Kaidou's body began to glow, a sign that he was about to unleash Dragon Dance.
At this moment, the boost was far from reaching his body's endurance limit, but Whitebeard didn't wait for Kaidou to complete the Dragon Dance casting. He clapped his hands in mid-air, causing the surrounding air to compress towards Kaidou and interrupt his skill release.
"Newgate, you bastard!"
"Gurararara, brat, this is a battle. I don't know what kind of weird move that was, but don't think you can continue!"
He didn't understand what Dragon Dance was, but he could clearly feel that after Kaidou completed that strange move, both his speed and attack had gone up a notch.
Originally, they were evenly matched in strength, and Kaidou was even less destructive than him, but everything changed after that bizarre move.
He wasn't sure how many times Kaidou could use this move, once or twice was okay, but any more, and the fight wouldn't continue.
Unlike the previous attack, Kaidou's earlier forward lunge had shed most of his power. Now, Whitebeard's double-handed shock wave was entirely meant to disrupt his Dragon Dance execution.
Under this interference, Kaidou's Dragon Dance was left incomplete.
However, this was normal. Unless there's an overwhelming strength difference allowing for playful thoughts, no one lets the opponent complete their skill casting. In all those years fighting on the Rocks ship, he'd seen too many charge-up moves.
Allowing an opponent to complete a charge move either means careless oversight, there's no need to interrupt, or it's impossible to interrupt.
In the New World, there aren't many long-charge moves among the strong. It's a waste against weaker foes and unfeasible against stronger ones, only certain moves targeting gigantic foes have been passed down, like Elbaf's Spear of the Giant Race.
"But that's what makes it interesting. Only guys like you, Newgate, can get my... blood boiling!"
Kaidou isn't someone who can't fight without skills. Even if Whitebeard interrupted his subsequent Dragon Dance, his earlier Dragon Dance was already fully unleashed, and his body was now brimming with even greater power.
"Madman..."
Whitebeard could only make this comment about Kaidou's behavior. But it was always like this, even when Kaidou was an intern, he liked fighting.
Back then, he wasn't nearly as strong as now, usually losing more than winning in battles. But no matter how many times he lost, he always returned to the battlefield for another fight once he healed up, as if that was his purpose.
From noon to midnight, their fight had lasted over twelve hours. In his three-day and three-night fight with Roger, Whitebeard would wait for Roger to rest due to his physical condition before fighting again. But now, it's different; these two energetic monsters showed no signs of stopping.
Perhaps, for them, the warm-up was only now officially over.
Boom!
Crack...
The barrier in front of Kaidou shattered like a mirror. Whitebeard's attack style was all large-scale AOE attacks, making using a Stand pointless in front of him. Besides, the Stand could only take damage and confuse the enemy.
If Kaidou used a Stand, the physical expenditure of creating a Stand would be greater than taking a single punch. Moreover, Whitebeard's attack would simultaneously strike both his Stand and his body.
"As expected, this barrier can't be used continuously."
Kaidou won't use Protect to block ordinary attacks, causing Whitebeard to have doubts. If this skill were as useful as it seems, it would be best to isolate all attacks.
Though Kaidou is a battle maniac, Whitebeard knows he doesn't have a masochistic tendency. He'll avoid being hit by stronger attacks in battles, meaning this skill must have some limitations.
However, apart from Protect, Kaidou also has the Azure Dragon Fruit's physical boost and extremely strong Haki. Although Advanced Armament can cause internal destruction, not all attacks can hit his body.
After all, his shock wave can't be imbued with Armament, and other attacks don't have the massive attack range of a shock wave, so Whitebeard had been testing for a long time before drawing this conclusion.
He seized the opportunity and unleashed a barrage of fierce attacks on Kaidou's weak spots, forcing Kaidou to continuously use Protect.
In truth, even though Protect is a defensive Divine Skill, using it consecutively is not entirely impossible; it's just that the success rate lowers the more it's used. Judging by the current outcome, Kaidou's luck today isn't particularly good.
"Even so, what of it? I know many other things!"
In yet another contest of strength, the scales on Kaidou's body suddenly stood up. Next, those scales shot out like bullets, each imbued with powerful Armament Haki.
Scale Shooting Attack, a technique that uses one's scales as weapons, causing damage by shooting them at the enemy.
The dense scales shot toward Whitebeard, and even his body got several blood streaks. Then, his entire body emitted bursts of white light, and the powerful vibrating force deflected all the flying scales.
However, the threat from those scales didn't disappear.
"Namur, watch out!"
Marco's wings moved to cover below, and soon his body became riddled with holes. However, under the flames of the Phoenix, the wounds on his body were rapidly healing.
On the other side, King also put up a full-force defense, standing in front of everyone with his wide Pteranodon wings forming a shield.
Though those are just stray bullets ricocheted out, they still hurt when they hit. Morgans, trying to continue taking pictures in such an environment at the risk of his life, after getting a vulture haircut, obediently hid behind again.
Whitebeard's attack was far from over. The white light on his body continued to spread, and Kaidou even felt the island beneath him vibrating continuously.
As the scattered scales disappeared, Rotom's filming continued. Through its night vision lens, one could see the island's surroundings gradually collapsing. Then, shockingly, Whitebeard released his grip on his sword, allowing Murakumogiri to be flicked aside.
Though not knowing what Whitebeard intended, the opportunity had now appeared in front of Kaidou. Taking advantage of this gap, he quickly wielded Hassaikai again.
"Thunderous Hakken!"
In response, Whitebeard swung both fists simultaneously. Kaidou instinctively used Protect, but the next moment, a sense of crisis surged in his mind. Whitebeard wasn't foolish; knowing he had defensive skills, he shouldn't use such attacks.
He then suddenly felt a pain in his chest and abdomen. Whitebeard's shock had penetrated through the barrier of Protect and directly attacked the inside of his body.
The powerful impact forced Kaidou to step back, leaving two deep gashes on the rocky island.
"Awakening, as expected, you've mastered this already..."