After a night of revelry, the ruined hall of Oni Island was littered with hundreds of drunken fools lying haphazardly.
Among them, the biggest drunkard of them all was still drinking heartily.
"Whoa, big bro, you... you... how did you get back so fast? Don't be impulsive!"
Page One was the first to notice Luo Xia's return and hurried forward to anxiously dissuade him.
One call of 'big bro'!
A lifetime as 'big bro'!
At first, Page One had indeed joined Luo Xia for opportunistic reasons, hoping to leverage his influence to become an Executive before his sister.
But after seeing Luo Xia beat Queen for three days straight to avenge him, Page One had resolved to follow this big brother no matter what.
Even when Luo Xia had nearly 'broken ties' with Kaido yesterday, he hadn't distanced himself.
"I appreciate the sentiment. When I have time later, I'll train you even more seriously!" Luo Xia patted Page One's shoulder.
Page One: "???" Absolutely ducking unnecessary!!!
In the blink of an eye, Luo Xia had already passed Page One and walked toward Kaido.
"Hey, Kaido, I'm here. Time for today's sparring session... payback time." Luo Xia said calmly.
"Wororororo, I thought you wouldn't come back for another beating... you keep your word!" Kaido let out a drunken belch.
"A man's promise isn't something to break so easily!" Luo Xia replied flatly.
"Good! Then follow me! Let's not wreck the hall today!"
With that, Kaido swayed to his feet, transforming into the Azure Dragon and crashing through the ceiling.
Luo Xia grabbed Kaido's dragon tail and followed him up to the dome, landing steadily.
"Hic... Wororororo..."
High above, Kaido suddenly burst into laughter... then tears, his weeping splashing everywhere.
"Why is my life always so hard? As a kid, I wanted to be a hero, so I fought desperately for my country. But when I returned, instead of a hero's banquet, I was met with imprisonment..."
Kaido recounted his past, his tears flowing like a broken dam at the emotional parts.
Luo Xia: "?"
Is this a drunken episode?
"You know what? That idiot king wanted to sell me to the Marines. They coveted my talent, wanted me to be a Sky Dragon's lapdog. Like hell I'd submit, like hell I'd bow to those scum... Do you know how I felt?" Kaido continued.
"Not my damn problem!" Luo Xia couldn't care less.
I spent ten years imprisoned on a deserted island, waiting for Fairy Tail for a decade, only to learn from you that this isn't even the Fairy Tail world?
Do you know how I felt then!
"What did you say?" Luo Xia's attitude seemed to anger Kaido, his tears stopping instantly. "Show some respect to your captain!"
Crack!
Purple-blue lightning connected heaven and earth.
The Azure Dragon high above vanished, replaced by a... dragon-man with horns on his head and a tail behind him.
Zoan-type Fish-Fish Fruit, Mythical Azure Dragon Form, Beast-Man Mode!!!
"It's coming!"
Luo Xia's expression turned solemn, flames rising behind his head.
In the next instant, the ferocious dragon-man Kaido appeared before Luo Xia, his Spiked Club Eight Precepts wreathed in thick black-red lightning.
"Drunken Thunder Wheel - Naraka Pull!!!"
Boom!
Rumble!
The entire skull dome trembled violently under Kaido's strike.
Luo Xia finally realized that Kaido hadn't been complaining to him earlier.
Rather, he had entered his 'Drunken Fist' state—Drunken Dragon Eight Trigrams!!!
Kaido's attacks while intoxicated were far heavier than when sober. Just the first strike from his club had cracked the bones in Luo Xia's arms and made him spit blood, and that was with the damage reduction from his Lunarian flames.
"Did getting interrupted by Yamato yesterday make you think you're hot shit again? What did you call yourself again?"
Drunken—Boasting!!!
"Dragon Slayer! The Dragon Slayer!" Luo Xia slowly stood up, cracking his neck from side to side.
"You can still stand? You're much tougher than when we first met. Good, this'll let me fight to my heart's content!" Kaido swung his Spiked Club Eight Precepts again, each strike drawing blood.
By the twenty-third strike, Drunken Kaido's demeanor suddenly changed.
"Ugh~ Why won't you just fall down already~"
The hulking dragon-man said this while raising his hand in a delicate, almost girlish gesture, pointing at his own draconic face.
Drunken—Coquetry!!!
"Take this~ Take this~"
The dragon-man Kaido lightly tapped Luo Xia's chest with his club in a coquettish manner, quickly reaching fifty strikes.
"Ugh—"
Luo Xia vomited.
Not blood.
But last night's dinner.
He had to admit—these subsequent twenty-seven strikes were each more devastating than the previous twenty-three combined.
Not in physical damage, but in mental trauma.
Though he'd known Kaido had these bizarre techniques, seeing them up close was too much. His psyche couldn't handle it.
In his extreme disgust, Luo Xia couldn't hold back—he slammed a Fire Dragon's Iron Fist into Kaido's coquettish face, sending him flying dozens of meters.
"Kaido, today's fifty strikes are over. We'll continue tomorrow!" Unable to endure the burly man's coquetry, Luo Xia decided to go back and look at Yamato to heal his eyes and mental wounds.
Suddenly, an overwhelming pressure erupted behind him.
"Over today? Who gets to decide that! Continue tomorrow? And who decides that?!"
Kaido's earlier coquettish demeanor vanished, replaced by a cruel, icy grin, his eyes burning crimson.
"You think you can just call it quits? Where does that leave my pride? Only I decide how things end! Struggle and survive if you can!"
Drunken—Slaughter!!!
BOOM!
The Spiked Club Eight Precepts shattered the atmosphere.
A terrifying cylindrical blast of Club Aura sent Luo Xia flying hundreds of meters before he could even land.
Before Luo Xia could steady himself, Slaughter Kaido was already upon him, a Conqueror's Haki-infused strike descending like judgment.
Luo Xia's expression darkened. He used his flame propulsion to twist midair, barely dodging the Spiked Club Eight Precepts.
At his peak, he wouldn't have hesitated to clash head-on with Kaido.
But now, with injuries worse than yesterday, taking consecutive hits from Kaido in Slaughter Mode would leave him severely wounded, if not dead.
While Luo Xia wanted to use this beating to accelerate his Armored Dragon Power training, he didn't actually want to be beaten to the brink of death—there had to be limits.
"Come on, keep fighting me head-on! Why are you dodging now?!" Slaughter Kaido taunted. "Dodging won't save you!"
With that, Kaido reversed his grip and landed another brutal strike, then ruthlessly pursued with relentless attacks.
"Since it's come to this, then bring it on!" Driven to this point, Luo Xia threw all caution to the wind and launched a counterattack against Kaido.
"Urorororo, that's more like it!" Kaido laughed heartily.
"So amazing~" In a corner of the dome, the iron-headed girl Ulti hid behind a rock, watching Luo Xia—who was severely injured yet still fighting Kaido—as her eyes gradually turned into star shapes.
"Big Bro is ridiculously strong! I thought I'd already overestimated him, but... turns out my perspective was still too narrow!" Page One exclaimed in awe.
"Monster!!!" King the Conflagration could only utter these two words.
Boom!
After another earth-shaking collision, Kaido and Luo Xia stood facing each other across a hundred meters.
"Urorororo, this isn't your full power yet, is it? I still don't see despair in your eyes!" Kaido chuckled darkly. "You won't be able to dodge my next attack—try blocking it!"
Thunder roared between heaven and earth.
Kaido gripped his spiked club with both hands, gathering momentum as thick black-and-red lightning danced wildly around him.
"In my current state, this will likely be my final strike!"
Luo Xia took a deep breath. The Fire Dragon Seed within him trembled as streams of fiery light converged toward his arms.
Dragon Power, release!!!
Dark red Dragon Scales emerged along Luo Xia's arms, interlocking with metallic clinks.
"Let's begin!"
Kaido grinned, his figure vanishing in an instant like roaring thunder.
Rai...ou...Hakke!!!
"Come at me!"
Luo Xia stood his ground, throwing a punch wreathed in towering flames.
Flame...Dragon...King's...Shattering...Fist!!!
Boom!
Fist and club clashed across the distance.
Kaboom!
The sky itself...split open!!!