The Conqueror's Haki of Kaido and Leo completely erupted, forming tangible shockwaves that ran wildly rampant in all directions. The ground cracked like tofu layer by layer, countless structures collapsing.
"BASTARD!!" Kaido's expression darkened, his rage at its peak. The Conqueror's Haki he prided himself on actually gained no advantage at all against Leo. Just what kind of freak was this guy?
"Kaido, just give up!!" Leo shouted loudly, endless lightning erupting from his body. Within a kilometer radius, the area completely transformed into a domain of lightning, a forbidden zone of death. Every foothold was engulfed and ravaged by a silver-white ocean.
"Wrath of the Thunder Dragons!!" Leo waved his arm, like a commander giving orders. All the lightning in the domain seemed to gain life, quickly coalescing into silver-white flashing dragons. With Leo's command, amidst roars, the dragons writhed their massive bodies, biting toward Kaido from all directions.
"WORORORORO… Leo, you think I fear you?!" Kaido refused to be outdone, continuously swinging his kanabo. Pillar-shaped blasts of force flew from the kanabo, whistling toward the thunder dragons. All the blasts were simultaneously coated with dense Armament and Conqueror's Haki.
BOOM!
BOOM!!
The ferocious thunder dragons and pillar blasts collided head-on, tearing at each other, devouring one another, setting off several loud explosions in succession. In the end, all attacks canceled each other out.
Kaido pushed off with his feet, powerful force propelling his body toward Leo. "Leo, what do you actually want?!" Leo raised Ichimonji, blocking Kaido's close-range attack. Kaido flashed before Leo, his mountainously heavy kanabo smashing down from above toward his head. Leo's three Haki were in no way inferior to Kaido's; all of the other's attacks were within his control.
"Kaido, just obediently offer up your shadow." Leo's lips curled upward, grinning.
"You're looki—"
"OBSERVATION KILL!!!"
Hum~
An even more violent, overbearing Conqueror's Haki suddenly erupted from Leo, sweeping through all of Udon in an instant. Kaido's Observation Haki immediately ceased functioning; he could no longer perceive anything beyond his naked eye.
"This…" Kaido's pupils constricted, a bad feeling arising. He instinctively shifted his gaze. His pupils reflected a figure a hundred times more terrifying than a devil.
"Thousand Blade Rain!!"
Like a demon's whisper. Leo's sword flashed rapidly, sword shadows like a torrential downpour. Each sword slash contained cutting power. In the space of one second, thousands upon hundreds of slashes simultaneously fused with Armament and Conqueror's Haki roared forth, enveloping Kaido in a dense net of blades.
Kaido's hair stood on end. Armament Haki went all out, his tall frame like black charcoal. The next second, bright sword light found its outlet, running rampant across Kaido's body.
"AAAAAAH————!!"
The next instant, Kaido's scream of agony echoed across the heavens!
Though Kaido's defense was monstrous, Leo's Conqueror's Haki was a level higher than his. After the initial slashes successively breached Kaido's Haki armor and dragon scale armor, the remaining slashes chopped onto his flesh like waves. For a time, intense pain swept through his entire body. Kaido grimaced in pain, swinging his kanabo without pattern. When Kaido destroyed the last slash, his movements halted abruptly. He looked down at his body.
Suddenly.
Rip~
Rip~
His upper garment tore apart. His chest and back simultaneously showed red lines of blood, countless blood flowers blooming forth.
Gulp~
"Leo, you… you've actually mastered Observation Kill?!" Kaido's throat bobbed, his wide eyes filled with disbelief. Leo's application of Conqueror's Haki was a level higher than his. How was this possible?!
For a moment, countless thoughts raced through Kaido's mind. As was well known, in this world, Haki was supreme. Among them, Conqueror's Haki was the most rare. Those who could awaken it were already one in ten thousand; those who mastered Infusion were few and far between. As for Observation Kill… from what he knew, across the entire seas, only Red-Haired Shanks had reached this level. Leo was only in his 20s, yet possessed Conqueror's Haki of the same level as Shanks? This kid was definitely cheating.
After a brief moment of shock, endless fear surged up in Kaido's heart. The ever-victorious, all-defying Conqueror's Haki he'd cultivated for years was so fragile before Leo. How was he supposed to fight this?
Hiss~
Lost in thought, Kaido suddenly sucked in a cold breath. He looked at the wounds on his chest, frowning slightly. Logically, with his recovery power, wounds of this degree should have healed long ago, at least stopped bleeding. But the wound sites seemed to have some strange power hindering recovery.
Seeming to realize something, Kaido jerked his head up, realizing belatedly: "Leo, was this your doing?!"
Facing the interrogation, Leo chuckled lightly. "What do you think?" He waved Ichimonji in his hand, the meaning self-evident.
"BASTARD!!" Kaido clenched his teeth, staring with great wariness at the sword in Leo's hand. Such a weapon, he had never heard of.
Leo held Ichimonji, hovering in the air. "Kaido, you are no match for me."
Kaido narrowed his eyes, nostrils emitting heavy breaths. The Rumble-Rumble Fruit, Tremor-Tremor Fruit, Observation Kill, a sword that prevents wound healing! At this moment, he had to admit he probably couldn't defeat Leo. But willingly submitting? A fool's dream.
"WORORORORO… Leo, save that talk for after you defeat me!!" Refusing to believe it, Kaido roared at the sky, instantly transforming from his hybrid form into a dozen-meter-long azure dragon. "Leo, try this one!!" The dragon spoke in human tongue, sweeping a disdainful glance at Leo before soaring into the sky, madly coiling in the air, stirring up endless gales and dazzling lightning. This was an ability granted by the Fish-Fish Fruit, Azure Dragon Model. In his full beast form, he could control multiple elemental forces.
High in the sky, dark clouds gathered, the spectacle immense. Several small tornadoes came into being, coiling around the dragon, howling and moaning. The tornadoes, carrying powerful suction, tearing at all tangible objects within a kilometer radius. Whether mountains, ancient trees, steel… all were torn to shreds, becoming part of the tornadoes.
This scene like an apocalyptic disaster immediately attracted everyone's attention. "Leo actually pushed Lord Kaido to this point?!" "Bastard! Leo's actually this strong?!" "These women are no pushovers either!" "You're all in dire straits yourselves, yet you worry about Kaido?!" "HAHAHAHA… Well said!" "Dammit! I'll fight you wenches to the death!!" After a round of exclamations, both sides resumed their fierce battle.
"WORORORORO… Leo, DIE! Tornadoes!!!" The Azure Dragon Kaido roared. Several tornadoes moaned as they charged toward Leo. Before the sky-blotting tornadoes, Leo looked pitifully tiny.
"Wind element, is it?" Leo casually glanced, then looked at his own palm. There, a small tornado was slowly forming. This was the third element he had developed after obtaining the Climate-Climate Fruit: wind.
"Eye of the Storm!!" Leo's lips quirked as he forcefully hurled the small tornado from his hand. The moment it left his hand, the tornado instantly enlarged. Like a beast that could swallow heaven and earth, it opened its maw, devouring all the oncoming tornadoes. From within the eye of the storm came frightening, grating sounds—like a beast's growl, yet also like a gale's moan. In the end, Leo's Eye of the Storm was superior. After destroying all the tornadoes Kaido created, it gradually dissipated into nothingness.
"Kaido, it's not over yet!!" Leo pressed the advantage, flashing onto the azure dragon body of Kaido. In his beast form, while Kaido could launch apocalypse-level attacks, his such enormous dragon body was, in Leo's eyes, a sitting duck.
Stab!
Stab!
Stab!
Leo showed no mercy, stabbing Kaido over a dozen times in succession. Great gouts of blood spilled out, forming deep, sinister-colored blood flowers. Before the multiple forces capable of breaching defense, Kaido's defense was only slightly harder than tofu.
ROAR!!
ROAR!!
In an instant, intense pain swept through his entire body. The azure dragon writhed frantically like an earthworm. Kaido let out heart-rending cries of agony from his mouth. At this moment, he was truly couldn't hold on.
Seventy-Two Transformations!! Kaido decisively acted, his body rapidly shrinking, transforming back into his hybrid form. Any later, and Leo would have stabbed through him.
Pfft~
Upon landing, Kaido spat out another mouthful of blood. Leo landed steadily, looking at his handiwork with a very satisfied nod. Besides the crisscrossing wounds, Kaido now had several bloody holes on his body. Unable to use his recovery power to close the wounds, Kaido's face was pale as paper. Even as the World's Strongest Creature, excessive blood loss made him dizzy and lightheaded. The aura around him had also weakened considerably.
"I'll fight you to the death!!" Kaido ignoring the intense pain, grabbed his kanabo and charged again.
"Kundali: Dragon Twister!!" He acted like a madman, eyes crimson red, the stench of blood filling his nostrils completely unleashed his beastly nature. Kaido swung his kanabo, all three Haki going all out, holding nothing back anymore. At this point, he had to admit that only a desperate, life-risking struggle offered a sliver of a chance to win.
Endless afterimages of the kanabo appeared in the sky, enveloping Leo like a hail of bullets. Each was simultaneously coated with two streams of refined Haki, black and red colors continuously flowing.
"That phrase again." Leo curled his lip, shaking his head mockingly. Everyone who couldn't beat him wanted to fight him desperately at the last moment. The result? They still couldn't win. As if shouting a slogan could transform them completely. But to be fair, Kaido's talent for naming moves wasn't bad, in no way inferior to Zoro's. Never mind the power, the names were quite intimidating.
Leo activated Observation Haki, firmly locking onto the attack trajectories of all the kanabo afterimages. Twisting and turning, he avoided them all. Those attacks powerful enough to destroy mountain peaks all brushed past him.
"Hmm??" Suddenly, Leo frowned. Observation Haki: Future Sight! In his mind appeared a scene of the future. In the scene, Kaido, holding his kanabo, flashed before him at extreme speed and smacked him squarely in the face with it. So vicious?? Leo twitched the corner of his mouth, body shifting slightly. The next second, he precisely dodged Kaido's lethal strike from above. Leo kicked Kaido in the kidneys, sending him flying away.
"*%$#@&…!" Mid-air, Kaido cursed filthily. Soon, he charged out from the rubble again. Kaido's body was covered in a sticky mixture of blood and mud, making Leo feel nauseous.
"LEO!!" Being toyed with repeatedly, Kaido completely lost his sanity. His injuries also didn't allow him to continue stalling. "I'LL KILL YOU!!" "Daikoku: Thunder Bagua!!!" Kaido finally unleashed his strongest lethal move in hybrid form. An enhanced version of Thunder Bagua, lightning compressed to the extreme like a nuclear explosion! Once it hit an opponent, it would produce a massive mushroom cloud!
"This move~" Leo narrowed his eyes slightly, a grave expression gradually appearing on his face. He could clearly perceive that within this attack, Kaido had infused even stronger Armament and Conqueror's Haki. Its power was absolutely incomparable to his previous attacks.
"In that case, I'll oblige you!" Leo's gaze sharpened, gripping Ichimonji with both hands. Hakoku Starting Stance! A pillar of energy containing multiple powers shot forth, covering a hundred meters, colliding with Kaido's kanabo.
The moment the attacks collided, a terrifying energy shockwave instantly erupted. The world lost all sound. Centered on the two, a small mushroom cloud enveloping several kilometers rose.
"HOLY CRAP!! Everyone, RUN!"
"Retreat! Retreat immediately!!"
"They're both complete lunatics!"
Whether it was the All-Stars, Flying Six, or Kalifa and the others, everyone looked as if they'd seen a ghost, unprecedented panic appearing on their faces. Everyone tacitly stopped fighting, using their own methods to flee toward the island's edge at the fastest speed.
The next second, the mushroom cloud completely exploded!!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Powerful air currents like a hurricane passing through ravaged everything. The ground collapsed layer by layer, splitting open one deep, bottomless chasm after another. The Udon prison and all other buildings turned to dust in an instant, vanishing without a trace. Some Beasts members who couldn't escape to a safe distance in time were instantly vaporized as the shockwave passed over. Not even a single strand of hair remained.
Those who escaped with their lives gasped for breath heavily, cheeks slightly red, filled with the feeling of surviving a calamity.
"Lord Kaido!!" King shouted. Everyone looked toward the battlefield's center. Kaido eyes straining with rage, covered in blood vessels, using all his remaining strength to resist the Hakoku. But even at his peak, he couldn't possibly emerge unscathed from Hakoku. Let alone now. The power of Hakoku completely released. After destroying Kaido's enhanced Thunder Bagua, its remaining force then breached his two layers of protective armor before slashing into his chest.
Pfft~
Kaido's voice failed. Blood sprayed across the sky. A ghastly, bone-deep wound appeared on his chest. Kaido, bathed in blood, was now completely grievously wounded. His aura had weakened significantly.
"Lord Kaido!!" King's pupils constricted. The pteranodon dove down. "King, this isn't your place to interfere!!" "Water Tornado!!" Kalifa shouted, jade-like hand waving. Several dragons formed from sea water roared forth. King's expression changed dramatically, hurriedly evading. Mighty as he was, he didn't dare touch this seawater.
Leo glanced at the restless Beasts Pirates. Healing power activated. His body returned to peak condition once more! This battle should end now!
"Leo, cough… I never expected you to be this strong!!" Kaido spat out saliva mixed with blood, then threw his kanabo aside. He tried hard to steady his breathing, a resolute expression flashing across his face. "Leo, I admit I underestimated you. If you can withstand my final move… my life is yours!!"
"ROAR!!!" Without another word, Kaido enduring the pain, transforming into the azure dragon once more and soaring into the sky.
Like a cat toying with a mouse, a mocking arc curled at the corner of Leo's lips. He didn't stop him, allowing Kaido his final struggle. When that ever-victorious, powerful existence from the anime now only wanted to fight with all his might to seize that slim chance for survival before him… Leo would give Kaido this opportunity.
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T/N :
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