Kaido's thoughts drifted uncontrollably back to that shocking battle at God Valley more than twenty years ago.
On that battlefield soaked in blood and smoke, Whitebeard had wielded Murakumogiri like a war god descending into the world, sweeping through enemies without equal.
That fearless, heroic figure was still deeply burned into Kaido's memory even now.
And yet, the brat standing in front of him—the kid who used to run around behind Whitebeard back then—had somehow come to possess three top-tier powers at the same time.
The contrast was so enormous that even Kaido felt shaken and unable to believe it.
"Three powers stacked together…"
A faint, almost unnoticeable trace of fear flashed through Kaido's dragon eyes.
It was fear toward an unknown power.
Terrifying possibilities kept surfacing in his mind.
If this kid truly developed a combined technique using three Devil Fruit abilities, just how horrifying would that power become?
By then, the entire sea might fall within his grasp, and the authority and position Kaido had built over so many years would face an unprecedented challenge.
Thinking of that, Kaido did not dare keep following the thought.
His dragon claw tightened around Hassaikai without him realizing it, his knuckles turning faintly pale from the force.
Big Mom's huge, imposing body slowly came closer.
Her face, already weathered by countless storms, was now covered in scorched black marks, as though it had been corroded by darkness.
Every wrinkle on her face seemed deeply carved with shock, and the disbelief in her eyes made it look as if she had witnessed the most impossible thing in the world.
Her lips parted slightly, her voice carrying a faint tremor and confusion as she let out several stunned laughs.
"Mamamama…"
Then she hurriedly asked Kaido,
"Kaido, in that mighty Beasts Pirates of yours, do you have any monster like this?"
Kaido fell into a brief silence.
The surrounding air seemed to freeze in that moment, and everyone held their breath, waiting to see how he would react.
A moment later, he suddenly raised his head and burst into wild laughter.
"Wororororo!"
The laughter echoed through the open space, though hidden inside it was a bitterness he could not fully cover.
He slowly said,
"I spent twenty whole years pouring everything into artificial Devil Fruit research. I thought I could create unmatched power.
"But now, it looks like all that effort isn't even as effective as someone casually eating three ready-made Devil Fruits."
At that point, he suddenly raised the wine gourd in his hand and poured the strong liquor down his throat like a whale drinking from the sea.
As the alcohol flowed down, a complicated fire ignited in his eyes.
It flickered inside his dragon pupils, carrying countless thoughts and emotions.
He stared forward and muttered,
"That brat Ron… he's become so powerful that even I'm starting to wonder whether I should try becoming a multi-fruit ability user myself."
At that delicate moment, the situation on the battlefield changed sharply.
Jozu had already completed his charge.
The third wave of attack rose into the sky like an ancient beast waking from slumber.
Three-colored energy twisted, merged, and fused together, forming a destructive pillar of light like a heavenly column. Its brilliance was so intense that it seemed ready to illuminate the entire sky.
Kaido's eyes locked onto that light piercing through heaven and earth, his gaze filled with deep gravity and awe.
After a long while, he finally murmured in a low voice,
"The monsters of the new era… have really arrived."
Kaido was still trapped in his shock over Jozu's three-fruit power, while on the other side, Jozu had pushed his charge to its absolute peak.
The diamond prisms covering his body began to release a piercing hum, like a roar from the depths of hell that made people's skin crawl.
Inside his body, the powers of three Devil Fruits were perfectly merging, forming an extremely stable triangular energy structure.
That unique combination gave him strength unlike anything he had ever felt before, so much that he could not help gritting his teeth and saying,
"Ugh… this power's about to overflow!"
His diamond teeth ground against each other with a sharp clicking sound, as if telling everyone just how much pressure and surging power he was enduring.
In the sky, the clouds looked as if they were being casually kneaded by an invisible hand, drifting in strange, distorted shapes.
At the same time, Uranus's once-dense red shadow, which had looked like burning flame, was rapidly fading at a visible speed.
That energy fluctuation, which had terrified everyone from the very beginning and felt as if it could pierce straight through the soul, was now receding like a falling tide.
Slowly, steadily, it was about to disappear completely into the thick clouds.
It moved farther and farther away, carrying a strange sense of loneliness and unwillingness, like a defeated warrior preparing to leave the bloody battlefield.
"You still think you can run?!"
Jozu's eyes went wide, flames of rage bursting within them.
His voice exploded through the tense, oppressive atmosphere like a great bell.
He suddenly raised his right foot and stomped hard onto the solid deck with all his strength.
In an instant, the mysterious and powerful force of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit was fully unleashed.
A heavy surge of power rushed through the sole of his foot and spread into every corner of Pluton.
The entire Pluton shook violently as though struck by an undersea earthquake. The hull creaked loudly, as if it might fall apart at any moment.
The grinding of wood and metal, the tightening of ropes, and the strain of the ship all merged together into a thrilling, terrifying symphony.
"Did you ask your Grandpa Jozu for permission?!"
Jozu roared, his chest heaving violently.
The muscles in his arms swelled like they had been inflated, veins bulging across them like two coiling dragons.
His hands skillfully adjusted the diamond prisms in front of him. Every tiny movement was unbelievably precise, shifting the prisms into the perfect focusing angle.
At that moment, the light energy of the Glint-Glint Fruit and the absolute hardness granted by the Twinkle-Twinkle Fruit fused perfectly inside him.
The two powers interwove and strengthened each other, forming a dazzling shield of light around his body.
"Take this—Ten-Thousandfold Focus!"
Jozu shouted, his voice filled with absolute confidence and endless pride.
As his words fell, an unprecedentedly brilliant pillar of light erupted from the diamond prisms.