In the plaza below,
To everyone's astonishment, the sky-covering azure dragon was knocked down by a single punch from a human whose teeth were smaller than his own.
The Azure Dragon's massive body traced a slanted arc through the air, accompanied by a whistling wind, as it plummeted towards the top of the Skull Palace.
The enormous dragon's body crashed onto the top of Onigashima, causing the entire Skull Palace to tremble violently upon impact.
Dust fell from the dome, and several torches inside the hall were extinguished.
Smoke and dust billowed into the sky, completely engulfing Kaido's dragon body.
Luffy fell from the sky, and in Gear Fourth form, his body quickly shrank back to its original size after the attack.
Zoro, Sanji, Kid, Law, and others also ascended to the top of the main hall.
Those stronger warriors and Mink Tribe fighters who had followed held their weapons and stared nervously at the still billowing cloud of dust.
No one spoke, but everyone gripped their weapons tightly.
Luffy's punch was indeed shocking, but everyone present knew in their hearts that Kaido couldn't be defeated so easily.
Those are the Four Emperors.
A monster with a bounty of 4.6 billion Beli.
If he could be defeated with a single punch, he wouldn't be Kaido.
·······
On the roof of the Skull Palace, the Straw Hat Alliance stood in a row, swords drawn, their eyes fixed on the area shrouded in smoke and dust.
No one spoke.
"Ding-ding-ding!"
Heavy footsteps echoed through the smoke and dust.
Immediately afterwards, a hand as large as a palm-leaf fan emerged from the smoke and dust, and with a casual wave,
The resulting wind pressure swept away all the smoke and dust within a radius of several meters.
Kaido stood amidst the ruins he had created.
He has transformed back into human form from his dragon form.
Standing seven meters tall amidst the rubble, he was radiating heat, and his skin still bore faint red marks from Luffy's punches.
He carried the Hassaikai on his shoulder, his eyes gleaming with a dark golden light in the moonlight.
"Hehehe!"
"Kid, you've improved."
Kaido his neck, producing a series of crisp snapping sounds.
"That punch just now was much stronger than the one you threw in the Flower Capital."
Luffy grinned. "I told you I was going to beat you up."
"Hehehe--Beat me up?"
Kaido removed the Hassaikai from his shoulder; the spikes on his spiked club gleamed coldly in the moonlight.
"That punch just now? It's far from enough."
Before he could finish speaking, his aura changed.
Kaido's eyes narrowed, and an indescribable sense of oppression erupted from him.
Black and red Conqueror's Haki Inazuma exploded from Kaido's body, pouring out in all directions like a torrential rain.
The stone slabs on the roof began to crack under the pressure of this force, and the slabs closest to Kaido were shattered into powder.
Where Inazuma struck, the air trembled.
Usopp was the first to sense that something was wrong.
His knees began to buckle, and the slingshot in his hand fell to the ground with a thud.
Chopper rolled his eyes and almost tumbled off the edge of the roof, but Robin quickly pulled him back using the Flower-Flower Fruit.
Nami's face was deathly pale, and her hand gripping the Clima-Tact was trembling violently.
"What... what is this?--"
Apoo's voice trembled.
Hawkins' hand, which was about to flip the card, froze in mid-air, a layer of cold sweat beading on his forehead.
Bege's cigar finally fell to the ground.
Drake gritted his teeth and forced himself not to kneel, but his legs were already trembling.
Even the veteran warriors among the Nine Red Scabbards couldn't help but take a half step back under the oppressive aura of this Conqueror's Haki.
Kin'emon's forehead was covered in cold sweat, but he gritted his teeth and didn't back down an inch.
Denjiro's hand holding the sword trembled slightly, not from fear, but from the memory of that night twenty years ago surging up under the stimulation of this Conqueror's Haki.
Kaido's Conqueror's Haki continues to wreak havoc.
That power was truly terrifying.
Having lived and fought for so many years, his Conqueror's Haki had long been honed to its pinnacle.
The aftershocks alone are enough to knock out someone with a weak will.
But at that moment...
Another burst of Conqueror's Haki erupted.
Luffy stood at the very front of everyone, his feet shoulder-width apart, his hands clenched into fists and hanging at his sides.
His Conqueror's Haki surged from within him, and dark red Inazuma crackled and danced around him, colliding head-on with Kaido's Conqueror's Haki.
Two Conqueror's Haki collided in mid-air.
From a distance, the scene was both eerie and spectacular.
Two bolts of black and red Inazuma formed two hemispherical shields in the air, one pressing down from Kaido's side and the other pushing back from Luffy's side, colliding wildly in the middle.
Where Inazuma struck, the air was torn apart with a Inazuma roar, and the stone slabs of the roof cracked under the pressure of the two forces.
Gravel flew out from the crack, only to be broken into powder by the Inazuma's energy before it hit the ground.
But it's clear that Luffy is at a disadvantage.
His Conqueror's Haki spheres are being gradually pushed back by Kaido.
It's not that Luffy isn't strong enough, it's that Kaido's Conqueror's Haki is too overpowered.
That was the pure, unadulterated Conqueror's Haki, forged through decades of war.
Luffy's Conqueror's Haki is strong, but it's still no match for Kaido's.
His hemisphere shrank continuously under Kaido's pressure, from hundreds of meters to just over ten meters.
Luffy gritted his teeth, exerted force with his feet, and managed to withstand the attack.
His legs bent slightly under the pressure of the Conqueror's Haki, leaving two deep footprints on the stone slab beneath his feet, but he did not retreat an inch.
The two sides' Conqueror's Haki was once again locked in a stalemate.
"Um?!"
Kaido narrowed his eyes.
This little brat wearing Straw Hat didn't break down despite being suppressed by his Conqueror's Haki.
They held on?
interesting.
That's so interesting.
After a brief test, Kaido withdrew his Conqueror's Haki, and Luffy breathed a sigh of relief.
With a soft "pop," the two hemispherical shields disappeared simultaneously.
The lingering Inazuma crackled a few times in the air before finally subsiding completely.
Kaido stood there, looking at Luffy, and made a rough judgment in his mind.
Although this kid's Conqueror's Haki is not as strong as mine, my Conqueror's Haki cannot completely overwhelm his.
It's not impossible to forcefully suppress someone with Conqueror's Haki, but it's too time-consuming and not satisfying enough.
Since Conqueror's Haki can't determine a winner, let's settle it with fists.
With a loud 'bang,' the stone slab beneath Kaido's feet suddenly shattered.
His massive seven-meter-tall body unleashed a speed completely out of character for his size, transforming into a blur as he Luffy.
The Hassaikai traced an arc in the moonlight, and the black and red Conqueror's Haki wrapped around the spiked club Inazuma wildly.
" Hakai--!"
The moment the Hassaikai swung out, a green shockwave carrying Conqueror's Haki's Inazuma exploded from the tip of the staff, engulfing everyone in the Straw Hat Alliance.