Seeing Jerry and Ace rushing toward their respective opponents, it was clearly an invitation to individual duels following the unspoken rules of pirate combat. Big Mom gripped the massive blade of her homie Napoleon and snarled through gritted teeth: "Two arrogant little brats!"
Kaido laughed heartily and stepped forward with obvious enthusiasm: "Wororororo! Come on then, kid!"
Before he finished speaking, Kaido launched himself forward and swung his kanabo with tremendous force, sending a column of concentrated energy directly toward Jerry's approaching form.
"Raimei Hakke!"
"Kaido, this won't be nearly enough!" Jerry raised his left fist and threw a straight punch that completely disintegrated the incoming attack, continuing his charge without the slightest reduction in speed.
Kaido didn't seem surprised by this outcome. In his heart, he had already begun taking the young man before him with deadly seriousness.
"Then try my next technique!" Kaido roared with battle fury as his massive arm suddenly blurred into motion. Countless kanabo strikes interwove into a deadly net within moments, completely blocking all the space around Jerry's position.
"Gundari Ryūseigun!"
Jerry narrowed his eyes slightly and spoke with obvious disdain: "Tch! You can enjoy your big stick techniques all by yourself."
As he spoke, his Conqueror's Haki surged dramatically while his fishing rod danced like a living dragon, blocking left and right as he confronted Kaido's assault head-on.
The sounds of exploding air and clashing weapons rang out continuously as powerful winds swept in all directions, reaching even Ace and Big Mom on the other side of their battlefield.
However, neither of those combatants was affected in the slightest. Ace stepped through the air and moved sideways several meters while airborne. After avoiding the windstorm, he observed raging flames on Big Mom's weapon—who was standing atop the thundercloud Zeus—and felt a trace of surprise flash through his mind before a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Hey there, Granny! Are you suffering from dementia or something?" Ace called out while rapidly closing the distance between them. "Don't you realize that I AM fire itself?!" He complained loudly while simultaneously throwing a devastating punch.
The flaming fist flew through the air toward Big Mom, but the fire surrounding her weapon suddenly expanded and transformed into a giant maw that swallowed the "Fire Fist" attack in a single gulp.
"Mamamamaha! What are you babbling about? Fire? That's just another ability I can control completely!" Noticing that her opponent's confident smile had frozen, Big Mom laughed with obvious delight.
Her obese body suddenly launched upward from the rapidly moving thundercloud, as if accelerating through multiple stages. Big Mom approached Ace at astonishing speed within an instant, raising the massive blade gripped in both hands high above her head as if preparing to split a mountain with pure force.
"Napoleon: Cognac!"
Ace instinctively stepped backward several meters but was startled to discover that the weapon in Big Mom's hands was also rapidly extending to match his retreat.
At the critical moment, Ace had no choice but to cross both arms—now coated with advanced Armament Haki—and attempt to parry with everything he possessed.
However, he was suspended in mid-air with no solid surface to brace against or relieve the tremendous force in this hasty defensive maneuver, so the outcome was entirely predictable.
The blade fell like divine lightning, and Ace's figure streaked across the night sky like a burning meteor before slamming into the already damaged ground, creating yet another massive crater in the dome's surface.
But within the blink of an eye, Ace's form—wreathed in blazing flames—rose into the air once again. After executing several aerial rotations to regain his balance, he headed straight back toward Big Mom.
"Flame Commandment: Rocket!"
With a tremendous roar, Ace's entire body—especially at key joints—suddenly erupted with concentrated flames shooting in the opposite direction of his movement, functioning exactly like rocket boosters.
With the enormous kinetic energy now added to his physical form, Ace's speed instantly increased to a level that ordinary observers could barely track with their naked eyes.
His figure flashed by like a streak of light, appearing before Big Mom in an instant. With crackling Haki enhancement visible around his fist, he delivered a tremendously powerful punch.
Although the technique was among the simplest possible, Ace had combined speed, strength, and advanced Haki to create a shocking effect that embodied the principle of making the complex simple while achieving maximum impact.
"Boy, don't you dare underestimate me!" Facing Ace's assault, Big Mom roared with fury, raised her left arm, and struck back with an equally devastating punch of her own.
Violent winds howled as the massive fist and relatively small fist collided without any interference, meeting like irresistible force against immovable object.
Despite the tremendous size difference, Ace relied on his sophisticated control of reverse flame propulsion to stubbornly hold his ground against Big Mom's overwhelming brute strength, secretly gritting his teeth with the tremendous effort required.
However, Big Mom's raw physical power was no mere illusion. When she realized her opponent was attempting to challenge her strength directly, a trace of contempt flashed through her eyes as her blood-red mouth opened wide: "Little brat, you're being ridiculously arrogant!"
She twisted her enormous body and swung her left arm with even greater force. Within moments, she had knocked Ace backward and sent him flying toward the ground like a human cannonball, causing explosive impacts and clouds of dust to rise.
"Mamamamaha! You..." Big Mom was preparing to laugh mockingly when she suddenly noticed a flash of fire approaching at alarming speed.
Before Big Mom's widening eyes, Ace's figure appeared like a phantom, delivering a hook punch filled with tremendous Haki directly to her multiple chins without the slightest mercy.
Fat rippled like ocean waves as Big Mom's massive body was launched backward through the air. Fortunately, her thundercloud Zeus reacted with impressive speed, intercepting her trajectory dozens of meters away and catching her steadily, preventing a more embarrassing crash landing.
Seeing that his attack had proven effective, Ace's assault became even more ferocious. Flames erupted from behind his form as his body traced a beautiful arc through the air, launching into more aggressive pursuit.
"Don't even think about it!"
The fire burning on Big Mom's weapon transformed into the shape of a miniature sun—that was her homie Prometheus, who roared and rushed toward Ace's attack trajectory while expanding rapidly to tremendous proportions.
With a thunderous explosion, Prometheus expanded to his maximum size and erupted in an earth-shaking firestorm that consumed everything in its immediate vicinity.
Ace allowed a faint smile to cross his features as he rushed directly into the center of the explosion without dodging or attempting evasion. Within the blink of an eye, he had passed completely through the flames and appeared directly in front of Big Mom.
"Little devil! You seem to be getting more and more cocky!" The Emperor rose from her thundercloud, feeling the long-forgotten sensation of actual pain. Fury consumed her as she slashed forward with her blade using no fancy techniques—just overwhelming force.
Both combatants channeled tremendous Haki into their attacks, and thunder and lightning seemed to manifest where their techniques collided, sending devastating shockwaves rippling in all directions.
After this exchange, both fighters flew backward before immediately rushing toward each other again like opposing bolts of lightning, their fighting spirit burning even more intensely than before.
Thunder roared across another section of the battlefield as Cavendish swung his sword with tremendous force, creating sword light that resembled a rainbow cutting through the darkness. However, King raised his own blade with characteristic stoicism, blocking the fierce attack with seemingly effortless precision.
Using the recoil force from their collision, Cavendish retreated dozens of meters and exhaled deeply, his breathing somewhat labored from the extended combat.
Violent aura radiated from his form, making it obvious he had already activated the power of his dangerous second personality, Hakuba. However, judging from the tactical situation, he still hadn't achieved any significant breakthrough in this prolonged engagement.
After their extended confrontation, although King's body bore several sword scars across his dark form, these injuries didn't seem to affect his fighting capability or mobility whatsoever.
Correspondingly, Cavendish had also sustained various wounds across his body, making it clear that neither combatant could easily achieve victory over the other.
"Hehe, your defense seems unable to completely ignore my electrical abilities after all," Cavendish observed, quickly reviewing every detail of their battle since the conflict began. A brilliant gleam seemed to flash through his eyes as tactical understanding dawned.
King swung his sword horizontally and replied in characteristically low tones: "If you're referring to your ability to chatter incessantly and make irritating noise, then that is indeed one of my few weaknesses."
"Your beak is really tough, but I've finally seen through your abilities!" Cavendish declared with renewed confidence as he suddenly spread both arms wide in preparation for his ultimate technique. "There is no such thing as unsolvable defense in this world!"
The final phase of their aerial duel was about to begin, and Cavendish was preparing to unleash everything he had learned about his opponent's seemingly impenetrable defenses.