The moment their previous collision ended, the three of them—Ace, Yamato, and Kaido—were blown apart across the sky. None of them hesitated. Their bodies snapped forward at once, Conqueror's Haki erupting from each like crashing thunder.
The heavens themselves split into ragged streaks, clouds shredded into ribbons.
Ace, Yamato, and Kaido all unleashed their full power simultaneously.
Hundreds of infernal fire orbs, each the size of a house, erupted around Ace as he hurled them straight toward Kaido. Yamato leapt beside him, swinging the club with both hands:
"Mahoroba… Phantom Blade!"
Unlike before, this version was charged with raw Haki rather than thunder—aimed directly at Kaido's guard.
Kaido snarled and twisted his massive frame.
He answered both of their attacks at the same time with one of his most devastating techniques:
"Conqueror of Three Worlds… RAGNARAKU!"
"HAAAKU!"
The triple-layered destruction smashed through Yamato's Phantom Blade, then crashed toward Ace's burning orbs.
Kaido swung his kanabō like a baseball bat and whipped each one of Ace's fire orbs away—sending it spiraling through the air like a blazing comet.
Ace gritted his teeth. Even in this state—injured, enraged, fighting both Yamato and Ace—Kaido showed no signs of slowing. His energy was endless.
Ace raised one hand.
"Yamato—hold him off. One minute. I'll finish prepping."
Yamato roared back and charged.
Ace began forming his attack:
"Swordstorm of Fire."
But this time it wasn't the Wano version.
Thousands of burning swords—each over five meters tall—materialized around him in a spiraling inferno.
Kaido reacted instantly.
"Kongo Kabura… VAJRA ARROW!"
He swung his kanabō and fired a shockwave projectile toward Ace to break his concentration.
Yamato intercepted by launching:
"Nari Kabura Arrow — Ringing Turning!"
The two ranged strikes collided midair.
Kaido wasn't done. Lightning burst from his horns:
"Ragnaraku — Lightning Helm!"
Yamato countered his charge with:
"Kagamiyama — Mirror Mountain!"
—a dome of ice and reflective force spreading around Yamato.
They clashed again, Yamato following up with:
"Fuyu Rokugiri — Hallowed Glacier Slash!"
Father and daughter tore into each other with ferocity and pain.
By the time Ace's preparation finished, Yamato was down on one knee—blood dripping from her forehead and mouth, breath ragged.
Ace unleashed his completed technique.
"Swordstorm of Fire!"
Thousands of flaming blades rained toward Kaido.
For the first time in the battle…
Kaido actually winced. The swords burned, cutting into him despite his overwhelming durability.
Ace saw it.
Kaido felt pain.
Kaido snarled and retaliated:
"Gundari Ryū Seigun!"
(Kundari Dragon Drum)
Blinding-fast kanabō strikes smashed through the flaming swords, destroying the attack in seconds.
Then Kaido inhaled deeply—his body shifting toward beast form—
"Boro Breath!!"
Ace snarled and answered:
"Titan Fireball!"
But this Titan Fireball was monstrously large—the size of a mountain.
The two titanic breaths collided.
The ice beneath them vaporized instantly.
Only Yamato remained standing on her own ice platforms, rapidly reforming them to avoid falling.
Ace burst upward with newly formed BlazingWings—fiery wings sprouting from his back, allowing short bursts of flight.
Kaido rose as well, riding his own flame clouds.
Ace exhaled.
"The warm-up is over."
He opened his mouth and unleashed:
"Hellfire Resonance "
A colossal pillar of flame roared outward.
Kaido's eyes gleamed with excitement.
He inhaled once more—
"BORO BREATH!!!"
The two beams collided again—
and the world cracked open.
---
The explosion was so enormous that even Yamato—already two hundred meters away—was hurled back another two hundred.
Ice shattered beneath her landing as she steadied herself, coughing steam from the heat.
But Kaido…
Kaido still stood in the center of the devastation, grinning.
Yamato didn't hesitate.
"Shinsoku Hakujaku… Divine Serpent White Serpent!"
A massive white serpent of ice and divine force spiraled from her strike, tearing across the sky toward Kaido.
Kaido lunged forward, veins bulging.
"THUNDER BELLOW BAGUA!!"
A more powerful, roaring variant of Thunder Bagua collided with the White Serpent.
Their clash detonated in midair—yet Yamato felt something else.
Presence.
Others were approaching.
Too fast.
Too many.
"It's been over fifteen minutes…" Yamato muttered. "Another five or ten and the whole island will rush here."
Ace understood instantly.
"We're not trying to defeat him. Just push him back."
The two of them raised their weapons.
Ace unleashed:
" Emperor Flame— CATACLYSM!"
But this time, the attack consumed half of Ace's remaining strength.
Alongside him, Yamato distracted Kaido until Ace was prepared.
The sky burned.
An island-sized fireball formed—visible even from Onigashima.
Kaido's eyes widened.
He roared and threw Yamato away, transforming into his full azure dragon form:
"Thunder Flame Dragon Torch!"
"Rising Dragon Flame Bagua!!"
The colossal techniques met head-on, creating an explosion so massive that the sea boiled instantly.
Steam and fire swallowed the horizon.
Yamato fought with everything she had just to keep from being dragged underwater by the shockwave.
Ace was thrown below the waves for a moment—until the world trembled again.
Yamato sensed someone.
A dark silhouette cutting across the sky.
King.
He streaked toward them from the direction of Onigashima.
Yamato intercepted immediately, clashing with him midair.
Ace's face was tense—anxious, even—but resolved.
He shouted toward Kaido:
"Kaido! This is my strongest attack! Take it—but, be prepared for death."
Kaido's grin widened.
A monster's grin.
Once again he wound up:
"Rising Dragon Flame Bagua!"
Ace only smiled.
He raised his arm in front of him and a fire sphere started forming.
The fire began expanding—so large that it surpassed the size of Onigashima.
Kaido snarled.
"This isn't enough
Ace smiled and said
" This is just the beginning."
Then something impossible happened.
The sphere…
contracted.
Shrinking.
Pulling inward instead of outward.
The flame changed color—
first orange,
then gold,
then pale,
until finally…
A white flame sphere, marble-sized, hovered in Ace's palm.
Kaido's breath caught.
"Brat… If you can wield that, I'll acknowledge you. You may go to the Sea with Yamato."
Ace, sweating from the burning even he felt, nodded.
"Kaido… don't die."
Conqueror's Haki erupted from both fighters.
Black lightning coiled around them.
Their Haki intertwined, clashing invisibly.
Ace took the white flame marble in the one hand.
Even his Flame-Flame Logia Body trembled at the heat.
He couldn't hold it long.
"Combustion Kick — IGNITION!"
Blazing Wings flared wide behind him—Ace shot forward, moving faster than ever before.
Kaido charged at the same time, Kanabo wrapped in rising dragon flames.
Just meters apart—
The world fell silent.
Their attacks didn't touch.
Conqueror's entanglement kept them suspended—two forces refusing to yield.
Then—
STELLAR HEART IMPLOSION
Ace's hand erupted.
A cosmic column of white fire, like a piece of a burning galaxy, tore upward.
Kaido's flames burst out around Ace.
The collision finally broke—
BOOOOOOOM!
A blast hundreds of meters wide exploded outward.
Yamato and King were blasted away like dust.
The Beast Pirates' fleet—two or three kilometers ahead—was thrown back, ships shattering instantly.
Silence.
Yamato, panicked, scanned the smoke.
"Ace!!"
She flew toward the center of the explosion.
At last—
she found him, falling limply through the air, unconscious and burned.
Yamato caught him tightly, her breath shaking.
"Ace… Ace!!"
She looked back toward the battlefield.
Kaido was still floating.
King hovered behind him.
But the first one to arrive at the blast site—
was Yamato.
She clutched Ace to her chest and soared away.
---
Yamato landed roughly on a drifting slab of ice she created earlier, Ace unconscious in her arms.
Her breath trembled. Her mind roared.
Then—
Crackle—!!
Black lightning burst from her body.
Yamato's Conqueror's Haki ignited, weaving around her mace like a furious storm.
Even in her exhausted state, she forced the Haki to entangle—
a technique she had barely begun to master.
She glared at Kaido.
Her father.
Her enemy.
Her captor.
Her burden.
Kaido stood in the sky in his full dragon form, battered and scorched.
Some scales were burned black.
Sea steam hissed around him.
But he was… silent.
Too silent.
Yamato's grip tightened.
"KAIDO!! I won't let you take Ace!!
Not now—NOT EVER AGAIN!"
She lunged forward—
—but Kaido didn't move.
Not a breath.
Not a twitch.
Only the drifting clouds and the distant rumble of boiling sea.
It lasted only a few seconds.
But to Yamato…
…it felt like ages.
Finally, Kaido spoke.
His voice was low. Rough. And strangely… tired.
"…King."
King, hovering behind him, snapped to attention.
"Kaido-sama!"
Kaido didn't turn around.
"Give… them… a boat."
King blinked.
"…A—boat? You want to let them go?"
Kaido said nothing.
His silence was the answer.
King straightened, still confused, but unquestioning.
"As you command."
He lifted his arm, activating his Den Den Mushi.
"This is King.
Beast Pirates—hold your positions.
Empty a boat.
No pursuit.
I repeat—no pursuit."
Static crackled. Voices shouted back in panic.
But King cut them off.
"It's Kaido's order."
He lowered his arm, still staring at Yamato and Ace as if trying to understand Kaido's decision.
Yamato didn't wait.
She didn't need explanations.
She carried Ace to the empty boat and sailed opposite of Wano.
Below, King watched silently.
Kaido remained motionless in dragon form, smoke curling from his mouth.
After several tense minutes—
Yamato cleared the borders of Wano.
And then—
She kept sailing.
And didn't look back.
---