"Damn it!"
Zephyr's face flickered with alarm. He caught a flash of movement and instinctively crossed his arms in a defensive stance, but the very next instant, a massive kanabo slammed into his guard with devastating force.
BANG!
WHOOSH!
RUMBLE—
The raw power behind the blow was catastrophic. Zephyr couldn't withstand it for even a second; he was launched backward like a black blur. The gale force generated by the strike tore the earth apart, carving a deep, semi-circular trench over a thousand meters long. The thunderous roar of the impact reached the spectators only after he had already vanished into the distance.
"Motherfucker, you dare ambush me?!" Kaido stood his ground, brandishing his kanabo. He glared around with unbridled malice and roared, "You bastards! Do you have any idea who I am? I am Kaido of the Beasts!!!"
BOOM—
In an instant, his roar morphed into a rolling wave of sound. It blasted outward like a hurricane, churning up a sea of dust, gravel, and shattered debris in a massive circle.
"This monster..."
Crocodile had just arrived on the scene, and the sight of Kaido's single roar causing such devastation left him chilled to the bone. He sucked in a sharp breath.
"Hm? Another one shows up!"
Kaido turned his head, spotting Crocodile. He glared, his voice a low rumble. "I know you. Crocodile, former member of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. The rat who crawled out of Impel Down!"
The terrifying pressure radiating from Kaido hit like a tidal wave. Crocodile felt his muscles tense to their limit; his scalp prickled, and his eyes twitched uncontrollably.
"I haven't heard that you joined the Chris Pirates, but it makes no difference. Do you think you can challenge me?" Kaido locked eyes with him. His aura flared, whipping up a violent wind that caused the very ground beneath them to fissure.
Crocodile grit his teeth, forcing down his mounting dread. Refusing to lose his edge, he shouted, "That's right, Kaido! I hear you can't be killed, so today, I'll be the one to take your head!"
"Desert Spada!!!"
Without another word, Crocodile transformed his arm into a blade of sand and swung it forward. A massive blade of sand scythed across the landscape, cleaving the earth and leaving a deep, gaping chasm in its wake.
"Taking my head... I look forward to it!"
Kaido grinned with savage excitement. He made no attempt to dodge, letting the sand blade, capable of carving through the earth, strike him squarely.
BOOM!
The sand blade detonated, engulfing Kaido in a cloud of dust that obscured his towering form.
Crocodile watched as the opponent tanked his Desert Spada head-on. His lip twitched in irritation. "This bastard, is he an idiot..."
But before he could finish his thought, the dust settled. Crocodile's eyes bulged in pure disbelief. Kaido's bare chest remained utterly unmarked, as if he hadn't even been touched.
"H-how..."
Crocodile stood frozen, his mouth agape, staring at the unscathed Yonko.
"Is that all your attack amounts to?"
The excitement on Kaido's face hardened into boiling rage. He let out a primal roar: "You miserable worm, you're insulting me!"
The sound alone vibrated through the air. Kaido charged forward, his massive strides shattering the ground with each footfall, closing the distance to Crocodile in a heartbeat.
He had expected the challenger to have some real substance to dare speak of taking his head, but this? This didn't even scratch his hide!
Before Kaido even reached him, Crocodile felt the crushing weight of his presence, like a mountain collapsing upon him. Kaido arrived in an instant, raising his kanabo and swinging it down with terminal velocity.
The club tore through the air, the pressure so intense it felt as if it were piercing the atmosphere itself. Crocodile knew he couldn't block it; his body instantly dissipated into a cloud of yellow sand.
CRASH—
The kanabo smashed through the sand and slammed into the earth. The transfer of force was catastrophic. The paved ground shattered and buckled, while jagged cracks tore through the soil for hundreds of meters. A violent tremor rocked the entire area.
A shockwave of raw kinetic energy erupted, sweeping away the surrounding dust like a gale.
"Logia-types are so annoying!" Kaido spat, clearly disgruntled. He had seen the man dissolve into sand just in time to avoid the brunt of the wind pressure. He knew his attack hadn't connected.
A few hundred meters away, grains of sand spiraled together, coalescing back into a human shape.
"Huff... huff... that was... too close..."
Crocodile gasped for air, his face pale and dripping with cold sweat. That single strike reminded him of facing Whitebeard, the same overwhelming, nightmare-inducing strength.
SWOOSH—
Suddenly, a streak of golden light descended from the horizon like a falling star, crashing down right where Kaido stood.
BOOM—
A deafening explosion rocked the world. The ground heaved, and scorching flames erupted, forming a massive, bowl-shaped dome of energy that expanded rapidly, obliterating everything in its path.
WHOOSH—
Crocodile shielded his eyes as the blast wave roared past, carrying a storm of dust and dirt over a radius of hundreds of meters.
THUD… THUD… THUD…
Then, a golden giant nearly a hundred meters tall appeared, its pink patterns glowing faintly as it strode like a god among men. Each heavy footfall sent fresh tremors through the earth.
"That's... Gild Tesoro!"
Crocodile looked back, his eyes widening at the sight of the shimmering golden titan. He also noticed a small figure standing on the giant's shoulder, along with another dark silhouette hovering in the sky above.
"You got here fast!"
A voice reached Crocodile's ears. He turned to see Zephyr, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
"Old man Zephyr, what the hell is the situation with Kaido?" Crocodile hissed, his expression ugly. "I only agreed to take on the Big Mom Pirates!"
"How should I know? If you don't like it, leave!" Zephyr retorted sharply, wiping the blood from his lip.
Zephyr was livid. They had been on the verge of crushing the Big Mom Pirates, only for Kaido to appear as an inexplicable variable. There wasn't a soul in the Chris Pirates who wasn't currently furious.
At that moment, a figure stepped out from the fire, a man who looked like a demon god, dragging a three-meter-long kanabo, his eyes burning with lethal intent.
"You miserable bastards! I have no patience for these little games!"
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