While Ace and Big Mom engaged in their ferocious battle, the eastern side of the skull dome served as the arena for Jerry and Kaido's equally intense confrontation.
"Hey! You totally stole someone else's signature move there. Did you pay the copyright fees?" Jerry dodged Kaido's flame-wreathed kanabo strike, his mouth running constantly even during combat.
While Kaido was still committed to his attack's momentum and couldn't immediately withdraw, Jerry's water clone suddenly rushed in from the side like lightning. A violently spinning sphere of compressed water rotated in each of the duplicate's palms.
"Water Release: Twin Rasengan!"
Faced with this coordinated assault, Kaido decisively used the momentum from his previous strike to pivot rapidly, swinging his weapon in a devastating counter-arc.
The water clone was launched away by the tremendous impact, but as it was being destroyed, the spheres it had thrust forward recklessly managed to make contact with Kaido's massive frame.
Although the water-element projectiles were constantly being vaporized by the raging flames covering Kaido's body, they still caused the Emperor to stagger backward from their explosive force.
Jerry—positioned on the opposite side—was naturally not going to stand idle and miss such a golden opportunity.
His figure flickered and vanished in the blink of an eye. Before Kaido could fully recover his balance, Jerry appeared with his fishing rod enhanced by Conqueror's Haki that seemed capable of tearing through the very air itself.
"Water Blade: Sky-Piercing Leviathan!"
Sharp cutting energy attached itself to the fishing rod's tip, hidden and non-luminous like a venomous serpent waiting for the perfect moment to strike its prey.
However, Kaido once again managed to adjust his posture at the critical moment, stabbing backward with his spiked kanabo in a desperate defensive move.
Jerry snorted coldly and raised his left elbow, powerful Armament Haki emanating from the joint. His right hand's motion of swinging the fishing rod remained unchanged, and the prepared slashing technique whooshed forward with deadly precision.
Both fighters' attacks connected directly with their intended targets. Jerry tensed his muscles as Kaido's weapon struck him, sending him flying backward dozens of meters through the air.
He quickly stabilized his aerial position, observing the fresh scar now adorning Kaido's body while he himself remained relatively unharmed. Jerry's mouth curved into a satisfied grin. "Haha! The same routine can't work twice on a Saint Seiya!"
"You damn brat! What the hell is up with your clone?!" Kaido stared at the water duplicate that was flying toward him with relentless determination. No longer able to contain his mounting confusion, he roared out his question while preparing for the next exchange.
After all, Kaido had struck the water clone "Jerry" multiple times throughout their battle—even completely shattering it on several occasions—yet within moments, the duplicate would reform and charge forward fearlessly as if nothing had happened.
It was precisely because the clone "Jerry" showed no regard for life-or-death consequences that it created numerous tactical opportunities for the real Jerry to exploit.
But Kaido understood he couldn't simply ignore the summoned duplicate, since its attack techniques were equally devastatingly powerful. Combined with seawater's natural properties, it possessed significant advantages against Devil Fruit users like himself.
Even while Kaido expended tremendous energy maintaining extremely high-temperature flames across his body's surface, he couldn't afford to dismiss the water clone's threat.
"Sorry, but I'm not big on lengthy explanations during fights."
Jerry responded with casual dismissiveness, then suddenly leaped upward. While his water clone launched several compressed water dragons and engaged Kaido in desperate combat, Jerry appeared behind the Emperor like a phantom.
Explosive sounds shook the entire area as Jerry was launched backward while Kaido groaned from being cut and injured by the ultra-high-pressure water jets from the clone's assault.
Immediately afterward, Kaido completely ignored the duplicate pursuing him from behind and rushed directly toward Jerry's real body through the air with single-minded determination.
"As long as I defeat you, that thing will disappear!" Kaido's strategy had obviously shifted. He'd decided that if he couldn't solve the problem itself, he would eliminate the person causing the problem.
Seeing this direct approach, Jerry swung his fishing rod horizontally. A gleam of anticipation flashed through his eyes as the corner of his mouth curved upward. "Tch! Beat me? What an arrogant old fossil!"
Kaido smiled fiercely instead of taking offense, his face radiating pure fighting spirit. "Then let's settle this once and for all! Let's see who falls first—who can stand at the very end!"
After declaring this challenge, he descended from above like a falling meteor, bringing his raised kanabo down with earth-shaking force like thunder from the heavens themselves.
"Raging Thunder Bagua!"
Faced with this mountain-splitting attack, Jerry swung his fishing rod with deliberate slowness, as if completely oblivious to the devastating strike approaching from above.
This unexpected reaction made Kaido momentarily stunned, though his attack continued without pause. He seemed confident in his ability to handle whatever counter his opponent might attempt.
"Water God: Heavenly Dome!"
The massive weapon fell like a meteorite just as a tremendous shout erupted from behind Kaido. A vast stream of seawater suddenly gathered and emerged, forming an enormous, thick hemispherical water barrier that rotated endlessly with Jerry positioned at its center.
"Don't think you can stop me with this!" Kaido gripped his kanabo with both hands and smashed it against the water shield, fighting against the rotational force of the flowing barrier as he intended to strike Jerry directly within its protection.
At this crucial moment, Jerry—who had remained relatively passive until now—suddenly swung his fishing rod to the side. He stared up at Kaido, who was blocked overhead but ferociously breaking through the water barrier, and spoke with quiet confidence: "Stop you? Of course not—I've been waiting for you to fall into my trap!"
As his words echoed across the battlefield, the water clone "Jerry" dove into the protective barrier and disappeared without a trace.
Immediately afterward, the water shield instantly expanded into a colossal sphere over a thousand meters in diameter, completely enveloping both combatants within its aquatic prison. The massive construct's volume continued growing at an alarming rate.
Within the azure water sphere, countless points of light began to shine, as if the entire structure contained astonishing explosive energy waiting to be unleashed.
However, just as the water prison was reaching its final form, Kaido's booming laughter resonated throughout the liquid environment with deafening intensity.
"Wororororo! Leviathan! If you had continued using those hit-and-run tactics from before, you actually might have been able to defeat me eventually," Kaido's voice carried clearly through the water. "But you dared to trap me in here with you! I admire your courage, but you'd better prepare to go down!"
The Emperor's confident declaration echoed ominously within the massive water sphere as both fighters prepared for what would surely be their most decisive exchange. Jerry's gambit had created the ultimate arena for their confrontation, but whether it would prove to be Kaido's tomb or his own remained to be seen.
The fate of their legendary battle—and potentially the entire war on Onigashima—now rested within the confines of Jerry's aquatic colosseum, where the King of Beasts would face the Leviathan in their most dangerous encounter yet.