Kai's form rippled and expanded as he shifted back to his beast form, the massive divine dragon ascending into the heavens with powerful wingbeats.
Although he desperately wanted to engage Jack in honorable hand-to-hand combat, their earlier collision had forced him to confront harsh reality. Without mastery of Haki techniques and lacking proper combat training, he would definitely prove no match for Jack, Who's-Who, or any of the other seasoned fighters in close-quarters battle.
If that was his limitation, then he would simply have to rely on his ultimate techniques.
"Huh, that guy's actually still breathing?" Ulti momentarily forgot about the brewing infighting, craning her neck to watch Kai climbing higher and higher into the sky.
Who's-Who sensed immediate danger. Although he couldn't predict exactly what Kai was planning, he certainly didn't believe the dragon was preparing to flee like a coward.
"Quickly! Attack together with me!"
Who's-Who drew his blade and aimed it skyward, continuously launching flying slashes in desperate attempts to intercept the ascending threat.
Sasaki immediately followed suit, his own weapon singing through the air.
But their frantic movements were obviously far too slow. Within moments, Kai had completely vanished from everyone's field of vision, disappearing into the vast blue above.
At the skull's observation windows, King spoke with characteristic calm: "Kaido-san, do you require my intervention?"
Kaido waved his massive hand dismissively, his voice booming like thunder across the battlefield: "Absolutely not. A coward who flees from combat doesn't deserve to serve as my All-Star!"
High above the battlefield, Kai also noticed the desperate slashing attacks rising from the ground below but paid them no attention whatsoever.
Compared to Jack and the others, his overwhelming advantage was simple: he possessed true flight capability.
Looking across the entire pirate world, experts with genuine aerial combat abilities were extraordinarily rare. Bell had once claimed that "only five confirmed flying abilities exist in the world."
Whether that statement held complete accuracy or not, it perfectly illustrated the incredible scarcity of flight-based powers.
Among the Four Emperors, only Kaido and Charlotte Linlin could achieve true flight, and among the Marine Admirals, only Kizaru possessed such mobility.
The development of Geppo techniques only granted experts brief aerial maneuvering capability. Sustained pursuit at these altitudes was absolutely impossible for ground-based fighters.
Within minutes, Kai had reached the sea of clouds far above the island.
"This altitude should suffice perfectly."
Kai surveyed his surroundings and slowly closed his eyes in deep concentration.
An invisible, otherworldly wave suddenly radiated outward from Kai's position, expanding toward the vast depths of space with irresistible force.
The next moment, his eyes snapped open with predatory intensity.
"Let me provide you with a proper appetizer to sample first."
"Draco Meteor!"
Dozens of massive meteors that had been silently orbiting in the void were precisely located and forcibly dragged earthward by that invisible cosmic influence!
The meteors pierced through the atmosphere, creating intense friction with the air that produced blazing infernos, transforming them into enormous shooting stars trailing spectacular fiery tails.
On Onigashima below, Kaido, who had been steadily pouring alcohol down his throat, froze mid-gulp. He suddenly looked skyward and immediately bellowed a curse: "That damn brat! Does he intend to obliterate Onigashima entirely?!"
Before the shocked Queen and King could voice their questions, Kaido barked urgent orders: "King! Queen! Coordinate your attacks with mine immediately! Be extremely careful not to affect the battlefield below!"
"Hm?"
Just as King prepared to ask for clarification, a crisis warning from deep within his soul made him instinctively look upward.
"Big brother, what are you discussing... AHHH! Me-meteors!" Queen's shock was so profound his jaw nearly dislocated entirely, his eyeballs bulging grotesquely behind his sunglasses until the lenses cracked and shattered from the strain.
The four combatants standing on the battlefield below also detected the sky's ominous transformation.
"Little Pay-Pay, run for your life!"
"Big sis, we need to escape!"
The Ulti siblings spoke in perfect unison, their usual bravado replaced by genuine terror.
"Is this truly an opponent we can realistically defeat?" Sasaki murmured in disbelief, his corpulent frame trembling beyond his control.
"No way... he can summon meteors as well?" Who's-Who stared at the apocalyptic scene unfolding overhead and suddenly laughed with bitter resignation.
Those dozen massive shooting stars of varying sizes blazed with tremendous fury, painting the entire sky a brilliant crimson!
They tore through the heavens mercilessly, crashing downward as if determined to annihilate everything on Onigashima's surface.
"Damn it! Kai, who do you think I am?! Do you believe I'd cower before mere falling rocks?!"
Of the four people present, only Jack remained high-spirited and eager for battle.
He instantly entered his hybrid form, both massive curved swords wrapped in Armament Haki until they gleamed pitch-black with concentrated power.
Facing the world-ending meteor barrage, Jack refused to retreat. Instead, he advanced boldly to meet the meteor crashing toward his position with a defiant sword swing.
Simultaneously, the trio of Kaido, King, and Queen could no longer remain passive observers and moved to intercept the celestial bombardment.
They cared nothing for the cannon fodder pirates' survival, but this Onigashima represented over ten years of careful construction and planning. It couldn't be destroyed in a single moment of recklessness.
"Black Coffee!"
"Imperial Flaming Wings!"
"Thunder Bagua!"
Three explosive battle cries rang out almost simultaneously.
The seemingly heaven-and-earth-destroying meteor shower, under the combined assault of three top-tier powerhouses, mostly shattered and disintegrated like fragile glass spheres, transforming into a rain of burning stone fragments that scattered harmlessly downward.
However, three meteors with perfect trajectories toward the battlefield were tacitly allowed to slip through their defensive barrage.
This was, after all, the official All-Star competition between Kai and Jack's faction.
Facing the incoming celestial projectiles, Who's-Who, Sasaki, and the Ulti siblings showed almost no hesitation whatsoever, decisively choosing immediate battlefield evacuation.
They burst forward at their maximum possible speeds, becoming four panicked streaks as they fled headlong toward the combat zone's perimeter without a single backward glance.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Three meteors slammed with devastating force into the battlefield where the quartet had been standing moments before, their deafening explosive thunder seeming to tear listeners' eardrums apart.
The enormous reactive force made the solid earth ripple and crack like ocean waves during a typhoon.
Terrifying shockwaves carried scorching air currents and deadly debris, instantly sweeping outward in all directions with unstoppable momentum.
Smoke and pulverized stone shot skyward, completely blocking out the sun's light.
The entire central battlefield area transformed instantly into a burning purgatory of ruins, filled with massive craters and scalding rock fragments.
"AHHHHH!" Jack roared as he struggled to push away the burning boulder pinning him to the ground.
His current condition was absolutely miserable.
Both hands bled freely from split skin, his massive body was covered with severe burn marks, and his labored breathing sounded like a damaged bellows fighting for each breath.
Jack was preparing to rest briefly before resuming his battle with Kai.
"ROAR!"
Thunder-like dragon roars suddenly echoed from the heavens above.
High at ten thousand meters altitude, Kai breathed concentrated fire, wrapping the flames around his entire serpentine form.
A miniaturized version of a Fire Dragon Torch technique was complete!
"Flame Charge!"
Kai transformed into a blazing comet descending from heaven itself, moving so fast he left a burning vacuum trail in his wake.
"Damn it...!"
Jack's pupils contracted to pinpoints. He instinctively attempted to rise and evade, but his stamina consumption had been far too severe. His battered body could no longer support long-distance evasive maneuvers.
With no possible retreat available, then he would meet this challenge head-on in a satisfying collision!
Jack shifted into his most durable beast form, his mammoth head completely covered with concentrated Armament Haki to resist the incoming catastrophic impact.
BANG!
The dragon skull and elephant head collided without any sophisticated techniques, in the most primitive and savage manner conceivable!
Time seemed to freeze completely in that critical moment.
Immediately afterward, a massive fireball exploded like a volcanic eruption across the battlefield.
A flaming mushroom cloud rose majestically from the devastated ground.
The terrifying destructive force acted directly upon the earth itself. With Jack's position as the epicenter, a massive crater dozens of meters in diameter and several meters deep formed instantaneously, leaving a permanent scar on Onigashima's surface.