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Luffy being able to comprehend the usage of Conqueror's Haki Coating so quickly left countless powerhouses both inside and outside the light screen secretly shocked.
From the moment he truly realized that Conqueror's Haki could be coated onto weapons and the body, to the first time he successfully used this legendary technique, the straw-hat-wearing boy had only taken a few short minutes.
And then he did it.
This kind of talent, this absolute trust in battle instinct, this arrogance that completely tore the words "impossible" out of the dictionary!
Looking across the entire history of the seas, probably only a handful of people like Rocks, Roger, and Whitebeard could reach this level.
"Monster…" In God Valley, someone muttered in a low voice.
But no one refuted it…
Because it was the truth.
However, talent could never bridge the gap of decades.
Luffy's Conqueror's Haki Coating was something he had just learned. It was shaky and unstable. Every time he threw a punch, he had to split half his focus just to maintain the coating state.
Meanwhile, Kaido's Conqueror's Haki Coating was an instinct honed through decades of conquest and slaughter. It was muscle memory etched into every muscle, every dragon scale, and even every breath.
So the scene that appeared on the screen was this…
At the very beginning, Luffy really did catch Kaido off guard with this brand-new power.
His rubber fists, wrapped in dark red Conqueror's Haki shockwaves, smashed into Kaido's kanabo, arms, and chest one punch after another.
Kaido was forced back half a step, then another half step, then another.
Someone outside the light screen couldn't help but let out a low gasp. That was the kind of oppressive feeling only seen when top-tier powerhouses used Conqueror's Haki!
But after just over ten exchanges, Kaido stabilized.
He no longer took every punch head-on. Instead, he began dismantling Luffy's attacks with more seasoned methods.
Sidestepping, redirecting force, feinting, and tricking moves!
These weren't techniques of Conqueror's Haki Coating. They were battle experience itself.
Luffy's punches were still heavy and still wrapped in heart-palpitating Conqueror's Haki, but he began to miss, or even when he landed a hit, most of the power was cleverly redirected away by some skillful rhythm.
"As expected, still too green. The more desperate the situation, the more happily he smiles…"
Kaido's voice came from the light screen, low and hoarse.
This Yonko had completely calmed down!
It wasn't the calm of battle frenzy, but a near-analytical calm — the calm of a hunter watching prey that had fallen into a trap yet was still struggling desperately.
Kaido looked at the blood-soaked boy in front of him who was still grinning, and a strange, cold smile appeared on his face.
Luffy tilted his head slightly.
He didn't understand what Kaido was trying to express.
There was no mockery in that smile, no contempt, and not even the complicated "valuing talent" emotion from before.
It was more like some kind of resonance, some kind of self-mockery, something that Kaido had buried deep in his heart for decades…
Yet now it was being forcibly dug out by this young man in front of him.
But Luffy was never someone who liked solving riddles.
The next moment, the rubber fist and the lightning-wrapped kanabo collided once again.
No words were needed. No interpretation. No unnecessary communication.
The only thing he had to do was throw punches — punch after punch — until this colossal being in front of him crashed to the ground.
The battle suddenly erupted…
It was no longer the probing and counter-probing tug-of-war from before, but a true life-or-death struggle.
Luffy integrated all the techniques he had honed over more than ten years.
Gomu Gomu no Pistol, Gomu Gomu no Rocket, Gomu Gomu no Elephant Gun… These moves were no longer released as individual skills. Instead, they transformed into a seamless chain of attacks!
Every strike was wrapped in unstable, sometimes strong, sometimes weak, but undeniably present Conqueror's Haki.
Kaido's response was equally fierce.
He still chose to selectively tank some attacks with his body in that almost playful manner, blocked others with his kanabo, and launched thunderous counterattacks during the gaps when Luffy switched moves.
Thunderous Bagua, Ragnarok… Every swing was enough to reduce ordinary powerhouses to dust.
But Luffy took them.
He didn't take them completely. He wasn't uninjured. He wasn't sent flying without consequence.
But every time, he would get back up. Every time, he would charge forward again. Every time, in that brief gap that was almost negligible, he would land his fist on Kaido's body once more.
"Is this what a battle between powerhouses looks like?"
Outside the light screen, countless pirates and Marines held their breath.
They had seen Roger and Whitebeard cross blades. They had seen the suffocating pressure when Rocks descended upon God Valley.
But the scene before them still left them speechless.
It wasn't because their power levels were completely equal. There was still a visible gap between Luffy and Kaido…
That aura, that determination to burn through his life just to cross the chasm — it was so similar to the legendary three-day, three-night battle between Roger and Whitebeard back then.
The sky was torn apart.
The clouds above Onigashima were ripped open like a curtain by a giant hand, revealing a patch of clear sky.
The clash of Conqueror's Haki formed visible shockwaves that spread outward in rings. Even the seawater below the island was stirred into massive waves dozens of meters high.
Inside the banquet hall, everyone's battles had stopped.
Big Mom raised her head. A rare trace of solemnity flashed through her eyes.
Kid, Law, Zoro, Sanji, Killer… Everyone looked toward the dark red orb of light that flickered in and out of existence at the dome.
That was the most intense, purest, and most reckless clash between Luffy and Kaido — the two strongest of this era.
However, just when everyone thought this battle would continue for three days and three nights like in the legends —
The dome suddenly returned to calm.
It wasn't the calm after a battle ended, but a more eerie and unsettling… dead silence.
Kaido's figure appeared at the edge of the hole punched through the banquet hall's dome.
He had already canceled his dragon-man form and returned to his human appearance.
That body known as the "Strongest Creature in the World" was now covered in wounds. Some were even still bleeding.
But he stood.
And Luffy… was nowhere to be seen!
"The winner… is Kaido."
The narration in the light screen carried no emotional tone, as if it was merely stating a fact that had already been written.
But everyone outside the light screen was stunned.
Because the Kaido in the image wasn't smiling. He stood there carrying his kanabo, lowering his head to look at his own hands…
Those hands that had just sent the challenger plummeting into the abyss.
There was no victor's ecstasy. No arrogance of a ruler defending his throne. No sense of relief like "I knew it would end this way."
He simply looked at his hands, brows tightly furrowed.
The scene suddenly shifted.
Luffy's figure appeared in the sky at the edge of Onigashima.
His limbs hung powerlessly. His black hair fluttered messily in the wind.
Onigashima was still rising, still drifting toward that unknown height.
And Luffy was falling.
Falling toward the sea, toward the raging waves, toward that direction which meant certain death for a Devil Fruit user — falling silently.
"You did use Conqueror's Haki Coating."
Kaido's voice came from behind, cold, calm, without any emotional fluctuation.
"But your technique is too crude."
He watched Luffy's figure grow smaller and smaller. A trace of exhaustion finally appeared in his voice.
"And you kept going on about Gomu Gomu no this and that. Completely useless."
No one responded to Kaido. Inside and outside the light screen, there was only the sound of wind and waves.
Luffy's figure grew smaller and smaller, more and more blurred. Finally…
Splash!
A splash of water bloomed on the sea surface, then was swallowed by the incoming waves. Not even a trace remained.
Kaido continued standing there, carrying his kanabo, gazing down at the gradually calming sea.
He stood there for a long time, watching that stretch of ocean.
Finally, this Yonko moved.
He slowly turned around, turning his back to the sea that had swallowed the challenger. His voice was so low it sounded like he was talking to himself: "Finally… the dust has settled."
There was no joy. Only exhaustion.
Outside the light screen, God Valley fell into a strange silence.
No one cheered. No one mocked. Not even anyone commented on the outcome of the battle.
Those who would become legends in the future — even the young Kaido himself — everyone remained silent, staring at the splash that had already disappeared.
"What a pity…"
From within the crowd, someone let out this low murmur.
Then, this murmur spread like ripples among the watching civilians.
"That guy with the straw hat… really died just like that?"
"He was clearly fighting for Wano Country, so that everyone could have enough to eat…"
"A Devil Fruit user falling into the sea with no comrades to rescue him… This…"
"Pirates can be good or bad too."
At the edge of God Valley, a slave mother holding her child let out a soft sigh.
She didn't understand Conqueror's Haki Coating. She didn't understand the power gap between a Yonko and a Supernova. She didn't even fully grasp the meaning of this battle.
But she understood that boy…
She understood that every time he fell, he would get back up!
She understood that even when covered in blood, he still grinned and laughed. She understood that he had fought a life-or-death battle against the strongest being in the world for the sake of the people of Wano Country — people he had never even met.
"What a pity…" she said again in a low voice.
The child in her arms looked up and asked, "Mom, will that big brother come back to life?"
The mother didn't answer. She simply held the child a little tighter.
And within the light screen, in a corner that no one had noticed…
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