"Brother, stop sighing and hurry up. Bring out your big guy and go shorten his lifespan again!" Kaido urged from the side.
Ron turned his head slightly and glanced at Kaido from the corner of his eye. He did not answer immediately. After a brief silence, he gently shook his head, a faint smile on his face. "No. The plan has changed."
"When did it change? Why didn't you tell me?" Kaido asked with a stupidly earnest expression.
"Just now. Don't ask so many questions," Ron replied.
As he spoke, Ron had already sheathed the long blade in his hand. He undid the belt holding it, casually tossed it away, and it landed steadily in Kaido's arms.
"Are you going to use the Eight Gates?" Kaido caught the blade and immediately asked.
"Yeah."
"Can you open all eight gates?"
"I can."
"Then are you going to show me?"
"..."
Ron did not answer.
He knew better than anyone what opening the Eighth Gate meant. It was the momentary peak obtained at the cost of one's life.
But logically speaking, he had stacked so many layers of buffs on himself. Maybe he really could withstand the backlash from the final gate.
Of course, that was only speculation.
Unless he was absolutely forced to, he had no intention of gambling with his life.
"Kaido."
"Yeah?"
"Watch closely and learn properly. This gate of mine is going to be very strong."
Before Kaido could answer, Ron shouted, "Eight Gates! Seventh Gate, Gate of Wonder, open!"
The sealed gates were forced open one after another like a row of dominoes being knocked down.
A fierce shock wave erupted from Ron's body. Blue steam burst from his skin, carrying a scorching and violent aura as it swept in every direction.
Whoosh!
The violent impact instantly cleared all the surrounding haze, revealing a gray-white sky and the ground pitted by explosions.
Blue steam wrapped around Ron's body. His hair floated upward like burning flames.
Sengoku's expression turned extremely grave. He stood not far away, the eyes of his golden Buddha body locked tightly onto that blue figure, thoughts racing through his mind.
'Is this the same ability Kaido used? No, that's not right. It's different. They look similar, but the feeling they give off is worlds apart.'
Tap, tap, tap.
Ron gave Sengoku no more time to think. His body flashed forward like blue lightning, charging toward the golden Buddha.
"So fast..." Sengoku's pupils contracted sharply. "This is not something Kaido can compare to at all!"
Although the situation was sudden, Sengoku did not panic.
The golden Buddha thrust out both palms repeatedly. Violent shock waves rained down toward Ron like a storm.
Golden beams smashed into the ground one after another, blasting up smoke, dust, and rubble. But every strike was half a beat too slow. Ron's figure always dodged just before the shock wave landed.
Step after step, the distance shrank rapidly.
When that blue figure closed in to only a few dozen meters, Ron leapt up, brought both hands together, condensed the air compressed to its limit into his palms, and thrust it out.
"Daytime Tiger!"
Whoosh!
Compressed air erupted from between his palms, transforming into a gray-white tiger head several times larger than the golden Buddha.
The tiger head looked so solid it seemed real. Its jaws opened wide, carrying a force that could crush everything as it swallowed the golden Buddha.
Sengoku's pupils shrank to pinpoints. He did not sit and wait for death. He quickly poured all of his Haki into his right fist. Thick black patterns wrapped around the surface of the golden Buddha fist, dark-red lightning crackling around it.
Then he punched.
Boom!
Fist and tiger head collided.
A thunderous explosion rang out, as if two iron mountains had smashed together in midair.
A powerful shock wave burst between heaven and earth, its aftershocks roaring outward like a tsunami and peeling up the ground layer by layer.
Under the enormous impact of Daytime Tiger, the golden Buddha's feet carved two huge trenches into the ground as his body slid uncontrollably backward.
Every step he took crushed a large patch of earth, cracks spreading like spiderwebs.
Splat.
A mouthful of blood suddenly sprayed from Sengoku's mouth.
He had already been injured by the earlier Tailed Beast Bombs. Now, forcibly pouring in power on top of that made his wounds even worse.
Facing the ferocious, continuous impact of Daytime Tiger, the golden Buddha's punching arm finally could not hold. It began to bend.
"Aaaah!" Sengoku did not give up. He roared and used every ounce of strength he had.
Crack.
But suddenly, the golden Buddha's arm snapped.
Daytime Tiger lost its final obstruction and swallowed the golden Buddha in one bite.
Boom!
A dazzling white light exploded between heaven and earth. The violent explosion echoed in every direction once again, and rolling smoke spread outward like a flood, swallowing everything in sight.
Ron landed from midair, blue steam still surging around him.
Suddenly, his Observation Haki sounded an alarm.
Someone was behind him. That malice was so dense it felt like a blade already pressed against the back of his neck.
Ron had no time to think. His body moved faster than his mind. His fist clenched, he spun around, and he punched out.
Boom!
An extremely powerful shock wave exploded from his fist and roared along the ground. It expanded rapidly from near to far, leaving a trench on the ground that began at Ron's feet and widened outward, its edges charred black.
"Who?"
Ron warily observed his surroundings. He could say with certainty that someone had just been behind him, and he had sensed extremely strong malice.
"That fast? They disappeared without a trace in an instant, and I can't even feel a hint of their aura."
"But no matter what, I don't sense danger anymore. I don't sense malice either."
As soon as Ron finished speaking, his nose twitched. He smelled a faint scent of blood.
Also, his face felt a little wet.
He reached up, touched his face, then looked down at his hand.
"Blood?" Ron froze. "Don't tell me... I punched them into blood mist?"
"Hehehe... scared me half to death. I thought some monster had shown up. They dodged so fast I couldn't see them or sense them at all."