While ordinary shells and autocannon fire did almost no damage to Kaido, the shockwaves from large-caliber explosions could still cause him some trouble. However, the armor-piercing rounds mixed in with the conventional shells were dealing actual, effective damage—though most of it consisted of shallow lacerations to his skin and flesh.
As soon as Sean ordered the attack to cease, the wounds on Kaido's body began to close at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Sean couldn't help but marvel at the man's physiology. That recovery speed... it was nearly on par with his own current Level 7 High-Speed Regeneration.
'''
High in the sky, Kaido's rage had reached its boiling point. His massive azure dragon eyes glowed with a fierce, predatory light, looking every bit the enraged beast. He opened his maw wide, and a terrifying amount of energy began to coalesce.
'Heat Breath!'
Seeing this, Sean knew exactly what Kaido was planning. Based on the original story, Kaido's Heat Breath in his dragon form had a range of several kilometers and could blast straight through an entire island. Its destructive power was immense.
Sean immediately braced himself. If Hawkeye couldn't stop it, he would step in instantly.
In the next heartbeat, the energy condensed into a linear beam, resembling a concentrated weapon of mass destruction. The Heat Breath erupted from Kaido's mouth, streaking directly toward the Marine fleet. Had it hit, at least half the fleet would have been wiped out in an instant.
However, there was an obstacle standing in the beam's path.
That obstacle was Hawkeye.
He held the black blade, Yoru, high above his head, assuming the posture for the world's strongest slash. Facing the incoming torrent of fire, Hawkeye showed no fear; instead, a hint of excitement flickered in his eyes.
"Yoru, cut it down!"
'Boom!'
With a low shout, Hawkeye brought Yoru crashing down. A black slash tore through the air. Aside from its color, the attack seemed utterly mundane. It almost gave the illusion that this was the strike of a mere master swordsman rather than a Great Swordsman.
Only Sean and Gion, standing on the deck of the warship, could see the true nature of this unassuming, unadorned slash.
"Sean, is Hawkeye's attack a Zanpakutō ability?" Gion asked.
"Most likely," Sean nodded. "Normally, it's impossible to condense a slash to that degree. Even I can't do it yet."
Sean was still puzzled, however. Which Zanpakutō had Hawkeye awakened? Based on the current display of power, it felt somewhat similar to Zangetsu, but he couldn't be sure. He found it hard to believe that the old man Zangetsu would agree to let Hawkeye rename his blade 'Yoru.'
'Could he have received a Zanpakutō that never appeared in the original series, just like I did?'
Sean decided to keep watching. Once Hawkeye showed more of his capabilities, he would be able to determine the truth.
At that moment, Hawkeye's slash and Kaido's Heat Breath collided.
The expected stalemate—where the two forces would clash and push against each other—never happened. The pitch-black slash sliced through the energy beam as if it were cutting through soft tofu, continuing its forward momentum without the slightest hint of resistance.
Kaido's Heat Breath was split clean in two. Because the energy had been severed, the remaining remnants began to explode violently in the wake of the black slash.
The sight left everyone speechless. Even Kaido's massive dragon eyes widened in shock. He reacted instantly, twisting his gargantuan body to dive out of the way.
'Sshhh!'
A flash of black light streaked past. Although Kaido's reflexes were superb, he couldn't evade it entirely. The slash grazed his side, carving a deep gash into the Azure Dragon's massive hide. Blood sprayed into the air.
"Hiss... that slash really is powerful. What exactly is the ability of Sean's Zanpakutō?" Gion gasped, unable to hide her shock.
Could a simple slash truly reach this level?
"I'm not sure yet, but it's likely specialized in enhancing the power of slashes and self-augmentation," Sean replied, shaking his head.
Indeed, Hawkeye's strike was very similar to the black lunar arcs of Zangetsu's Bankai, but Sean knew for a fact that Hawkeye had only achieved Shikai, not Bankai. Furthermore, compared to the flamboyant arcs of a Bankai-state Zangetsu, Hawkeye's slash was far more understated—almost plain, at least to the senses.
Therefore, it likely wasn't Zangetsu. So, what exactly was this Zanpakutō?
"From the look of it, Hawkeye should have the strength to suppress Kaido!" Gion noted.
"No, not necessarily," Sean countered. "That Heat Breath wasn't Kaido's full power, nor was it his most dangerous move."
Kaido was not an easy opponent to handle. The reason Sean had been able to resolve the conflict with Whitebeard so quickly was largely due to Whitebeard's failing health. That withered body could not sustain a full-power output for long.
By Sean's estimation, if Whitebeard had tried to go all out with the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, he probably would have killed himself after three or four maximum-output attacks. Had he been healthy during the Paramount War, Whitebeard could have simply unleashed his full power the moment he arrived and leveled half of Marineford, securing victory instantly.
Furthermore, Sean had also gone all out back then, using his ultimate trump cards. Even so, Whitebeard had managed to endure a fully chanted, Level 90 Hadō: Kurohitsugi.
Kaido was different. While his peak explosive power might not be as terrifying as Whitebeard's, he had the body to match his title. The "Strongest Creature in the World" wasn't a title given for free. At full throttle, Kaido could maintain his peak state for days.
Therefore, even if Sean fought him personally, taking Kaido down completely would likely not be something that could be achieved in a short amount of time.
'''
Meanwhile, near Whole Cake Island in Totto Land.
Ryokugyu was currently dominating Daifuku and several other ministers left behind in Totto Land. Meanwhile, Lucci and Fujitora had teamed up to engage Big Mom in a fierce battle.
If one were to rank the current six Admirals of the New World Marine by strength, Fujitora and Ryokugyu were at the bottom. After all, they had only recently joined; they hadn't yet benefited from the special jerky of the New World Marine, nor had they received Zanpakutō from Sean.
In other words, their strength was currently roughly equivalent to the Admirals from the original story. Above them would be Akainu.
Sean had considered giving Akainu a Zanpakutō, but he had been preoccupied with so many tasks lately that he hadn't found the time to specifically forge an Asauchi for him.
For Sean, forging an Asauchi was not particularly difficult; he simply needed to craft a blade of Great Grade quality and apply a yield multiplier of at least twenty times.
However, doing so would not allow the Asauchi to awaken into a powerful, Captain-level Zanpakutō. More often than not, it would only reach the level of a Seated Officer—much like the first one Gion had received.
To obtain a truly powerful Zanpakutō, Sean had to ensure that the original prototype—before the multiplier was applied—was close to, or had already reached, the level of a Supreme Grade blade. Only then could it be paired with a high multiplier to achieve top-tier results.
This had been the case when he forged a weapon for Hawkeye.
This wasn't just a matter of Sean's forging skill, but also a matter of materials. Hawkeye's blade had been reforged using fragments from the Supreme Grade black blade, Yoru. Currently, Sean did not possess materials of such extraordinary quality.
Furthermore, Akainu had only been consuming Type 3 Jerky for three or four months. Consequently, Akainu's overall strength currently ranked fourth among the Admiral-level fighters.
As for the others, Lucci had been with Sean the longest and had consumed the top-grade jerky for the longest duration. If Zanpakutō were excluded from the equation, Lucci was undoubtedly the strongest of the six.
But when including the Zanpakutō and calculating total combat power, the hierarchy of strength was...
Hawkeye > Gion = Lucci.
Of course, Sean still held one hidden Admiral-level asset: Hancock. As for why Hancock remained a Vice Admiral rather than being promoted to Admiral, the reason was simple.
Sean planned to establish more large-scale G-series bases across the New World in the future, each to be presided over by an Admiral. Hancock had explicitly stated that she was content being a Vice Admiral and adamantly refused a promotion. Once she became an Admiral, she would have to leave the New World Marine Headquarters, and she had no intention of being separated from Sean.
'''
At that moment, Big Mom was in a state of complete rage, bordering on losing control. However, it was in this state that Big Mom was at her most dangerous.
Even with Lucci and Fujitora joining forces, they were unable to completely suppress her and were even slightly disadvantaged.
As for Ryokugyu, although he was facing Daifuku and three other ministers simultaneously, he handled them with ease, maintaining a firm upper hand.
Meanwhile, the fleet's barrage never ceased. They weren't targeting Big Mom herself, nor were they bombing Whole Cake Island; instead, they were relentlessly shelling the reserve pirates of the Big Mom Pirates who were sailing in from the various islands of Totto Land to provide reinforcements.
The sea was littered with the wreckage of pirate ships and drowning sailors. It was a stark demonstration that, setting aside the exaggerated strength of top-tier powerhouses, technological superiority was the true deciding factor in war.
Without powerful leaders to protect them, an ordinary pirate fleet stood no chance against the New World fleet on the open sea.
'''
On the ocean's surface, the Red Force was sailing at full speed toward the former territories of the Whitebeard Pirates. Inside the cabin, a series of projections captured the attention of all the executives.
These were real-time feeds transmitted via surveillance Den Den Mushi, arranged by Beckman in Wano Country and Totto Land.
As Red-Haired watched the screen, he was slightly stunned to see Hawkeye slice right through Kaido's heat breath and leave the creature wounded.
'This guy... how did he get so much stronger since he started following Sean?'
Moreover, what was the deal with that plain-looking black slash? Unlike Sean or Gion, who were present on the battlefield, Red-Haired could not feel the true nature of the attack through the screen. He was left deeply perplexed.
The images from Totto Land were equally shocking. Two men were actually capable of stalling an enraged Big Mom. In particular, that man named Lucci possessed strength that undoubtedly surpassed that of the original three Admirals. Even Fujitora, the newest addition to the Marine through the World Military Draft, was certainly not inferior to the original Admirals.
'No, the strength of the New World Marine is growing too quickly. I have to find a way to deal with this.'
He believed that the Five Elders would not allow such a powerful force to emerge under their own banner.
'It seems that after this, it's time for me to go see those five old men.'