"Beautiful! Again!"
Kaido's black hair danced wildly as he let out a frenzied roar. His iron mace swung with a rhythmic whoosh, the gale it generated slicing into the earth and leaving jagged cracks in its wake.
Under Kaido's wanton assault, the ground vanished into a series of massive craters, sending layer after layer of shockwaves rippling through the air.
"Get off me!"
After being repelled and forced back several times by the mace, Aeridar could no longer contain his mounting fury. With a thunderous shout, he blurred into a series of afterimages, closing the distance in a flash to bury a heavy kick into Kaido's chest.
BOOM!
A dull thud, like a sledgehammer striking a war drum, echoed as a ring of air exploded outward. The ground beneath them shattered into dust under the pressure, and Kaido was sent hurtling backward for dozens of meters.
"Not enough! Not enough! You haven't killed me yet!"
Before Aeridar could press the advantage, Kaido roared and flipped back to his feet in one fluid motion. Striding forward, Kaido swung his mace at Aeridar with enough force to completely tear the air apart, creating a shrieking gale.
Aeridar didn't meet the blow head-on; he surged upward into the sky. Kaido's mace, carrying monstrous strength, slammed into the earth instead.
RUMBLE!
The terrifying force detonated instantly, shredding the subterranean rock layers. The ground buckled violently as a pillar of dust shot into the sky, leaving behind a jagged fissure hundreds of meters long, a bottomless abyss that looked like the open maw of a demon.
High above, Aeridar hung suspended in mid-air, raining down a barrage of punches so fast they left a trail of spectral blurs.
Impact: Morning Peacock!
The super-high-speed friction against the air ignited the shockwaves into spheres of flame. They streaked down like a dense meteor shower, saturating the battlefield and swallowing Kaido's massive silhouette.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
In an instant, the rain of fire struck home. The island shook with constant detonations as the earth transformed into a sea of flames.
Mere seconds passed before a titan-like figure erupted from the inferno. Kaido's voice boomed, "GET DOWN HERE!" The sheer volume of his shout acted as a physical shockwave, snuffing out the surrounding fires instantly.
Kaido leaped, closing the vertical gap in a single bound to appear right in front of Aeridar.
CRACK—!
Kaido swung his mace at point-blank range. The weapon broke the sound barrier with a thunderous crack, slamming into Aeridar like a baseball bat hitting a ball and launching him across the horizon.
The sheer air pressure from the strike carved out a yellow wall of dust ten meters high that swept across the landscape for hundreds of meters.
RUMBLE!
Aeridar's brawny body became a black blur, moving so fast it shattered the sound barrier, leaving behind multiple rings of sonic boom clouds in the sky.
In an instant, he had flown over a thousand meters, slamming into a mountain two kilometers away. The impact made the thousand-meter-tall peak shudder violently; a plume of dust shot into the air as shattered boulders rained down in every direction.
As the dust settled, a circular crater, dozens of meters wide and a hundred meters deep, marred the mountainside. Jagged cracks radiated outward, and loose rubble continued to tumble from the impact site.
Deep within the mountain's belly, Aeridar was half-buried in stone, a trickle of blood escaping the corner of his mouth.
"Heh... heh heh... As expected of one of the Yonko. You're the real deal!"
A low laugh echoed through the hollowed mountain. Aeridar stood up abruptly, the sheer force of his rising aura shattering the boulders pinning him.
SWISH—!
RUMBLE!
Aeridar surged back into the sky, once again trailing sonic booms as he accelerated. As he cleared the mountain, he spotted Kaido charging toward him on foot.
"Hahaha! You're getting more durable, Golden Ring!" Kaido laughed wildly, the battle-lust in his eyes reaching a fever pitch.
"Eat this, you bastard!" Aeridar barked, his body vanishing from thin air.
Almost simultaneously, Aeridar reappeared at Kaido's right flank. His fist blurred with friction-ignited flames, slamming directly into Kaido's head.
Impact: Morning Peacock!!!
BOOOOM—!
Kaido, unable to react in time, took the hit as if struck by a massive mallet. He was sent tumbling sideways, wreathed in a ball of fire that streaked through the air like a falling star.
He skipped across the ground for hundreds of meters, plowing a three-meter-deep trench through the earth before finally coming to a halt amidst a fog of rising dust.
"Now that punch... had a bit of kick to it!"
Kaidou shook his head, standing up from the trench with his slightly scorched body. Dirt and stone fell from his skin as he stepped out to retrieve his fallen mace.
…
Aboard the Chris.
"Arlan-sama! A call from the Donquixote Family!"
A burly pirate, three meters tall, emerged from the communications room and shouted toward a sun lounger on the deck.
Yawn—
"Is it news about the Straw Hats?"
A handsome blue-haired man on the lounger slowly opened his eyes, looking as though he had just been roused from a deep sleep.
"Yes! The Donquixote Family says Doflamingo-sama has personally taken action!" the pirate reported.
"I see."
Gilbert Arlan waved a hand, shaking his head to clear the sleepiness. Wearing camo mesh shorts, he lazily stood up and asked, "So, who's going to the island to notify the Captain?"
The deck fell into a deathly silence. Everyone instinctively looked toward the interior of the island, where the constant thunder and rolling shockwaves made it clear a catastrophe was unfolding.
Seeing his subordinates' terrified expressions, Arlan rolled his eyes. "Tch. A bunch of cowards."
The crew's eyes twitched, but they stayed silent. Are you kidding? That's a battle between legends! If we even get close, the aftershocks alone will turn us into mincemeat!
Realizing he couldn't delegate this one, Arlan shrugged. "Fine, I'll go myself."
Phew…
The crew collectively exhaled in relief.
Thump, thump, thump...
Arlan leaped into the air, using Geppo to step through the sky toward Palmade Island.
"Go tell those Beasts Pirates guys that we're leaving!"
———————
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