Up above, Kaido realized that his heat breath had lost the clash. The golden flame had overpowered his own.
"Wororororo… Then let's change it up. Wind Scythes!"
He exhaled a roaring gale, the wind laden with crescent-shaped blades.
"Mythical Zoans really are unfair…" White Ghost muttered.
"Dragon Tornado Beam!"
He compressed the wind into a spinning lance and fired.
The beam didn't look huge, but its destructive power was brutal. The incoming wind blades were sucked into the tornado and flung aside as it speared toward Kaido.
"Gah! You bastard!"
The blow knocked Kaido's dragon body sideways, sending him corkscrewing through the air. Snarling, he surged toward White Ghost again.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
The two dragons collided, massive bodies slamming into each other again and again. Sometimes the golden dragon raked colossal claws across the azure one. Sometimes Kaido lunged with his jaws, trying to bite chunks out of White Ghost.
They rolled and crashed through the sky, a two-dragon brawl that made everyone watching either pale or tremble with excitement.
"Magnificent, magnificent!" Morgans was still filming from a "safe" distance, eyes shining. "Yahahahaha! The headline writes itself—'Twin Dragons Clash! Who is the True King of Beasts?' The papers will sell like crazy!"
"Boss! We found out who the golden dragon is!" one of his staff shouted over the wind.
"Oh? Who is it? With a mythical Zoan like that, he has to be some secret marine trump card—someone the navy's been hiding as a lethal surprise against the Emperors! And now he's revealed himself—yahahaha!"
The editor beside him cleared his throat carefully.
"Actually, boss… he's Das. White Ghost. Came up from East Blue's Loguetown. He's the one who took down Golden Lion Shiki in East Blue."
"Hm? That marine? He's the golden dragon?"
Morgans stared at the winged dragon.
"Uhh… Based on all his previous showings of golden wings, plus his own claim of an 'Azure Dragon' fruit… yeah, it's almost certainly him," the editor said. "We'd thought he was just a winged type before."
"And here I thought he was some hidden weapon the marines were saving for a killing blow against the Yonko," Morgans mused, rubbing his beak with one feathered wing. "But apparently not."
The subordinate nodded.
"Right. Looking at his record, the navy's basically cut him out of the power structure entirely. They treat him purely as muscle. An attack dog."
"Heheheh…"
Morgans' eyes gleamed.
"I get the feeling those marines are gonna suffer big-time because of that guy someday…"
He flipped through the dossier in his talons.
"First Gol D. Roger, the Pirate King. Then Garp, the Hero of the Marines. Now Das. White Ghost? East Blue keeps producing monsters."
He laughed low.
"So then, oh 'Golden Dragon Emperor' White Ghost… what kind of truly massive headlines are you going to hand me in the future? I can't wait. Yahahahaha!"
CRACK-BOOM!
A bolt of lightning ripped past Morgans' balloon, making him squawk.
"Yaaah! Back, back, BACK!"
High overhead, White Ghost's golden dragon claws had seized a chunk of live lightning and slapped it into Kaido's face, leaving scorched scales and bloody rents.
"Wororororo! You bastard! How are you grabbing lightning?! Mythical Zoans are cheats!"
"Hahahaha! Don't act like you're any better. Aren't you a mythical Zoan too?"
White Ghost snatched another bolt out of the storm, hurling it at Kaido.
"Dammit!"
Kaido twisted out of its path and glared at the dragon opposite him. The golden flames still licking over White Ghost's scales were steadily knitting his wounds back together.
He sucked in a breath, collecting power to unleash something truly vicious—
And then froze as he saw the glow building in White Ghost's mouth.
His eyelid twitched. Every instinct screamed danger.
Lightning condensed into a tight, blinding mass between White Ghost's jaws. He fixed his golden eyes on Kaido.
"Thunderstorm!"
He snapped his maw open, unleashing a concentrated pillar of lightning straight toward Kaido.
"—!!"
Kaido shrank his body in an instant, morphing back down to dragon-man form and juking out of the way in midair.
The lightning beam screamed past him.
WHOOOOOSH—!
KA-BOOOOOOOM!
It hit the ocean.
For a moment, nothing.
Then a towering column of steam and water rose, and when it cleared, a vast, bottomless-looking crater remained where the sea had been.
The water around it churned, waves piling on waves as the hole began collapsing inward.
"Oi oi oi, that's a bit much, isn't it?!"
Seeing the walls of water rushing outward, Doflamingo snapped an order to retreat.
Mihawk sliced the incoming wave aside with a casual swing and also began drifting back—the sea pit was already swirling into a whirlpool.
Are those two seriously just going to keep firing off attacks like that?
Anyone with decent Observation Haki could feel the danger.
Whitebeard saw the growing vortex pulling toward Moby Dick and snarled under his breath.
"Those two brats…"
Veins bulged at his temples as he raised his left fist.
"ORA!"
He swung sideways, quake power exploding from his knuckles.
CRACK—!
Space shattered. The shockwave slammed into the whirlpool.
BOOOM-BOOOOM-BOOOOOM!
Tremors rolled across the sea as quake force and vortex clashed. The water heaved and bucked until, finally, the two forces created a single colossal wave, hundreds of meters high, rearing over the battlefield.
"We're dead! We're dead, we're dead!"
Pirates and marines alike stared up as the shadow fell over them, panic breaking out.
"Ararara… this is getting ridiculous."
Aokiji kicked off and streaked toward the oncoming wall of water.
"Ice Age!"
He had no choice. If he didn't freeze it, that wave would crush not only pirates, but also half the marines.
Big Mom looked up at the sky, eyes narrowing.
Those bastards…
Everyone followed her gaze.
"Oi oi oi… this is insane…"
No one could blame them for being stunned.
White Ghost, still in dragon-man form now, was hovering midair, wings spread, holding his greatsword aloft. Lightning poured down from the clouds, gathering on the blade until it had become a titanic, crackling sword of pure thunder.
The destructive aura rolling off it made everyone below shiver.
"Hahahahaha! Kaido! Try this on for size!"
"Heavenly Thunder Slash!"
White Ghost's muscles bulged, veins standing out in his arms. With a roar, he brought the thunderblade down in a sweeping arc aimed straight at Kaido.
"BASTARD!"
Every future-sight ping Katakuri had was practically screaming at Kaido from this direction. The Beast Emperor grit his teeth.
"I'm Kaido of the Hundred Beasts!"
With a roar of his own, he raced upward on conjured clouds. His kanabo spun in his hands as black-red lightning danced along it.
"Raimei Hakke – Naraka Third Strike!"
He slammed the kanabo into the descending thunderblade.
KRA-KOOOOOOM!
The lightning sword exploded into shards, bolts splintering in all directions. Thunder rained down, striking the ocean below and detonating massive geysers of water.
Lightning crawled across Kaido's body. He could feel it—if he let go, if he didn't grit his teeth and take it, he'd be gravely wounded. If he endured it, though… his body would grow just a bit stronger.
The thought made his face twist into a wild grin.
"Worororororo! That's more like it!"
Below—
"AAAAAAH! The lightning's coming down!"
"Those damn snot-nosed brats!"
Whitebeard cursed as he swept Murakumogiri through the air, cleaving falling bolts away from his crew.
"Ma-ma-ma-ma! Zeus!"
"Yes, mama!"
The lightning cloud surged forward, greedily sucking up the falling thunder like candy.
"Hahahahaha!"
Garp punched apart the lightning falling toward the marines' side.
"That brat sure knows how to make a mess!"
Aokiji scratched his head.
"Ararara… at a time like this, Garp-san, that laugh might not be very appropriate…"
The battlefield had more or less ground to a halt.
With the sky raining lightning, firestorms, and stray tornadoes, nobody—marine or pirate—wanted to commit fully. Nobody knew whether the next thunderbolt, flame burst, or whirlwind would land on their own heads.
They might be able to survive each other.
They could not survive getting casually erased by those two dragons playing in the sky.
After all, this was all happening on the open sea. Even with the ice as footing, there was only so much punishment the battlefield could take.
Whitebeard took a long look around.
The marines' casualties were severe. His own side, by contrast, had gotten away with flesh wounds and a few serious injuries, but no catastrophic losses.
If they kept going, the navy reinforcements would arrive in greater force, and things would get messy.
He made his decision.
"Brats! Back to the ship!"
"OOOH! YES, POPS!"
The Whitebeard Pirates pulled back in an instant, moving on his command without hesitation.
"Ma-ma-ma-ma… The marines took a heavy beating today. We didn't manage to kill an admiral, but this is enough. Katakuri—back to the ship."
"Yes, mama," Katakuri answered, ushering his brothers and sisters toward the Big Mom Pirates' vessels.
"Back onboard. This place isn't fit for fighting anymore," King ordered gruffly, leading the Beasts Pirates to their own ship.
High above, the twin dragons raged on—but down below, three Emperors began to step away, leaving behind a shattered field, drowning ice, and marines who would be counting the cost of this "victory" for a long, long time.
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