"Kid, didn't your parents teach you not to interrupt when someone's busy? That's just rude!"
Caesar watched the incoming inferno and threw a punch in response!
BOOM!
A violent gale erupted mid-air, compressing the atmosphere into layers resembling Kuma's air cannons, instantly obliterating the massive fireball.
Sabo's fiery form exploded into a shower of sparks.
Caesar continued examining Kuma's memories.
Kuma had been modified by the World Government, and the one responsible for his transformation was none other than the elusive genius scientist, Dr. Vegapunk—renowned for being 500 years ahead of the world in technology.
What a legend.
Not only had Vegapunk developed the technology to grant inanimate objects Devil Fruit powers, but he'd also created the Pacifistas, artificial Devil Fruits, and even delved deep into Judge's cloning research.
Ever since the mysterious research facility in the North Blue was destroyed thirty years ago, Vegapunk had been held captive by the World Government, forced to conduct endless experiments.
Now, three decades later, who knew what kind of wonders he'd concocted?
How could Caesar resist such temptation?
"Oh? Found it. So this is what Vegapunk looks like. No wonder he's so brilliant—his head is literally longer than others'."
Caesar finally uncovered the image of the person who modified Kuma in his memories.
It was an elderly man whose body appeared perfectly normal except for one striking feature—a sausage-like elongated head paired with unusually large earlobes that immediately drew attention.
His head was four or five times longer than that of an ordinary person, looking extremely bizarre, as if he were not a species from this world.
"Memory Shear!"
Upon seeing Vegapunk's appearance, Caesar lost interest in Kuma's memories.
But simply erasing them would mean losing the technology related to the Pacifista modification experiments stored within, which seemed like a waste.
Therefore, without hesitation, Caesar used some of the Memory-Memory Fruit's abilities to temporarily shear Kuma's memories, still sealing them within his body.
"What did you do to Kuma?! Stop right now!"
Sabo's furious voice rang out again, making Caesar frown in annoyance.
"Annoying fly."
Caesar directly erased the memories before he could even issue any commands, leaving Kuma in a dazed state as he dropped him from the sky.
Releasing his massive golden fist, he extended a single finger and pointed at Sabo.
"I've had enough of you, brat! Come on! If you don't win today, not only will you die here, but I'll also take good care of your little wife for you!"
"You bastard!!"
Sabo's eyes nearly burst from rage, his teeth clenched so tightly that his gums bled, his entire face twisted in fury, turning his handsome features into something terrifying.
BOOM!
Extreme anger caused the power of the Flame-Flame Fruit within Sabo to go completely berserk!
Like a volcanic eruption, endless flames surged from his body, an unending torrent that turned the entire sky into a sea of fire!
"Crimson Lotus—Karmic Fire Hell!!"
Sabo's arms exploded outward, transforming into two massive Flame Dragon Claws, each one crimson and crystalline, solidifying into fiery chains that clattered out from his body, coiling around him like blood-red whips.
At this moment, Sabo seemed to have become the God of Flames!
"Caesar!"
Sabo's eyes spewed scorching flames, carrying overwhelming heat as his Flame Dragon Claws distorted the air, slashing toward Caesar.
"Borororo! Not bad! That power's already on par with an Admiral!"
Caesar laughed wildly, not bothering to dodge.
Instead, he flapped his enormous golden wings, splitting the sea of flames apart as he raised his right arm.
The tendons in his arm twanged like bowstrings, emitting a spine-chilling tension.
"Thunder God Eight Trigrams!"
His colossal golden fist, now covered in sharp bone spikes, punched forward—the very atmosphere trembled and wailed as the entire sea of fire erupted in a cataclysmic explosion.
Twisting streaks of jet-black Conqueror's Haki lightning, like the branches of towering ancient trees or a spider's web, filled the void, as if splitting space itself.
On the golden fist, thunderbolts crackled and boomed, blue-white lightning coiling into a dragon that wrapped around Caesar's massive arm, baring its fangs and claws as it lunged toward Sabo's flaming dragon!
BOOOOM!!
Thunder and fire collided—the world instantly fell silent, leaving only a blinding radiance that could sear the eyes of anyone who dared look.
"Guh—ah!"
Countless bolts of lightning scattered, blasting through the flaming dragon as Caesar's fist, clad in Armament Haki, smashed squarely against Sabo's!
The next moment—Sabo's face twisted in agony.
His once-proud Armament Haki-infused Flame Dragon Claw shattered like cheap toilet paper under Caesar's colossal golden fist—utterly defenseless!
He watched helplessly as his right fist crumpled, bent backward, and snapped.
Pale bone fragments jutted from the broken joint, blood spraying like a high-pressure water cannon over ten meters before evaporating in the sea of flames.
For a moment, the air was thick with the nauseating stench of blood.
Caesar's Haki was overwhelmingly potent.
Even as a Logia-type user with inherent immunity to physical damage, Sabo still suffered devastating injuries!
Gritting his teeth against the pain, Sabo forcibly straightened his shattered wrist, cauterizing the wound with his own flames to stem the bleeding.
His face was pale, beads of cold sweat forming on his forehead as he looked up at the inferno above.
There, wreathed in golden wings and muscles coiled like a dragon, Caesar stood—his titanic frame crackling with arcs of lightning that parted the flames, carving a path through the void.
He looked like a thunder god incarnate.
"Almost forgot—I can control ice too! Borororo! Frozen Wasteland!"
Caesar bared his razor-sharp fangs in a grin as an icy-blue frost aura exploded from his mountainous body, spreading for miles in an instant.
The void fire Sabo had conjured was snuffed out in a heartbeat.
Panting heavily, Sabo glared at the approaching Caesar, his despair and helplessness deepening.
The gap between them was insurmountable!
His flames couldn't even penetrate Caesar's Armament Haki armor, let alone injure this monstrous brute.
Sabo now doubted whether he could even harm this inhuman beast even if he bypassed the Haki defense.
"Ace! The Will of Fire you passed down to me... I fear I can't uphold it to the end!"
With a hoarse roar, Sabo raised his left hand skyward, crimson chains of crystalline flame swirling around him.
The gesture was like lifting a mountain.
Boundless flames erupted from his palm, condensing and compressing until—in the blink of an eye—a searing, miniature sun blazed in his grasp.
He held a star in his hand.
"Flame Emperor!!"