I'll Win! (Serious Face)

Akuta did not answer.

He raised his hand, and the black ground beneath his feet immediately began to tremble.

Dozens of thick shadow pillars rose from the ground, each like a small mountain, crashing down on Kaido.

Kaido swung his club in a sweeping motion, and the lightning bolts from his staff shattered several shadow pillars in front of him.

The shatterable stones were transformed into shadows again in mid-air by the power of the Akuta, and then gathered together to become more shadow pillars that pressed down from all directions.

"Useless! Useless!" Kaido roared, swinging his spiked club in a wide arc to unleash a shockwave that shattered all the surrounding shadow pillars. "I can easily shatter shadows of this level!"

"Huh? Really?"

The sound of the Akuta came from behind the shadow pillar.

Kaido looked in the direction of the sound and saw Akuta crouching on the ground.

One hand was pressed against the ground, and the smile on his face was almost maniacal.

But what truly terrified Kaido was not the Akuta itself.

In the battle just now, Kaido was certain that the Akuta's stamina was almost completely exhausted.

But when Kaido used his Observation Haki to sense the Akuta again, he was in excellent condition!

He wasn't even out of breath, let alone tired!

"This is Onigashima, Kaido," said Akuta no Ken. "The entire island is made of rock. How many shadows do you think I have?"

Kaido's expression changed.

The black ground beneath his feet suddenly cracked open, and a huge shadowy hand emerged from the crack, reaching out to grab him.

Kaido jumped to dodge, but the Sky Manipulation above him was also obscured by a black shadow.

That was a screen created by the Akuta from fragments of rock shattered from the roof of Oni Island, pressing down like dark clouds.

Kaido swung his spiked club, and the lightning bolts of his wielding tore apart the shadowy screen above his head and smashed the shadowy hands beneath his feet.

The shatterable rock was immediately transformed into more shadows, surging towards him from all directions.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Kaido suddenly burst into laughter.

He stood in the center of the dark earth, his Conqueror's Haki increasing rather than decreasing.

"Controlling the entire island? That's quite an exaggeration!"

He looked at Akuta, his vertical pupils burning with the excitement of a battle maniac.

"You can control it however you want, but..."

He paused, then his tone suddenly became serious.

"You can't conquer the world with just ability!"

"This world has its own rules, and only dominance... can rise above everything!"

Kaido's last words were shouted.

The next moment, his figure moved and leaped rapidly in the air, quickly approaching the direction of the Akuta.

In the blink of an eye, Kaido was standing in front of the Akuta, his body radiating an aura of dominance.

Enveloped in a powerful aura, Kaido looked like a ball of light, standing out conspicuously in the Sky Manipulation!

"Great Mighty Thunderous Eight Trigrams!"

A "Great Power Thunder Bagua" attack, more powerful than ever before, was unleashed by Kaido!

The Conqueror's Haki wrapped around the spiked club was so intense it was almost tangible. Black and red lightning condensed into a pillar of light that pierced through the heavens and earth, carrying a world-destroying power as it crashed down on the Akuta.

Kaido left no room for error in this attack.

He was going to smash this demon island, which he had personally transformed into a realm of shadow, along with the Akuta, to pieces!

The massive shockwave shattered the shadow that had enveloped Kaido, and the world became bright again. All the shadows that had been hovering around Kaido disappeared.

Just when Kaido thought the battle was over, a loud roar suddenly came from the Sky Manipulation!

Kaido suddenly looked up.

The once clear blue Sky Manipulation was now covered by layers of thick shadows, making the entire Sky Manipulation look like it was covered with a cloud made of shadows!

The shadow was darker and thicker than the clouds, and the entire world seemed to darken because of it.

Kaido's Observation Haki began to warn him, and his instincts told him that some kind of power that could threaten his life was gathering above his head.

"This is..."

Just as Kaido was wondering, the thick, shadowy clouds in the Sky Manipulation began to churn.

A gigantic hand emerged from the clouds!

That wasn't a real hand.

It was a gigantic shadow hand formed entirely of shadows!

The hand was as big as a mountain, and its size even exceeded that of the entire ghost island.

Kaido's pupils contracted, and he immediately transformed into a blue dragon, entering the beast form unique to Zoan-type Devil Fruits.

Even so, compared to this hand, Kaido's Azure Dragon form still seemed so insignificant.

A blue dragon hovered above Onigashima. Kaido looked up and unleashed his strongest attack in dragon form.

"Rising Dragon - Flame Eight Trigrams!"

A torrent of flames erupted from the Azure Dragon's mouth, the flames intertwined with Conqueror's Haki, transforming into a colossal fire dragon even thicker than itself, roaring as it soared into the sky.

The fiery dragon and the shadowy hand collided in mid-air.

In that instant, heaven and earth fell silent.

A violent roar echoed as the shadow collided with the palm of the hand.

The fiery dragon tried to burn through the shadow hand, but the shadow hand was too thick and heavy; every inch of the shadow seemed to compress the depth of the entire ocean.

The fiery dragon let out a final wail as it was crushed by the shadowy hand, transforming into countless sparks that fell like a reversed meteor shower.

Kaido's azure dragon body trembled violently, and the reflection in his dragon eyes showed the enormous shadowy hand that was still pressing down.

But that hand was too big, so big that it covered the entire Sky Manipulation, so big that no matter which direction he moved, he couldn't escape the range of its five fingers.

"Asshole!"

Kaido roared, spewing a new wave of flames from his dragon mouth, but those flames were like a match thrown into the sea in front of the shadow hand.

The shadowy hand crushed the flames, shattered the Conqueror's Haki shield wrapped around the dragon scales, and crushed all of Kaido's struggles.

Then, it struck Kaido's dragon body.

"Boom!!!!"

The giant hand, formed from the shallow rocks of the entire Onigashima and countless shadows, swatted Kaido's blue dragon body straight down from mid-air like swatting a fly.

The dragon's body sliced through the air, crashing down onto the island with a piercing shriek.

"Bang!!!!"

The ground of Ghost Island suddenly trembled, sending debris flying hundreds of meters high. The entire island shook violently, as if struck by an invisible giant hammer.

Kaido's dragon body smashed into the ground, creating a bottomless crater, its massive form deeply embedded in the rock.

He struggled to lift his head, but the shadowy hand did not stop.

It continued to press down, cutting through the dust and rubble, and slammed precisely onto Kaido's dragon body, slamming him deeper into the earth from the pit.

"Boom!!!"

The second impact.

The entire ghost island sank several meters, and seawater rushed in from the edge of the island, flowing into the interior of the island along the cracks.

Kaido's dragon body was slammed deep into the ground by this palm strike, and the surrounding rocks solidified under the immense pressure, sealing him inside.

But the shadowy hand did not disappear.

After smashing Kaido, its momentum wasn't exhausted. The palm continued downwards, piercing through the layers of Onigashima's soil and rock, finally crashing into the sea at the bottom of Onigashima.

The force of the blow created a massive crater several kilometers in circumference in the sea, sending waves tens of meters high into the air and briefly exposing a patch of bare seabed.

Then the seawater surged back, making a deafening roar, filling the depression and stirring up towering white foam.

The shadowy hand slowly dissipated, turning into countless tiny shadow fragments that drifted down from the Sky Manipulation like black snowflakes.

The once-ghost island has completely disappeared, leaving only a deep pit that is still flooded with seawater.

Akuta fell from the clouds in the sky, landing on a floating shadow cloud.

He looked down at himself.

His Conqueror's Haki was almost completely depleted, and his stamina was also running low.

That palm strike just now was him pushing his awakened Shadow-Shadow Fruit ability to its limit.

But the results were worthwhile.

Kaido was completely blasted into the sea by that attack!

In other words, the victor in this battle was Akuta!

He won!