His pair of giant dragon eyes, filled with arrogance, violence, and a desire for destruction, stared fixedly at the "god-slaying" scene at the center of the battlefield. In the depths of his pupils, there was first a flash of bewilderment and emptiness.
It was as if his simple and direct brain, accustomed to crushing everything with power, could not process this overly shocking and subversive information in an instant—that "undying" monster who even he found troublesome, disgusting, and difficult to truly defeat, that "God" who represented the World Government's highest military force, had actually... been pierced through the heart by a sword?
How is this possible?!
Immediately after, that bewilderment was like an ice cube thrown into lava, instantly evaporated and replaced!
Taking its place was something that erupted like an undersea volcano, soaring straight into the sky—
Extreme shock!
"He... he... really... did it?!"
Inside Kaido, it was as if ten thousand thunderclaps were exploding and roaring simultaneously! That roar almost burst through his chest, turning into a world-shaking dragon's cry!
He knew better than anyone present—just how troublesome, powerful, and despair-inducing Satan Saint's undying ability based on the "national treasure" power truly was!
That was an "existence guarantee" from another dimension that transcended conventional attacks, Haki, and even most rule-based powers!
Back then, he had exerted all his strength and only managed to cause some repairable damage, eventually having no choice but to retreat. That feeling of powerlessness, like hitting a mixture of cotton and sludge, was still fresh in his memory!
He had thought that Shanks was just lucky or used some special technique to find a way to counter Satan Saint's instant regeneration, allowing him to cause some effective damage, slow him down, and create opportunities for others.
But he never dared to imagine, nor did he ever believe, that Red-Haired Shanks... could actually be so sharp, so precise, and so resolute... to seize that fleeting opportunity, turning "counter" into "kill," and completing this earth-shattering... fatal blow!
Piercing the heart!
This didn't just require strength; it required a near-miraculous combat intuition and precision to seize the only flaw in a desperate situation!
It required tempering one's will and Haki to an unfathomable level capable of directly confronting and even temporarily suppressing "God's Authority"!
And even more... the heaven-defying courage and the decisiveness to cut through everything, daring to swing a sword at a "God" and target his heart!
This strength... this courage... this decisiveness... was unfathomable!
In Kaido's dragon eyes, that shock gradually began to mix with something complex and difficult to define—recognition for a strong person, amazement at breaking the impossible, and perhaps... a trace of wariness toward Shanks's lethal threat and counter-ability against rule-based "immortality," something he himself didn't possess and was unwilling to admit!
Red-Haired Shanks... this opponent who once required his serious attention, now seemed to have reached a... brand new height where even he, the "Strongest Creature," needed to look up and re-evaluate!
In the direction of the Red Hair Pirates.
The Vice Captain, Benn Beckman, who had been standing at the very front of the formation like a monolith to support his Captain, had a long trail of ash on his cigar due to the heart-stopping scene just now. At this moment, he finally exhaled a long, slow, and heavy cloud of smoke...
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