Conqueror's Haki Clash

Facing Kaido's powerful swing, Oak went even further this time, using his head to take it head-on. With a sharp clang, the spiked club struck the top of his head as if it had hit a block of steel.

The pirates gathered around to watch were dumbfounded.

"Am I seeing things? That guy actually took Kaido's spiked club with his head, and he's completely fine!!"

One pirate rubbed his eyes in disbelief. Once he confirmed he had not seen wrong, his jaw dropped in utter amazement. How could a person be this ridiculously tough? His head had to be harder than steel!

Others looked at the pirate Kaido had sent flying earlier, whom his companions had retrieved as nothing more than a pile of mush, and felt that the gap between people was even greater than the gap between humans and ants.

One person had been casually smashed into minced meat by a single swing from Kaido, while the other could take Kaido's full-force blow to the head without so much as a scratch.

This made everyone even more curious about this monstrously powerful man, wondering who he really was.

"This is Tux Oak from our West Blue!!!"

A pirate from West Blue finally recognized Oak and proudly showed him off to those nearby, especially the pirates born and raised in the Grand Line.

"Hehe, it's not just your Grand Line that has monsters. Our West Blue is no worse! Oak is known as the Terminator of the Battlefield in West Blue. At five, he fought an entire wolf pack alone. By ten, he could already go into the sea by himself and kill Sea Kings. He has the strength to wipe out a nation single-handedly. Once he enters a battlefield, he can end the entire war directly..."

The West Blue pirates became more and more excited as they listed Oak's feats one by one. Seeing the looks in the eyes of the Grand Line pirates around them, they felt vindicated. Pirates from the Four Blues like them had always been looked down upon by Grand Line pirates, who believed the Four Blues were too weak and had nowhere near as many strong fighters. This time, they could finally hold their heads high.

"Go, Oak! Don't you dare lose to those Grand Line bastards!!"

The West Blue pirates cheered Oak on, and the Grand Line pirates refused to be outdone.

"Kaido, teach that brat from West Blue a proper lesson."

Watching the verbal battle between the two sides, Ochoku saw an opportunity. He expanded his betting operation from within the Rocks Pirates to all of Hachinosu, setting up gambling tables in the plaza. Bets poured in like a flood.

As for Oak, he ignored the commotion outside the battlefield. After taking Kaido's spiked club on the head, he gave a smug grin.

"Hehe~"

Then his fists shot out like dragons, landing two punches squarely on Kaido's chest. The immense force made Kaido grunt, and the impact of the Hasshoken spread throughout his body, sending him flying straight backward.

With a boom, Kaido smashed through a huge stretch of buildings outside the plaza before barely managing to stop. But it was not over yet—Oak's attack followed close behind.

"Fist Bone."

Imitating the punching style Garp had used some time ago, Oak descended from the sky with an unmatched aura and slammed a fist into Kaido.

In an instant, with the two of them at the center, every building within a hundred-meter radius was reduced to rubble. Kaido was driven deep into the ground by that punch.

An ordinary person would have been crushed to pieces or at least severely injured after taking such consecutive blows. Even the Cipher Pol Aigis Zero agents Oak had fought before could not withstand that kind of damage. But Kaido was different. He climbed out of the ground as though nothing had happened. Apart from looking slightly disheveled due to his torn clothes, he showed no sign of injury, and he immediately launched a counterattack.

With a sharp whoosh, Kaido swung his spiked club, unleashing a cylindrical shockwave of club force. Returning the favor, it struck Oak and sent him flying on the spot.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

As Oak flew backward, he crashed through one building after another. His sturdy body, combined with the massive impact of Kaido's attack, turned every structure he struck along the way into fragments as easily as smashing tofu.

Many pirates living in those buildings were caught in the destruction. Before they could even figure out what was happening, they were buried beneath massive heaps of rubble.

Thud~

After flying a great distance and seeing no sign of stopping, Oak twisted his body and violently drove both legs into the ground. He plowed a trench more than ten meters long through the earth, forcibly bringing himself to a halt. Then he used the force to launch himself back along the same path toward Kaido, one hand drawn back in a punching stance as he gathered power.

During that process, he glanced down at the spot hit by Kaido's club-force shockwave. It was still far from breaking through his defenses, but it had left him with a faint trace of pain.

Kaido was actually pretty capable at this stage!

With that thought, his punch had already reached Kaido and collided with Kaido's spiked club.

Oak stared at Kaido with blazing eyes. A powerful urge to beat him into submission rose from within, driving the aura inside his body and causing his Conqueror's Haki to spill out uncontrollably.

Crackle, crackle, crackle~

Black lightning spread outward. While Oak focused it entirely on Kaido, Kaido refused to yield and released his own Conqueror's Haki as well.

The two streams of black lightning began to intertwine. Their fierce, tyrannical auras stirred up violent gusts that swept through the entire district of buildings like a raging storm.

Thump~ Thump~ Thump~

The pirates in the area who had tried to avoid their battle collapsed and fell asleep under the clash of those two auras.

"Gurararara, those two apprentice brats have quite the spirit. But aren't they going a little too far? Our territory has been damaged pretty badly!"

Whitebeard treated the clash between the two apprentices as entertainment to go with his drink and laughed heartily as he spoke.

"It doesn't matter."

Rocks answered him.

"After all, the biggest rule on this island is that there are no rules. Since they want to make a mess, let them keep at it. I'm quite looking forward to seeing who wins.

But judging by this, it won't be settled anytime soon. This will probably be a long battle!"

Rocks watched the battlefield where the two clashed and did not care in the slightest about the damage they had caused. Just as he said, the greatest rule on this island was that there were no rules. The people gathered here were all villains. As long as you were strong enough, you could do whatever you wanted.

As for the pirates caught up in Oak and Kaido's battle, they could only blame their own lack of strength and terrible luck.

Oak and Kaido's Conqueror's Haki were evenly matched. Their clash continued for a full minute, with neither able to do anything to the other. In the end, their Conqueror's Haki split into clearly defined territories, each occupying one side of the area.

Oak clicked his tongue. Before mastering the technique of coating, Conqueror's Haki was nothing more than a flashy large-scale crowd-clearing skill with little real use. It was far less helpful in battle than Armament Haki and Observation Haki. So he withdrew his Conqueror's Haki first and chose to continue fighting Kaido hand-to-hand to determine the winner.

With a bang, Oak's punch sent Kaido flying heavily once again.