The shattered world cascaded downward like a collapsing mountain, instantly becoming an unstoppable avalanche!
The flying fragments reflected images of the world itself — each shard, each splinter, like a razor-sharp mirror hurtling toward Kaido. He instinctively shut his eyes, only to find that no cutting sensation came.
Those glittering, silver-light fragments drifted downward like cherry blossoms.
Kaido had no time to marvel at the beauty of the scene before he felt as though he had been transported to another world entirely. This world seemed to spin endlessly, stretching the distance between him and Ren ever wider.
At the boundaries of this distant world, gray mists and red torii gates slowly rose within the rotation.
By the time he came back to his senses, he was standing at the edge of this desolate realm, gazing across the vast expanse at Ren — who sat cross-legged, hovering in empty space at the world's center.
It wasn't just Kaido who had been pulled into this world. Orochi was here too.
But even Orochi couldn't make sense of what had happened, let alone Kaido.
"Where exactly..."
"This is the Pure Land of One Mind — my inner world." Ren slowly opened his eyes, his violet gaze settling on Kaido. He spoke to dispel Kaido's confusion.
Presumably, their Kaido-sensei was still puzzling over what made this Pure Land so special.
"I imagine you haven't forgotten Sesshomaru." Ren shifted from his seated position to a standing one. That familiar name made Kaido's pupils contract at once.
At Big Mom's Tea Party all those years ago, he had suspected that the man called Sesshomaru hadn't actually died. But so many years had passed without a single trace of him, and Kaido had gradually let the name fade from memory.
Now, attacked by memories he thought were long dead, Kaido felt a deep sense of foreboding.
In this world, even if he could fly, there was no escape. He'd had Orochi as an ally moments ago, but that advantage had evaporated. Not to mention, Orochi's strength was far below what Sesshomaru's had been back then.
"Heh — it's not just Sesshomaru, either." Ren's lips curled into a faint smirk. From the red torii gates at the edges of this world, several figures slowly emerged.
"Who are they?" Kaido stared at the silhouettes. For the first time, his composure cracked like an earthquake. He felt as though he were seeing ghosts.
Six figures stepped forth. Combined with the original Lightning Soul, seven versions of Ren now stood before Kaido's eyes.
It was only now that Kaido noticed — though each of the seven had distinct features, their facial structures were unmistakably similar.
"Don't tell me... the seven of you are... septuplets?" Kaido said, his face a mask of shock.
Ren: ???
"Obviously, all seven of them are me." Ren felt that explaining things to an idiot was a waste of breath.
Under normal circumstances, Ren could only channel one Demon Soul at a time for combat. This was because he possessed only one physical body — his actual flesh and blood, not one created by a Devil Fruit.
When Ren had originally crossed over into the body of the Eight-Headed Serpent Fruit, he did have a physical form. He simply hadn't gained freedom until he completed the absorption process.
But inside the Pure Land of One Mind — since this world was itself constructed from his consciousness — he could simultaneously manifest multiple consciousnesses.
Strictly speaking, these consciousnesses were all extensions of Ren's own mind. Without diminishing each one's combat power, he could currently split into at most seven.
Ren was revealing this secret now partly because it was his first time using this technique in actual combat, and there was an element of showing off involved. But more importantly — he intended to kill Kaido here and now, once and for all!
"I don't know what you're talking about. But if I just beat all of you, that's good enough, right?!"
Kaido had found the hardest — and most direct — solution. Which was also the only one.
But the enemies before him were the fully absorbed Lightning Soul, Eight-Headed Soul, Great Mouth True God Soul, Ootengu Soul, Gudra Soul, Decay Soul, and Gate Soul.
Even though the Gate Soul and Decay Soul weren't suited for direct combat, the ones in front — just one of them would be nearly impossible for Kaido to defeat.
This was a one-against-five situation.
Ren dispatched the Gate Soul and the Decay Soul to deal with Orochi. The remaining five closed in on Kaido.
"Five against one now. Don't say I'm being unfair — after all, you're supposed to be a future Emperor of the Sea!"
Within this space, Ren spoke with far less restraint. He cosplayed as Madara for a moment and even leaked Kaido's future.
Not that Kaido had any idea what a Yonko was. And he probably never would!
"Prison Dragon Break!"
"Pale Dragon Break!"
"Diamond Gun Break!"
"Wings of Death!"
A rampaging black dragon intertwined with a blazing thunder dragon — crystalline storms capable of shattering everything surged forward — blood-colored bat wings of death stole Kaido's time and years!
And finally, a giant the size of a mountain delivered a punch capable of sinking an island!
...
'How long have I been fighting?'
'A year?'
'Ten years?'
'Or a hundred?'
Kaido had lost count of the wounds he'd sustained. By all rights, after enduring such devastating attacks, even a Mythical Zoan user should have been overwhelmed long ago.
In reality, he could feel every bone and muscle in his body tearing apart with agony — yet he stubbornly remained alive.
And this was the Achilles' heel of the seemingly invincible Pure Land.
The beings inside this space — Ren's consciousnesses, Orochi, and Kaido — were all mental constructs. Much like the Tsukuyomi from that other world, it could inflict enormous suffering on the victim, but those with sufficiently strong willpower and spirit would not die here.
Only the cowardly would lose their lives in this space, reduced to living corpses.
Even so, Ren had already inflicted catastrophic mental trauma on Kaido. He now intended to collapse this Pure Land and finish Kaido and Orochi off in the real world.
Kaido soon noticed the chaotic world around him crumbling. As the ground spun and the sky twisted, he felt as though he had passed through time and space itself.
When he opened his eyes again, he was back in the sky above. His Hassaikai was mere millimeters from striking that man.
But his body had frozen. Agony radiating from the depths of his soul sent him plummeting from the sky like a stone.
He didn't understand what had happened. But one thing was certain — he had escaped that endless hellscape of combat.
And in the real world, barely an instant had passed.
"Kaido! Move!" Orochi's eyes gleamed. Before Kaido's gaze, his body morphed into an enormous white serpent — a python larger than a mountain, a Yokai daring to challenge the gods themselves!
Kaido's mind was still foggy, but he recognized this as his chance.
Not a chance at victory — a chance to escape.
He too transformed into a massive dragon. But rather than pressing the attack, he turned his Flame Clouds in the opposite direction from Orochi and fled.
"You think you can run?" Behind Ren, a massive Thunder Eye tore through the void!
"Now — the Moment of Silence!"
[
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