Kaido vs. Saint Mars: Dragon and Gravity

The moment Whitebeard stepped down the steps on the gravel, a deep dragon roar echoed from the western battlefield. The roar wasn't sharp, but it carried the unique oppressive feeling of a dragon, intertwining with the loud crash of Iron Club smashing rocks, reverberating for a long time in the Mary Geoise forecourt.

The stone ground on the west side of the front courtyard was completely unrecognizable. Three large pits had collapsed in succession, each half a meter deeper than the previous one. The collapsed area gradually narrowed towards the feet of Saint Mars, and the edges of the pits were piled with broken bluestone. Many metal components were crushed into thin sheets by the invisible pressure. The air in the entire space was stagnant, and even the flowing wind seemed to be firmly held down.

Kaido stood on the edge of the pit, already transformed into Human-Dragon Hybrid Form. His massive dragon wings were not raised, but deliberately lowered, with the tails of his wings pressed tightly against the ground to distribute the pressure. Under the continuous suppression of the Gravity Field, he could only reduce the opening of his wings, concentrating his power in his shoulder blades and wing roots, relying on a larger surface area to withstand the heavy pressure falling from the sky, so as not to be directly crushed into the rock layer.

In the center of the deep pit, Saint Mars stood expressionless, his hands hanging limply at his sides, steadily supporting a constant Gravity Domain. The immense pressure relentlessly crushed the ground, causing the pit to deepen and the area of collapse to gradually expand outwards.

Round after round of Gravity slammed into Kaido, causing countless wounds to split open on his jet-black dragon scales. Most of the injuries were concentrated on his weight-bearing joints, such as his knees and ankles. Each time he was forced to kneel, the cracks in his scales, which had just stopped bleeding, would burst open again, and blood would trickle down the patterns on his scales, dripping into the pile of rubble at the bottom of the pit.

"The seventh time."

Kaido grunted, bracing himself against the ground to straighten up again. His dragon wings spread outwards once more, this time with a wider wingspan. He gripped the Iron Club in his hand, dark red Conqueror's Haki tightly enveloping its shaft, crackling with lightning. Whenever he was pressed down by Gravity, the Haki attached to his weapon would briefly dissipate, but as soon as he stood up, the Haki would become even more concentrated and solid.

Saint Mars remained silent, focusing solely on activating the fruit and relying solely on brute force to layer upon layer of Gravity. In his view, even the strongest physical body could not withstand the endless pressure and exhaustion.

Kaido took a step forward, and fine cracks immediately appeared on the stone slab beneath his feet.

"The first seven times were the same cycle. You release Gravity to pin me down, and I just tough it out and get back up." Kaido's golden dragon eyes locked onto the Celestial Dragons opposite him, and he saw through the flaw at a glance. "Saint Mars, your Gravity Field looks impenetrable, but it's actually full of gaps. To cover an entire area on a large scale, the power will inevitably be dispersed. Every time you contract your domain and suddenly increase the pressure, there will be a brief gap in the flow of power."

Before he could finish speaking, Saint Mars clenched his fist.

Gravity suddenly doubled, and a tremendous force crashed down. Kaido's legs buckled, and his knees slammed heavily onto the stone surface, shattering the entire paving stone on the spot, with sharp pebbles piercing his flesh. He immediately plunged his wingtip deep into the soil to steady himself, and slammed his right palm hard against the edge of the pit. Where his palm landed, the rock quickly sank, drawing a narrow trench.

He strained his leg muscles to withstand the immense pressure. The ground beneath his knees continued to sink, and just as his body was about to reach its limit, he used the recoil from the rock strata to straighten his body and stand firmly back in the pit.

"The eighth time."

Kaido dragged his Iron Club forward, the tip of the rod gliding along the ground, carving a narrow furrow in the bluestone. The furrow stretched from the edge of the pit all the way to within two meters of Saint Mars. He could see it clearly. "You can't withstand the large-scale suppression anymore. At first, the Gravity Field could cover a radius of twenty meters, but now it's less than ten meters. Continuously overdrawing your stamina to activate your Devil Fruit, you're almost at your limit."

Maintaining the Gravity Domain for so long had exhausted most of Saint Mars's strength. His face grew increasingly grim, and he no longer simply applied pressure from above. He suddenly raised his right hand, and the vertically downward Gravity instantly changed its form, transforming into Force Wall that surrounded Kaido from four directions, squeezing inward to lock him firmly in the cage.

A tremendous force surged in from all directions, squeezing the dragon's wings violently against its torso. The wingtips twisted and bent, forcing it to dig into the ground to maintain its balance. The wing bones were squeezed so hard that they made a constant, cracking sound as if steel was twisting.

The first thing to succumb to the pressure was the Iron Club in its hand.

The steel rod slowly bent under the pressure of Gravity, its straight shaft being pressed into an arc, and the degree of bending continued to increase.

Kaido's body was compressed inward, his knees hitting the ground again, and the stone ground beneath him shattered with a crash. He curled up at the bottom of the pit, his dragon wings completely flattened, and his Iron Club bent into an arc. No matter how hard he tried to get up, he would be forcibly pressed back down by an invisible force.

For a full three seconds, he was firmly restrained and unable to move.

Almost everyone assumed Kaido was exhausted, but the next moment, a roar exploded out. His dragon wings, which had been gathering all his strength, suddenly spread open to the sides!

The taut Gravity Barrier was forcibly torn open, and air rushed out through the gap. The bent Iron Club suddenly rebounded under the infusion of Conqueror's Haki, leaving only a few faint lines on the rod, which did not affect its grip at all.

This desperate struggle still left him with injuries. His left shoulder was crushed by the Gravity, leaving a large bruise. Blood kept trickling from the corner of his mouth, and the cracks in his scales all over his body were torn open again, with blood dripping down his limbs.

Saint Mars involuntarily took two steps back. In order to make up for the loophole in his domain, he could only expand the Gravity range back to twelve meters, but the suppressive force could never return to its initial peak. He kept moving his feet, adjusting his center of gravity backward, and desperately redistributing Gravity to make up for the deficiencies caused by his declining physical strength.

Kaido raised his Iron Club high above his head, his dragon wings fully extended. The wounds at the wingtips were still bleeding, but the extent of his wingspan far exceeded any previous confrontation.

"Oh, lol!"

A domineering laugh echoed throughout the front courtyard. Kaido's gaze was sharp as a blade. "You can't stop me from getting up for the eighth time. This is your breaking point! I get up faster each time, and you exert yourself more and more reluctantly each time. The more you force yourself to overdraw your strength, the faster your stamina is depleted. Now, your Gravity cage can no longer hold me."

The Iron Club slammed down with tremendous force.

Saint Mars immediately used Gravity to deflect the attack trajectory. The Iron Club grazed his shoulder and slammed into the boulder, splitting the entire rock into three pieces, with fragments flying everywhere. Kaido stopped his brute force the moment the weapon touched the ground, and his dragon wings flanked from the left and right, completely blocking all of the opponent's escape routes.

The second runner followed immediately without any pause.

Saint Mars could only concentrate all his strength to reinforce the frontal barrier, barely managing to withstand the attack. However, he was so focused on defending the front that he completely ignored the weak points on both sides of the Gravity Field. Kaido used the lift generated by his dragon wings to easily pass through the gaps in the barrier and rushed to the enemy's side in an instant.

There were no further obstacles in this endeavor.

The Iron Club, crackled with Conqueror's Haki's Haki, slammed into the Gravity Barrier, instantly spreading spiderweb-like cracks across the invisible wall. Kaido broke through the collapsing force field, his sharp dragon claws gripping Saint Mars's shoulder, and with a sudden burst of strength, slammed him heavily onto the stone ground.

A muffled boom resounded.

Saint Mars slammed hard on his back, and the ground collapsed again, creating a shallow crater. The Gravity Field he had been maintaining with all his might instantly went out of control, the boundaries of the domain twisted and collapsed, and the oppressive force that had enveloped all directions vanished.

Kaido released his grip and stepped back, silently watching his fallen opponent.

Completely exhausted, Saint Mars collapsed onto the pile of rubble, struggling several times but unable to prop himself up. New cracks along the edge of the pit reached his hand and stopped; his right hand remained in the posture of controlling the fruit, but his fingertips could no longer muster any strength. As his power dissipated, the loose rubble on the pit walls slid down towards the center with a clatter, and the outcome was no longer in doubt.

Kaido slowly shed his half-beast form, his dragon scales gradually retracting into his body. The torn wounds on his scales were fully exposed, and blood seeped continuously from his shoulders and sides. Even with his monstrous body, unmatched on land and sea, enduring eight consecutive crushing blows from Gravity had left him with genuine internal injuries.

He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, hoisted the Iron Club back onto his shoulder, and turned to look into the depths of the battlefield.

"The third battlefield isn't over yet."

He was referring to the battlefield where Roger fought against Saint Nusjuro. Flames soared into the sky, and extremely refined Conqueror's Haki sword energy repeatedly tore through the sea of fire, constantly compressing the opponent's space to maneuver. The booming collisions came one after another, and the battle remained fierce.

From afar, Whitebeard had already reached the side entrance of the Room of Authority, glancing inside with his Naginata on his shoulder. His deep voice carried on the wind. "Just dealt with one, four high-ranking officials left. Everyone, continue advancing."

Kaido did not answer, gripping his Iron Club tightly and striding steadily towards the heart of Mary Geoise. The pebbles beneath his feet were crushed into powder, and his ferocious aura only grew stronger.

At this moment, the entire front courtyard was engulfed in flames, with four battle lines advancing simultaneously. The Holy Knights were held back on the perimeter and were unable to return to defend the core position. The defensive line painstakingly built by the Celestial Dragons had been torn to shreds by the Pirate Alliance.

The wind blew across the broken white jade steps, and the smell of gunpowder and blood mingled and permeated the air. Another top expert finished his fierce battle and, without time to rest, rushed to the next battle. This fierce battle that had wreaked havoc in the Holy Land Mary Geoise had only just entered its most intense phase.