Kaido's enormous dragon body shrank, condensed, and reshaped itself—
into his hybrid form.
That was the battle form of the world's strongest creature: it retained the dragon's power and scales while combining them with human agility and technique.
The fact that Kaido revealed this form in front of Shimotsuki Ryuma meant only one thing:
he was finally taking this fight completely seriously.
"Just now, I remembered something."
Kaido stared at the approaching Ryuma, his eyes brighter than ever, filled with excitement and savage intent.
"I remembered what the name Shimotsuki Ryuma really means."
"The great swordsman from Wano's golden age. The legendary dragon-slaying samurai. A man who never knew defeat in his life. Revered by later generations as the Sword God."
"So tell me…"
"Are you a samurai who inherited that name—or are you the man himself?"
Though Ryuma had died centuries ago, the sea was vast, and in a world this strange, nothing was truly impossible. For all Kaido knew, there might be some bizarre Devil Fruit that could drag a person from the distant past into the present.
Ryuma said nothing.
He simply drew his blade.
In that instant, he became a streak of sword-light, vanishing from where he stood and appearing within Kaido's range in a heartbeat.
Shusui was held level, its tip aimed straight at Kaido's throat.
Kaido's pupils contracted sharply. He brought his kanabo across his body to block.
The moment blade and club collided, the heavens and earth seemed to lose their color.
In the next second, the skin between Kaido's fingers split open, blood spraying everywhere as the force blasted him backward once again. He crashed into the mountainside, and shattered rock rained down around him.
Boom!
Stone exploded outward, and Kaido stepped back out of the rubble, fury blazing from him. Overwhelming Conqueror's Haki wrapped itself around his kanabo. Having been blown back again and again by Ryuma, he was furious beyond words.
Great Mighty Thunder Bagua!
One-Sword Style: Iaijutsu!
Boom.
The two attacks collided again, and a sea of shockwaves exploded outward in every direction.
Now that they were far from the Flower Capital, Ryuma fully let loose. No longer restraining himself, he unleashed ferocious flying slashes wrapped in Armament Haki, each one powerful enough to level a mountain.
"Man… they're really going at it."
Watching through farsight magic, Rowan couldn't help sighing.
He had seen battles like this more than once in the manga, but this was the first time he had ever witnessed one in person.
Watching it live was way more exciting than manga or anime ever could be.
That kind of world-shattering battle was just too exhilarating. It made your blood boil and almost made you want to rush in and fight alongside them.
Of course, that hot-blooded feeling only lasted a few seconds.
Then Rowan calmed back down.
Same as always—he really wasn't interested in fighting and killing. Watching other people fight was fine, but fighting himself? He'd pass.
"Hey, Hawk-Eye, how long do you think this fight is going to last?" Rowan asked with interest.
Mihawk expanded his Observation Haki and "watched" the distant battle, his gaze lowered.
He didn't answer Rowan at all.
His mind was completely absorbed by the clash between Kaido and Ryuma. He was even imagining himself in their place from time to time, thinking through how he would deal with each move.
As for what Rowan had asked, he simply didn't care.
Rowan could only shrug.
That was just how it was with top-tier fighters—they were obsessed. If they weren't, they never would have reached this level.
So he turned toward Nico Robin.
"What do you think, Robin?"
"I think you're making things difficult for me, Rowan," Robin said with a smile. "With my strength, how could I possibly judge the gap between those two and calculate how long their battle will last?"
Her power had grown enormously, but compared to Kaido and Ryuma, she was still far too weak.
Rather than focus on that battle, it made more sense to think about how to overthrow the World Government.
"By the way, Rowan, I have an idea."
"What kind of idea?"
Robin said, "Once Kaido loses, should we try to recruit him? Bring him into our camp and have him help us fight the World Government."
"Oh? You want to recruit even Kaido?" Rowan asked with a half-smile.
Robin shrugged. "The World Government is too strong. If we want to defeat it, then we have to gather as many powerful people as possible. Kaido, Whitebeard, Big Mom, Red-Hair—even Crocodile. I don't want to let any of them slip away."
She started counting them off on her fingers.
"Besides them, there's Zephyr, Garp, Fujitora, the Golden Emperor, Loki of the giants… I don't even want to pass up Shiki."
Rowan laughed. "So you're planning to sweep up every top-tier fighter in the One Piece world in one go."
Robin shrugged again. "Isn't the World Government strong enough to justify that?"
"I wouldn't mind," Rowan said. "But are you sure these people would actually do what you want and join you against the World Government? You don't seriously think any of them are easy to control, do you?"
Zephyr, Garp, and Fujitora might be persuadable.
But Whitebeard, Kaido, Red-Hair, Shiki, Big Mom, Crocodile, the Golden Emperor, Loki—every last one of them was fiercely proud and wild.
More importantly, many of them had old grudges with each other.
Crocodile, for example, wanted Whitebeard's head.
Shiki had been imprisoned in Impel Down by Garp and Sengoku working together, and lost both his legs there.
Trying to make all of them behave and unite against the World Government…
That was harder than climbing to heaven.
Rowan wasn't optimistic about Robin's chances.
Robin laughed softly. "If it were just me, then yes, persuading them would be nearly impossible. But what if you did it yourself, Rowan?"
"Me?" Rowan pointed at himself, not expecting Robin to turn the idea back on him.
"Aren't you overestimating me a little? I'm not Rocks. I can't force a pack of unruly monsters like that into line."
Robin looked at him in surprise.
"Rowan… do you have some kind of misunderstanding about yourself?"
"The God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju, is your bodyguard. Tobirama Senju, master of forbidden techniques, listens to you without complaint. Minato Namikaze sees you as his benefactor. Tsunade is your friend. Orochimaru treats you as his hope for immortality."
"The ninja of Konoha naturally stand on your side."
"Hawk-Eye Mihawk owes you a favor. Shimotsuki Ryuma was willing to become your subordinate in order to save Wano."
"And even Miss Serie is your friend."
"With the strength under your command right now, you could crush any Yonko crew in the sea. Even Kaido and Big Mom together wouldn't be your match."
"Even if the Rocks Pirates were reborn, the forces under your banner would still suppress them."
"And beyond all that, you hold the power to reverse life and death, as well as access to countless other worlds."
"So tell me—"
"why exactly do you think you can't bring a bunch of unruly monsters like that to heel?"
~~~
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