At that moment, Kaido looked like a demon who had just crawled back from hell.
His forehead was split open and gushing blood, a clear sign of a serious internal injury, but it didn't slow him down in the slightest.
On the contrary, his fighting spirit seemed to burn even hotter.
"WORORORO! Garp, you old goat! This is the most fun I've had in years!" he roared, his voice filled with a delirious, bloodthirsty joy.
"If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get!" Garp snorted, clenching his iron fists.
Kaido charged again but Garp met him head-on, fists flying.
The two titans, one a monster of science and death, the other a legend of Haki and will, clashed in a brutal melee.
The shockwaves from their blows tore the battlefield apart.
"ROAR!"
With a deafening roar, Kaido's mace, now wreathed in black necrotic lightning, smashed into Garp's chest.
BOOM!
The dull sound echoed as Garp was sent skidding back, his right shoulder exploding in a spray of blood and white bone.
The pain was excruciating, but Kaido gave him no time to recover, bringing the mace down again, this time on his abdomen.
Garp was slammed heavily to the ground.
The Marines on the wall watched in horror, their hearts sinking.
The hero's twilight was happening right before their eyes.
Kaido raised his mace for the final, killing blow.
But Garp, lying in the rubble, wasn't panicking.
He crossed his arms over his chest, his Haki flaring, and took the blow.
The Haki shattered, but it held.
Enraged, Kaido raised his club again, but in that split second, Garp's eyes flashed.
He shot from the crater, appearing directly above the dragon's head, and drove his fist straight down.
BOOM!
The punch connected with Kaido's skull, smashing the Emperor face-first into the dirt.
Garp landed, patting the dust off his uniform, his shoulder, which had been a mangled ruin, now perfectly healed.
He calmly chewed and swallowed the last of a small, green bean.
"This stuff really works," he mused.
He grinned.
He had deliberately taken the hit, a reckless, insane gamble to create an opening.
He wasn't about to let his reputation as the Marine Hero be tarnished by this new-era punk.
Garp took a deep breath, his strength, vitality, and Haki all fully restored.
He kicked off the air, using Moonwalk to shoot toward Kaido again, his fist cocked for another blow.
Kaido stared, his mind reeling, completely unable to understand how this old man had just reversed his own death and come back even stronger.
'This guy's fruit ability... it's been strengthened' Garp thought, his eyes fixed on Kaido. "His recovery is too fast. This is tricky."
He couldn't accept being defeated by this punk.
It was a disgrace.
BOOM!
At that moment, Kaido roared and charged again, but this time, he wasn't alone.
A thick, swirling fog of thunder and lightning appeared behind him, a storm of his own making.
"Thunder Bagua!"
Garp snorted.
His fist shot out, and the phantom of the Black Turtle materialized, charging into the lightning storm and neutralizing it in a deafening explosion.
Garp was already in motion, his body an afterimage, and he appeared in front of Kaido, his leg a blur as he delivered a powerful whip kick.
But Kaido was ready.
His own fist, wrapped in black lightning, met Garp's leg in mid-air.
BOOM!
The space where they collided seemed to crack.
The entire Red Line shuddered under the force of the two top-tier powerhouses.
In the next moment, a shocking explosion sent Kaido flying, and he crashed heavily to the ground.
Garp flashed through the air, appearing above Kaido, his fist raised for the finishing blow.
But at that moment, a ray of light flashed from Kaido's chest.
A hand, made entirely of white, skeletal bone, shot out and pierced straight through Garp's chest.
Blood erupted from Garp's mouth, staining the ground beneath him red.
Garp let out a pained, furious growl as the skeletal hand pierced his chest.
He was completely stunned by the sudden, treacherous attack.
BOOM!
His eyes turned blood-red, like a cornered beast.
With a violent tremor of his entire body, he flexed every muscle, and a shockwave of pure Haki shattered the bone arm into a thousand pieces.
He immediately shot backward, a black and red blur, flying toward the Marine headquarters.
"Want to escape, Garp?!" Kaido roared, seeing his prey retreat. "You're dreaming!"
The death-dragon turned into a black stream and gave chase, the two titans vanishing from the main battlefield in a streak of light.
...
And just after they disappeared, in an inconspicuous corner of the ruined battlefield, a faint black mist began to condense.
The mist swirled and solidified, revealing a man in a black robe and a silver mask, his entire being exuding an aura of cold amusement.
The face under the mask was full of smiles.
"Hehe, I didn't expect it," Rocks D. Xebec mused to himself. "Garp's strength has grown, too. How interesting. No matter... I'll let Kaido have his fun with the old man."
His head turned, as if looking at a distant point.
"Now, it's time to go meet my other old friend."
The gloomy voice fell, and the black-robed figure dissolved into the invisible air.
...
BOOM!
Thunder roared, and a streak of lightning tore through the sky, slamming into a desolate valley far from the main battle.
The very air crackled with a palpable tension, as if doomsday itself was approaching.
Here, two other figures were locked in a fierce, high-speed battle.
"Ooh, I really can't let you just leave like this," Admiral Kizaru taunted, his red-and-gold armor gleaming.
He wielded his Amakumo no Tsurugi, the blade of pure, concentrated light, which was now amplified by his new suit.
He slashed again and again, each swing leaving a deep, molten scar in the earth.
Opposite him, a strong figure with flowing red hair met every blow.
Red-Haired Shanks, one of the most powerful pirates of the old era, was in a deadlock with the Marines' top combat power.
"Hmph! Kizaru," Shanks's voice was a low growl. "I never thought you'd dare to fight me here alone. If that's the case, don't blame me for what happens next!"
As his voice fell, a dazzling, fiery red light—a combination of his Devil Fruit and his peerless Haki—erupted from his sword.
He lunged, and the two clashed.
With a dull thud, Kizaru's body trembled, shocked by the force of the blow.
As the tiger's-mouth of his gauntlet went numb, he let out a playful laugh.
"Hey, your strength has improved a lot, too," he drawled. "But it's a pity... still no way to defeat me, right?"
Shanks's brow furrowed.
He didn't waste time with words.
His body became a fiery red afterimage, and he charged again.
The two collided in mid-air, and the terrifying coercion from their Haki razed the surrounding forest to the ground.
Seeing Shanks charge recklessly, Kizaru snorted.
He raised his palms, and the suit's repulsors fired a barrage of countless laser bombs.
"Buzz... buzz...!"
The bombs exploded, twisting the very space around them.
But Shanks's expression remained unchanged.
"Try it, Kizaru," he said grimly. "Do you really have the ability to stop me?"
A terrifying, fiery wave spread from his sword, and behind him, the giant, spectral phantom of the Suzaku, the Vermilion Bird, materialized.
It spread its wings, staring at Kizaru with red-gold eyes, and unleashed a storm of smaller firebirds that shot forward to meet the laser barrage.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The sky filled with sparks and thick smoke as the two attacks canceled each other out.
CRACK!
Suddenly, a crisp breaking sound was heard.
Kizaru, moving at a speed enhanced by both his fruit and his suit, had vanished from his position.
He had bypassed the firebirds, and his light sword was already slashing down on the Suzaku phantom itself.
The phantom collapsed.
Shanks cried out, staggering back dozens of steps as the backlash hit him, a trace of blood overflowing from the corner of his mouth.
"Truly... an unpredictable power," he gritted out, suppressing the shock in his body.
He slammed his foot on the rock beneath him and burst forward again, his sword held high.
BOOM!
The two figures collided one last time, sword against sword.
An ear-piercing shriek of metal on light echoed through the valley.
This time, neither man gave an inch.
And then, with a final surge of power, Kizaru's armored form pushed forward, and Shanks was sent skidding back several meters, his feet carving deep trenches in the rock.
"Huff..." Shanks panted, his chest heaving, his eyes locked on the impassive Admiral.
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Please Read My new One Piece fic : You call this a Pirate ?