"Zephyr is down!"
Rayleigh's heart jolted, his expression growing increasingly grim.
He knew the situation had just taken a turn for the worse.
On the island, the ground looked as if struck by a meteor, leaving behind a massive crater.
At its center lay Zephyr, covered in blood, breathing shallowly with barely any strength left.
His once-powerful arms were now twisted beyond recognition.
Kaido hoisted his spiked club onto his shoulder, spat a bloody glob onto the ground, then raised his weapon high, ready to deliver the final blow to Zephyr.
"Ice Age!!"
A hoarse voice suddenly rang out.
In an instant, the air temperature plummeted violently.
A layer of ice dozens of meters thick spread from the other end of the island, instantly freezing every structure on Whole Cake Island in its path.
Rubble, streets, buildings—all were encased in ice.
The thick glacial layer reflected the moonlight, creating a surreal and awe-inspiring sight.
The entire island had transformed into a frozen wasteland, as if covered in ice for centuries.
White frost rose from the dozens-of-meters-thick ice, radiating an extreme, bone-chilling cold.
Within the crater, Kaido and the gasping Zephyr were also caught in the sudden freeze, trapped within the ice.
"Aokiji!"
Finally, a hint of relief appeared on Rayleigh's face.
Aokiji's arrival slightly eased the unease in his heart.
"Annoying bastard, interrupting other people's fights. Don't you know that's terribly rude?"
Caesar muttered as he stood up, his massive frame casting a vast shadow under the moonlight, enveloping Rayleigh.
Rayleigh instantly leaped back, putting distance between them and warily pointed his sword at Caesar.
"Relax, Rayleigh. I told you—Kaido's your opponent. I'm just annoyed by that ice-playing fool."
With that, Caesar took a step forward, heading towards the island.
Rayleigh's eyes flashed.
His blade swept out a pitch-black slash aimed straight for Caesar's neck.
Caesar's expression darkened.
His hand flicked to his waist, where his purple sash instantly transformed into a seven-meter-long greatsword.
The hilt alone measured two and a half meters, while the blade was a deep violet-black, resembling a purple dragon.
"Heaven Splitting Slash!"
Caesar's right hand clenched tightly as he swung the massive blade.
A dragon-shaped surge of violet-black energy tore through the air, shattering Rayleigh's slash before roaring towards his face.
"One Sword Style: Firefly!"
Rayleigh's body rippled with invisible energy as he swung his sword, the force spiraling around him like a whirlwind—as if he had become the eye of a storm of slashes.
A ghostly blue glint flashed across his white blade.
The dark night suddenly brightened, as if split by a streak of azure lightning.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The blue slashes danced like fireflies in the night—countless and unrelenting.
No matter how overwhelming Caesar's attack was, it couldn't instantly break through this endless barrage.
"I hate swordsmen," Caesar grumbled.
With a sharp sound, two golden wings unfurled from his back, lifting his massive frame into the air.
His greatsword descended like a waterfall of steel, its gleaming edge illuminating the night as it carved a miles-long fissure through the frozen landscape.
"Divine Departure!!"
Rayleigh raised his sword skyward, its blade wreathed in the pitch-black aura of Conqueror's Haki, making his slash even more fierce and domineering.
His arms bulged with muscles, veins popping like vines as Rayleigh roared and swung his sword diagonally, cleaving the skies!
Two dazzling arcs of blade light crossed each other, as if splitting the entire sky into four.
The ice beneath shattered into a massive fissure, while behind Caesar, the ink-black clouds were severed, allowing the cold moonlight to pour down.
Caesar danced wildly in mid-air, his greatsword flashing like lightning as streaks of blade light sliced through the sky, relentlessly pursuing Rayleigh.
His strength seemed inexhaustible, his arms never tiring as they blurred into afterimages.
Meanwhile on the ground, Rayleigh—who had just unleashed two ultimate techniques—already had beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
"Damn it! Caesar… his stamina is monstrous. I really am getting old!"
Gritting his teeth, Rayleigh had no choice but to dodge swiftly, his figure flickering as he weaved between the colossal blade strikes.
He stepped on shattered ice fragments, his breathing ragged but his movements precise—as if he had long grown accustomed to such desperate battles.
"Shiki was the same back then, opening with hundreds of sword slashes right off the bat."
Rayleigh sprinted across the ice, rolling and dodging with uncanny agility.
"Skyhawk's Extreme Speed! Divine Light Slash!"
Whoosh!
Caesar flapped his wings, his massive frame vanishing in an instant—only to reappear right in front of Rayleigh.
Drops of purple venom oozed from his greatsword, raining down towards Rayleigh's face.
Rayleigh's expression twisted in shock.
He hadn't expected the towering Caesar to possess such terrifying speed—it was almost like teleportation!
Clang!
In that split second, Rayleigh could only raise his sword in a desperate attemp to block it.
BOOM!
How terrifying was Caesar's strength?
The moment their blades clashed, Rayleigh's wrist felt as if it would shatter.
His palms split open, blood spurting out as Caesar's overwhelming force pressed down on him.
The ice beneath his feet cracked like a spiderweb, exploding across hundreds of meters.
"Raaaah! Divine—!" Rayleigh roared, his sword erupting with black conqueror's lightning as he tried to counter.
"Even a god would die here! ROAR!"
A towering pillar of blood-red energy erupted from Caesar's body, igniting into raging flames as it seared through the air.
His aura skyrocketed endlessly, distorting the very atmosphere around him.
CRACK—BOOOOM!
The absolute power, combined with his supreme conqueror's haki, unleashed crimson conqueror's lightning that tore through miles of sky.
Thunder roared, the atmosphere detonating as the shockwaves reverberated for hundreds of miles.
Rayleigh's eyes turned bloodshot as he watched his own arms twist and snap under Caesar's overwhelming force.
"ARGH—!"
BOOM!
A hundred-mile stretch of glacier shattered as Rayleigh's body was blasted into the dark abyss of the sea like a cannonball!
Without even sparing a glance at Rayleigh's fate, Caesar spun and unleashed a horizontal slash!
Swoosh!
A slender rift tore through the void, stretching for kilometers.
The towering ice layers of Whole Cake Island were silently bisected—as if the entire island had been split in two!
"Rising Dragon! Blazing Dragon's Torch!"
From within the thick layers of ice, Kaido's furious roar echoed as a hundred-meter-long crimson fire dragon emerged, radiating astonishing heat that melted the massive ice sheets.
Thick steam billowed up, quickly transforming into dense fog that enveloped the entire island.
"Boro Breath!"
The colossal fire dragon soared into the sky and unleashed a blazing pillar of flames toward Zephyr below.
The scorching heat distorted the very air around it.
"Ice Dragon!"
Aokiji appeared beside Zephyr, spreading his arms as a massive crystalline dragon's head burst from his palms, rapidly expanding.
The ice dragon roared as it surged skyward, colliding directly with Kaido's Boro Breath!
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