Lomen Plays with Fire!
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I don't think you've taken me seriously at all!
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But whatever. By the rules of the underworld, let's exchange greetings!
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As Kaido spewed flames, black fur frantically grew over Roa's body, and a pair of broad black wings spread open.
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A tiger more than fifteen meters long stood tall upon the earth.
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"Roar!!"
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Unlike the sound waves of the past, the sonic force was forcibly compressed into a single wave. Like a comet piercing the sky, it shot straight upward.
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The sound wave collided with the pillar of flame in the next instant.
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The sky seemed to split apart, and the terrifying explosion appeared to swallow all sound.
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The powerful shock wave even overturned and blew away the carriages on the ground.
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"What?"
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Kaido was quite astonished.
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There was Conqueror's Haki mixed into that sonic attack!
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Was it a technique like Linlin's strange voice?
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"Dylan,"
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Roa spread his wings and rose into the air. "Take everyone farther away. Don't get caught up in this."
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"Lord Roa!"
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Bullet said urgently, "Please allow me to fight alongside you!"
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"Interrupting an old friend's reunion would be terribly tactless, Bullet,"
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Roa said with a smile. "Next time, definitely."
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His broad wings beat, and he shot straight into the sky. "Come on, Big Brother Kaido. Don't destroy this simple country. Come up here."
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"Hmph!"
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Kaido's enormous body swam through the air, his four claws gripping the clouds as he pursued.
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Even as he gave chase, he did not stop attacking.
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"Bad Wind!"
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The Azure Dragon's body twisted, and enormous blades of wind swept toward Roa one after another.
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Roa glanced back slightly as patterns spread across the great horns on his head.
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"Whoosh!!"
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A fierce wind suddenly rose, sending blades of wind to meet them!
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But they were larger, more numerous, and more ferocious!
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Wind clashed against wind, and sharp blades against sharp blades.
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Amid the thunderous rumbling, the razor-sharp wind nearly tore the sky apart.
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After piercing through Kaido's wind blades, even more blades swept toward Kaido.
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"Oh, it looks like even with similar abilities, I'm still a little stronger."
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Roa sounded intrigued.
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"Thunder!"
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The Azure Dragon said nothing and merely roared.
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The roar transformed into lightning, blasting the wind blades apart in midair.
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"That's even more childish, Big Brother Kaido. Thunder!"
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Roa gave the order.
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The sky obeyed. Dark clouds instantly gathered, and thick bolts of lightning fell like torrential rain.
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Big Brother Kaido's little bit of lightning was instantly swallowed by the rain of thunder. His enormous body had nowhere to hide within the storm and was covered by lightning in an instant.
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"Graaaah!!"
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Even with Big Brother Kaido's tough hide and powerful Haki, the barrage of lightning still blasted him into repeated screams.
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"I'm really being underestimated here,"
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Roa said helplessly. "Big Brother Kaido, could you stop using that feeble ability to challenge me, a genuine natural disaster?"
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"Heat Breath!!"
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The pitch-black Azure Dragon suddenly burst out of the area of lightning rain. Flames surged from its wide-open mouth.
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"I told you, don't do that."
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Roa widened his eyes.
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The flames in Big Brother Kaido's mouth suddenly exploded and roared outward, spreading until they wrapped around the entire Azure Dragon.
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It looked as though he had helped Kaido activate a flame-dragon mode.
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"You damn brat!!"
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Burned until he howled once more, Kaido gritted his teeth and roared.
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They both created elemental attacks, but Kaido released attacks resembling natural disasters, while what Roa created was the natural disaster itself!
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Could this brat's ability actually be stronger than the Azure Dragon Fruit?
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What a joke!
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The Azure Dragon's enormous body suddenly shrank. The flames were pierced apart in the next instant, and a black iron club trailing black lightning tore through the sky.
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"Thunderclap—"
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Roa's body transformed into his beast-man form at the same time. As his wings beat, he shot forward as well, swinging his beloved sword, Tiger Soul, still in its sheath at his waist. It was covered in a layer of black Haki.
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"Eight Trigrams!"
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The AI messed up one of them. Aside from the wings and sword being a little off, this is more or less what it should look like.
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Boom!
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The iron club and scabbard collided in an instant.
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A violent wind swept across the sky and earth. As their powerful Haki collided, black lightning continued to leap between them.
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Roa flew backward like a cannonball. "What incredible Haki! It really is impossible to win with the same technique!"
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"Hmph!"
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Kaido stepped on flame clouds. Even high in the sky, he moved as fast as thunder.
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"My Haki is still far too weak."
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Roa finally stopped himself and accepted reality.
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He had only recently mastered Armament Haki hardening. How could he confront Big Brother Kaido head-on, when Kaido had even mastered Conqueror's Haki coating?
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His arm had felt as though it would break from that collision.
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Fortunately, his strength had kept up, and his body was tough enough. Otherwise, he might not have escaped that strike unharmed.
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Since that was the case, he drew his sword.
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The crimson blade slid from its sheath, and even the air seemed to be dyed red.
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The entire sword instantly became slick, with red liquid dripping from the blade.
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"Third World Descent · Pulling into Hell!"
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The iron club fell like heavenly thunder.
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"Emperor Sword · Breaking Blade!"
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Roa gripped the sword with both hands and swung upward.
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The instant he swung, the ominous crimson radiance on the blade surged explosively. At that moment, it seemed he was not wielding a blade, but a roaring flamethrower.
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Boom!
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Black and crimson divided the sky between them.
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In the next instant, the two colors blended into a chaotic sphere, followed by an explosion that shook the heavens.
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Roa fell downward.
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But he did not forget to swing his sword. "Lion's Might · Thousand Cut Valley!!"
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Every swing sent a massive, hundred-meter-long crimson slash shooting into the sky. These slashes were completely different from ordinary Flying Slashes, so viscous that they seemed to be blood given form.
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"Kundali · Dragon Flourishing Army!"
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The iron club, as fast as a storm, smashed Roa's slashes apart one after another in the sky.
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"What's with that sword?"
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Big Brother Kaido pursued Roa atop the flame clouds while roaring, "Is that the sword you took from God Valley?"
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"Pretty good, right? Its name is Tiger Soul!"
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Roa ran his left hand across the crimson blade. Tiger Soul instantly radiated crimson light. "Next is an original technique!"
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Red energy rapidly spread. In the blink of an eye, Roa gripped an illusory crimson greatsword dozens of meters long.
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It turned out that the claim that Tiger Soul could evolve without limit had been an exaggeration. It had its limits as well.
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Over the past six years, Roa had already maxed out Tiger Soul's level long ago.
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After evolving to its limit, Tiger Soul had naturally become even sharper. It could also greatly enhance Roa's slashes and Flying Slashes. After Roa comprehended the realm of cutting steel and became a true swordsman, this enhancement became even more astonishing.
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The greatest change, however, was that Tiger Soul could release a special red energy. Roa called it Blood Qi—a genuine power similar to Haki!
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"Wororororo! You've actually grown this strong!!"
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Big Brother Kaido laughed instead of getting angry. "Roaring Thunder Eight Trigrams!!"
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Roa swung his forty-meter greatsword. "Tiger Devour!"
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Boom!!
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Crimson and black once again surged through the sky.
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Even though he had already put considerable distance between them, Dylan, watching from below, still felt the fierce wind slam into his face, nearly blowing him away!
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"Lord Roa!"
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Dylan's eyes burned brightly.
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He truly lived up to being the man Dylan had chosen to follow. He was already capable of fighting Kaido to this extent!
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Roa continued falling and crashed into the ground with a boom, smashing a pit dozens of meters wide into the earth.
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Above, Big Brother Kaido was also flying upward, several fairly deep wounds visible across his body.
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"That sharp?"
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Feeling the pain in his body, Kaido's expression grew even more solemn.
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Even the spreading slashes alone had been enough to leave wounds on him!
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That sword!!
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"Ow! That hurts like hell!"
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Roa beat his wings and shot into the sky. "Even my captain never beat me this badly!!"
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His right arm was twisted. It was definitely broken.
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Even with Tiger Soul included, he was still quite a bit weaker.
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And Big Brother Kaido probably still had not used his full strength.
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Even at twenty-seven, Big Brother Kaido was frighteningly strong.
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Although he was still far from the realm of Uncle Shiki and the others, he was already far beyond what ordinary people could imagine.
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Hmm, a mid-level near-Emperor's strength! He probably wasn't much weaker than Yamato at twenty-eight in the original story.
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As for himself, without Tiger Soul, he should be at the high disaster level. With his beloved sword, reaching the middle of the Emperor's right-hand-man level should not be a problem.
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Of course, that referred to his strength in direct close combat.
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Roa casually reset his right arm, then took a deep breath.
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Black energy rolled toward him, and his injuries began rapidly healing in an instant.
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"Big Brother Kaido, prepare to witness a true natural disaster!"
Before you continue