__________ POV Narration __________
The first thing that Kaido did was rush towards the ones he considered the weakest link... The Supernovas.
His massive fist crashed into the Fist of the Metallic Demon that Kid had just created, the magnetic fruit user sweated heavily as the flimsy metal he had used compressed and broke underneath the pressure of Kaido's fist.
Killer tried to slash at the Dragon's back, only to be batted to the side by the Emepror's tail, sending him flying.
Kid immediately jumped to the side, abandoning the metallic demon he had been controlling as Kaido fully crushed it.
"Running around like rats!" The dragon pursued, dashing once more and appearing in front of Kid, his mace already swinging down towards his head.
"Shambles..." But the magnet fruit user vanished just before Kaido's mace smashed his skull in.
Kaido's mace smashed into the ground, shaking the ground underneath him as a massive dust cloud rose in the area.
The Dragon then dashed out of the cloud, directly towards Law, wanting to take him out after realizing how troublesome his devil fruit was.
But he wasn't the only one who realized Law's value on that battlefield.
"Galaxy Impact!" A powerful shockwave from the side sent the Dragon tumbling away.
The same punch that he had tanked before effortlessly now felt even more powerful, and the fact that he was airborne made it impossible for him to resist the shock.
He quickly recovered, rolling around in the air and swinging his metallic club wildly as he batted away a few flying slashes from Shiki and Francisco.
As soon as he landed, another figure was already on him.
"Black Arm Gun!"
The Dragon's head tilted slightly as he received a powerful punch to the jaw from Zephyr, the former admiral.
Zephyr used his absolute mastery over the 6 Marine Power, using finger gun on his entire arm and using armament to the fullest extent that he could.
"Chase him, Python!" From the side, Luffy also acted, his fist extending exponentially at great speeds, his punch combined with Zephyr's, coming in contact with Kaido's Jaw.
It created a large shockwave and rattled the Dragon's brain even further as he was forced to fall on one knee.
On his back, he also received a stomp from Sanji, and a slash from Zoro, both doing nothing more than putting some scratches on his scales.
But even when his brains were rattled, the Emperor could react to their attacks. As soon as he felt them, his tail immediately shot up, piercing into Sanji's leg and whipping Zoro away at unprecedented speeds.
"Sanji! Zoro!" Luffy immediately rushed forward, pulling Sanji away from Kaido, while Francisco and Shiki joined in subduing the King of Beasts.
Up close, Guzman managed to leave a thin scratch on Kaido's shoulder.
Shiki quickly manipulated the ground at his feet to hold him and his arm in place, strengthening it all with concentrated Armament.
But the earth couldn't hold on for too long, even as Zephyr continued punching away at him, creating shockwave after shockwave, Kaido still mustered the strength to pull his hand away and swing his mace down at the old marine's head.
But just before his mace came in contact with Zephyr's pink hair, he vanished, causing him to hit the ground and break it once more.
Shiki scowled as he felt the earth he had manipulated break as another dust cloud rose.
Using observation, they all followed Kaido's movements... Or so they thought.
With an inexplicable burst of speed, Kaido's body finally barreled into Law, breaking plenty of bones and sending him flying backwards.
'Shit! He's going all out now?!? That speed makes things difficult...' Francisco immediately dashed towards Law and Kaido, brandishing his blade while gritting his teeth.
Kaido didn't feel content with just breaking a few bones. His mace quickly tried to follow that attack by swinging upwards, but his strike was deflected by Francisco's blade.
Sparks flew as the two of them clashed, and Kaido's tail twirled around and pierced towards the swordsman's torso.
But before he made contact, Garp managed to sneak up behind him and deliver a heavy blow on the top of his head.
The King of Beast's eyes widened as the punch made contact, his mouth immediately closed as his teeth snapped closed.
The ground under his feet and around them even further while giving Francisco the chance to grab the unconscious Law and slip away.
This time, however, Kaido did not stumble, instead, he eyed Garp with a scowl on his face and immediately swiped his mace towards him.
Garp immediately crossed his arms and put his guard up while in mid-air. But that didn't seem to be enough. He felt his bones cracking the moment Kaido's mace made contact.
The mace was certainly going to connect with his head even through his guard it seemed, but in that moment, the rocks underneath Kaido seemed to shift unnaturally, causing the King of Beasts to lose his balance and change the trajectory of his hit.
The former Marine Hero was still batted to the side as all of the wind was knocked out of him.
Still, he managed to roll around in the air and land on his feet, clutching at his caved-in forearm while frowning.
"Thanks for the save, Shiki." He spoke in a smaller tone as he narrowed his eyes at Kaido, who had fallen slightly into the hole that Shiki had dug out for him.
The Dragon Emperor had been strangely quiet for a while, but it was clear that he was now taking all of them a bit more seriously.
All of their combined efforts barely managed to scratch the King of Beasts. A few small already healing gashes, and some internal damage hopefully, but that was about the extent of what they had done.
And it seemed that most of the Supernovas were out of the fight.
Kid was off trying to gather more metals, and Law was out for the count completely, being carried away alongside Sanji by Zoro at Luffy's behest.
Luffy himself was essentially the only youngster that remained, proving himself to be the most capable amongst them by far too.
Law's fruit could be called useful, but now that Kaido was moving at his full speed it was unlikely that the Death Surgeon would even react in time to be of any help.
Garp was now also injured, Zephyr's punches were not as strong as the former Marine Hero's either, so he could at most help divert attention.
Luffy's 'Python' also seemed to do little to Kaido.
Shiki's earth couldn't deal any significant damage to Kaido no matter how much Shiki worked to compress it.
'I guess the only real damage dealers we have now are me and Shiki, huh?...
Still, I guess we're faring quite well, individually we all would have died by now.'
Francisco's smile trembled as his blackened blade started glowing red once more. Conqueror's Haki rolling off of it.
'I guess it's time to fight with our lives on the line. I'm sure Captain will get involved if things go too awry.'
But just as Francisco was about to jump in, someone else decided to try and keep the Dragon at bay.
"Gomu Gomu no Black Mamba!"
Luffy's hands seemed to multiply as they bounced around the battlefield madly, each punch hitting Kaido either in the head, torso or back.
Kaido just cracked his neck once in that volley of attacks, and before Francsico could even react, he dashed towards Luffy and appeared in front of him.
The Earth under Kaido shifted again, but this time the Dragon was ready, anchoring his tail deep into the ground as he raised his mace above his head.
"Kosanze Ragnaraku!(Conquerer of Three Worlds Ragnaraku!)"
His Conqueror's Haki flashed a strong purple as he swiped his mace towards Luffy's head.
Francisco immediately acted dashing with the greatest speed he could muster, but he only made it halfway there before Kaido's mace smashed into Luffy's head.
The Strawhat Captain was promptly crushed into the earth, as the ground caved to form a large crater in which he fell like a doll with its strings broken.
His eyes rolled backwards as blood poured out of all of his visible orifices, and a visible dent was in his head.
His status was unknown, but it was clear that he was most likely either dead or dying... Suffice it to say, such a thing was not sitting well with Garp.
"Luffy!" The former Marine Hero immediately shouted, his eyes widening and becoming bloodshot almost instantly.
Worry and fear filled his very soul as he watched Luffy collapse into that crater.
Garp's teeth ground together in anger as he slowly clenched the fist on his broken arm, forcing his muscles to put his bones back in place.
His concern and worry for Luffy's current state all turned to rage as he eyed Kaido with a hateful gaze.
"You... I'll kill you!" For the first time in many years, Garp's murderous intent reared its head.
He had always acted leisurely, never taking things too seriously.
But Kaido still remembered that murderous intent, it had left a mark on him even all those years back in God Valley.
It had such an intensity that it alerted the Dragon, who now eyed the former Marine Hero with a serious gaze.
'His will... It's getting stronger and stronger? I need to get rid of him next!'
The King of Beasts then dashed towards the Heartbroken Grandfather, already swinging his mace.
Shiki scowled as he quickly moved the earth to swallow Luffy up and move him further away from the ensuing clash.
Kaido was confident, a smirk was plastered on his face as he knew that he was about to mirk both grandfather and grandson in one fell swoop.
"Kosanze Ragnaraku!(Conquerer of Three Worlds Ragnaraku!)"
But this time, things weren't going to play out quite as he imagined them.
Garp had his footing and was empowered by his surging emotions, his willpower soared and he released a roar.
Kaido's eyes widened as he felt metallic shrapnel hitting his face.
He couldn't believe the sight in front of him, Garp's punch seemed to have somehow passed through his Haki-enhanced Hassaikai.
The air around Garp's fist seemed to be twirling violently as it passed through, the space in front of the Marine Hero's fist seemed to be bending visibly.
Kadio barely had the time to react. His entire arm felt lighter as Garp essentially disintegrated his metallic club.
And the old man's fist didn't stop with just that. No, the grandfather was out for blood.
Garp roared once more every muscle in his body trembled. His fist finally made contact with the King of Beasts, hitting him square in the nose.
Kaido only really had the time to clench his jaw and brace for impact.
"Void Impact!"
The Dragon Emperor's shock heightened as he heard a sickening crack, his nose bending out of shape as his entire face rippled.
He felt as if every bit of flesh on his face was being pulled into Garp's fist violently.
Without any control over his body, he was immediately sent flying, repelled by the great power of Garp's punch. He flew like a gigantic bullet out of a smoking gun barrel.
He flipped through the air constantly, dropping the broken fragments of his mace in the process before he eventually stopped himself.
He dug his clawed hand into the ground before grabbing at his bleeding nose with a disturbed look on his face.
"W-what?"
He could only mutter that as he held onto his bleeding face, his eyes filled with hate as he eyed the panting figure of Garp.
The old man had truly given it his all it seemed, his anger didn't dissipate one bit, but the muscles in his entire body seemed to tremble in exhaustion.
And at that moment Kaido's shock and slight fear dissipated, as he decided to put an end to Garp as soon as he could.
He dashed forward, this time his gigantic arm reached out to grab Garp, hoping to crush him to death in his deadly grip.
The old Marine Hero just scowled and clenched his fists once more, putting his guard up and taking on a boxing stance.
But he didn't get to do anything.
Kaido was so tunnel-visioned on ending Garp's life and ridding himself of the shame he felt that he failed to notice the gigantic willpower-strengthened shockwave that hit him square on.
"Hakai!(Supreme Sea)"
Shiki and Francisco decided to use their strongest combination attack once more.
And this time, Kaido was smaller. Small enough to be properly affected by the attack.
He tried to resist it the best he could, the second the attack touched his scales he strengthened himself with his willpower to the best of his ability.
But even with his defence in his hybrid form, and with his powerful Haki, he couldn't stop it.
It completely engulfed him from the side and he felt every inch of his body flare up in pain, he was sent flying even further this time around, blood spewing out of his side.
A large gash was now visible on the side of his torso, going so deep that Francisco could almost see his organs underneath his thick muscles.
"HAah..." The Dragon was now fully kneeling, his hand holding his side while he panted heavily.
Not only had he received that deep gash, but he also felt as if his entire body had been rattled, and most of his ribs fractured.
"Shit... I was hoping that would kill him outright..." Shiki said while also panting.
Francisco shook his head, the grip on his blade weakening slightly before he gripped it even harder.
Both he and Shiki had given it their all, but they had only injured Kaido. Sure it was significant, but now they were all tired.
Zephyr was the only one still capable enough to keep attacking Kaido, but his Rankyaku was easily shrugged off.
'Shit... is this truly it?'
Francisco felt shame as he watched the King of Beasts standing up, still moving, still capable of fight, and he still seemed to be willing to fight.
Francisco could see that his shock was once again turning to rage. And he knew that they were bound to lose at that point.
After all, he and Shiki were mostly spent, Garp was barely standing on his own, and Zephyr was mostly useless in their current situation.
Then he heard it... A strange beat.
Loud, rambunxious, catchy.
Enel also heard it, his ears perking up as he lay on his fluffy overcharged storm cloud.
"Ah. there they are..."
The Drums of Liberation.
"I guess Kaido did his job... huh?" The Sky King smiled before slowly standing up, the drums on his back continued spinning.
"Time to end this charade then..."
__________________________________________________________________
Hope you liked the chapter!
Took a bit to write tbh, lack of inspiration again.
But yea, Nika is here :)) As was made quite obvious, it was Kaido's fate to awaken Nika
Story Shoutout : Hell Difficulty Tutorial
Discord, again: https://discord.gg/xQTK8caFEQ
If u want to support me look up VeganMaster on Patre_on, you'd also get 15 chapters in advance (or 10/5 depending on tier)
__________ POV Narration __________
The first thing that Kaido did was rush towards the ones he considered the weakest link... The Supernovas.
His massive fist crashed into the Fist of the Metallic Demon that Kid had just created, the magnetic fruit user sweated heavily as the flimsy metal he had used compressed and broke underneath the pressure of Kaido's fist.
Killer tried to slash at the Dragon's back, only to be batted to the side by the Emepror's tail, sending him flying.
Kid immediately jumped to the side, abandoning the metallic demon he had been controlling as Kaido fully crushed it.
"Running around like rats!" The dragon pursued, dashing once more and appearing in front of Kid, his mace already swinging down towards his head.
"Shambles..." But the magnet fruit user vanished just before Kaido's mace smashed his skull in.
Kaido's mace smashed into the ground, shaking the ground underneath him as a massive dust cloud rose in the area.
The Dragon then dashed out of the cloud, directly towards Law, wanting to take him out after realizing how troublesome his devil fruit was.
But he wasn't the only one who realized Law's value on that battlefield.
"Galaxy Impact!" A powerful shockwave from the side sent the Dragon tumbling away.
The same punch that he had tanked before effortlessly now felt even more powerful, and the fact that he was airborne made it impossible for him to resist the shock.
He quickly recovered, rolling around in the air and swinging his metallic club wildly as he batted away a few flying slashes from Shiki and Francisco.
As soon as he landed, another figure was already on him.
"Black Arm Gun!"
The Dragon's head tilted slightly as he received a powerful punch to the jaw from Zephyr, the former admiral.
Zephyr used his absolute mastery over the 6 Marine Power, using finger gun on his entire arm and using armament to the fullest extent that he could.
"Chase him, Python!" From the side, Luffy also acted, his fist extending exponentially at great speeds, his punch combined with Zephyr's, coming in contact with Kaido's Jaw.
It created a large shockwave and rattled the Dragon's brain even further as he was forced to fall on one knee.
On his back, he also received a stomp from Sanji, and a slash from Zoro, both doing nothing more than putting some scratches on his scales.
But even when his brains were rattled, the Emperor could react to their attacks. As soon as he felt them, his tail immediately shot up, piercing into Sanji's leg and whipping Zoro away at unprecedented speeds.
"Sanji! Zoro!" Luffy immediately rushed forward, pulling Sanji away from Kaido, while Francisco and Shiki joined in subduing the King of Beasts.
Up close, Guzman managed to leave a thin scratch on Kaido's shoulder.
Shiki quickly manipulated the ground at his feet to hold him and his arm in place, strengthening it all with concentrated Armament.
But the earth couldn't hold on for too long, even as Zephyr continued punching away at him, creating shockwave after shockwave, Kaido still mustered the strength to pull his hand away and swing his mace down at the old marine's head.
But just before his mace came in contact with Zephyr's pink hair, he vanished, causing him to hit the ground and break it once more.
Shiki scowled as he felt the earth he had manipulated break as another dust cloud rose.
Using observation, they all followed Kaido's movements... Or so they thought.
With an inexplicable burst of speed, Kaido's body finally barreled into Law, breaking plenty of bones and sending him flying backwards.
'Shit! He's going all out now?!? That speed makes things difficult...' Francisco immediately dashed towards Law and Kaido, brandishing his blade while gritting his teeth.
Kaido didn't feel content with just breaking a few bones. His mace quickly tried to follow that attack by swinging upwards, but his strike was deflected by Francisco's blade.
Sparks flew as the two of them clashed, and Kaido's tail twirled around and pierced towards the swordsman's torso.
But before he made contact, Garp managed to sneak up behind him and deliver a heavy blow on the top of his head.
The King of Beast's eyes widened as the punch made contact, his mouth immediately closed as his teeth snapped closed.
The ground under his feet and around them even further while giving Francisco the chance to grab the unconscious Law and slip away.
This time, however, Kaido did not stumble, instead, he eyed Garp with a scowl on his face and immediately swiped his mace towards him.
Garp immediately crossed his arms and put his guard up while in mid-air. But that didn't seem to be enough. He felt his bones cracking the moment Kaido's mace made contact.
The mace was certainly going to connect with his head even through his guard it seemed, but in that moment, the rocks underneath Kaido seemed to shift unnaturally, causing the King of Beasts to lose his balance and change the trajectory of his hit.
The former Marine Hero was still batted to the side as all of the wind was knocked out of him.
Still, he managed to roll around in the air and land on his feet, clutching at his caved-in forearm while frowning.
"Thanks for the save, Shiki." He spoke in a smaller tone as he narrowed his eyes at Kaido, who had fallen slightly into the hole that Shiki had dug out for him.
The Dragon Emperor had been strangely quiet for a while, but it was clear that he was now taking all of them a bit more seriously.
All of their combined efforts barely managed to scratch the King of Beasts. A few small already healing gashes, and some internal damage hopefully, but that was about the extent of what they had done.
And it seemed that most of the Supernovas were out of the fight.
Kid was off trying to gather more metals, and Law was out for the count completely, being carried away alongside Sanji by Zoro at Luffy's behest.
Luffy himself was essentially the only youngster that remained, proving himself to be the most capable amongst them by far too.
Law's fruit could be called useful, but now that Kaido was moving at his full speed it was unlikely that the Death Surgeon would even react in time to be of any help.
Garp was now also injured, Zephyr's punches were not as strong as the former Marine Hero's either, so he could at most help divert attention.
Luffy's 'Python' also seemed to do little to Kaido.
Shiki's earth couldn't deal any significant damage to Kaido no matter how much Shiki worked to compress it.
'I guess the only real damage dealers we have now are me and Shiki, huh?...
Still, I guess we're faring quite well, individually we all would have died by now.'
Francisco's smile trembled as his blackened blade started glowing red once more. Conqueror's Haki rolling off of it.
'I guess it's time to fight with our lives on the line. I'm sure Captain will get involved if things go too awry.'
But just as Francisco was about to jump in, someone else decided to try and keep the Dragon at bay.
"Gomu Gomu no Black Mamba!"
Luffy's hands seemed to multiply as they bounced around the battlefield madly, each punch hitting Kaido either in the head, torso or back.
Kaido just cracked his neck once in that volley of attacks, and before Francsico could even react, he dashed towards Luffy and appeared in front of him.
The Earth under Kaido shifted again, but this time the Dragon was ready, anchoring his tail deep into the ground as he raised his mace above his head.
"Kosanze Ragnaraku!(Conquerer of Three Worlds Ragnaraku!)"
His Conqueror's Haki flashed a strong purple as he swiped his mace towards Luffy's head.
Francisco immediately acted dashing with the greatest speed he could muster, but he only made it halfway there before Kaido's mace smashed into Luffy's head.
The Strawhat Captain was promptly crushed into the earth, as the ground caved to form a large crater in which he fell like a doll with its strings broken.
His eyes rolled backwards as blood poured out of all of his visible orifices, and a visible dent was in his head.
His status was unknown, but it was clear that he was most likely either dead or dying... Suffice it to say, such a thing was not sitting well with Garp.
"Luffy!" The former Marine Hero immediately shouted, his eyes widening and becoming bloodshot almost instantly.
Worry and fear filled his very soul as he watched Luffy collapse into that crater.
Garp's teeth ground together in anger as he slowly clenched the fist on his broken arm, forcing his muscles to put his bones back in place.
His concern and worry for Luffy's current state all turned to rage as he eyed Kaido with a hateful gaze.
"You... I'll kill you!" For the first time in many years, Garp's murderous intent reared its head.
He had always acted leisurely, never taking things too seriously.
But Kaido still remembered that murderous intent, it had left a mark on him even all those years back in God Valley.
It had such an intensity that it alerted the Dragon, who now eyed the former Marine Hero with a serious gaze.
'His will... It's getting stronger and stronger? I need to get rid of him next!'
The King of Beasts then dashed towards the Heartbroken Grandfather, already swinging his mace.
Shiki scowled as he quickly moved the earth to swallow Luffy up and move him further away from the ensuing clash.
Kaido was confident, a smirk was plastered on his face as he knew that he was about to mirk both grandfather and grandson in one fell swoop.
"Kosanze Ragnaraku!(Conquerer of Three Worlds Ragnaraku!)"
But this time, things weren't going to play out quite as he imagined them.
Garp had his footing and was empowered by his surging emotions, his willpower soared and he released a roar.
Kaido's eyes widened as he felt metallic shrapnel hitting his face.
He couldn't believe the sight in front of him, Garp's punch seemed to have somehow passed through his Haki-enhanced Hassaikai.
The air around Garp's fist seemed to be twirling violently as it passed through, the space in front of the Marine Hero's fist seemed to be bending visibly.
Kadio barely had the time to react. His entire arm felt lighter as Garp essentially disintegrated his metallic club.
And the old man's fist didn't stop with just that. No, the grandfather was out for blood.
Garp roared once more every muscle in his body trembled. His fist finally made contact with the King of Beasts, hitting him square in the nose.
Kaido only really had the time to clench his jaw and brace for impact.
"Void Impact!"
The Dragon Emperor's shock heightened as he heard a sickening crack, his nose bending out of shape as his entire face rippled.
He felt as if every bit of flesh on his face was being pulled into Garp's fist violently.
Without any control over his body, he was immediately sent flying, repelled by the great power of Garp's punch. He flew like a gigantic bullet out of a smoking gun barrel.
He flipped through the air constantly, dropping the broken fragments of his mace in the process before he eventually stopped himself.
He dug his clawed hand into the ground before grabbing at his bleeding nose with a disturbed look on his face.
"W-what?"
He could only mutter that as he held onto his bleeding face, his eyes filled with hate as he eyed the panting figure of Garp.
The old man had truly given it his all it seemed, his anger didn't dissipate one bit, but the muscles in his entire body seemed to tremble in exhaustion.
And at that moment Kaido's shock and slight fear dissipated, as he decided to put an end to Garp as soon as he could.
He dashed forward, this time his gigantic arm reached out to grab Garp, hoping to crush him to death in his deadly grip.
The old Marine Hero just scowled and clenched his fists once more, putting his guard up and taking on a boxing stance.
But he didn't get to do anything.
Kaido was so tunnel-visioned on ending Garp's life and ridding himself of the shame he felt that he failed to notice the gigantic willpower-strengthened shockwave that hit him square on.
"Hakai!(Supreme Sea)"
Shiki and Francisco decided to use their strongest combination attack once more.
And this time, Kaido was smaller. Small enough to be properly affected by the attack.
He tried to resist it the best he could, the second the attack touched his scales he strengthened himself with his willpower to the best of his ability.
But even with his defence in his hybrid form, and with his powerful Haki, he couldn't stop it.
It completely engulfed him from the side and he felt every inch of his body flare up in pain, he was sent flying even further this time around, blood spewing out of his side.
A large gash was now visible on the side of his torso, going so deep that Francisco could almost see his organs underneath his thick muscles.
"HAah..." The Dragon was now fully kneeling, his hand holding his side while he panted heavily.
Not only had he received that deep gash, but he also felt as if his entire body had been rattled, and most of his ribs fractured.
"Shit... I was hoping that would kill him outright..." Shiki said while also panting.
Francisco shook his head, the grip on his blade weakening slightly before he gripped it even harder.
Both he and Shiki had given it their all, but they had only injured Kaido. Sure it was significant, but now they were all tired.
Zephyr was the only one still capable enough to keep attacking Kaido, but his Rankyaku was easily shrugged off.
'Shit... is this truly it?'
Francisco felt shame as he watched the King of Beasts standing up, still moving, still capable of fight, and he still seemed to be willing to fight.
Francisco could see that his shock was once again turning to rage. And he knew that they were bound to lose at that point.
After all, he and Shiki were mostly spent, Garp was barely standing on his own, and Zephyr was mostly useless in their current situation.
Then he heard it... A strange beat.
Loud, rambunxious, catchy.
Enel also heard it, his ears perking up as he lay on his fluffy overcharged storm cloud.
"Ah. there they are..."
The Drums of Liberation.
"I guess Kaido did his job... huh?" The Sky King smiled before slowly standing up, the drums on his back continued spinning.
"Time to end this charade then..."
__________________________________________________________________
Hope you liked the chapter!
Took a bit to write tbh, lack of inspiration again.
But yea, Nika is here :)) As was made quite obvious, it was Kaido's fate to awaken Nika
Story Shoutout : Hell Difficulty Tutorial
Discord, again: https://discord.gg/xQTK8caFEQ
If u want to support me look up VeganMaster on Patre_on, you'd also get 15 chapters in advance (or 10/5 depending on tier)
