Swish!
Ron suddenly slammed on the brakes. His feet carved two shallow trenches in the ground, sending broken stones and dust surging to both sides.
Kaido froze for a moment, then quickly stopped beside Ron.
His curious gaze landed on Ron, and he immediately asked, "Why'd you stop? Not chasing anymore?"
After a pause, he quickly added, "If you're not chasing, lend me your power. I'll go try."
Ron turned his head to look at Kaido. He did not answer Kaido's question, but asked instead, "Kaido... have you ever seen ultimate taijutsu?"
"Of course I have." Kaido nodded. He answered casually, his gaze still stuck on Ron. "Lend me your power first."
Kaido's nonstandard reply made Ron's brain freeze for a second. But soon, Ron continued, "No. The only ultimate taijutsu in this world is something only I know."
"So that's how it is." Kaido nodded again, still expressionless. "Then can you lend me your power now?"
"..."
Ron fell silent. Where was the tacit understanding of the apprentice alliance? He did not pick up a single cue. Was his head filled only with borrowing power? Was he reincarnated from an ATM in his previous life?
"No."
Ron answered irritably, then drew in a deep breath.
Although the memories of how to use the Eight Gates were already clear in his mind, as if carved into his bones, when it came time to use them for the first time, he still felt a trace of indescribable nervousness.
"What the hell? We're apprentice brothers as close as flesh and blood! You won't even lend me that? Aren't you being too stingy?" Once Kaido heard Ron refuse, he immediately began pestering him.
Ron ignored him. He slowly lowered his center of gravity and sensed the power inside his body climbing upward along his spine, like a sleeping river beginning to awaken.
"Seventh Gate: Gate of Wonder! Open!"
The instant his low shout fell, a layer of blue steam exploded from Ron's body.
Unlike other powers, this was energy released by burning the body itself. It was scorching, violent, and carried a pressure visible to the naked eye.
A terrifying air current, with Ron at the center, instantly spread in every direction.
Kaido was the closest. He had not even reacted to what happened. He only heard Ron shout something about "open," then he was violently blasted away by a huge shockwave.
After rolling across the ground many times, he quickly got up, utterly baffled, and looked at Ron.
At this moment, blue steam wrapped around Ron's body, and his hair floated upward.
"What... just happened?" Kaido raised one hand in front of his face, resisting the oncoming aftershock as he muttered.
He could confirm one thing: this power was neither a Devil Fruit ability nor Haki.
It was unfamiliar and primitive, carrying a sense of dissonance that did not belong to this world, as if something had been forcibly dragged in from another dimension.
"Ultimate taijutsu?"
After coming back to his senses, Kaido finally remembered what Ron had just said.
The words "only I know it in this world" echoed in his mind.
"I'm going first."
Ron's voice came from within the steam.
As his words fell, Kaido heard a bang, and Ron's figure turned into a blue-white beam of light, speeding in the direction where Roger and Rayleigh had fled.
Along the pursuit route, he kicked up a long rolling dragon of earth.
Kaido stood there blankly, watching the blue-white figure shrink, grow distant, and finally disappear into the smoke and dust.
He did not chase after him.
Nor did he stubbornly demand more borrowed power.
He stood there, his gaze fixed on the direction Ron had vanished, and a rare, almost contemplative expression appeared on his face.
"Ron..." Kaido said softly. "You bastard... just how many trump cards do you still have?"
Ahead, Roger and Rayleigh were still fleeing madly.
Two figures shuttled swiftly across the uneven terrain. Behind them, Rocks pursued relentlessly.
"This is terrible..." Rayleigh complained as he ran. This trip had ended with them failing to bring Annika back, their ship being robbed, and now they were forced to flee.
"Hahahaha!" Roger's mentality remained as optimistic as ever. He even had the leisure to laugh. "It's not that terrible. After all, only Rocks is chasing us."
The instant his voice fell, Roger, Rayleigh, and even Rocks behind them all had drastic changes in expression at almost the same time.
Their Observation Haki simultaneously predicted that a heart-palpitating mass of energy was rapidly approaching from behind at a speed far beyond common sense.
"What the hell is that?" Rocks suddenly stopped, his body turning slightly as his gaze looked back.
The instant he turned his head...
Swish!
A violent gust of wind whistled past him.
At the same time, Roger and Rayleigh's Observation Haki had already predicted the arrival of danger.
The two almost simultaneously adopted defensive postures.
Swish!
In almost the blink of an eye, a blue-white figure had arrived in front of them.
"Ron?!"
Rayleigh and Roger cried out in shock at the same time.
Ron did not answer. His body twisted slightly, and his right fist, already filled with power and wrapped in blue steam, rushed straight toward Roger's face without hesitation.
Roger reacted extremely quickly and instantly crossed both arms to block.
Boom!
A dull explosion rang out. A force far beyond his expectations poured into both arms.
His body flew backward like a stone launched from a slingshot.
Rayleigh reacted with extreme speed. The moment Ron attacked Roger, he instantly switched from defense to offense. The long blade in his hand wrapped in Haki and slashed fiercely toward Ron.
Whoosh!
Another sonic boom rang out.
Rayleigh's blade struck empty.
Ron's figure had vanished from the spot in that instant, leaving only an expanding ring of blue steam.
Rayleigh's blade landed directly on the ground.
Boom!
A huge sword mark instantly split the earth, and thick smoke roared upward from the center.
Under the prediction of Observation Haki, Rayleigh suddenly turned his head and saw Ron kicking toward him from the side.
Rayleigh switched from offense to defense again.
Only... he was slow.
Bang!
Ron kicked Rayleigh's body. Immediately, Rayleigh felt as if his internal organs had been stirred around, and his chest tightened fiercely.
Splurt!
Blood spurted directly from his mouth. Then, under the enormous impact, his body flew backward.
Ron landed back on the ground, blue-white steam slowly swirling around him.
"Ron?" Rocks' face showed disbelief. At first, he had thought someone had fired an energy shockwave.