The massive iron gate of the Skull Palace was right in front of us.
Luffy charged ahead, his right arm already inflating, ready to smash the broken door to pieces with a single punch.
Just as his fist was about to hit the iron gate, a dragon's roar exploded overhead.
The entire Skull Palace trembled slightly at the dragon's roar, the rivets on the iron doors vibrated and hummed, and some gravel fell from the dome.
"Hehehe--you little devils! I'm here!"
Luffy looked up.
The clouds were torn apart by a brute force, and a huge dragon head emerged from the sea of clouds.
Each of its bluish-green scales was as large as a door panel, and its whiskers swayed gently in the night breeze.
The firelight in the square below was reflected in those vertical pupils, like two burning lanterns.
The dragon head alone is bigger than the Thousand Sunny.
The dragon's body coiled and twisted in the clouds, its tail completely hidden. Only the dragon's shadow could be seen swirling in the sea of clouds, obscuring most of the night sky.
The square fell silent for a moment.
Then someone dropped their knife on the ground.
A sharp, clanging sound rang out starkly in the deathly silent square.
He was a young samurai under the command of the Nine Red Scabbards, barely in his early twenties, and his hand holding the sword was trembling violently.
He looked up at the azure dragon that blotted out the sky, the color draining from his face layer by layer, his lips trembling but unable to utter a sound.
It wasn't just him.
Many of the Mink Tribe warriors instinctively took a half-step back, including one of Cat Viper's longtime subordinates who had served him for over a decade.
At this moment, the Electro on the claws surged uncontrollably, making a crackling sound.
"This is... Kaido..."
Someone muttered to themselves, their voice filled with a fear that seemed to be squeezed out of their throat.
Most of them had heard of Kaido's legend and seen his Kaido poster.
I know he is the Strongest Creature on Land, Sea, and Air, and I know his bounty exceeds 4.6 billion Beli.
Hearing about it is one thing, seeing it with your own eyes is another.
When you actually stand beneath this azure dragon, you can feel the oppressive force emanating from its body pressing down on your shoulders as if it were a tangible force.
I felt the surrounding temperature rise sharply with each breath of the dragon, and I saw my own reflection in those vertical pupils.
All legends have become pale and powerless.
This is not some " Strongest Creature," it's a moving natural disaster.
"Can we really defeat this monster?"
Someone, their voice trembling, uttered what most of those present were thinking.
Apoo's face turned pale, and the features on his long face were slightly distorted with fear.
Back then, Kaido also descended from the sky and beat Kid half to death with one blow, leaving Kid without even the courage to retaliate.
Now this nightmare has returned, and this time Kaido is clearly lucid, making him even more terrifying than before.
Bege didn't even notice the cigar in her mouth fall to the ground.
Inside the castle within him, his gangster subordinates, through shared senses, saw the outside world and were all reminded of Kaido's terror.
Hawkins flipped over a card, glanced at it, and a hint of bitterness appeared on his perpetually poker face.
The card was the upright "Death" – he had anticipated this card before it arrived, but facing it in person felt completely different.
Drake clenched his fists, and his human-beast form unconsciously unfolded—an instinctive reaction of Zoan user facing a higher-level predator.
Outside the plaza, the morale of the warriors was visibly declining.
Hyogoro gritted his teeth, wanting to shout some words to boost morale, but his own hand holding the sword was trembling slightly.
He had seen countless enemies in his life, but Kaido —this blue dragon—had been hovering above his head for twenty years, and every roar of his dragon seemed to remind him how Kozuki Oden had been defeated.
And in the field,
Kid was one of the few who didn't show any fear.
He looked up at Kaido, his metal arms clenched so tightly they cracked, and his eyes were practically spitting fire with rage.
" Kaido --!!!"
Kid squeezed out the name through gritted teeth, each word sounding as if it had been carved from bone.
He recalled the days he was imprisoned in Udon, his Devil Fruit powers locked in Seastone Handcuffs, forced to move stones in a quarry every day, and fed worse than pig swill.
This hatred had been bottled up in his heart for more than half a year, and now he finally saw the face of his enemy.
Zoro's hand rested on the hilt of his sword, his dark eyes fixed on the giant dragon in the sky, a slow smile creeping onto his lips.
Sanji a cigarette, took a deep drag, and exhaled a wisp of smoke.
Luo's Operating Room had silently unfolded, covering the most central area of the square.
He didn't speak, but the fine beads of sweat on his forehead betrayed the pressure he was under.
Just as everyone was feeling overwhelmed by Kaido aura, a voice came from the front.
Yoshi!
Luffy slammed his right fist into his left palm, making a crisp sound.
Everyone looked at him at the same time.
Luffy looked up at the blue dragon in the sky, his expression not one of fear or tension, but of pure excitement.
" Kaido! I'm going to beat you to a pulp!"
Luffy's voice echoed across the plaza, so loud that Kaido could hear it clearly.
Kaido's vertical pupils shifted, locking onto the small figure wearing Straw Hat below.
Just like when we met in the Flower Capital, this kid still had that fearless look on his face.
No—it's brighter than last time, and the light in those eyes is even more resolute than before.
"Hmm, really?!"
Kaido's dragon mouth split into a ferocious arc, his fangs gleaming coldly in the moonlight.
"Come on then! Let me see what makes you so confident!"
Before he could finish speaking, a crimson orange light began to churn deep within Kaido's throat.
" Bolo Breath."
An orange-red light surged from deep within its throat, compressing and condensing between the dragon's teeth, causing the surrounding air to distort violently due to the intense heat.
Even from a hundred meters away on the ground, you could feel the scorching heat wave hitting you.
" Bolo Breath--!"
A massive Fire Pillar erupted from the dragon's mouth.
The Fire Pillar was thicker than the mast of the Thousand Sunny, its orange-red flames carrying devastating heat.
It poured down from the sky like a red-hot iron rod stabbing into the ground.
Before the Fire Pillar even hit the ground, the heat from it alone made the stone pavement in the square scorch.
The hair of several nearby warriors was singed, and the fur of the Mink Tribe warriors began to curl.
Luffy did not dodge.
He bit his thumb, about to shift to Gear Fourth, when a figure moved faster than him.
Kin'emon.
This retainer of the Kozuki Family leaped out from behind Luffy.
The hem of his kimono fluttered in the heat, but his hand holding the sword remained as steady as if it were made of iron.
" Foxfire Style-- "
Kin'emon's katana burst into orange flames the moment it was drawn from its sheath.
" Blazing Flame Slash--!"