While Luffy and Doflamingo were locked in a fierce battle, Xia Chen and Kaido in an equally intense fight, with the scale of the battle being far greater.
"Bang bang bang bang..."
A series of dull thuds echoed as Kaido's figure flew through the air like a ball, blood splattering everywhere.
Jack, standing some distance away on the ground, nearly popped his eyes out of their sockets.
"How... how is this possible?"
Jack stammered, unable to believe what he was seeing.
His boss, Kaido of the Beasts, one of the Four Emperors, was being beaten like a child by someone, completely powerless to fight back.
It wasn't like this before...
At the beginning, the fight was barely a back-and-forth affair. Back then, Kaido couldn't hit Xia Chen, but at least he could still attack.
Although Xia Chen hit Kaido, the injury Kaido caused was not very serious.
But from a certain moment on, Xia Chen's fighting style completely changed, becoming fierce and violent!
His boss Kaido had no chance to fight back in Xia Chen's hands, and the blood splattered in mid-air proved that Kaido's injuries were definitely not light.
The strength Xia Chen is displaying now is on a completely different level from the strength Jack initially saw.
At a certain moment, Xia Chen reappeared in the trajectory of Kaido's backward flight.
He raised the stick high in his hand, and at the same time, a strong golden light began to emanate from it.
" Heaven-Pillar!"
Xia Chen uttered a few words, then slammed the staff in his hand down on Kaido, who was flying towards him.
"Whoosh!"
A loud whooshing sound rang out, and Kaido's figure flashed by before crashing heavily to the ground.
"Boom!"
A tremendous roar resounded through the heavens and the earth. Centered on the point where Kaido's body landed, the ground around it began to crack inch by inch, and the entire island was shaking slightly.
In an instant, gravel flew everywhere and dust billowed.
"Sizzle!"
Jack casually smashed a flying pebble, his gaze fixed on Xia Chen standing high in the sky, Earth Shaker.
At this moment, he finally understood how Xia Chen earned the title of the World's Strongest.
It wasn't something the World Government put forward to draw fire; it was something they earned through sheer strength.
Even Kaido, whom he considered invincible, was now completely powerless against Xia Chen.
At this moment, Xia Chen stood on the Flying Nimbus, calmly gazing at the huge, deep crater below.
To be fair, Kaido must be big enough to smash such a large hole.
"Cough cough..."
A moment later, a coughing sound came from the pit, followed by an arm grabbing the edge of the pit and slowly climbing up.
The moment Kaido climbed up, he lost his footing and stumbled, then spat out a mouthful of blood.
Kaido slowly raised his head, his eyes filled with utter horror as he looked at Xia Chen.
If Jack judged Xia Chen's strength solely from his performance and the power of the aftershocks, then he truly explored Xia Chen's level using his own body.
At that moment, he felt as if all the bones in his body were about to fall apart, and every part of his body was in pain.
"How could it be... so powerful?"
"Is this your true strength, Xia Chen the Sovereign!" Kaido roared.
"No!" Xia Chen shook his head and smiled faintly.
"With your current level, you can't force me to unleash my true power!"
He has only fully demonstrated the levels of his Three Types of Haki so far; he hasn't used any of his other Devil Fruit abilities.
He didn't fully unleash his Haki level during his previous fight with Kaido, which led Kaido to mistakenly believe that he wasn't much stronger than him.
In order to prevent Kaido from developing an arrogant and conceited personality, Xia Chen had no choice but to help him recognize his own place.
"How is this possible? This isn't even your true strength?" Kaido asked incredulously.
If the strength that can beat him like a dog isn't Xia Chen's true strength, then how strong must Xia Chen be?
If that's the case, if Xia Chen were to unleash his full power, he might even be able to kill him instantly?
Is this some kind of exaggeration? He's one of the Four Emperors, after all!
He was very reluctant to believe this strength, but he also didn't think Xia Chen would lie to him, because there was no need for him to!
Besides, strong people are proud! There's no need for them to fabricate these lies to grab attention!
" Kaido, you believe that Devil Fruit abilities are all supplementary, and only Haki can overcome everything, is that correct?"
Xia Chen looked at Kaido and asked calmly.
To be honest, Xia Chen actually scoffed at this theory.
Xia Chen also thought the statement that "there are no weak Devil Fruits, only weak Devil Fruit users" was utter nonsense.
A good Devil Fruit can significantly enhance an individual's strength.
For example, if Usopp hadn't eaten the White Tiger Fruit, his physique wouldn't have improved much no matter how much he trained.
The most typical example is Luffy's Human-Human Fruit, Model: Nika. After activating the Nika Form, his strength increased by a huge margin!
"Ha! What kind of nonsense is that? Haki is important, but Devil Fruit abilities still greatly enhance strength, okay?" Kaido scoffed dismissively.
"Take my Fish-Fish Fruit, Azure Dragon Form, for example. As a top-tier Mythical Zoan Zoan, it grants me powerful defense and regenerative abilities, which have been incredibly helpful in past battles!"
"Speaking of which, I have to thank that old woman Linlin, oh ho ho ho ho..."
"Um..."
Xia Chen stroked his chin, as if deep in thought.
Okay, case solved!
In the original work, Kaido said this to Luffy purely out of jealousy. He was jealous of how powerful Luffy Fruit ability was, how he dominated Luffy before Awakening awakened his Devil Fruit power, and how he dominated Luffy after Awakening awakened his Devil Fruit power!
That's why he said that, because he felt unbalanced.
I see, Teacher Kaido, you're a little cunning!
Xia Chen couldn't help but smile.
" Kaido, I have a question for you. How long have you been stuck at this bottleneck in your Observation Haki and Conqueror's Haki?"
"Hmm? It must have been quite a while! I've forgotten exactly how long!" Kaido said after recalling for a moment.
"Then... don't you want to take another step forward? Just like I am now!"
"You should have noticed too, I only used Three Types of Haki when I fought you just now, but I was able to beat you into this state with just those Three Types of Haki."
"The reason is that Three Types of Haki are stronger than yours! As for Armament Haki, strictly speaking, we're still at the same level. I'm stronger than you, but not by a significant margin!"
"You've probably realized the difference between Observation Haki and Conqueror's Haki by now, haven't you?"
"So what if I've experienced it? Don't I want to take it a step further? The problem is, I haven't broken through at this stage for a long time!" Kaido said irritably.
But suddenly, as if he had thought of something, a hint of joy appeared on his face.
"I'm so eager to improve! So, from what you're saying, you're planning to..."