Kaido was a man of few words, and his moods were impossible to predict. He was hard to figure out.
The most he had spoken throughout the battle was when he tried to recruit Loa. Since then, it had been nothing but short outbursts like "Die," "Bastard," and "I'll kill you."
Unlike the people in the original story, Kaido never shouted the names of his moves when he attacked. As a result, Loa still had no idea what state Kaido was in.
Fortunately, Aokiji and Kizaru were still at his side. The two struggled out of the sand in a sorry state. Aokiji glanced at Loa, who stood ready for battle, and came over. "Don't worry. Kaido can only hold this form for a day at most. After that, he won't be able to enter it again until he's completely exhausted."
e
That sounded optimistic. Compared with Aokiji's earlier estimate that the battle might last a week or longer, a single day seemed like nothing.
But!
"I couldn't even take one punch after my Dragon Transformation! And you want me to last a whole day? Are you trying to get me killed?!" Loa stared at Aokiji in disbelief.
Kizaru had just joined them. Hearing Loa's complaint, he rubbed his chest and gave a rueful laugh. "We don't have a choice. Neither of us can match you in close combat. Just look at the state I'm in. A few more hits like that and we'll be the ones who die."
He had a point. The Three Marine Admirals were all Logia Devil Fruit users. Aokiji and Akainu had not abandoned hand-to-hand combat as Kizaru had, but when it came to a straight melee, Garp seemed to be the only Marine who could currently fight Loa after his Dragon Transformation.
With Garp