The Azure Dragon Sets Sail! Kaido's Fruit in Battle

It was the third month after the God Valley Incident.

Kaido was going stir-crazy.

"Lin Yuan! What happened to setting sail?" He stood on the training ground with an iron club over his shoulder, crushing three stone slabs underfoot. "It's been a month! A whole month!"

"You destroyed an island last month." Lin Yuan leaned against the castle entrance, a newspaper in his hand. "Ginny said there might have been civilians on it."

"The civilians ran away beforehand, didn't they?"

"That's because they were fast enough."

"Wororororo... Anyway, I'm going out for a fight."

Lin Yuan put down the newspaper and glanced at him.

Kaido had eaten the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon three months ago, but apart from transforming a few times above Hachinosu, breathing a few blasts of Dragon Breath, and scaring off a few Sea Kings, he hadn't fought a single real battle. His only training partners were raw Seastone and Bullet's fists, but no matter how tough Bullet was, he was still human-shaped—not a ship, a gun emplacement, or an entire pirate crew.

Lin Yuan thought for a moment.

"All right. But you follow my orders this time."

"Fine!"

"When I say retreat, you retreat."

"Yeah, yeah, fine!"

"No destroying islands."

Kaido curled his lip but said nothing.

Lin Yuan sighed and turned back into the castle.

"Ginny! Find a target!"

Ginny poked her head out of the intelligence room, a document in her hand.

"Already found one. The Bison Pirates in the New World. Their captain has a bounty of 280 million, with over two hundred men and three ships. They raided a small island just yesterday and are now resting up on Bison Island."

"Send me the location."

Ginny tossed him the document. Lin Yuan caught it and glanced at it.

"Kaido, Bullet, let's go."

"I'm coming too!" Bullet walked over from the training ground, his fists still wrapped in bandages.

"You're coming to watch. Kaido fights alone."

Bullet frowned but didn't object.

Lin Yuan raised a hand and opened a door in front of the three of them. Beyond it was the sky above the New World, with Bison Island below.

"Let's go."

Bison Island.

Three pirate ships lay side by side in the harbor, a bull skull painted on each sail. Tents had been pitched on shore, where pirates drank and ate meat, their clamor audible from hundreds of meters away.

Kaido stepped through the door and landed on a reef.

"This is it?"

"This is it." Lin Yuan hovered in midair, standing on a Micro Door. "Your goal is to smash all three ships. Leave the captain alive. Do what you want with the rest."

"Wororororo..." Kaido planted his iron club in the reef and rolled his shoulders. "No club."

He drew a deep breath.

His body began to change.

Azure dragon scales emerged on his arms and spread to his shoulders, chest, and back. His body swelled larger and larger, bursting through his clothes and exposing his scale-covered torso. Two muscles bulged on his back, then tore open—a pair of enormous azure dragon wings unfurled from his shoulder blades, their span over twenty meters wide, blotting out half the sky. His neck lengthened, his skull shifted, his mouth thrust forward, and his teeth became sharp blades. A thick dragon tail emerged from his tailbone and swept across the reef, pulverizing it.

Kaido was gone.

In his place was an azure dragon.

He was over thirty meters long, covered in azure scales, with golden scales on his belly that glittered in the sunlight. His dragon wings spread wide, the bony spurs at their tips as sharp as blades. A tuft of mane grew at the end of his tail, like a mass of azure flame. Two curved horns rose from his head, wrapped in dark red Conqueror's Haki lightning.

Kaido's Conqueror's Haki burst forth as he transformed, covering the entire harbor.

The pirates on shore were still drinking when a terrifying pressure suddenly bore down on them. Of the more than two hundred pirates, over half foamed at the mouth and fell to the ground. The few dozen remaining could barely stand on their trembling legs, their cups dropping to the ground.

"C-Conqueror's Haki?!"

"What is that?!"

"A dragon—! It's a dragon!"

The azure dragon opened his mouth.

An azure light shone deep in his throat.

Dragon Breath.

A blast of azure flame more than five meters in diameter erupted from the dragon's mouth, so hot that the air warped around it. It struck the first pirate ship, instantly burning through its hull. Planks charred and shattered, and the sails turned to ash. The flames passed through the first ship, hit the second, and then the third.

All three ships were ablaze within ten seconds.

The Dragon Breath heated the sea, sending steam billowing upward. The water within a hundred-meter radius bubbled as if boiling. Some of the pirates aboard jumped into the sea to escape, screaming as the hot water scalded them. Others didn't make it off in time and were swallowed by the flames. Still others had been knocked unconscious by the Conqueror's Haki and lay on the decks waiting to die.

The captain of the Bison Pirates rushed out of a tent, still wearing his pajamas. He looked at the azure dragon in the sky, and his face went deathly pale.

The azure dragon lowered his head, his dark golden slit pupils fixed on him.

The captain drew his blade, coated it in Armament Haki, and charged at the azure dragon.

The azure dragon didn't move.

The captain reached the dragon and slashed at his leg. Clang! The blade broke. There wasn't so much as a scratch on the scales of the azure dragon's leg.

"That's it?"

The dragon opened his mouth, not to breathe fire, but to speak. Kaido's voice came from his dragon throat, low as thunder.

The captain froze.

The azure dragon raised a claw and gave him a light flick. The captain flew more than a hundred meters as if fired from a slingshot, struck the sea, and skipped across the surface several times before sinking.

"Not dead," the azure dragon muttered to himself. "Lin Yuan said to leave him alive."

He looked down at his dragon claw.

"Wororororo... Too easy. That didn't even count as a warm-up."

Bullet stood on a distant reef with his arms folded, watching the azure dragon circle in the sky. His expression was less than pleasant.

"That thing... How am I supposed to fight it?"

"You can't." Lin Yuan stood beside him. "That's why I brought you to watch."

Bullet gritted his teeth but said nothing.

The azure dragon circled once in the air, beat his wings, and flew toward the sea outside the harbor. He opened his mouth and unleashed another Dragon Breath, blasting a huge crater into the surface. Seawater evaporated, and steam surged into the sky.

"Kaido." Lin Yuan's voice reached his ears through Spatial Perception. "That's enough. Come back."

"One more lap."

"Come back."

The azure dragon reluctantly circled once more, then landed back on the reef. His body began to shrink, his scales receded, his wings withdrew, and his tail vanished. A few seconds later, Kaido stood bare-chested on the reef, all his clothes gone.

"Where are your clothes?" Lin Yuan asked.

"Burned up." Kaido grinned. "Wororororo... This fruit is incredible!"

Lin Yuan took a spare coat from a door and tossed it to him.

"Put it on. We're going back."

"Aren't we taking the captain with us?"

"Leave him here to spread the word."

Kaido put on the coat and hoisted his iron club over his shoulder.

"Find someone stronger next time. These people were too weak."

"We'll talk about it next time."

Lin Yuan opened a door, and the three of them stepped through. The door closed.

Out at sea, the three ships were still burning. Of the Bison Pirates' two hundred-plus members, some were unconscious, some were injured, and some had fled. The captain crawled out of the sea, soaked through. He spat out a mouthful of seawater and looked at the sky.

"Kaido... Lin Yuan... Hachinosu..."

He collapsed on the beach, gasping for breath.

Hachinosu.

Kaido stepped out of the door to find Ginny waiting for him at the edge of the training ground.

"I heard you destroyed three ships?"

"Wororororo... That's right!"

"Did you hurt any civilians?"

"No! Lin Yuan said not to hurt civilians, so I didn't!"

Ginny glanced at Lin Yuan, and he nodded.

"All right." Ginny made a note in her ledger. "Tell me before you set sail next time, so I can prepare to provide backup."

Kaido waved a hand and headed for the storehouse.

"I'm getting some meat. I'm starving."

Bullet followed him. After a few silent steps, he spoke. "Kaido."

"Hmm?"

"In your Azure Dragon Form, could you shatter Seastone with a full-power strike?"

Kaido stopped and thought for a moment.

"Don't know. Haven't tried."

"Let's try it sometime."

"Sure."

The two walked into the storehouse, one behind the other.

Lin Yuan stood on the training ground, looking at the slabs Kaido had crushed underfoot.

"Ginny."

"Yes?"

"Write up Kaido's combat assessment. Dragon Breath power: extremely high, capable of instantly destroying ordinary ships and taking out pirates with bounties under 300 million. Defense: attacks below the level of Armament Haki are ineffective. Speed: flight with dragon wings, estimated at over a hundred knots. Weakness: poor control, likely to affect the surrounding area."

Ginny scribbled it down.

"Anything else?"

"And..." Lin Yuan thought for a moment. "Find him a tougher target next time. The Bison Pirates were too weak to test his limits."

"All right."

Ginny closed the ledger, turned, and walked away.

Lin Yuan stood where he was, gazing at the sea.

The azure dragon had set sail.

It was time the New World learned Hachinosu's name.

(End of Chapter 45)