"Aw!"
Kaido roared in agony as blood spurted from the wound inflicted by the blade.
The battlefield atop the Red Line fell into a stunned silence.
Dragon, Whitebeard, Charlotte Linlin, Garp, the Five Elders, CPOs, and the Celestial Dragons in Pangaea Castle—gazed in shock and disbelief.
The quiet was short-lived before chaos erupted.
Dragon's eyes narrowed. "What?!"
Charlotte Linlin trembled. "Impossible!"
Whitebeard's expression hardened. "How?!"
Garp's grin widened. "Kaido of the Beasts, cut down!"
The Five Elders all stood, their eyes filled with disbelief.
"Kaido... is down?"
Kaido's massive form crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"One-on-one, the strongest Kaido has fallen?" murmured the Five Elders, staring at the figure on the battlefield, wielding a long sword surrounded by purple-gold Haki.
Leno's hair fluttered in the wind, his presence exuding dominance, as he stood tall like a conqueror.
"Did he win?"
"That monster actually lost? What a disgrace!"
"He looked so powerful, yet he's down? Stand up! I've owned thirty slaves more capable than that!"
"Down? You're trash! What Four Emperors? You're nothing!"
"Kill him! Rip him apart!"
In Mary Geoise, the Celestial Dragons were either seething with rage or bubbling with excitement.
"Kaido lost?" muttered Zeus, his face as pale as a ghost.
Charlotte Linlin shook off her shock. "No, that guy's not going down that easily. He's Kaido!"
"However, that brat really has the power to stand on equal footing with us," she added, her eyes narrowing at Leno.
To see Kaido brought low in a one-on-one clash meant Leno had firmly established himself among the world's top powerhouses. And he was only eighteen?
Whitebeard's hearty laugh echoed as he held his sword. "Gu la la la! I'd love to test his strength myself!"
Garp crossed his arms, grinning. "His Haki... given time, it might even rival mine."
"Or perhaps, he's almost there already."
On the battlefield, Leno wasn't done. He charged forward, his sword cloaked in Conqueror's Haki, and struck again at the downed Kaido.
Kaido wasn't Kaido for nothing—this was a man in his prime, his physical prowess, Devil Fruit powers, and Haki all at their peak.
His Mythical Zoan abilities had fully awakened, boosting his body with monstrous defense, vitality, and self-healing, traits that made him near-immortal.
One move had heavily injured Kaido, but defeating him was a different story entirely.
Boom!
Where Leno's strike landed, fire and lightning exploded upward.
Kaido's Armament Haki flared up, deflecting the blow with sparks flying in every direction.
"Fire!"
Kaido unleashed a wave of searing flames, melting the very ground and rocks around him into molten lava.
Kaido's full beast form took to the sky, his dragon scales gleaming with power.
The skies answered his call with roaring winds, rain, and claps of thunder.
In this dragon form, Kaido revealed why he was hailed as the strongest creature on sea, land, and air, his body surrounded by the forces of wind, fire, and lightning.
"Dragon?!"
"You scum, don't you dare fall again, you miserable worm!" the Celestial Dragons jeered at the sight.
Some cheered Kaido's resilience; others mocked his earlier defeat. For them, the fiercer the battle, the more entertaining it was.
Kaido's draconic form soared, his chest wound still bleeding but his spirit undeterred.
"Worororo...," he laughed, eyes gleaming with a savage light.
"This brush with death... it's exhilarating! I can taste the end!"
Kaido's voice rumbled. "Did you... see the future?"
"That technique... my Observation Haki couldn't track it. It reminded me of Roger!"
His gaze scanned the battlefield below, but Leno was nowhere to be seen.
In the sky, Kaido twisted, his senses sharp as ever.
"Hot Breath!"
Kaido, in his dragon form, unleashed a blazing blast toward the empty air where Leno's presence flickered.
Leno didn't rely on teleportation but rather his speed, slipping out of Kaido's sight and attacking from the blind spots.
But Kaido, with his foresight, predicted Leno's movement.
The flame breath shot out like a falling star, searing everything in its path.
Leno, calm and composed, met the fiery assault head-on. He gripped his sword with both hands and sliced at the incoming flames.
"One Sword Style · Frozen Blade!"
The blade's chill collided with the inferno, slicing through it cleanly and sending a freezing wind straight toward Kaido.
In an instant, the frost spread up Kaido's dragon form, encasing his scales in ice.
Leno, who could also foresee the future, had anticipated Kaido's counterattack and adapted his moves accordingly.
The clash of Observation Haki users who could see different futures led to a mind game of shifting possibilities.
Leno manipulated the "future" Kaido saw, throwing him off balance.
As if playing a game of strategy, Leno used his knowledge of Kaido's attacks to craft the perfect counter.
For a fleeting moment, time seemed to stand still.
Crimson flames and searing heat erupted from Kaido's body, lightning crackling and shattering the icy ground beneath.
But Leno was ready. The "Flying Sword" technique he'd prepared was just the beginning, setting up a relentless barrage of attacks to follow.
"[Freezing] control!"
"[Wind's Blessing] movement!"
Leno darted toward Kaido's enormous dragon form, ignoring the blazing heat and the lightning bolts crashing down. His body was fortified, every muscle as resilient as steel.
The Dragon Sparrow sword in his grasp shimmered with two types of Haki, its edge engulfed in a fierce purple-gold flame. With a swift, powerful motion, he thrust the blade straight into Kaido's scales.
Leno's mastery of Armament Haki was so refined that even someone like Rayleigh would think twice before challenging it. This was the mark of a true swordsman—unmatched precision and devastating power.
Oden once scarred Kaido deeply, leaving marks that could never heal. But this was Leno, wielding SSS-level Armament Haki. The impact of his strikes was enough to pierce through Kaido's mighty defenses like they were nothing more than air.
The blade sank into Kaido's back, and a shockwave of Haki blasted through, piercing all the way to the ground below, carving into the earth like it was soft clay.
Kaido roared in agony as the attack tore through him. Blood sprayed from his wounds, staining the ground below.
With a deafening crash, Kaido's massive form plummeted from the sky, smashing into the canyon floor. Rocks exploded, and a thick cloud of dust and debris engulfed the battlefield.
The spectators watched in stunned silence, their expressions frozen in disbelief. The mighty dragon had been brought low once again.
"How?" gasped Charlotte Linlin, her eyes wide with shock.
"Just a minute ago, they were evenly matched. How did Kaido get hurt so badly in such a short time?"
Garp grinned, a hint of admiration in his voice. "That kid's got some serious moves!"
Whitebeard nodded. "Kaido's problem is that he turned himself into a big, easy target. Leno's swordsmanship is just too powerful."
Garp added, "It's that Haki of his. Did you see how cleanly it sliced through Kaido's defenses?!"
Kaido's legendary durability was proving useless against Leno's precision attacks. No matter how tough Kaido's scales were, Leno's strikes hit with unerring accuracy and overwhelming force.
Kaido roared, his rage boiling over.
The air around him pulsed with explosive energy. From the molten ground, a dragon's head wreathed in flames burst forth, surrounded by the immense pressure of Conqueror's Haki. The sheer force of his attack distorted the very air, rippling outward in waves of heat.
With a terrifying roar, Kaido launched himself at Leno, his dragon form twisting and writhing. Even with Leno perched on his back, Kaido's massive coils thrashed violently.
"Kill!" Leno roared, gripping his Dragon Sparrow sword with both hands. He wrenched the blade free from Kaido's scales, still slick with the dragon's blood, and raised it high above his head.
As he swung down, the Haki surrounding him intensified, golden energy crackling around his eyes. Though the sword hadn't yet reached Kaido's head, black sparks crackled between them, signaling the clash to come.
Their Conqueror's Haki collided in a fierce battle of wills, the force of their duel shaking the earth itself. Cracks spider-webbed across the ground, forming a massive crater at their feet as the shockwaves rippled outward.
The impact of their clash was like a sledgehammer blow, crushing the breath from everyone nearby. Even the hardened warriors of the CPO and the Kingdom Guard, standing miles away, felt the sheer force of the Conqueror's clash, many collapsing under the pressure.
"Hiss, even the captain has fainted! This is terrifying!" one of the soldiers gasped.
Through their surveillance screens, the Celestial Dragons watched the battle in stunned silence, unable to comprehend the raw power on display.
Sengoku, Sakazuki, Borsalino, and others, witnessing the fight from afar, were equally shocked. "What kind of monster battle is happening up there?" they wondered, eyes wide with disbelief.
Kaido, his fury reaching its peak, transformed into a towering beast of muscle and power.
"You little brat, I'm not done yet!" he bellowed, his dragon form rippling with elemental fury.
He roared, unleashing a devastating barrage.
With a final, powerful headbutt, Kaido sent Leno hurtling into the cliffside. The impact was so fierce that the ground split apart, sending debris and dust flying everywhere.
As the smoke began to clear, Kaido's dragon form loomed over the battlefield, blood dripping from his injuries but his spirit unbroken.
"Did you die?" he muttered, staring at the rubble.
Leno, bruised and bloodied, lay beneath the shattered rocks. But slowly, he forced himself back up, his eyes blazing with determination.
Kaido's lips curled into a wild grin.
"You're not dead yet? Good! This is the kind of battle I live for!" he roared with laughter.
Despite his injuries, Leno stood tall, his Haki still burning fiercely. The clash between these two titans was far from over. The battlefield trembled, the sky split apart, and the world itself seemed to hold its breath, awaiting the outcome of their duel.
Kaido's dragon roar echoed across the land, promising a fight that would shake the very foundations of the Grand Line.
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+30 chapters on p@treon/tambeerg