The more Kaido thought about it, the worse his mood became. His expression darkened further, and Conqueror's Haki surged from his body.
Lin Ye grinned at the sight.
Got your fighting spirit back?
When Kaido saw the excitement on Lin Ye's face, his expression froze, and he instinctively took a step back.
He had no idea how this brat had suddenly gained such terrifying strength, yet his combat experience was sorely lacking.
But even so, Kaido was truly at a loss now.
In Kaido's eyes, killing Lin Ye was already impossible.
He could not afford to lose himself.
With that thought, Kaido gripped his spiked club and leaped into the air. He immediately underwent complete Beastification, transforming into a massive azure dragon that hovered overhead.
Lin Ye frowned slightly.
This guy was flying into the sky again.
That would make things troublesome for him.
Just as Lin Ye was thinking that, Kaido's enormous Azure Dragon body suddenly spun and plunged into the clouds, then flew into the distance.
He... he ran?
Lin Ye's expression stiffened for an instant.
He looked at the enormous Azure Dragon in the distance, speechless.
Kaido had not run even when he fought Luffy to the bitter end in the future, yet he was actually fleeing now?
In only moments, the Azure Dragon Kaido had transformed into vanished into the distant clouds.
With Kaido no longer controlling them, the thunderclouds above Lin Ye quickly thinned and dispersed. Sunlight pierced through the wispy clouds like countless golden swords stabbing through the firmament.
Gurgle!
The rumbling from his stomach made Lin Ye abandon the thought of chasing after him.
For one thing, Kaido was difficult to pursue. He probably could not catch him anyway.
For another, he was genuinely hungry.
Lin Ye withdrew his gaze and looked around.
As far as the eye could see, aside from the exposed land of Wano Country in the distance, everything else had sunk beneath the water, with only scattered patches of land above the sea.
After glancing at his wounds, Lin Ye turned and leaped up, stepping on the air as he headed toward Wano Country.
Kaido had probably returned to Onigashima.
Lin Ye could certainly go there.
But if Kaido refused to fight and simply avoided him, there was nothing he could do.
It seemed he needed some aerial combat abilities.
Improving his combat experience, strengthening his physique, and gaining aerial combat abilities.
As Lin Ye stepped through the air, feeling the raging wind sweep past him, he considered what he should do next.
He looked up at several large birds flying even higher than the clouds.
News Coo!
It seemed the outside world already knew about the commotion here.
Knowing what the World Economy News Paper was like, Lin Ye could imagine that it would never conceal such huge news.
They would probably report it in the most exaggerated way possible.
Lin Ye did not care.
He no longer needed to care.
With his current strength, if he truly wanted to leave, there were very few people who could stop him.
What was more, he still had two last-resort abilities.
Time Travel and Rebirth.
[Rebirth Level 1: Revive once after life has faded. Cooldown: ten years.]
After landing back on the soil of Wano Country, Lin Ye gathered his thoughts.
This battle had sunk around one-fifth of Wano Country.
But there was one place Kaido could avoid.
It was perhaps the Seastone mining area.
Lin Ye did not care about such things, though.
Moria had run away, so where should he go next?
As for what to do, he already had an idea: find a place to digest and review the experience from this battle, then hunt the strong across these seas.
Especially Devil Fruit Users.
Although the traits he picked up could not grant him complete Devil Fruit abilities, he did not need to worry about the fruits' weaknesses—seawater and being limited to only one ability.
As he thought, Lin Ye headed toward the Flower Capital.
The Flower Capital was even more shattered than when he had left seven days ago.
Although his battle with Kaido had not directly damaged this place, its aftershocks had still affected it.
Along with his battle against Oden.
When he returned to the Flower Capital's square, the corpses from before had begun to stink and rot, yet no one had cleaned them up.
There was not a single person moving about outside, either.
Lin Ye walked over to the two fallen blades and picked up the two Great Grade Blades.
The instant he grasped Enma, Lin Ye felt his Haki being sucked away by the blade.
A chill flashed through Lin Ye's eyes. He drove Ame no Habakiri into the ground, gripped Enma's hilt with one hand, and pinched its tip with the other.
As he twisted the blade until it bent—
The Haki it had absorbed began to flow back into him.
Squinting, Lin Ye raised Enma before his eyes and examined its black blade.
That was quite a useful function.
He had plenty of Haki, but his battle with Kaido had drained an enormous amount of it.
If he infused the blade with Haki normally, perhaps it could feed that Haki back to replenish him when needed.
"But if I take these two blades, I might as well be announcing that Kozuki Oden is dead. That will probably put me at odds with Whitebeard, right?"
As Lin Ye pondered this, he carried one sword in each hand and headed in another direction through the Flower Capital.
Not long after.
A tavern owner with a mournful face prepared food with the same mournful expression.
His eyes occasionally darted toward the figure stuffing himself with food, and he swallowed hard.
Of course he had felt the disturbances outside over the past few days, but he had no idea what had happened and did not dare go out to investigate.
All he could smell was the stench of decay.
Dead people, and lots of them.
Then the man who had fought Kozuki Oden seven days ago had returned.
Lin Ye ignored the gaze and rapidly cleared the food before him.
Even though his stamina was sufficient and his Strong Physique was at a high level, fighting someone like Kaido had still consumed an enormous amount of energy.
He needed to replenish it.
"There's no more. There's really no more! Even the reserve ingredients are all gone!"
After Lin Ye finished the food in front of him, he turned to look at the owner, who said with a mournful face,
"If there's no more, forget it. Prepare some seasonings for me instead. Oh, and where can I find a ship?"
Lin Ye naturally would not make things difficult for such a small fry. He waved a hand and asked.
"Uh, there are ships by the shore. Lots of them go out fishing!"
Hearing Lin Ye say that, the owner hurriedly replied. Then he ran off and, before long, respectfully delivered a bundle.
Lin Ye stood up and patted himself down, only to realize that his clothes were all torn.
Besides, he truly had no money. That piece of gold from before had already been the last hard currency on him.
"I'll pay with this sword!"
Lin Ye looked around, then placed Ame no Habakiri on the table and turned to leave.
He could have left without paying anyway!
Only after watching Lin Ye leave did the owner collapse onto the floor.
After leaving, Lin Ye spread out his Observation Haki, picked a direction, and departed directly.
Above his head, several News Coo fell straight from the sky and crashed onto the road Lin Ye had passed through.
When Lin Ye reached the shore and saw the tiny wooden boats, he fell into deep thought.
These were clearly meant for coastal fishing.
Would a boat like this not fall apart in no time if it sailed through the ever-changing weather and harsh climate of the Grand Line?
Before you continue