BOOM!
The armored, golden-giant fist descended like a meteor, seemingly imbued with tens of thousands of tons of terrifying force as it smashed into the earth.
In an instant, intense light and heat erupted. The ground shook violently, splitting apart as a dozen massive fissures raced outward. Huge crustal plates were forced upward, and the terrifying shockwave, mixed with clouds of dust, formed a wall of earth-colored debris dozens of meters high. It swept outward relentlessly, pulverizing the rubble of countless collapsed buildings and tossing the wreckage into the sky like mere leaves.
Everyone instinctively raised their arms to shield themselves, bracing against the hurricane-like wall of dirt as their clothes whipped violently in the gale.
Just as Tesoro's face broke into a smirk, he felt a dull THUD from beneath his fist, like a bell being struck. A massive force surged upward, physically forcing his buried fist back out of the ground.
To everyone's shock, a deep, cratered fist print was indented into the giant golden index and middle fingers, with countless fine cracks spider-webbing across half of the arm.
From within the massive pit Tesoro had just created, an earth-shattering roar of fury erupted.
"You bastards!"
A figure shot into the sky like a demon god. Swinging his massive kanabo, Kaido stirred up a fierce gale and slammed the weapon heavily against the arm of the Golden Giant controlled by Tesoro.
With a massive BOOM, the Golden Giant's right arm was shattered in the middle by Kaido's strike. Half of the golden limb and several massive golden chunks plummeted to the ground with a thunderous crash.
"ROAAR—!"
At that moment, Kaido's body expanded rapidly. Scales surfaced on his skin, and his hands and feet transformed into dragon claws. In the blink of an eye, he had become a dragon hundreds of meters long. He glared at Tesoro, unleashed a thunderous dragon's roar, and fired a blast of scorching Boro Breath.
"Not good!"
Tesoro's pupils contracted sharply, his smirk freezing on his face. They were too close; he had no time to react. He could only watch as the terrifying, searing dragon fire engulfed the Golden Giant.
BOOM!
The high-temperature breath melted the Golden Giant's body, instantly blowing it in two. The lower half was reduced to nothing but legs, and the entire upper torso from the shoulders up vanished.
The wreckage of the Golden Giant tumbled to the ground one after another, slamming into the earth with a violent impact that kicked up a fresh wave of dust.
"Damn it! Get him down!"
Oliver's eyes were bloodshot. He crossed his twin blades and slashed upward into the air, unleashing two cross-shaped strikes. With a sharp CLANG, the blades pierced through the dragon scales on Kaido's belly, leaving a deep, X-shaped wound.
"ROAAR—!"
Kaido let out a cry of pain. His massive body thrashed, dragon blood raining down like a downpour, yet the wound began to heal at a terrifying, visible speed.
"Desert Serpent Dieu!"
Crocodile spread his arms and roared. The earth turned into a vast ocean of shifting sand, which surged upward, rapidly manifesting a dozen massive, chain-like sand pillars. The sand was condensed and hardened until it felt like steel, swiftly lashing around Kaido's body.
In the air, Doflamingo followed suit. He extended his hand and flicked his fingers, launching countless transparent, needle-thin strings toward the sky. They fell like a rain of starlight, anchoring themselves into Kaido's hide.
"Parasite!"
"ROAAR—!"
"I'll slaughter the lot of you!"
Kaido roared continuously, struggling with all his might. Hundreds, then thousands of transparent strings pulled taut, dozens snapped every single second. The dozen sand pillars, each over a meter in diameter, began to show fine cracks and even shattered under the immense strain.
However, Crocodile and Doflamingo were veteran pirates, overlords who had carved out their own territories in the New World. Even for Kaido, their combined restraint was not something he could break free from in mere seconds.
BOOM!
Seeing this, Zephyr bent his knees and shot into the sky like a cannonball, leaving behind a spiderweb of cracks where he had stood.
"Get down here!"
"Black Arm... Tornado!"
In an instant, Zephyr unleashed a barrage of punches, filling the sky with dense afterimages that hammered down on Kaido's head like a relentless rain of lead.
PUM-PUM-PUM-PUM...
Kaido had no chance to counter. Zephyr pounded him with a flurry of strikes, each one imbued with terrifying power that rattled the dragon's massive skull.
The assault ended, the sand pillars shattered, and the parasite strings snapped. Kaido plummeted from the sky, dazed and battered.
"Die! Gon Fuoco di Dio!"
On the ground, Tesoro savagely controlled the remains of the Golden Giant, now reduced to just the head. He widened his eyes, firing two golden lasers that flashed through the air and slammed into Kaido in an instant.
BOOM!
A massive explosion erupted mid-air, a blinding light erupting and violently shaking the atmosphere. The surge of air pressure was so intense it sent both Zephyr and Doflamingo flipping through the air.
As the shockwave swept across the ground like a hurricane, Crocodile raised a wall of sand to shield himself, while Oliver slashed his sword, cutting the wind pressure in two with a sweep of his blade.
…
Holy Land Mariejois.
"Gorosei! This is a disaster! Gorosei!"
A man in a black suit sprinted into the ornate palace in a state of sheer panic, shouting at the Five Elders, the highest power of the World Government.
The palace guards glanced at the frantic man but did not stop him. They fell into deep thought. Why was someone from the CP agency being so unprofessional? Could another monumental incident have occurred?
"Gorosei, it's a disaster! The Yonko Kaido has appeared at the Unzan Port, joining the battlefield between the Chris Pirates and the Big Mom Pirates!"
The man in the black suit rushed into the hall, saw the Five Elders, and dropped to one knee.
"Nani?!"
"What?"
The expressions of the Five Elders shifted violently.
"According to intelligence reports from Unzan Port, the Chris Pirates and the Big Mom Pirates were locked in a decisive battle when Kaido, in his dragon form, suddenly appeared on the battlefield, roaring that he would join the fight against Golden Ring Aeridar and Big Mom!"
"To prevent Kaido from causing chaos, the Chris Pirates deployed the Slayer Oliver and Black Arm Zephyr to intercept him. Doflamingo, Gild Tesoro, and Sir Crocodile have also joined the fray. The five of them are currently locked in a fierce battle with Kaido!" The man in the black suit reported, his forehead slick with sweat and his voice trembling.
A war between the Chris Pirates and the Big Mom Pirates, and now Kaido? This level of chaos was starting to rival the Summit War from two years ago.
"That bastard Kaido..."
"Two Yonko involved, five current or former Warlords of the Sea..."
"And on top of that, the monsters from both crews, 'Thunder God' Enel, Charlotte Katakuri, and the rest... They're going to tear the heavens down!"
"Damn it! Damn it! That bastard Kaido!"
"..."
The Five Elders cursed, their hatred for Kaido reaching unprecedented heights.
They knew that Kaido and Charlotte Linlin were once members of the same crew. Who knew if those two had formed a secret alliance to take down the Chris Pirates together?
The Five Elders didn't want the Chris Pirates to continue growing, but they didn't want them wiped out either, that would massively disrupt the World Government's and the Navy's strategic layout for the New World.
But at this very moment, with the Reverie about to convene, even if the Five Elders wanted to help the Chris Pirates, they lacked the spare military forces to do so.
The man in the black suit raised his head, swallowed hard, and added in a strained voice, "Also... Gorosei... Saint Aeolus Amphitrite, of the Celestial Dragon's Shield... has also gone to the Clifford Kingdom!"
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