A Punch Reduced Him to a Bloody Mist-Brother, Where Are You? I Can't Find You

"My brother, stop moping around. Hurry up and bring out your big guy, then go shorten his lifespan!" Kaido urged from the side.

Ron turned his head slightly and glanced at Kaido beside him from the corner of his eye. He did not answer immediately. After a brief silence, he gently shook his head and said with a faint smile, "No, the plan has changed."

"When did you change it? Why didn't you tell me?" Kaido asked with a clueless look on his face.

"Just now. Stop asking so many questions," Ron replied.

As he spoke, Ron had already sheathed the long blade in his hand, then removed the sword belt hanging from him and casually tossed it into Kaido's arms.

"Are you going to use the Eight Gates?" Kaido caught the sword and immediately asked another question.

"Yeah."

"Can you open all Eight Gates?"

"I can."

"Then are you going to show me?"

"..."

Ron did not answer.

He knew better than anyone what opening the Eighth Gate meant. It was a momentary peak bought at the cost of one's life.

But logically speaking, with so many buffs stacked on his body, perhaps he really could withstand the backlash of that final gate?

Of course, that was only speculation.

Unless it was absolutely necessary, he had no intention of gambling with his life.

"Kaido."

"Yeah?"

"Watch closely and learn well. This move of mine is going to be damn awesome."

Before Kaido could respond, Ron let out a thunderous roar. "Eight Gates: Seventh Gate, Gate of Wonder—open!"

The sealed gates were blasted open one layer after another, like a row of dominoes being toppled.

A powerful shockwave suddenly erupted from Ron's body. Blue steam burst from his surface, carrying a scorching, violent aura as it swept in every direction.

"Whoosh, whoosh!!"

The fierce shockwave instantly swept away all the haze around them, revealing the gray-white sky and the ground blasted full of craters.

Blue steam wrapped around Ron's entire body, and his hair rose upward like flames set ablaze.

Sengoku's expression abruptly turned solemn. Standing some distance away, the golden Buddha fixed its gaze tightly on that blue figure as thoughts raced through his mind.

"Is this the same ability that Kaido has? No, that's not right. It's different. Only similar, but the feeling they give off is far too different."

"Tap, tap, tap."

Ron gave Sengoku no more time to think. He shot toward the golden giant Buddha like a streak of blue lightning.

"So fast..." Sengoku's pupils shrank sharply. "Kaido can't compare to this at all!"

Although it had happened suddenly, Sengoku did not panic.

The golden giant Buddha thrust out both palms in rapid succession, unleashing violent shockwaves that poured down toward Ron like a torrential downpour.

Golden pillars of light smashed into the ground, exploding into clouds of dust and shattered stone. Yet every one of them was half a beat too slow; Ron always dodged just before the shockwaves landed.

Tap tap tap tap—the distance rapidly closed.

When that blue flash drew within a few dozen meters, Ron suddenly leaped into the air. Pressing his palms together, he condensed the air compressed to the extreme around him into his palms, then violently thrust them forward.

"Daytime Tiger!"

"Whoosh!!"

The compressed air burst forth from between his palms, transforming into a gray-white tiger head several times larger than the golden giant Buddha.

The tiger head's outline was so clear it seemed solid. Opening its enormous jaws, it swallowed toward the golden giant Buddha with the force to crush everything.

At that instant, Sengoku's pupils shrank to pinpoints. He did not wait helplessly for death. He swiftly poured all his Haki into his right fist. Thick black patterns coiled around the surface of the golden Buddha fist, while dark red arcs of lightning flickered around it.

Then he threw the punch with all his strength.

Boom!

The fist and tiger head collided with a deafening crash.

A sonic boom exploded, as though two iron mountains had slammed together in midair.

A powerful shockwave burst between heaven and earth. Its aftershocks howled outward like a tsunami, peeling up the ground layer by layer.

Under the massive impact of the Daytime Tiger, the golden giant Buddha's feet carved two enormous trenches through the earth as its body slid backward uncontrollably.

Every step it took back crushed a vast stretch of ground, with cracks spreading outward like a spiderweb.

"Pfft!"

Sengoku suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.

He had only just recovered from the injuries inflicted by the Tailed Beast Bomb. Now, after forcibly pouring in such immense power, his injuries had worsened further.

Faced with the Daytime Tiger's savage, unrelenting impact, the fist thrown by the golden giant Buddha finally could not hold on. Its arm began to bend.

"Ahhh!" But Sengoku did not give up. He roared and used every ounce of strength he had.

Crack!

But suddenly, the golden giant Buddha's arm snapped outright.

The Daytime Tiger lost its final obstacle and swallowed the golden giant Buddha in one bite.

Rumble!!

A dazzling white light exploded between heaven and earth. A violent blast thundered through the surroundings once more, while rolling smoke and dust spread outward like a flood in all directions, devouring everything within sight.

Ron landed from midair, blue steam still surging over his body.

Suddenly.

His Observation Haki sounded an alarm.

Someone was right behind him. That malice was solid, like a blade already pressed against the back of his neck.

Ron had no time to think. His body moved faster than his mind; his fist had already clenched as he turned and swung it violently.

Boom!!

An overwhelmingly powerful shockwave erupted from his fist and howled across the ground. It rapidly expanded from near to far, instantly carving a widening trench into the earth with Ron as its starting point, its edges heaving up charred soil.

"Who?"

Ron warily scanned his surroundings. He was certain that someone had been behind him just now, and he had sensed extremely intense malice.

"So fast? He vanished without a trace in an instant. I can't even feel the slightest presence anymore."

"But no matter what, I can't sense any danger now, nor can I sense that malice anymore."

As soon as Ron finished speaking, his nose twitched. He smelled a faint scent of blood.

And his face felt a little wet.

He reached up and touched his face, then lowered his head to look at his hand.

"Blood?" Ron froze for a moment. "Could it be... I blew him into a bloody mist with one punch?!"

"Hehehe... You scared the hell out of me! I thought some guy had shown up. His dodging speed was so fast I couldn't even see or sense him."