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"Armament – Rampage!"
Atlas had already assumed his towering two-meter battle form, his entire frame shrouded in dense Armament Haki. Strange, flowing markings writhed across his skin like living ink.
Through mastery of Life Return and relentless Haki training, he had refined this form to an extraordinary level.
A barrage of punches hammered Kaido's back like a relentless storm, yet the dragon didn't even twitch.
Although his Observation Haki had already sensed Atlas behind him, Kaido saw Akainu as the greater threat—Atlas's strikes, to him, were little more than a back massage.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Atlas's hardened fists pounded against Kaido's scaled back, the muffled thuds echoing through the fog.
"You brat! That massage hit the spot! Worororo!" Kaido laughed darkly over his shoulder, his savage grin daring Atlas to try harder.
"Is that so?" Atlas sneered, drawing the Sandai Kitetsu, its blade sheathed in Armament Haki.
"Ittō-ryū: Dragon Severance!"
Two crimson slashes in the shape of an 'X' ripped through the air toward Kaido. Akainu seized the opportunity, hurling a Dark Hound straight for the dragon's face.
For once, Kaido exercised caution. He had no desire to take a magma hound to the head, even if his looks were far from a priority. Ignoring Atlas's slashes, he focused entirely on Akainu.
Shhk!
The blood-red strikes tore into Kaido's thick scales, leaving behind two shallow gashes.
Though the wounds sealed almost instantly, they revealed something important—Kaido's defence had not yet reached the near-impenetrable level it would in a decade, when even the Fifth Emperor could not bruise him while sober.
"Damn brat…!" The attack hadn't caused serious harm, but the fact that a Marine could leave a mark at all infuriated Kaido, whose pride rested on his invincibility.
With a roar, he twisted his massive frame and swung his kanabo, generating a shockwave that split the air.
"Whoa, easy there!" Atlas gritted his teeth, bracing the Sandai Kitetsu with both hands.
Bang!
The kanabo slammed into his blade. Veins bulged in Atlas's neck, jaw clenched tight, before the impact hurled him backwards like a cannonball.
Kaido moved in for the kill, but Akainu was faster. The admiral's magma-infused fists erupted upward like twin volcanoes, the air warping from sheer heat.
BOOM!
Kaido hastily reinforced his body with Haki and took the blow head-on. His head shifted into dragon form, unleashing a torrent of searing heat.
Ssshhhhh!
Akainu's magma form collided with the dragon's flames, molten rock and fire raining into the sea below, boiling the waters.
Swoosh!
Atlas was already back. In battles like these, every moment was a chance to grow stronger. With Akainu keeping Kaido busy, Atlas could strike from the blind spots.
"Kaido! Life Return!"
In midair, Atlas's body swelled to five meters, markings blazing brighter, his power straining against his skin.
"Worororo! Now that's interesting!" Kaido's eyes lit up before he burst into laughter.
"Marine brat! Join me and I'll make you a Calamity—Drought!"
"Tempting," Atlas smirked, "but I'll pass."
"A shame. Then you die!"
"Raimei Hakke!!"
A storm of black-and-red lightning enveloped Kaido's kanabo. The swing cracked the sky with sheer force. Atlas braced and met it head-on.
BOOM!
Fist met club. For a heartbeat, Atlas held his ground—then the impact launched him in a perfect arc toward the distant sea.
Kaido didn't get to savour it. Akainu was already striking again—justice didn't wait. The admiral valued results above all else; to him, victory was victory, no matter the method.
Kaido might act recklessly, but deep down, he knew survival. If truly cornered, he'd run faster than anyone—ask Kozuki Oden.
"Damn pests!" Kaido snarled. With Akainu pressing him from the front and Atlas relentlessly harrying his flanks, he was beyond irritated. Every time he tried to focus on one, the other struck.
"Descending Three Worlds: Ragnarok!"
Kaido floated upward, his kanabo spinning at blinding speed, wrapped in crackling Conqueror's Haki. He brought it down on Akainu from above.
"Inugami Guren!"
A magma hound with an abyssal maw surged upward to meet the blow. The collision unleashed a shockwave that vaporised the surrounding mist.
BOOM!
The roar echoed for miles. Even Atlas, still reeling from the Thunder Bagua, staggered from the force.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Fists slammed into flesh in a brutal exchange. Devil Fruit powers were set aside—this was raw, unfiltered strength. Kaido and Akainu brawled in the sky for a full day and night.
Atlas, undeterred, kept joining the fray. Each time, Kaido swatted him away like an insect—but under the protection of three talismans, Atlas always returned, unharmed and unyielding.
At first, Kaido was shocked by the Marine's regeneration. Now, he was used to it.
With every clash, Atlas felt himself growing. His body and the Rabbit Talisman were synchronising faster than ever, absorbing battle experience like a sponge. Most thrilling of all—his Armament Haki could now project outward.
Boom! Boom! SSSHH!
In the mist-shrouded sea, three figures clashed: a hulking dragon, and two Marines—one towering, one compact.
Burns marked Kaido's body, purple lightning dancing across his scales as he spat gouts of blazing heat. His kanabo gleamed with lethal Conqueror's Haki, each swing radiating enough pressure to drop lesser men in an instant.
Akainu stood firm, arms molten and massive, his core burning like a volcano as he hurled Dark Hounds at every opening.
Atlas, now back in his two-meter form, was wrapped in Haki darker and denser than before.
His face was streaked with twisting black lines that crawled up to his forehead, and his arms bulged unnaturally. His punches were so fast they sparked against the air.
Irritated beyond reason, Kaido roared and swung at Atlas—only to strike a fading afterimage. The young Marine darted about with dizzying agility, shifting positions in the air as if it were second nature.
Atlas had pushed his Observation Haki to its absolute limit. Even with Akainu holding Kaido's attention, he never let his guard down. Kaido's Conqueror's Haki infusions were still unrefined, but even a glancing blow could leave him reeling.
"Dark Hound!"
Another magma hound slammed into Kaido's chest, tearing through skin and scale, though the wound began knitting itself together almost instantly.
This scene had played out countless times over the past twenty-four hours. Kaido's Mythical Zoan had fully awakened—his regeneration bordered on the absurd.
What frustrated Kaido most, however, was Atlas. That boy was recovering like a Zoan user himself. His stamina, his resilience—it was monstrous.
"Brat! One last chance—become my subordinate!"
Kaido could be considered a model pirate in one regard: his ability to recognise talent. He had a habit of trying to recruit nearly anyone with promise.
What? You refuse? Then enjoy a Thunder Bagua to the face and a one-way trip to the mines.
"Kaido! Someone like you isn't worthy! I'll become the strongest man in the world!"
Atlas glared back, eyes blazing with defiance as an overwhelming aura burst from his body, surging skyward.
"Whitebeard?" Kaido paused, then burst into raucous laughter. "Hahahaha! Now that's the spirit!"
"Great Eruption!"
A massive magma fist roared toward Kaido, the air itself warping from the heat. Kaido narrowed his eyes and swept his kanabo, Hassaikai, in a wide arc to meet the attack.
"Kongo Kabura!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The impact forced both sides back under the weight of the shockwave. But as Kaido steadied himself, Atlas's fist was already closing in.
Even before it connected, a surge of blood-red Conqueror's Haki blasted outward, throwing Kaido off balance and nearly toppling him into the sea.
Falling into the ocean wouldn't drown him like it would other Devil Fruit users, but it would make him almost useless in combat—reduced to crawling along the seabed, unable to fight properly.
"Brat! That's not enough! You think that kind of strength can dethrone Whitebeard as the world's strongest?"
Though Kaido wasn't afraid of Whitebeard, even he had to admit that the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's destructive power was one of the few forces that could truly threaten him. If push came to shove, Kaido could always escape—but it wasn't a risk he liked to take.
Soon enough, Kaido and Akainu were clashing once again. Battles between top-tier fighters in the pirate world were wars of attrition more than anything else.
There was a slight gap between Akainu's and Kaido's power, but neither could defeat the other in a single strike.
Huff… huff… huff…
Hundreds of exchanges later, both Kaido and Akainu were showing signs of fatigue, though far from exhaustion.
Their earlier flurry of devastating attacks had taken its toll, but they were veterans—masters of conserving energy in drawn-out fights.
What surprised them both was Atlas. Despite enduring numerous blows from Kaido, he still looked relatively unfazed.
He wasn't the main force in the battle, yet he had taken more attacks than either of them, and his aura only grew stronger. If his stamina hadn't even dropped much… that was terrifying.
"Galaxy Impact!"
Suddenly, a massive projectile shot upward from below, aiming directly at Kaido midair.
"Garp!?"
Kaido's eyes widened. He hadn't expected Garp to arrive. A distress call from a Marine aboard Akainu's ship must have brought him here.
Without hesitation, Kaido shifted into his full Azure Dragon form. Clouds gathered under his command, and with a searing blast of heat breath, he soared upward and vanished into the sky.
Kaido wasn't stupid. If Garp joined the fray, the battle would quickly turn against him.
The Marines could capture him—and during such a crucial moment in the New World's power struggle, that would be disastrous.
If imprisoned now, someone might destroy everything he had built before he could escape.
Akainu and Atlas didn't even try to stop him. In his Azure Dragon form, once Kaido decided to flee, no one could truly hold him back.
"Hahahaha! Atlas, kid! Haven't seen you in years, and you've gotten this strong already?"
As Akainu and Atlas landed on Garp's flagship using Geppo, Garp strode over with a wide grin, clapping Atlas on the shoulder—hard and repeatedly.
He was still munching on a doughnut, and the grease from his hands smeared all over Atlas's tattered Marine cloak.
"Hehe… Vice Admiral Garp, you flatter me. I only lasted thanks to Vice Admiral Akainu's support."
Atlas replied politely, while Akainu—bloodied and scowling—twitched at the remark.
With so many people present, Atlas made sure to address him as "Vice Admiral Garp" out of respect. He also took a careful step back to avoid another swipe from Garp's greasy hand.
"Sakazuki! Head back to G-5 base first—we'll debrief there. Oh, and Tsuru's there too!" Garp turned to Akainu with a chuckle.
At the moment, Garp served as the commander of the G-5 base and Supreme Commander of the New World operations.
Of course, he only oversaw the combat side of things. Strategy and planning? That was left entirely to Vice Admiral Tsuru.
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