"These two fellows!"
On the Navy warship.
Garp stood at the bow, gazing up at Dressrosa, a hint of emotion in his eyes.
It had been many years since he'd witnessed such a scene.
The last time he fought the silver-haired brat on the Sabaody Archipelago, it was less a battle and more a spar.
Whether it was him and Kizaru, or Kong Tai and Kuina, they had all confined their combat to Island 1.
They hadn't fought all out.
So, while the battle still appeared fierce to ordinary people, it hadn't been the world-destroying spectacle they were seeing now between Kaido and the silver-haired one.
Shaking his head in contemplation, Garp looked up at the incessantly churning clouds above, and beneath them, at Kong Tai, who seemed to be facing a natural disaster alone. A hint of solemnity appeared in his eyes.
The intern brat from the Rocks Pirates had grown into a new world Emperor, unmatched in Haki.
And then there was this silver-haired brat. Less than a year since he set sail, his Haki, though not yet at its peak due to lack of training, combined with his peculiar space-manipulating abilities, had forced even Garp to retreat.
"Alas... I'm getting old," Garp sighed inwardly.
*Boom—!*
Just then, the clouds above suddenly parted. A colossal figure, wreathed in crackling thunder, plunged from the sky like a meteorite towards the tiny white figure below.
"Worororo!!"
Kaido roared with laughter, his hands gripping his massive club as he swung it down at Kong Tai. "Die, brat!"
"Great Violent Thunder Bagua!"
Kong Tai looked up. His current form, beneath Kaido's eight-meter frame, was like an ant. He himself wasn't even as large as Kaido's club.
Yet, his aura was as potent as Kaido's descent, accompanied by heavenly thunder.
In his cerulean pupils, a sword seemed to rise to the heavens. In this moment, facing Kaido, Kong Tai became the sword.
*Zing—!*
No wasted words, no dodging. He had intended to engage Kaido in a life-or-death battle to temper his Haki.
Of course, this life-or-death battle had a clear objective: he would live, Kaido would die.
Zanmai, also crackling with thunder, unleashed its ultimate sharpness the moment it was drawn, its boundless fluctuations like an indestructible sword energy, easily cleaving through the clouds above.
Once Zanmai was fully unsheathed, outsiders could only see a thunder-wreathed blade, its form indistinct.
"One Sword Style: Iai: Divine Sever!"
Zanmai reversed its cut, aiming upward as if to truly cleave the heavenly disaster above.
*Boom—!*
A world-shattering explosion, accompanied by a sky-high barrage of thunder, completely engulfed the area.
The shockwave, like a tidal wave, twisted the air and surged outward from the point of impact in all directions.
The gray clouds brought by Kaido were thoroughly dispersed by the immense shockwave, revealing the golden sun in the sky.
On the ground, even from afar, a fierce hurricane kicked up.
If the people hadn't been evacuated long ago, the gale force winds generated by the residual energy of the clash would have sent people flying, causing heavy casualties among Dressrosa's civilians.
At the highest point of the Royal Palace highlands.
Kuina's clothes flapped violently in the hurricane, yet she stood as if rooted to the spot, unmoved by the tempest.
Beneath her sharp brows were eyes shining with overwhelming fighting spirit.
She, too, longed to fight.
In the air.
The two figures remained locked for a moment before rapidly separating, only to collide again.
*Clang! Clang! Clang!*
The immense impact sounds, accompanied by unparalleled shockwaves, reverberated across the entire sky.
Gradually, the clouds in the sky dissipated entirely, revealing a vast circular void, like a celestial crater.
In the center of that circle, two figures, one wreathed in purplish-red lightning and the other in purplish-black lightning, seemed to transform into light, clashing and separating rapidly, only to collide once more.
"Worororo!!"
"Brat, you're truly formidable!"
*Clang—!*
They collided again. Kaido grinned, laughing wildly. "Exhilarating, truly exhilarating."
"Exhilarating?"
Kong Tai, enduring Kaido's club, grinned back. He stared at Kaido, his tone arrogant. "Indeed it is exhilarating, but in this sky, I am the overlord."
Saying that, he put strength into his arm, repelling Kaido's club. Then, holding his blades with both hands, he raised them over his shoulders and brought them down fiercely upon Kaido.
"You're too arrogant, brat. The sky overlord, wasn't the last one who called himself that already killed by you?"
"Worororo!!"
Even though Shiki was his senior, it didn't stop him from mocking Shiki.
Kaido gripped his club with both hands and swung it upwards, wreathed in lightning, towards Kong Tai.
"Roaring Thunder Bagua!"
"Azure Dragon!"
*Bang—!*
A fierce metallic collision sound, accompanied by thunder, once again echoed through heaven and earth.
However, as Kong Tai had said, in the sky, he was the overlord. Kaido was currently in his human-beast form, not his airborne Azure Dragon form.
At his level, he could indeed briefly hover by treading on air, but he couldn't achieve the freedom Kong Tai displayed, treating the sky as ground.
Without the power derived from a solid footing, Kaido, airborne, was no match for Kong Tai.
The first time he descended from the sky, they were evenly matched. But in the subsequent clashes, Kaido had been at a disadvantage.
And now.
After a brief stalemate, Kaido, lacking the necessary follow-up power, was, under Kong Tai's blade, directly sent plummeting down like a true meteorite.
Of course, this was also what Kaido himself desired.
In his human-beast form, he couldn't unleash his full strength in the air.
*Boom—!*
Kaido's massive body slammed heavily onto the street below the Royal Palace highlands.
Instantly, the earth shook as if it were an earthquake.
The ground at the impact site rippled like water, waves surging outward in all directions. Wherever the waves reached, be it houses or anything else, they were swept up and became part of the surge.
In the air.
The arcs of electricity around Kong Tai gradually faded. He hovered in the air, looking down at the center obscured by swirling dust.
There was a bottomless black abyss.
Due to Kaido's immense size, the abyss resembled the impact site of a true meteorite, its walls blackened.
And within that abyss, Kong Tai could sense Kaido's presence.
Unchanged.
Indeed, at their level, unless they were truly overwhelmed, they wouldn't be injured. More importantly, they wouldn't be injured before reaching exhaustion.
The fact that he could wound Kaido with a single strike earlier was due to the element of surprise from his "teleportation." Now, if he wanted to wound Kaido again, unless he shamelessly kept using teleportation, their battle had only just begun.