Chapter 18 – Part 2
Sunny vs. Kaido: The Month of Hell
Sunny POV
When I opened my eyes, I was lying face-up in a crater that definitely hadn't been there five minutes ago. Smoke curled upward, my ribs felt like they'd been used as Kaido's personal xylophone, and my brain was still echoing from the sound of his club.
> {Ego}: Correction: brain damage = likely.
[System]: Master, brain damage was already present. This blow merely stirred the soup.
"…Shut up, both of you," I croaked, dragging myself upright.
The ground trembled. Kaido's massive silhouette loomed over me, club resting lazily on one shoulder, his grin wide and sharp as if this was nothing but a drinking contest.
"BOY," he boomed, his voice like thunder rolling through my skull. "YOU'VE DIED THIRTY-SEVEN TIMES ALREADY. GIVE UP."
I spat blood, grinned back, and cracked my knuckles. "Give up? Sorry, old lizard. Respawn buttons were invented for people like me. You're just my training dummy with alcoholism."
---
Day 1 to Day 7 – The Club of Eternal Pain
The first week was pure torment. Kaido didn't even bother dodging. Every technique I unleashed—Bang's martial arts combos, Jirō's knocking strikes, Air Crunch shockwaves—just bounced off his scales like I was tickling him with a feather.
I died. A lot.
Sometimes my skull got flattened like a melon under a cartwheel. Sometimes I got hurled across mountains. Once, he literally used me as a baseball and pitched me into orbit.
Each time, I respawned. Each time, I staggered back, fists raised.
> {Ego}: Strategy suggestion: stop headbutting the indestructible dragon.
[System]: Strategy correction: MORE headbutting, master. The data shows increasing blunt force trauma may… eventually… statistically… work.
{Ego}: Your calculations are the definition of insanity.
[System]: And yet master listens to me more. Jealous, tsun-tsun?
{Ego}: I AM NOT—!
Meanwhile, Kaido just laughed. "YOU REMIND ME OF A CERTAIN BRAT IN WANOKUNI. STUBBORN, LOUD, AND STUPID."
"Thanks," I wheezed, trying to pop my arm back into place. "I'll add that to my résumé."
---
Day 10 – Small Victories
On the tenth day, something shifted. My Observation Haki sharpened under the endless pressure of Kaido's monstrous aura. I began to "see" the trajectory of his club before it landed, even feel the displacement of air molecules before his strikes.
For the first time, I dodged clean.
Kaido's eyes widened briefly. Then he grinned even wider.
"GOOD. DON'T DIE TOO FAST."
Of course, I still died a minute later, but hey—progress.
---
Day 15 – Experimenting with Air Crunch
Half a month in, I finally managed to weaponize Air Crunch properly. I hardened the air around Kaido's legs, locking him briefly in invisible shackles. He tore through them in seconds, but it gave me enough time to land a barrage of Bang's Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist, followed by Jirō's knocking strikes.
His scales actually cracked. Just a hairline fracture—but it was there.
I laughed like a madman. "HA! SEE THAT? YOU'RE NOT IMMORTAL, JUST STUPIDLY OVERBUILT!"
Kaido grinned back, blood trickling from his lip. "GOOD. MAKE ME FEEL ALIVE."
Then he one-shot me through three mountains.
---
Day 20 – Death Count: 157
By the twentieth day, my body had adapted. Respawn after respawn forged me into something sharper. My Armament Haki density soared; my Conqueror's Haki began leaking naturally, bending the environment around me.
I began layering Air Crunch with Conqueror's pressure, creating invisible blades of compressed will. One managed to slice a line across Kaido's chest. He laughed, called it a "mosquito bite," and promptly crushed me under his dragon form's tail.
> {Ego}: Statistical note: death by tail = 23.
[System]: Correction: 24. You forgot the one where his tail turned master into modern art.
"Not helping," I muttered, spitting rocks out of my teeth.
---
Day 25 – Learning to Smile Back
Kaido's brutality was endless. But somewhere along the way… I stopped fearing it.
Every swing of his club became a challenge. Every bone-breaking slam a lesson. I found myself laughing as he crushed me, grinning through the blood and broken teeth.
He wasn't the only monster enjoying the fight anymore.
Kaido noticed. His laughter grew louder, echoing across the battlefield. "YES! THAT'S IT! SHOW ME THE WILL TO RIVAL GODS!"
And I did.
---
Day 30 – The Breakthrough
On the thirtieth day, battered, bruised, my black tattoos glowing from the {Ego} and [System] seal-technique experiments, I finally unleashed something new: Space Crunch.
Instead of just hardening air, I folded the void itself.
Kaido lunged, club raised. I clenched my fist, and space itself warped—his attack slowed, stretched, as though he were swinging underwater.
For the first time, Kaido's eyes flickered with something close to surprise.
I grinned. "Gotcha, dragon."
My fist, cloaked in jet-black Armament and sparking with Conqueror's lightning, smashed into his jaw. The shockwave tore the clouds apart. Kaido staggered. Blood sprayed.
The world went silent for a heartbeat.
Then Kaido laughed. "FINALLY!"
The battle resumed.
---
Kaido POV (brief)
This boy.
Every day he died. Every day he returned. His strikes grew sharper, his will heavier. He reminded me of that brat Luffy—but darker, hungrier, less bound by ideals and more by sheer madness.
This wasn't just training. This was evolution.
And for the first time in centuries, I felt alive again.
---
Closing Scene
At the end of the month, the battlefield was unrecognizable—mountains leveled, rivers boiled dry, craters littering the land.
I stood there, blood-soaked, trembling but unbroken. Kaido was still laughing, even with blood dripping from his mouth and cracks spiderwebbing his scales.
I wiped my face, grinned back, and muttered:
"Month one… complete. Four more monsters to go. Respawn button, don't fail me now."
> {Ego}: Correction: you are insane.
[System]: And I love him for it.