves continued, a massive canyon split the island down the middle, and the surrounding cliffs began to crumble into the sea.
Mari quickly hopped onto Richie's back, commanding the lion to leap onto the Thousand Sunny with the unconscious Zoro, Sanji, and Law gripped safely in his mouth. Nearby, the sea cow Momoo scrambled to tow the ship and the submarine further away to escape the devastating waves. These two were at the absolute pinnacle of power ; a single exchange had nearly erased the island from the map.
Deep in the forest, the local striped pigs panicked and ran toward the cliffs, only to fall into the sea. Their "Pig God" was no longer protecting them. At the ancient altar, the pig-headed man stared in horror at the canyon splitting his sanctuary in two. He realized that the battle on the shore was far beyond anything he could comprehend.
"Teacher Carl and Kaido are being too reckless," Luffy complained, watching the destruction from a distance. "If they sink the island, we won't have any pork left to eat!".
The pig-headed man's eyes nearly popped out when he heard this. He realized the monsters fighting on the coast were friends of the boy who had just thrashed him. Terrified, he used his ability to flee into the sky, desperate to get as far away as possible.
"Hey! Get back here! You need to cook for Sanji!" Luffy yelled, but the pig-headed man didn't look back. Luffy eventually gave up the chase, figuring there were still plenty of regular pigs left to eat on the island. He hurried toward the shore to make sure Carl and Kaido didn't completely destroy their food supply.
The rest of the Straw Hat crew gathered on the coast, watching the continuous shockwaves from the clash between mace and sword.
"Teacher Carl, let me jump in! I want a turn with Kaido!" Luffy shouted, cracking his knuckles.
To everyone's surprise, Kaido suddenly pulled back his mace and retreated several steps.
"What's wrong, Kaido? Are you scared?" Carl asked with a smirk.
"I'm not scared!" Kaido growled. "But I'm not stupid enough to fight you and the Straw Hat brat at the same time. I'm leaving!".
Kaido transformed into a massive blue dragon and soared into the clouds. Luffy grumbled, disappointed that the Yonko was being so "timid". However, before Kaido disappeared, his voice boomed from the sky one last time.
"Straw Hat! Tell your brother Ace that he is never marrying my daughter Yamato! I don't care who his father is; if he tries it, I'll kill him!".
Luffy turned red with anger. "You can't stop them! Yamato is going to be my sister-in-law! If you try to stop them, we'll come to Wano and kick your butt!". But Kaido was already gone.
Calming down slightly, Luffy turned to the ship. "Sanji! I'm hungry! Give me meat!".
There was no answer. Momoo had brought the ship back to the shore, where Zoro, Sanji, and Law were still lying motionless on the deck. Chopper rushed over to check on them, concluding they had suffered slight concussions but were otherwise fine.
As the crew listened to Carl describe the fight, they were amazed by the trio's courage to face a World-Class Power head-on. They were also impressed that Mari and Richie had managed to land a hit on Kaido earlier.
Eventually, Chopper managed to wake the three warriors. They sat up, clutching their aching heads.
"Where's Kaido?" Zoro grunted.
"He ran away," Carl replied calmly. "Tell me, did taking a Conqueror's Haki attack to the face teach you anything? Don't let Teacher Kaido's hard work go to waste".
The crew looked on in confusion. They wondered if getting hit in the head by Kaido's mace was actually a secret training method. They joked that maybe Kaido should open a training school in the New World just to hit people until they learned Haki.
Zoro, however, didn't laugh. He went into deep thought for a long moment.
"Actually," Zoro said, his voice uncertain but serious, "I think I felt something. That hit... it wasn't a waste of time".
The entire crew stood there, stunned.
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