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On the light screen, upon hearing the words "liberate Wano Country," Kaido's lips curled into a disdainful arc.
His laughter was low and full of mockery: "Found a nation? In this world, the weak have no right to choose their own fate."
Before his words finished, the kanabo wrapped in black and red lightning in his hand already carried the force of wind and thunder, smashing down toward Luffy's head once more.
This strike was even heavier than before. Wherever the club passed, the air let out a sharp, unbearable shriek.
"As long as I'm still alive, Wano Country will forever be my weapons warehouse, my arms factory!"
Kaido's roar carried undeniable dominance. "What founding a nation? What dawn? It's all the ravings of a madman!"
Luffy gritted his teeth, his rubber fists coated in even denser Armament Haki, meeting the attack head-on: "I said I would liberate it, so I will definitely do it!"
"BOOM!"
In the massive explosion, Luffy was once again sent flying, his body plowing a deep trench across the shattered ground.
But only half a second later, that straw hat rose again from the smoke and dust. Luffy spat out a mouthful of bloody foam, yet his eyes burned even more fiercely.
"It's not over yet!"
He was like a tireless spring, bouncing back up at an even faster speed every time he was knocked down.
The "elasticity" of rubber was displayed to its fullest at this moment. It wasn't merely a physical property, but a manifestation of will.
No matter where you fall, you get back up from there. This sentence was not a metaphor when it came to Luffy—it was the norm of battle.
A trace of something unusual flashed through Kaido's eyes.
"Interesting." Kaido muttered to himself, but the movements of his hands grew even more ferocious.
With every swing of the kanabo, the sky seemed to respond by dropping thunder.
Purple-black lightning didn't fall from the clouds but erupted directly from within Kaido's body, coiling around the kanabo, then transforming into lightning serpents that tore through the battlefield with each swing…
Even without using weapons, Kaido's punches and kicks alone were enough to unleash natural disasters.
When he stomped the ground, the earth within a hundred-meter radius surged like ocean waves.
When he threw a punch, compressed air turned into shockwaves that destroyed everything.
What was even more despair-inducing was his almost perverted method of defense.
Every one of Luffy's attacks—Gomu Gomu no Rocket, Gomu Gomu no Elephant Gun, Gomu Gomu no Gatling… Kaido chose to take them head-on with his body.
That chest, arms, and even face covered in dragon scales became the sturdiest shield.
This wasn't a tactical necessity, but a declaration.
"Watch closely. This is the insurmountable gap between a Yonko and you lot…"
"Your attacks aren't even qualified to scratch an itch for me!"
Kaido laughed loudly, letting Luffy's fists smash into his chest. Sparks flew from the scales, yet not even a single white mark was left behind.
The battle between the two soon entered a new phase.
Luffy took a deep breath. Visible red waves of energy began rising around his body.
At the same time, Kaido also put away his contemptuous smile. Crimson light surged in his eyes.
Two invisible pressures collided in the air.
At first, it was only a faint buzzing, but in an instant it evolved into a storm that swept across the entire field.
Centered on the two of them, dark red arcs of electricity crackled wildly. The air was compressed into visible ripples.
The rubble on the ground began to float in violation of gravity, then was ground into dust under the pressure of the Haki.
"This is… a clash of Conqueror's Haki!"
Kid's eyes widened. Even the metal parts on his mechanical arm were trembling slightly.
Law immediately expanded his ROOM, protecting everyone within the surgical space. But even so, that spiritual-level oppression still seeped in, making it hard to breathe.
"Are these two monsters trying to tear apart the entire Onigashima?!"
Killer gritted his teeth, resisting the heart-palpitating pressure.
The stalemate lasted only a few seconds.
The balance of the two Conqueror's Haki was broken. The violent energy exploded outward in all directions!
The dark red shockwave spread in a ring. Wherever it passed, walls cracked, pillars collapsed, and tiles from the dome fell like raindrops.
"Get out of the way!"
In the banquet hall below Onigashima, everyone who felt this Haki impact scrambled to find cover. This was pure spiritual crushing!
After the shockwave passed, the center of the banquet hall was already a complete mess.
The once magnificent top floor of the castle tower now looked as if it had been gnawed on by monsters, exposing the gloomy sky and churning thunderclouds outside.
And atop these ruins, Kaido slowly withdrew his kanabo. A trace of appreciation flashed in his eyes, but it was immediately replaced by even deeper killing intent.
"A clash of Conqueror's Haki… You do have the qualifications to become a king… but that's all."
Before his words finished, the lightning accumulated in the sky seemed to receive a command. Dozens of purple lightning bolts struck down simultaneously!
One of them hit the spot where Luffy was standing, completely piercing through the already ruined ground.
Luffy was blasted away by this force. The lightning tore through several layers of walls and finally dissipated in the banquet hall on the next floor.
"Luffy!"
Zoro was the first to rush over, all three of his swords already drawn.
But before he could arrive, an even more terrifying scene unfolded.
After blasting Luffy away, Kaido did not stop.
He raised his head to the sky and let out a long roar. The sound was no longer a human shout, but a true dragon's roar.
Following this roar, a lightning pillar over ten meters in diameter shot into the sky, piercing through the clouds and illuminating the night sky as if it were daytime.
Within the lightning pillar, two figures slowly descended.
Kaido and Big Mom stood side by side atop the ruins. The pressure emanating from their bodies had already materialized into an aura.
It wasn't like the outward release of Conqueror's Haki. It was more like the "presence" accumulated by two Emperors of the Sea through years of conquest, slaughter, and domination.
Just standing there made people feel a sense of powerlessness, as if facing a natural disaster.
"Weak. Far too weak."
Kaido carried his kanabo, his voice carrying a trace of disappointment: "There isn't even the slightest sense of stimulation. This battle is utterly boring."
"Mam-ma-ma-ma~"
Big Mom let out her signature laugh, but there was no smile in her eyes: "Kaido, stop playing around. Finish off these annoying brats with the next move. There's still a bunch of ants waiting for us to clean up in the banquet hall below."
Kaido nodded.
He had indeed "valued talent" before. He had also given Luffy and Kid chances to live, and had even considered recruiting them.
But when these young people repeatedly proved with their actions that they would not yield, would not compromise, and would not abandon those ridiculous "beliefs," Kaido's final patience was exhausted.
"In this world, power is everything."
Kaido's voice was as cold as iron: "What resolve, what beliefs—they are all fragile illusions in the face of absolute power."
The kanabo in his hand began to emit a low hum. That was the sound of lightning gathering on the surface of the club.
Purple lightning coiled around the kanabo, emitting a "zzt zzt" sound of death's announcement.
In Kaido's eyes, the last trace of amusement disappeared completely, leaving only pure, undisguised killing intent.
He was going to completely strangle this group of newcomers who dared to challenge the old order, right here.
"Anyone who wants to kill my captain…" a voice rang out in the silence.
Zoro clutched his wound and stepped forward, one step at a time, until he stood in front of Luffy.
Blood dripped from his arm, blooming into blood flowers on the ground. But his back was ramrod straight, and the three swords in his hands were steady as a rock.
"Then kill me first."
He said this very calmly. There was no impassioned speech, no tragic resolve. It was as if he was stating the simplest fact.
Zoro didn't show the slightest fear, because that didn't matter at all!
As long as he was still standing, he wouldn't let anyone step over him to hurt his captain.
Kaido watched this scene. He was stunned for a moment, then actually laughed out loud.
It wasn't a mocking laugh, nor an angry laugh, but a laugh of… incomprehension.
"Another one."
Kaido shook his head. His memory flashed back to the scene not long ago when the Nine Red Scabbards, covered in blood, still charged at him…
"For the sake of so-called beliefs, doing such foolish things that are like a mantis trying to stop a chariot. What exactly are you people thinking?"
Kaido couldn't understand.
In Kaido's worldview, the law of the jungle was the only truth.
If you can't win, run. If you can't run, submit. If you can't submit, die…
This was only natural.
Why, for the sake of those illusory things, would you charge forward even when you knew you would die?
"Beliefs? Resolve?"
Kaido repeated these words, as if tasting some strange food: "Can that stuff block my kanabo? Can it take my wife's sword? If it can't, isn't it just self-delusion?"
Zoro did not answer.
He simply adjusted his breathing, once again clenching Wado Ichimonji between his teeth and holding Enma and Sandai Kitetsu in his hands.
The blades of the three swords began to turn black. That was the signal that Zoro was prepared to go all out.
"Fool."
Kaido gave his final assessment of this behavior, then raised the lightning-wrapped kanabo, his gaze fierce: "Then as you wish."
At that moment, from within the ruins behind Zoro, a hand stretched out and pushed aside the beam pressing down on him.
The straw hat rose from the rubble.
Luffy stood up unsteadily. Blood flowing from his head blurred half his face, but his eyes shone frighteningly bright.
Hearing the words of his future self coming from the light screen, the young Kaido nodded slightly. A deeply approving expression appeared on his sharply defined face.
Even though decades of time separated them, they were both named "Kaido."
The soul resonance flowing deep within their bloodlines forged an unbreakable认同 of ideals.
That's right. Power is everything.
The truth of this world had always been this naked and cruel.
Decades of time might carve the marks of age onto a person. Experience would grow, events would settle, horizons would broaden, and even one's methods of handling affairs and ways of thinking might undergo subtle changes.
But those things that truly constitute a person's essence, those flames burning in the depths of the soul, would never change.
Just like Whitebeard Newgate—from the moment he boarded the Moby Dick until he became one of the "Yonko" reigning over the New World in the future—
That desire for "family" and "kin" had always been the core origin of all his actions.
His entire life was spent searching for family, protecting family, and opening up a sea where his family could survive. That gentle yet firm obsession never wavered.
It was the same with Charlotte Linlin. The dream of a "nation" planted in her childhood in Elbaf, after decades of wind and rain, finally became reality at the end of the sea—Totto Land.
A fairy-tale kingdom where all races could live together as equals.
No matter how cruel her methods were, or how contradictory her actions, that initial dream had always been the deepest foundation of her soul.
Ideals are imprints engraved upon the soul.
Time might cover them with dust. Experience might twist them. But their core will never change.
Just like a rock in a raging torrent—it will only be polished harder and harder.
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