Borsalino slipped into the MADS research base, heading straight for Dr. Vegapunk—his main target for this mission. But the moment he felt the pressure from Kaidou and Ortoren's clash outside, his chest tightened.
He had already thought he was giving Ortoren the highest possible credit in his mind, but clearly, he had still underestimated him. This wasn't just "holding Kaidou off"… they were going blow for blow like equals.
"Since when are rookies this terrifying?" Borsalino thought with a mix of awe and disbelief.
Of course, he didn't know that neither Kaidou nor Ortoren had even used their abilities yet.
...
Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the waters near Ranki Island, the Big Mom Pirates' Queen Mama Chanter was cutting through the sea at top speed.
Charlotte Linlin stood on deck, eyes narrowing in amusement as she looked toward the towering clash of Conqueror's Haki in the distance. "That's Kaidou's aura. Hah… been years since I've seen that brat…"
After the Edd War, the Big Mom Pirates and Beasts Pirates had worked together on occasion, but that "cooperation" never brought her face-to-face with Kaidou. At most, they'd spoken a few times through a Den Den Mushi.
Among pirates, there was an unspoken rule—kings didn't meet kings.
After all, they were all proud, headstrong types. From afar, it was easy enough to talk business. But meet in person, and who knew? One tiny slight, one stupid reason, and they could be swinging at each other before a deal was even made.
At first, Charlotte Linlin simply recognized Kaidou's Haki. But then her expression shifted, surprise flickering in her eyes.
"That other Haki… Ortoren!?"
She confirmed the familiar feeling again and again before her grin widened into laughter. "Mamamamama! As expected of my son!"
It wasn't that surprising to her. Katakuri, as her son, had awakened Conqueror's Haki too. Ortoren was even more gifted—of course he'd awaken it.
But that didn't stop her from growing more restless. A deep green soul flame burst from her hand, flooding into her ship as she barked, "Faster! Push the speed even higher!"
The Queen Mama Chanter, infused with a soul and powered by that energy, shot forward. Despite her massive size, she skimmed the waves like a speedboat, churning up white spray in her wake as she hurtled toward Ranki Island.
Even so, Charlotte Linlin couldn't shake the impatience gnawing at her. She wanted to be on the island now—to see how much her precious son had grown in the past year, and to size up her "little brother" Kaidou for herself.
She even found herself imagining Kaidou's face when he learned the man trading blows with him was her son.
Finally, she couldn't hold back any longer. "Zeus!!" she bellowed.
In the same breath, she leapt high into the air. A thundercloud surged up beneath her feet like Sun Wukong's somersault cloud, and in the blink of an eye, she'd left the ship behind, streaking toward the island at incredible speed.
...
On the island, Ortoren and Kaidou's battle raged on.
The clash of Conqueror's Haki had ended—now it was pure, brutal combat.
It had been only minutes, but the two of them looked as if they'd fought for days. Kaidou's body was mottled with unnatural swellings and dark bruises, some wounds still seeping blood.
Ortoren's condition was even rougher. Kaidou fought dirty—his heavy weapon bristled with barbs and spikes, and the kanabō had torn more than a few holes in Ortoren's flesh.
Yet neither man looked ready to quit. Their eyes were sharp, their energy undiminished, their bodies coiled for another hundred rounds.
Another clash—Ortoren's hammer thudded into Kaidou with a bone-deep sound. At the same moment, Kaidou's massive hand closed around the hammer's shaft. His left hand released the kanabō, letting it crash to the ground. Then his palm curled into a fist, and he drove it straight into Ortoren's nose with a vicious crack.
Ortoren, riled up by the blow, loosened his grip on his war hammer and let Kaidou take it. In the same motion, he swung an upward hook with his free hand, slamming it into Kaidou's chin.
The impact ripped Kaidou's towering frame clean off the ground, sending him reeling backward, almost toppling over completely.
Both men discarded their weapons entirely. Standing their ground without the slightest attempt to dodge, their fists blurred into countless afterimages, each dull, booming strike like rapid-fire war drums—fast, heavy, relentless.
The ground beneath them shattered over and over, chunks of earth and stone bursting outward. Yet they stood rooted like trees, muscles rippling and jolting with every hit, bruises and swelling spreading fast across their bodies.
A solid crack to the eye socket left Ortoren's face swelling, the skin purpling, blood vessels crawling through his pupil.
The next instant, Ortoren's fist smashed into Kaidou's nose, snapping it with a spray of blood that hung in the air for only a heartbeat before being swallowed by the storm of fists.
Three, maybe five seconds—it was impossible to tell how many blows they'd traded. Pain raged through their bodies, but their hearts were thrumming with pure exhilaration.
In one brief opening, Kaidou caught Ortoren's right fist, while Ortoren seized Kaidou's left arm.
They froze for a fraction of a second—then Ortoren drove his knee straight for Kaidou's groin. Kaidou reacted instantly, raising a leg to block the vicious strike.
Neither showed any sign of letting go. With a slight edge in raw strength, Ortoren made the first move—pushing hard off the ground and toppling Kaidou backward, then dropping down to straddle his abdomen.
Pinning him there, Ortoren hammered his fists into Kaidou's face, pounding his head halfway into the dirt.
Kaidou bucked violently, driving his knee into Ortoren's lower back and staggering him. Seizing the moment, Kaidou twisted, yanking Ortoren off him and slamming an elbow into his ear, leaving Ortoren reeling with ringing ears and a spinning head.
Kaidou rolled them over, reversing the position, and began pounding Ortoren's face in return.
There was no technique left here—just the raw savagery of a street fight.
Though Kaidou was slightly weaker in strength, his frame was nearly twice Ortoren's bulk, and he used that sheer mass to crush him down, pinning him while delivering blow after crushing blow.
Dozens of heavy punches later, Ortoren's head was split and bleeding. He struggled hard but couldn't break free, sinking deeper into disadvantage.
Then Kaidou noticed something strange—Ortoren's brown hair was bleaching white from the roots.
"What the hell…?" Kaidou frowned, though his fists didn't slow.
He soon realized each punch seemed to speed up the change.
The moment Ortoren's hair turned completely white, Kaidou's next punch halted mid-swing. Ortoren's hand had clamped tight around his wrist.
The force that surged through Kaidou's arm was far beyond anything Ortoren had shown before. Off guard, Kaidou was yanked up and hurled to the ground.
Before he could even hit, Ortoren let out a beastlike roar, his eyes blood-red, his body fully entering Sulong. In a flash of lightning-fast movement, he was on Kaidou midair, raining down dozens of brutal punches that left the Emperor stunned and dazed.
The static of his Mink instincts flared, sparking the power of the Goro Goro no Mi within him. With the final blow, Ortoren looked like the god of thunder himself—his fist, wreathed in searing lightning, slammed into Kaidou's face, charring his hair into an explosive mess and blasting him over a hundred meters into a mountainside, shattering it in a landslide.
Buried in rubble, Kaidou lay dizzy for a moment before roaring in outrage. "Coward! We agreed—fists only, no powers! And you pull this on me!?"
But even through his anger, Kaidou had noticed something—Ortoren's change hadn't been a conscious choice. He'd lost control.
Had Kaidou beaten him into this state?
Before the thought could settle, the debris exploded outward. Ortoren emerged like a predator hunting prey, hurling boulders aside with his bare hands. The moment his crimson eyes locked on Kaidou, they lit with feral intent, and he raised a hand wreathed in lightning.
This time, Kaidou was certain—Ortoren had gone completely berserk. Any thoughts of "fighting fair" were gone. He opened his jaws and unleashed a roaring Bolo Breath, swallowing the frenzied Ortoren in a torrent of flame and blasting him away.