The members of the Donquixote Family were gripped by utter panic, because in their eyes, there was only one being in the world who matched that description—
One of the Four Emperors of the New World, Kaido!
A colossal figure, flying through the sky like a dragon out of legend.
Every appearance accompanied by thunder and lightning, as overwhelming as a natural disaster.
That was how the world described Kaido.
"What's going on? Why is one of the Four Emperors here…? No, wait, aren't we supposed to be cooperating with him?"
Diamante was startled, and at the same time, his Observation Haki caught a terrifying sense of danger.
The dragon descending from the sky swung its tail, then opened its huge, blood-red maw toward the executives who had been the fastest to destroy the Angel of Glory.
A brilliant golden radiance began gathering inside its mouth!
Lao G, who had just been preparing to leave, his pupils shrinking, roared without hesitation, "Combat Fist Protection!"
"Watch out!"
Every hair on Diamante's body stood on end as he raised his sword and gathered power.
Then he slashed out, stirring up a powerful tidal wave of sword energy!
"Half-Moon Funeral!"
Almost at the same instant, Nojiko coldly and mercilessly exhaled a searing beam of light.
"Blast Breath!"
In the distance—
Doflamingo, who had been walking through the sky, came to a dead stop. Staring in disbelief at that familiar yet differently colored "dragon," and at the beam shooting from its jaws, his face twisted.
"Blast Breath—Kaido?!"
At that moment, Doflamingo completely lost his composure.
What the hell?!
Was Tesoro actually being serious?
What possible benefit was there in dragging Kaido here? Was dealing with Demon Ren really enough to make one of the Four Emperors move personally?!
And why Kaido? Wouldn't it have been better to leak the information to Red-Haired Shanks instead?!
At this moment, Doflamingo's expression had darkened to the extreme, his mind filled with nothing but how he was supposed to deal with Kaido's interrogation afterward.
No matter how shocked and confused everyone was, the incomparably blazing pillar of fire had already descended.
The gloomy sky was lit up by the scorching light, and the blinding radiance filled Diamante's vision.
The Half-Moon Funeral he had slashed out collided with the blazing beam, but after only an instant of stalemate, it was shattered.
The ray plunged straight down and mercilessly swallowed Lao G, who had leaped up with his fist raised.
The cry branded with the mark of "G" vanished within the burning pillar of light, and then, without losing any momentum, it crashed into where Diamante stood!
Boom—!
The beam suddenly exploded outward into a pillar of flame dozens of meters wide. Dellinger and Jora, who were nearby, were dragged directly into the inferno.
Only a string of agonized screams remained behind.
They did not even have the slightest room to struggle.
This was destruction by crimson flame!
Nojiko stared indifferently at the soaring firelight and simultaneously activated the two major traits of the Evil God Lighter.
[Evil God Lighter · Infinite Hellfire!]
Not far away, the Donquixote Family members and officers who witnessed all this began to give rise to negative emotions.
Anger, fear, terror—whatever the emotion, all of it became fresh fuel.
In an instant, clusters of fire abruptly ignited across the bodies of hundreds of enemies.
Amid panic and screams, the raging sea of flames spread as if it possessed life, swallowing up all that new fuel and completing the cycle of malicious combustion!
[Evil God Lighter · Hungry Lighter!]
Pyromaniac (2000°C) → Arsonist (4000°C)!
"Haa—"
Nojiko opened her dragon jaws and inhaled all those flames into her maw.
[Evil God Lighter · Controlled Flame!]
The temperature of the fire rose sharply, beginning to advance toward the level of Flame Envoy (6000°C), and a new Blast Breath began gathering because of it!
Below, at the spot where the previous Blast Breath had landed, there was already an unbelievably deep hole.
From somewhere deep within that hole, Nojiko's Observation Haki caught the "voice" of a living being.
Probably… Diamante's, right?
Better kill him after all.
Nojiko moved at once. Countless bolts of lightning fell from the clouds and gathered around the tail of her massive body.
With a single tail swing, a violent bolt of lightning transformed into a spear and shot into the deep hole.
Yet when that savage lightning spear reached the pit, it broke apart as though it had slammed into something.
Looking closely, at some unknown point in time—
The mouth of the hole had been covered by an enormous spiderweb woven from hundreds upon thousands of transparent threads.
"Spider Web."
Only then did the name of the technique belatedly sound out.
"Hm?"
Nojiko turned her head, and a figure appeared in her golden vertical pupils.
"Kaido… no…"
Doflamingo, clad in his pink feathered coat, had suddenly appeared. Cold sweat covered his forehead as he stared uncertainly at the dragon that had descended to bring destruction.
It didn't seem to be Kaido?
Behind him, the passing golden giant cast a glance over and revealed a surprised expression.
Though the pink dragon was not as enormous as the giant, it was especially eye-catching because it was flying in the air.
Kaido? But the color seems different… No, definitely not Kaido. If it were Kaido's lightning, Doflamingo wouldn't be able to block it.That pink-feathered bird is scared to death of Kaido because he can't beat him. But there can't be two identical Devil Fruits in the world—that's an iron law.
In the control room, Tesoro frowned.
"Still, since it's one of that guy's subordinates, it's not impossible.
Who knows what kind of nonsense he might pull off. I already verified the matter of his so-called foresight, and there was indeed nothing wrong with it. Everything that's happened so far also proves it.
That bastard really does possess some kind of special prophetic ability. But creating a mini Kaido… isn't that going a bit too far?"
Tesoro fell into thought, but he quickly understood what he needed to do.
No matter what, the gamble had already begun.
What he needed to do now was either crush Ren to death, or, after being defeated by Ren, choose to join forces with him.
Everything else was no longer that important.
The golden giant smashed through the bridge-like structures blocking his way, crossed King's Plateau, and advanced toward where Ren was.
That bastard—maybe because he got too careless, he's already badly injured now.
"So that's all?"
Buried within the rubble, Ren felt the changes in his body.
Tesoro's golden giant form was undeniably powerful. In the original story, a single punch of Gold: Hellfire could unleash a thermal radiation hurricane whose impact spread across the entire Gran Tesoro.
It had burned even Luffy badly at the time, inflicting severe injuries.
As for Gold: Divine Fire, it had sunk a steel Marine warship from dozens of kilometers away with a single strike—its power comparable to that of a modern missile.
Without question, Tesoro possessed B-rank strength, at the very least on the same level as Crocodile.
In Ren's judgment, fighters who also possessed B-rank strength included Vice Admiral Onigumo, who was probably at B+.
Gecko Moria should be around B- or B, while Crocodile at his peak should be B++; during Alabasta, he wasn't yet at B-rank.
One of the Three Calamities, the Mammoth, should also be around B++, only a little short of A-rank.
Among the enemies he had encountered so far, the only one who might truly reach A-rank was probably the awakened Doflamingo.
And just now, Ren had directly taken the combined attack of Gold: Hellfire and Gold: Divine Fire head-on.
Heavy punch plus beam—both had struck him squarely.
Only at this moment did Ren truly gain an accurate sense of the durability of the Indestructible Vajra Glazed Body, and of how much damage that combination attack had actually inflicted on him.
Or rather—
Only now did he truly realize just how absurdly tough he had become.
The thermoradiant heavy punch had shattered his Protective Qi Barrier, and the beam had pierced through the Haki defense covering his skin. Only then had the remaining force fallen upon the Indestructible Vajra Glazed Body.
But because those first two layers of protection had already weakened the attack, by the time it reached him, it no longer possessed B-rank power. And that was before accounting for his own resistances weakening it further.
The true damage Ren had suffered amounted to nothing more than the reactive force brought by the tremendous kinetic impact.
Yet after a full year of intense training, all three of his core attributes had stabilized at A-rank. The minus sign had already been removed.
To him, that kind of kinetic force was damage, yes—
But not much damage at all.
And besides—
Ren opened his mouth wide and inhaled deeply toward the sky. Threads of faint radiance were drawn from the surrounding air and flowed into his mouth.
In the blink of an eye, the damage caused by the reactive force was replenished, repaired, and completely healed!
Indestructible Vajra Glazed Body · Healing!
He was drawing "power" from the natural environment to heal himself!
"So… I've already reached this level?"
Ren pulled himself out of the rubble and thoughtfully looked over his body. Golden patterns spread beneath his fair skin, tracing intricate lines.
They looked like talismans, yet also like the very texture of heaven and earth, giving him a strangely sacred aura.
"Um…"
At that moment, a hesitant voice sounded out.
Ren looked around and first realized he was in the residential district behind King's Plateau.
Then he saw a tiny "human" with a tail like a bee.
Judging from his appearance, it seemed to be one of the Tontattas from the original story—Leo.
The other party was staring at him curiously and said somewhat uncertainly, "Are you Ren Solando?"
"Yes. You're Leo, right?"
Ren swept the empty residential district with Observation Haki, then said sincerely, "Thank you very much for helping evacuate this country's civilians and preventing unnecessary casualties."
"Hehehe, no need to thank me. Fairies already had a contract with the people here. Besides, we should be the ones thanking you for exposing the evil conspiracy of the Donquixote Family."
Leo suddenly grew angry.
"Otherwise, we never would have known that scoundrel was deceiving us—pretending Mansherry was sick and tricking five hundred of our tribe into becoming laborers for him!"
"He'll be punished for it. I promise."
"Then I'll leave it to you, Ren Solando. We still need to move those people farther away."
Leo flashed a bright smile, then vanished as if he had teleported.
"What ridiculous speed. Is his normal speed already at the level of Soru?"
Ren's crimson eyes shifted, catching the truth behind the "teleportation."
The rumors circulating throughout Dressrosa about invisible fairies were, in truth, about the Tontatta tribe.
They possessed incredible strength and astonishing speed.
The so-called invisibility was simply because they moved too fast for ordinary eyes to follow.
Boom—!
At that moment, a massive shadow descended.
A golden giant hundreds of meters tall stepped out from beside King's Plateau.
"Hahahaha! Ren, what's wrong? Don't tell me you can't get back up after just that?"
Tesoro's laughter echoed through the sky, laced with mockery and unmistakable provocation.
"If this is all you've got, then you won't even make it past me today!
Do you see it now? This is the ultimate expression of wealth—the form of a god!
Back then, you used tricks to get the better of me once, but don't think that after a month and a half, you'll still be able to rely on tricks to beat me!"
The golden giant shifted again. Its eye sockets turned into 0.o, and blazing light began gathering within them!
Gold: Hellfire!
(End of Chapter)