AN : Check out my new Original Fanfic - Naruto : As Genma Shiranui!!!
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Marco and Kaido left the town behind and headed to a remote part of the island.
"This should be it." Before long, they stopped at an empty stretch far from any houses.
Marco glanced at the bandages wrapped around Kaido's massive frame. "To be honest, you're still injured. If I win, don't call me despicable."
"Worororo! "That crap doesn't matter," Kaido laughed carelessly. "Yeah, I'm injured—but you were hurt too in the Egghead Island war. It's just that your recovery ability is stronger than mine, so your wounds have pretty much healed by now."
Marco fell silent and pulled up Kaido's status again. It was still only at the weak king level.
Then he checked his own:
Name: Marco, Age: 43
Attribute Points: 0
Devil Fruit: Zoan-type – Phoenix Form (Awakened)
Devil Fruit Awakening Ability: Flames of Destruction
Haki: Armament Haki (Legendary), Observation Haki (Legendary), Conqueror's Haki (Legendary)
Body Techniques: Soru (top-tier), Rankyaku (advanced), Moonwalk (advanced), Tekkai (top-tier), Shigan (advanced), Kami-e (advanced)
Strength: 42,054
Speed: 24,900
Defense: 43,800
Recovery: 60,000
Stamina: 47,100
Mental Power: 31,300
System Combat Power Assessment: Strong King Level.
Even after pouring the 42,000 attribute points he'd gained into stamina and defense, his overall rank still hadn't broken through—he remained at Strong King Level. Marco still had no idea what kind of power existed beyond that.
But he was sure of one thing: Imu's strength was definitely above the Strong King level.
And that magic circle she'd used didn't fit this world at all. Combined with the things Imu had said before, it made Marco deeply suspicious of who—or what—he really was.
A transmigrator? Someone from another world? Something else entirely?
No answer came to mind. Marco pushed the thoughts aside. For now, all he could do was keep raising his attribute points and climbing higher.
He fixed his gaze on Kaido opposite him. "Alright. We can begin."
Kaido immediately shifted into his human-beast form, his body wreathed in awakened flame clouds as he charged in, spiked club raised high. "Worororo, come on!"
Marco's presence grew calm and sharp. He focused his energy, condensing it into his hands until two Haki blades formed.
Kaido's pupils shrank. In that instant, he realized Marco's aura had vanished completely.
But he was already mid-attack. With no intention of stopping, Kaido brought his club crashing down toward Marco.
Marco had already read Kaido's attack with his future sight. Before the blow even came, he kicked up his speed, slipped under Kaido's strike, and swung the Haki blade in his hand straight for Kaido's waist and abdomen.
As they passed each other, the blade bit in. Kaido's abdomen was split open in an instant—his vaunted dragon scales offering no defense at all against Marco's slash.
Gritting his teeth through the pain, Kaido drove a fist at Marco. A red flash of Observation Haki lit up Marco's pupils again, and his arm moved almost lazily in response. The Haki blade carved across Kaido's arm, drawing another line of blood.
Kaido roared, opening his jaws wide. "Blast Breath…"
Blades of wind ripped into Marco and hurled him backwards. But when he righted himself, there wasn't a single cut where the wind blades had struck. He didn't even need his Black Flames.
"Kaido-san was injured so easily by Marco…" King muttered, unable to believe what he was seeing.
Jack, at his side, was just as shaken. "And Governor Kaido's wind blades don't do anything to Marco."
King had already known Marco was strong—stronger even than Kaido during the Egghead Island War. But he hadn't imagined it would be like this, that Kaido's attacks now couldn't even scratch Marco's defense. Had the gap between them really grown this huge? Was Marco truly the reincarnation of Joy Boy?
In King's mind, there was only one explanation left. Otherwise, there was no way to account for how much Marco's power had exploded since becoming Captain.
Kaido, too, stared in disbelief. "What is this power? Why can't I feel your aura anymore?"
"This is Observation Kill," Marco replied with a faint smile. "What, you've never seen it before?"
Kaido's expression darkened. Just from that brief clash, he had already judged that Marco's strength completely eclipsed his own. With a grave face, he said, "It seems you really are the reincarnation of Joy Boy."
Marco looked genuinely exasperated and corrected him solemnly, "I told you, I'm not. I have nothing to do with Joy Boy. Don't pin my growth on Joy Boy, alright!"
"Forget it, I'll just tell you straight. Ace's little brother, Straw Hat Luffy—he's the reincarnation of Joy Boy."
"What?" Kaido was stunned.
The members of the Three Emperors Alliance watching from afar all turned their eyes to Ace. Ace himself looked baffled, thinking, "Luffy is Joy Boy?"
Marco had no intention of hiding anything anymore. Being labeled Joy Boy by Kaido and the others only left a bitter taste in his mouth. In Marco's mind, who was Joy Boy, anyway? Just a loser who failed to defeat Imu. He spoke evenly, without hesitation.
"That's right. Luffy is Joy Boy."
"The Devil Fruit he ate was never the Gum-Gum Fruit. It's a Zoan—a mythical Zoan type, the Nika Fruit."
Ace was stunned all over again. The "Gomu Gomu" Luffy had always shouted suddenly took on a completely different meaning—Sun God.
Kaido rested his spiked kanabo on the ground and let out a derisive laugh. "Worororo… whatever. Who Joy Boy is doesn't matter anymore. There's no point putting faith in some boring prophecy. Instead of waiting for Joy Boy to be the savior, why don't we become the saviors they talk about and change this world ourselves?"
At his words, the pirates of the Three Emperors Alliance stirred, their spirits rising. They had paid a heavy price in the battle on Egghead Island, but they had still managed to destroy one of the three Ancient Weapons—Uranus. For the World Government, that loss was colossal.
"Now I don't care who Joy Boy is," Kaido growled, muscles tensing. "Let's just have a good, all-out fight, Marco."
With that, Kaido lunged straight at Marco.
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