So-called Thunder Bagua.
To put it bluntly, it was just Kaido's basic attack—albeit infused with extremely high-quality Conqueror's Haki—which allowed him to shatter the Fifth Emperor's dreams with a single swing of his Spiked Club.
In contrast, "Subjugation of the Three Worlds · Pulling into Hell" was a technique named after the Four Great Wisdom Kings...
Now that could truly be called Kaido's ultimate skill!
"Finally getting serious, Kaido?!"
Xiano grinned wildly, spreading his arms wide without dodging or even raising his fists to block the overwhelming storm of terrifying lightning.
Last year at Enies Lobby.
After he had just mastered Conqueror's Haki Infusion and integrated it into combat, his strongest trump card—"God's Punishment"—had been effortlessly blocked by Kaido using nothing but his bare chest.
That sheer, overwhelming physical strength had been utterly staggering.
But now, times had changed...
Faced with Kaido's ultimate technique, it was his turn to test his limits!
BOOM——!!!
Purple-black and crimson-black lightning intertwined, swirling around the Spiked Club as it descended with world-shattering force, smashing squarely into Xiano's massive chest.
THUD!
With a deafening impact, Xiano grunted as his enormous body was sent flying like a broken kite.
After crashing through over a dozen rocky mountains, he finally smashed into the top floor of a grand castle a kilometer away.
The Black Queen, who had been murmuring something to herself in front of a mirror inside the bedroom, was instantly reduced to fragments. The room collapsed, sending dust billowing into the air.
Silence lingered for a long time.
For a brief moment, the entire Story World seemed to hold its breath.
Kaido descended from the sky, landing on the ground outside the castle. Narrowing his eyes, he stared coldly at the swirling dust.
Then—
CRASH!
The castle trembled violently as rubble exploded outward. A towering, five-meter-tall behemoth leaped out, howling through gritted teeth:
"GAAAH! It hurts, it hurts, it HURTS! Feels like I'm gonna die from the pain!"
"Cut the crap!"
Kaido's eyes bulged as veins throbbed on his forehead. He pointed his Spiked Club forward and roared, "You bastard, you're completely unharmed!"
"Oh? You saw through me?"
Xiano stepped out of the dust, his figure gradually coming into focus.
Casually cracking his neck with one hand, he glanced down at the bloody, caved-in wound on his chest and grinned.
"Still, it did sting a little. That big stick of yours packs way more punch than Kizaru's Ama no Murakumo!"
Even disregarding the Azure Dragon Fruit, Kaido's physique and durability were among the world's finest—but so what?
Forging his body in the crucible of flesh, tempering it day and night for nearly a decade, his physique had also reached the pinnacle of strength!
As expected, even a so-called "ultimate skill" of this caliber...
He could tank it with pure brute force alone!
"Gororororo! There's a limit to arrogance, you brat!"
Kaido bared his teeth in a savage grin, tightening his grip on the Spiked Club until it creaked. "If you're so tough, why don't you just stand there and keep taking hits? Who the hell do you think you are—Joy Boy?!"
Not even Joy Boy could...
This absolute confidence in one's own body, this sheer contempt for the enemy—hadn't that always been his exclusive privilege?!
Since when was it someone else's turn, you bastard!!!
The pent-up frustration in his chest seemed desperate for release, causing his entire torso to swell like a balloon as scorching Dragon Breath gathered in his throat—
"Heat Breath!!!"
A pillar of fire several meters in diameter erupted forth. Wherever it passed, whether the earth or the towering ancient castle, everything instantly burst into raging flames and turned to ashes, revealing the hazy purple-black sky beyond.
"So you can use this move without transforming into a dragon!"
Xiano's eyebrows rose in surprise, followed by a dark chuckle. Instead of retreating, he charged straight through!
His right leg cleaved through the flames like a battle-axe, his black hair whipping wildly in the scorching wind. In the split second the path opened, his body shot forward like lightning, closing the distance to Kaido.
A left fist several times larger than an ordinary man's head came crashing down like a meteor toward Kaido's skull!
"Your club is nothing special!" Xiano laughed wildly. "Now it's time to taste my full power, Kaido!"
As the words left his mouth, a cross-shaped crimson glow erupted from his fist, blindingly bright, illuminating the shattered sky.
This move was...
Kaido's pupils constricted.
"Galaxy... Impact!"
Thud!
Crack!
The dull crunch of a collapsing cheekbone and the crisp snap of a broken nose rang out almost simultaneously.
Torrents of blood gushed from Kaido's nostrils as the punch sent him flying backward.
At such close range, it was impossible to disperse such tremendous force instantly. Even Kaido couldn't avoid being sent flying hundreds of meters.
Yet mid-flight, he twisted his body and hurled his Spiked Club at Xiano with all his might!
"Roaring Thunder Bagua!!!"
The attack came abruptly. Xiano crossed his arms to block as black-red lightning weaved across his body, forming a defensive net. The terrifying impact sent him skidding backward, his feet carving deep trenches into the scorched earth.
Before he could steady himself, an overwhelming pressure descended from above—Kaido had already landed like a demon god, grabbing Eight Precepts and swinging it down again!
"Too slow!"
Xiano snarled, his body flickering sideways like a ghost. The Spiked Club grazed his ear as it smashed into the ground, but he had already seized Kaido's right wrist, driving his knee into the monster's arm!
Crack!
A sickening crunch of bone echoed as Kaido's entire right arm twisted unnaturally.
Yet the demonic beast laughed wildly, ignoring the injury. Using the momentum, he spun and drove his left elbow—wrapped in wind and thunder—straight toward Xiano's temple!
"Urorororo! That last hit was just bait! You fell for it, brat!"
There was no dodging this.
Thud!
The blow struck true, tearing open a patch of Xiano's skin and sending blood spraying. His vision blurred for the briefest instant.
But only an instant!
Eyes snapping open, Xiano bared his teeth in a feral grin. He spread his arms and locked them around Kaido's torso, his muscles coiling like a volcano on the verge of eruption—
"Eat this... SMASH!!!"
BOOM!!!
The 5.2-meter giant suplexed the 7.7-meter monster into the earth. The shockwave rippled outward in concentric rings, exploding violently.
The world, already fractured from their battle, had finally reached its limit. It could endure no more.
The ground around the entire castle shattered like broken mirrors, cracking and crumbling apart.
Xiano followed closely behind Kaido as they both plunged into darkness.
The howling wind roared past his ears, as if they were falling into a bottomless abyss...
————
Meanwhile, in the outside world.
Everyone was intently watching the flickering text when suddenly flames erupted, burning over a dozen pages to ashes before vanishing on their own.
"Whoa! What's going on?"
Bonney and Nami both flinched back in alarm.
BIGMOM's hostile gaze immediately turned toward Mondor.
"This has nothing to do with me, Mama! Those two were making too much of a commotion—the story world of that chapter couldn't handle it and was completely destroyed!"
Mondor protested before quickly reassuring her, "But don't worry, this is my largest volume with the most capacity. There are plenty of other worlds left—it should be enough for those two to wreck..."
"Oh? You'd better be confident about that."
BIGMOM sneered.
Kaido and Xiano had only been fighting for a single hour so far!
This ignorant fool of a son thought they were brawling at his level.
Did he even realize how long monsters standing at the pinnacle of the world could fight before exhausting their stamina?!
——
Falling. Still falling.
The darkness was endless, threatening to swallow everything.
But then—in the very next second—
BZZT!
Blinding neon lights abruptly flared to life. The roar of engines, blaring horns, and the clamor of crowds flooded their ears like a tidal wave.
Xiano snapped his eyes open and looked around, realizing he was plummeting rapidly through the night sky.
Below him stretched a modern city bustling with traffic—countless skyscrapers rose like a forest of steel, cars streamed endlessly through the streets, and pedestrians scurried like ants.
"Oh? We've entered the next chapter of the book?"
A rare flicker of nostalgia passed through Xiano's eyes as his lips curled into a grin. "Where did they dig up this folktale? It's pretty similar to Earth!"
But that wasn't surprising.
The world of Pirates had countless islands, each with vastly different levels of technology. People from different places had wildly varied fantasy worlds in their imaginations.
Compared to the futuristic sci-fi aesthetic of Egghead Island, this story world before him wasn't all that shocking.
BOOM!
The two of them crashed onto a wide asphalt road one after another, instantly shattering the pavement. The shockwave sent a dozen speeding cars flipping through the air as pedestrians screamed in terror, scrambling to flee in all directions.
"WORORORO!! Interesting! What kind of hellhole is this now?!"
Kaido effortlessly kipped up from the ground, wiping blood from his mouth as he surveyed their surroundings.
Ever since his youth, he had loved leaping from heights of ten thousand meters, making suicide attempts a habit.
A fall like this was nothing to him.
Xiano, however, lay in the crater for a moment, tilting his neck slightly as if adjusting before finally climbing to his feet.
Coincidentally, a heavy truck was parked nearby. Without hesitation, he grabbed it with one hand, lifted it effortlessly, and hurled it with a vicious grin toward the figure standing across from him—who was currently staring intently at a massive screen at the street corner.
"What's so interesting about this place? Now's not the time to get distracted, Kaido!"
BOOM!
The truck sent Kaido stumbling forward a few steps, but he quickly steadied himself and snorted in irritation before spinning around—his Spiked Club already swinging in a brutal arc.
Thud!
Xiano was sent flying backward by a heavy blow, crashing into a red-and-white television tower. The tower twisted and snapped, slowly toppling over.
Then in an instant, it dissolved into countless blurred cubes before vanishing completely.
The large screens on nearby buildings, which had been broadcasting news, suddenly lost signal, flickering with static.
"Same as the last world—just disappearing outright?"
Xiano stepped out from the wreckage of the tower's base, glancing at where the television tower no longer existed.
Only now did he get a clear look at the people around him.
Many had identical builds and outfits, their models recycled over and over—just a few variations, as if copy-pasted in bulk. Their resolution was extremely low, and their faces lacked even basic facial features.
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