As soon as Kaido, transformed into his Azure Dragon form, flew within range of the island, the ground began to shake. An enormous lion head, more than ten times his size, surged up and swallowed him whole in an instant.
In the next moment, the lion head began to reshape itself, twisting and turning like a massive coil, as if trying to crush and grind everything trapped inside into dust. To put it simply, it was a technique that could be described as Spiral Planetary Devastation!
There was no way anyone trapped inside—including the officers of the Kaido Pirates—could possibly survive, their bodies and bones certain to be ground into nothingness.
Meanwhile, Jack, still lying motionless on the ground, thought to himself: Well… I think I'll just keep pretending to be dead.
A dozen seconds later, Shiki slowly floated over to the massive coiled formation of stone and debris. He exhaled a long stream of smoke and spoke with a sneer. "What's this? You can't have died just like that, can you?"
This attack of Shiki's was powerful enough to instantly kill anyone below the rank of Vice Admiral. Unless he deliberately held back, nothing caught in its path could possibly remain alive.
Suddenly, an enormous hand burst through the layers of stone, followed immediately by two massive horns resembling those of an ox.
"AHHHHH… THAT HURTS LIKE HELL!"
Kaido, who had managed to pull half his body free from the rubble, roared in pain. "THAT FU***NG HURTS!"
"Well now, Kaido… that cross-shaped scar across your chest really suits you, you know…"
From two kilometres away, Grimm stood atop a large boulder and spoke in a mocking tone as he heard Kaido's furious roar. Kaido, however, completely ignored him, choosing to act as though he hadn't heard a single word.
Kaido spread his arms wide and shouted, "Golden Lion… PERFECT!"
Just those two simple words, spoken with such thunderous rage, made it clear just how much fury and bloodlust was burning within him. He swung his massive spiked club horizontally through the air, the force of the blow distorting the atmosphere around it.
Kaido had always regretted that he never had the chance to fight Roger, the Pirate King. Now, facing Shiki—a figure who had once stood on equal footing with Roger—he would never let this opportunity slip away, even though he could see clearly that Shiki was now seriously injured and far weaker than he had been in his prime.
As for his subordinates? Well… if they were too weak to survive, then they had brought their fate upon themselves. They had died as they deserved to die on the battlefield.
Wait a minute… what about Jack?
"You waste no words and ask no useless questions… you brat, you and I think exactly alike!" Shiki laughed wildly, and in the same instant, countless streams of sword energy erupted all around him.
Lion's Might: Thousand Slash Valley!
Although Shiki no longer possessed the full strength of his prime years, when he wielded two swords simultaneously, he was still only in his early fifties. He was certainly not the feeble old man who would later be defeated by Straw Hat Luffy twenty years from now.
He still retained roughly seventy percent of the power he had commanded during the legendary battle of Edd War. If anything, he had simply been cursed with terrible luck all his life. While the loss of his legs was a significant disadvantage, the real critical blow to his strength had been that ship's helm embedded deep in his skull.
It had damaged his mind and his nervous system, dulling his Observation Haki, slowing his reaction speed, and worst of all… even affecting his ability to think clearly and strategically.
This was exactly why Grimm had decided to use him as a pawn in his plan, to cause trouble and headaches for both the Navy and the World Government.
Countless golden blades of energy filled the sky, each one carrying enough power to split the ocean or tear through the clouds. Dozens of them came surging forward all at once, a force capable of tearing apart mountains and islands alike.
"Is Shiki trying to seriously injure or even kill Kaido? I specifically said we can't afford to let either of them get too badly hurt!" Grimm said, waving his hand to signal Plank and Yasuo to stand ready. He wasn't worried about Kaido; his real concern was that Shiki might not be able to hold his own against him. Kaido had grown far stronger in the past few years, while Shiki's condition had only continued to decline.
If Shiki was severely wounded now, it would throw Grimm's entire plan into chaos.
"YOU BASTARD WITH THE GOLDEN HAIR!" Kaido cursed loudly. He launched himself straight forward, completely ignoring the countless blades of energy flying toward him, and threw his fist forward to meet the attack head-on.
"Is that man even human? He's a total monster!" the crew of the Golden Lion Pirates murmured in awe as they watched from the decks of their ships high above.
Two hours had already passed since the battle began, and yet Kaido of the Beasts showed absolutely no sign of slowing down, tiring out, or falling to his knees.
If he fought like Redfield did—carefully choosing which attacks to dodge and when to retreat to recover his strength—they wouldn't have been half as shocked as they were now.
But this madman fought in a style that was practically identical to Grimm's own. The word "dodge" simply did not exist in his vocabulary. There was only "defend" and "counterattack." In fact, he was even more reckless and ferocious than Grimm himself.
At least Grimm only stopped trying to dodge attacks when there was simply no other way out. Kaido, on the other hand, seemed to actively throw himself straight into the path of every attack he faced.
Does he really get stronger the more damage he takes? Is he possessed by the spirit of the Barbarian King? Come to think of it, the two of them really did look quite similar in many ways!
"IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT, GOLDEN LION?!"
Kaido was covered in cuts and wounds, yet he paid them absolutely no attention. If anything, they only seemed to make him more excited and frenzied. He opened his mouth wide, and a massive shockwave of wind mixed with roaring flames swept across the entire island.
To Grimm, the sight and power of it looked exactly like the combination of two powerful techniques: Wind Style: Pressure Damage and Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame.
"Hmph! Childish tricks!"
Shiki scoffed loudly. He drew the blade-like weapons attached to his legs and spun rapidly in a full circle, creating a spherical barrier of pure force around him, forming a safe vacuum zone where nothing could touch him.
Is that… Shiki's version of the Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven?
But Kaido refused to be stopped or driven back. He charged forward at full speed, raising his spiked club which now crackled and blazed with violent purple lightning. "Thunderous Eight Trigrams!"
"Hm?!" A sharp light flashed in Shiki's eyes. This time, there was no way he could dodge the attack.
However, just at that moment—
CLANG!
A small, slender figure suddenly appeared right in front of Kaido. Plank drew his sword from his waist and caught the full force of Kaido's club head-on.
"JACK! STOP PRETENDING TO BE DEAD AND GET OVER HERE! BLOCK THIS UGLY ORANGE-HEADED IDIOT FOR ME SO I CAN FINISH OFF THE GOLDEN LION!" Kaido roared. He put all his strength behind his weapon, sending Plank flying backward for the time being.
Jack thought to himself: Damn it… he found me out!
"Right away!" The massive, dim-witted Jack finally stood up from the ground, brandishing two large scythes in his hands, and charged straight toward Plank, who was already pushing himself back up to his feet.
"CAPTAIN KAIDO! I'M HERE TO JOIN YOU!"
At that moment, a piercing cry echoed from the sky above. A huge figure came diving down toward the battlefield—a Pteranodon, its wings blazing with fire. With a single beat of its wings, a massive ball of fire came raining down straight toward Plank.
"FACE THE STORM AND WINDS OF FATE!"
A brilliant flash of sword light cut through the air, accompanied by the roar of a raging gale. The ball of fire struck against an invisible wall of wind and vanished instantly without a trace.
King the Conflagration transformed back into his human form mid-air. He drew his long sword, which glowed red-hot as if it had been forged in the depths of a volcano, and swung it straight at Yasuo.
CLANG!
The two blades clashed against one another, sending waves of wind and fire surging out in every direction.
The battle had clearly reached its most intense and chaotic stage.
Just then, Grimm shot straight up into the sky and cast the spell Blessing of Kings upon himself. A majestic aura, powerful and overwhelming as a tidal wave, instantly spread out to cover the entire island, becoming a tangible force that filled the air.
Everyone fighting below immediately stopped what they were doing and looked upward toward Grimm. He raised both hands high, making it clear that he wanted them to stop fighting, as if he had something important to say.
"Ahem!"
Shiki let out a low grunt and steadied himself in mid-air. "Grimm… what is it you want to say?"
"Listen closely, everyone. This is not the time for us to be fighting among ourselves. There are far more important matters waiting for us to deal with!"
Kaido finally turned his gaze toward Grimm and spoke, "Did you not come here to start a war, Pope?"
He and Grimm had a long history together. They were neither true enemies nor true friends, but they shared a strange sort of bond—they were simply two men who enjoyed crossing swords whenever they met, with no real conflict of interest between them.
"I am here to start a war, but not a pointless brawl between us. This war is against a far greater and more powerful enemy than any of us have faced before. The only question is… do you have the courage to join me, Kaido?"
Seeing that everyone had lowered their weapons and paused, Grimm slowly descended back down to the ground. At the same time, Shiki used his powers to slowly lift the Golden Lion back up into the sky. Grimm turned his back to Kaido and said, "You can either come aboard the ship willingly… or I can knock you unconscious and bring you aboard myself. The choice is yours."
Hearing the words "knock you unconscious," Kaido's brow furrowed in irritation. That was truly a cruel and vicious threat! He had fought Grimm many times before, and he knew exactly what "knock you unconscious" meant—it meant Grimm would cast the spell Confession on him, over and over again, without stopping, until he lost his will to fight or even stay awake!
"…If this so-called powerful enemy of yours turns out to be boring and not worth my time… I swear… I SWEAR I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR WASTING MY TIME!" Kaido shouted in frustration. Yet once again, he realised with a sense of helplessness that there was really nothing he could say or do that would ever intimidate or threaten Grimm in the slightest.
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