Sinking the Land, Going All Out

[Survival of the Fittest Level 9: You possess extremely strong adaptability to any environment or disaster, and extremely high resistance to any abnormal condition.]

Lin Ye could feel his resistance to lightning damage growing stronger.

Lightning strikes that had originally required Armament Haki coating to withstand were having less and less effect on him now.

It was just that Kaido had flown into the sky, which made things troublesome for him.

He did not know Geppo. His ability to walk through the air was achieved by brute-force kicks against the air.

It worked at low altitudes for short periods, but he could not fight at high altitudes for long, nor was he agile enough. If he went up there, he would definitely get beaten up.

Still, if he wanted to take to the skies, certain Devil Fruit abilities and Geppo could both work. He could put that on the agenda.

Kaido in the sky also noticed the changes in Lin Ye.

The lightning strikes actually seemed to have no effect at all.

Was this brat's physique really that absurd?

Kaido was a little stunned.

Even he would not be able to endure being struck by lightning continuously.

But what was going on with that brat below?

Just as he was wondering, Kaido saw Lin Ye turn around and leave.

That sight left Kaido dumbfounded.

Was he running away?

No, the battle had yet to be decided.

With a quick thought, Kaido immediately understood Lin Ye's situation.

He had no means of attacking the air.

That was Lin Ye's weakness.

But this weakness...

The lightning Kaido controlled stopped.

When Lin Ye below noticed that no more lightning was falling, he looked up at Kaido amid the clouds and revealed a mocking smile.

With Kaido's eyesight, he could see the mockery on Lin Ye's face clearly.

In an instant, Kaido bristled with rage.

That brat was mocking him.

Did he think Kaido was avoiding the fight?

Did he think Kaido was afraid of him?

At that thought, Kaido's eyes filled with blood vessels. His massive body burst out of the clouds and charged down at Lin Ye.

Sensing Kaido's movement, Lin Ye abruptly turned around and shot into the sky.

One rose while the other descended, both at extreme speed.

In the blink of an eye, Kaido saw Lin Ye appear before him.

"Get down here!"

Leaping into the air, Lin Ye drew back his right fist sharply. Full-power Conqueror's Coating wrapped around his fist.

The space around his fist seemed like a black hole.

With a furious roar from Lin Ye, his fist smashed heavily into Kaido's brow.

The instant the punch landed, Kaido's enormous dragon head turned black.

But it was useless. Lin Ye's punch sent Kaido crashing down.

His huge, elongated body was dragged along by his falling head like a streamer.

Watching Kaido plummet, Lin Ye stomped the air fiercely with both feet, inverted himself, and dove downward.

Kaido's massive body crashed onto the ground.

Then a figure followed close behind, full-power Conqueror's Coating once again wrapping around his fist.

Like judgment descending from heaven, the punch trailed black lightning in a straight black line as it struck Kaido's head again after he hit the ground.

The earth trembled as a violent Shockwave spread in every direction.

Kaido's massive body twisted along with the Shockwave.

Lin Ye's fist remained a meter away from Kaido's head as black lightning burst forth.

The blood vessels that had filled Kaido's eyes had vanished after Lin Ye's previous punch.

Now, his huge eyes were filled with gravity.

Lin Ye's Level 10 Conqueror's Haki was clearly stronger than Kaido's. Even though Kaido used Conqueror's Haki to resist the blow, his head still sank into the ground.

The surrounding earth, rocks, and mountains were blasted into the air by the Shockwave.

Kaido was shaken to the core as he gritted his teeth and stared at the immense pressure above him.

This brat's Conqueror's Haki was stronger than his.

Earlier, Kaido had believed they were evenly matched, with himself even holding a slight advantage.

But the Conqueror's Haki he felt from Lin Ye now was stronger than his own.

For a moment, he felt as though he had seen Roger's shadow again.

Over the past twenty or thirty years on the seas, he had only encountered this kind of Haki a handful of times.

And every one of them had been a top powerhouse of these seas.

Like Roger, and like his former captain, Rocks.

"You let your guard down!"

Lin Ye said coldly, suddenly increasing the force in his hand.

Full-power Conqueror's Haki combined with the strength of Mighty Arms as Lin Ye's Haki-wrapped arm abruptly swelled.

Boom!

Kaido's head sank sharply, and a black line tore through space.

The entirety of Wano Country shook violently. Then Ringo split apart completely.

Ringo, which had originally been one with Wano Country, slowly split into dozens of landmasses, and the land by the shore began sinking into the sea.

Standing in midair by stomping the air, Lin Ye looked down below, breathing slightly hard.

Wisps of white steam rose from his body.

Seawater poured into the fissures in the land below, concealing Kaido's dragon form beneath the water.

Devil Fruit users feared seawater, but Kaido was different.

The Fish-Fish Fruit had strong adaptability to seawater. Lin Ye suspected that this guy could retain some of his strength even underwater.

After all, powerful Devil Fruit users all possessed a certain degree of resistance to seawater, much less a Fish-Fish Fruit user.

The seawater below turned crimson, boiling within an extremely short time.

The orange-red sea looked as though an enormous volcano beneath it was about to erupt.

Lin Ye fixed his eyes on the seawater below.

Then Kaido's Heat Breath pierced through the sea and shot into the sky past Lin Ye.

The surrounding seawater was directly pierced through and vaporized.

The pushed-back water revealed Kaido standing on the seabed below.

Having already withdrawn his Beastification form, Kaido transformed into his half-dragon form once more.

Holding his spiked club, he looked up at Lin Ye.

The scene was just like before.

Only, Lin Ye had been below then, while Kaido had been above the clouds.

Now, Lin Ye was above, while Kaido stood on the seabed.

Kaido leaped upward, swinging his spiked club and sweeping up the seawater pouring down again, forming a gigantic waterspout.

Rising alongside the waterspout, Kaido leaped out and struck it with his spiked club.

Tens of thousands of tons of seawater came crashing down toward Lin Ye head-on.

Lin Ye stopped stomping the air beneath his feet, then changed direction. After evading the surging seawater, he landed on a patch of land.

At this point, Ringo had gone from one complete landmass to dozens of reefs protruding from the sea.

Kaido also landed on another reef not far away.

"I underestimated you!"

Kaido planted his spiked club on the ground. One of the horns on his head had broken.

He breathed lightly, his gaze fixed firmly on Lin Ye.

"If you don't fight with everything you've got, you might die."

Lin Ye replied coldly.

"Brat, you've got a big mouth. Your Conqueror's Haki is indeed powerful, and so is your Armament Haki, but I've fought my way all the way here."

Kaido flew into a rage upon hearing that, but soon calmed down.

As someone who could become an overlord of the seas and one of the future Four Emperors, Kaido was actually quite intelligent—at least smarter than most pirates.

This time, he had to go all out.

What Kaido considered now was no longer how to defeat Lin Ye, but how to avoid defeat.

From their exchange just now, he had already realized that Lin Ye's strength was absolutely no weaker than his own.

And that was only because Lin Ye lacked combat experience and was not yet proficient in using his Haki.

All out!

Kaido thought.

The moment Lin Ye noticed Kaido's gaze, he immediately understood what Kaido meant. A hint of fervent madness appeared once more in his cold smile. Then, the two leaped at the same time and lunged toward each other.