Kaido relied on his brutal, overbearing physique and simply crushed the incoming flying slashes with raw grip strength.
Dominating.
But after blocking the attack, he didn't forget his goal for even a second. With the stride of a dragon and the prowl of a tiger, he charged straight toward the towering wall ahead, more than ten zhang high.
Suddenly.
Two CP0 agents appeared at Kaido's sides, left and right, forming a pincer. At roughly two meters tall, they barely reached his thigh. Both lifted their legs and kicked toward the hollow behind Kaido's knees.
That was a weak point on the human body. If they landed it cleanly, it could cripple movement.
If Kaido were an ordinary opponent, CP0 would have gone straight for a lethal vital spot.
But Kaido's monstrous body and frightening combat power forced them to take a step back and aim for restraining blows instead.
Their kicks came in hard and heavy, whistling through the air.
You could feel the weight behind those legs, like two solid iron rods swinging with full force.
It was unmistakably the Tekkai technique from the Six Powers.
For CP0, Rokushiki wasn't just a set of moves anymore.
It was instinct, fused into muscle memory.
After all, they'd been subjected to brutal training since childhood. And if Kaido hadn't run when he did, he might have become one of CP0's fiercest assets as well.
And those two weren't even the real threat.
Another CP0 agent stepped forward openly, leaping into the air. His body rapidly swelled with a tearing sound, as if cloth and skin were ripping apart, revealing rough, abnormal brown hide. It was covered in knobby protrusions and ugly bumps.
In the blink of an eye, he had transformed into a prehistoric beast.
In that CP0 agent's vision, Kaido was in an eerie posture, as if his head had twisted a full one-eighty, staring straight at him.
"ROAR!!!"
The deafening bellow raised goosebumps on everyone's skin. The beast's clawed forelimbs clenched into a fist and smashed toward the spot between Kaido's shoulder blades, aiming for the heart!
"An Ancient Zoan!" Kaido recognized it instantly.
A cold smile tugged at his mouth.
"Ancient Zoans will never compare to Mythical Zoans!"
"Mythical Zoans are the strongest of all Devil Fruits!"
Facing a CP0 agent in full prehistoric form, Kaido's competitive fire only burned hotter. As for the other two who tried to cripple his legs, the eight-armed Kaido only spared two hands.
And he blocked them easily.
Then one of those eight arms tightened into a fist.
Power flooded through that limb like a raging, unstoppable torrent, pouring into his knuckles.
Boom!
Fists collided with a deep, dull thud.
The CP0 agent instantly felt an overwhelming force surge through the point of impact, slamming into his body like a barbaric battering ram.
His torso folded uncontrollably as he was blasted away, flying like a kite with its string cut.
After sending him flying with a single punch, Kaido threw his head back and laughed arrogantly.
"Wororororo… CP0! You're way too confident in your own strength!"
"You don't know what real power even is!"
Several mouths laughed at once, the sound like demonic chanting drilling into the ears of nearby Marines and CP0 alike, stirring fear.
"Raimei Hakke!!!"
Multi-tasking as if it were nothing, Kaido swung his kanabo and hammered it down onto the already crumbling wall.
A thunderous boom shook the battlefield.
The spot where the club landed couldn't endure Kaido's monstrous strength. Cracks exploded outward, and a stretch of wall nearly ten meters wide tilted and collapsed.
Meanwhile, the CP0 agent who had tried to block Kaido earlier had been driven straight into the earth. Now he trembled as a blood-soaked hand reached up, pressing into the ground.
Slowly, he clawed his way out of the dirt.
He was drenched in blood, miserably battered.
His once-snow-white robe was shredded and filthy with brown mud, and the mud had mixed with blood, clinging to his wounds and body like paste. Even the mask on his face had twisted and warped, looking like something out of Sogeking's ridiculous getup.
To survive Kaido's "Raimei Hakke" head-on with Tekkai plus Armament Haki…
That alone meant his luck was extraordinary.
The gate collapsed.
And the world outside the fortress finally poured into Kaido's sight.
Several massive stone lions, each as huge as a mountain, reached from earth to sky. They encircled something and kept launching savage attacks without pause.
The momentum was terrifying.
Farther away, in the sky, beams of golden light pierced through smoke-black clouds like dawn breaking, like swords plunged into the earth and skewering the heavens.
From within the dark clouds came muffled, thunder-like booms. Now and then, a corner of a mysterious golden Buddha form flashed into view, as if a divine being was locked in endless battle above.
Up in the air, Kaido sensed a familiar aura.
Golden Lion Shiki.
Then Kaido's heart lurched.
"Where's Ares?!"
"Why can't I see Big Bro?!"
His gaze searched frantically. And when he burst beyond the wall, he finally saw it.
A massive circular crater.
At its center stood Slad and Tengetsu Ares.
Ares was covered in blood, yet still standing, refusing to fall.
Kaido's mind was struck like it had been hit by lightning.
His hulking body swayed violently, and his eyes widened, unable to believe what he was seeing.
"Did Big Bro Ares… lose?!"
Impossible.
With that kind of strength, he would never fall to Sengoku.
He was the man who could beat Garp and even CP0's commander, the man who made Redfield flee…
So why was Big Bro Ares covered in wounds?!
Questions flooded Kaido's mind until it turned into chaos.
More than anyone else, Kaido who had lived beside Ares day after day understood just how terrifying Ares truly was.
A mountain too vast for Kaido to reach.
Kaido absolutely refused to believe a man like that could be defeated by the Marines.
Over time, Ares had become Kaido's faith.
Like a war general who always wins follow him, and you crush every enemy.
But now Kaido was staring at the sight of that "general" fallen before him.
For a moment, he couldn't accept it.
And in that instant of distraction, he repeated Shiki's mistake.
Zephyr's ambush landed.
It was just like Marineford, when Whitebeard's chest was pierced by Akainu's magma fist. Marco, Jozu, and the other division commanders lost focus for a heartbeat and paid for it with heavy injuries.
Losing focus in battle was taboo.
But sometimes, you couldn't control it.
Kaido was exactly like that now.
Luckily, he had a face on his back. Even in his daze, he saw Zephyr's strike and managed to react and brace. And with Kaido's physique, Zephyr's blow only sent him flying a little more than ten meters.
To Kaido, it was barely anything.
But that brief moment was enough.
The other CP0 agents caught up and surrounded Kaido once again.
Even Zephyr was stunned. He muttered in disbelief, "Ares… he's the one the Marines fear and prioritize… and he actually lost?"
"While I was fighting Kaido… what in the world happened?"
Even though questions churned in his chest, Zephyr was a Marine officer. The weight on his shoulders was heavy. In the next breath, he forced the confusion aside and focused on the fight in front of him.
His eyes tracked Kaido's abnormal, muscle-packed body, and his words cut like blades.
"Ares is down. Shiki is trapped in a two-man grind against Garp and Sengoku…"
"At a time like this, can Rocks still hold back?!"
"Rocks?!" Lightning seemed to strike Kaido's mind.
Boom!
The thought detonated in his skull.
"The Marine ambush was meant for Captain Rocks… does Rocks know?!"
"Don't tell me…"
"Don't tell me this was all a conspiracy?!"
The spark of insight hit Kaido with a terrifying shock.
This was a Marine and World Government plan aimed at Rocks.
But how could they be so certain Rocks would come to attack Marine G1?
Was someone feeding them information?
No. Even if someone leaked it, there wouldn't be time. Unless they knew in advance. Only then could they set up an ambush.
But Kaido hadn't known about the plan to attack G1 beforehand.
Even Golden Lion Shiki hadn't.
So how did the Marines become sure Rocks would come to G1?
They had to be sure Rocks received some signal or intelligence he couldn't ignore.
And with the Marines' style, they never gambled without confidence.
Which meant
Rocks knew something.
But pretended he knew nothing.
This was a scheme.
A scheme aimed at the few of them.
The more Kaido unraveled it, the more his heart filled with towering rage and hatred.
Among pirates, betrayal was one of the most unforgivable sins.
And what Rocks had done… stepped on a taboo.
Kaido glared, thick black brows snapping down as he roared, "Rocks won't come!"
"You'd better worry about where Rocks will appear instead!!"
"Rocks won't appear?!" Zephyr's brow furrowed.
The Marines had assembled this terrifying lineup for one purpose: to kill Rocks.
And now Kaido was saying Rocks wouldn't even show up.
A storm surged in Zephyr's chest.
If Rocks didn't come, then the Rocks Pirates would remain the greatest threat to the Marines and the World Government.
As long as Rocks stood, he would continue to dominate the seas.
Zephyr's expression tightened. He didn't think Kaido was lying.
With the battlefield like this, and still no sign of Rocks, panic crept into his bones.
"Did Rocks plan a feint… drawing us here while striking elsewhere?!"
The moment that possibility surfaced, fear immediately followed.
Nearly all Marine main forces were gathered at G1 right now. On top of that, some World Government strength was present, and there were likely hidden contingencies Zephyr didn't even know about.
Which meant the other bases were hollow.
If Rocks ran wild elsewhere, the consequences for the Marines would be catastrophic.
A chill crawled up Zephyr's spine. Cold sweat soaked his back.
It wasn't just him.
Even CP0's masked agents visibly stiffened.
Their mission was to destroy the Rocks Pirates.
Kaido's voice was too loud to ignore. With a giant's physique like his, if he didn't suppress it, he might as well be a living loudspeaker.
"How is that possible…" Behind the CP0 commander's mask, his expression went blank, his mind in chaos.
"If Rocks won't appear, then everything the Marines and the World Government prepared…"
"Becomes a joke."
"Why did the plan go wrong?!"
"Where did it go wrong?!"
If not for appearances, he would have been clawing at his own hair by now.
Claude pulled a Den Den Mushi from the clean pocket of his white coat.
He contacted his superiors the Five Elders.
What left him stunned was that the Five Elders already knew. They'd ordered every agency to search for Rocks' trail at full speed.
And they had received one highly plausible lead.
The Rocks Pirates might have coated their ship and traveled beneath the sea, slipping past the eyes and ears the World Government and Marines had spread across the ocean.
Which meant even now, they still didn't know where Rocks was or where he was headed.
But Claude received a direct order from the Five Elders regardless.
"Whether it's Shiki or Ares, both are core combat power within the Rocks Pirates."
"Rocks hasn't appeared, but you still must not let them escape."
"You must eliminate them at Marine G1."
"Especially Ares…"
"I don't want to hear that name on the seas ever again."
The Elder didn't say it outright, but Claude understood.
Rocks threatened the World Government.
And Tengetsu Ares did too.
Because he had the potential to become another Rocks.
Claude returned the Den Den Mushi to his pocket. He stared at Kaido, emotions tangled.
"It hasn't even been half a year since the last time we met…"
"And the man beside Ares has already grown to this level."
"As for Ares… back on Hachinosu, I witnessed his changes over just a few months."
"His growth was far more terrifying than Kaido's."
"But why is he covered in wounds now, like he's fallen into a coma?"
Claude shook his head, throwing those thoughts away.
As CP0, only one thing mattered.
Executing the mission.
He turned to the CP0 agents around him and gave the order.
"You all heard the command."
"Move."
"End this battle quickly. We may have another mission waiting for us after this."
If they found the Rocks Pirates' location, another unavoidable encounter or even a full war could erupt at any moment.
Swish!
Swish!
One CP0 agent after another vanished from sight, then plunged into the pirates like tigers charging into sheep.
Shigan strikes, deadly as bullets, pierced throats, foreheads, hearts vital spots that meant instant death.
Where white-robed CP0 passed, pirates dropped one after another, powerless to resist.
"Team Two, support Team Three!"
"Take Kaido down as fast as possible!" a CP0 agent said coldly.
The formation moved like a sharpened drill point. Several CP0 agents broke away and appeared at Kaido's side.
No delay.
No hesitation.
They attacked.
More than ten CP0 agents, plus Zephyr the Marine's would-be Admiral.
People always said two fists couldn't beat four hands.
But Kaido wasn't dealing with four hands.
He had eight fists… and he was facing dozens of hands.
A cornered beast fighting to the death.
The situation flipped in an instant!
And at that very moment
Something deeply eerie was happening inside Tengetsu Ares' mind.
His consciousness was a roiling chaos, pitch-black and turbulent, yet within it rang a hollow voice, layered with echo.
"Who are you?!"
"I am Riku Yo… but now, I am also you."
"And you… are also me."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, you like the story? Wow, who knew. Go ahead, drop a review and throw some power stones maybe I'll be motivated to keep going.
The story's already ahead on Patron. Go there if you want to catch up faster!
[email protected]/_theon
Change @ to "a"