"Kaido, I am your opponent next."
Luffy roared and entered Gear Second. In this gear, his speed and strength were increased several times, making him almost invisible to the naked eye.
Before Kaido could even react, Luffy was already in front of him.
Of course, Luffy's shouting had already made it impossible to sneak an attack.
Kaido was well prepared. By covering his body with Armament Haki, he decided to tank the attack.
[Gomu-Gomu No]
[Jet Stamp]
Luffy's leg had reached very high into the sky. When Kaido was preparing for a punch, Luffy's feet struck him and slammed him to the ground.
A smirk appeared on Luffy's face as he giggled.
"Shishishi!"
Before Kaido could react, Luffy caught his ankles and entered Gear Third. Unlike before, he didn't need to pump air into his body as he could control his breathing extremely well.
So, as his normal hands turned into hands of giants, he picked up Kaido like a carpet and started slamming him on the ground, left and right.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Of course, this wasn't everything he was doing. Luffy was actively using Advanced Armament Haki to destroy Kaido's Armament Haki.
"Roar, Mugiwara!"
Kaido screamed in anger as he changed into his Dragon Form, making it easier for him to slip away.
"Hahahaha! You are so fun to play with, Kaido."
Luffy laughed and entered Gear Fourth. Just as Kaido went to the sky, Luffy chased after him.
Right now, Kaido was neither able to use his Observation Haki nor did he have any momentum to fight back.
This was a perfect moment for Luffy to land as many blows as he could on Kaido.
Luffy approached Kaido from behind with a playful mentality. His right fist turned into a fist of a giant as he caught Kaido's tail and started spinning him.
Of course, this was a Kaido.
How could he let someone spin him like a toy?
He was the Beast. And, with a massive roar, he released a Hot Breath at Luffy, who tanked it on the spot.
It caused some burn marks on his body, but that was all. For Luffy, as long as he decided to tank it, he could tank it.
But this attack did piss him off.
Luffy put a bit more power into his right hand and started swinging Kaido even more violently.
Kaido's head smashed the ground several times before he returned to his human form.
His mind was so confused for a moment that he didn't even know how to react. Most of these attacks didn't hurt, but they did cause him to lose face.
After all, he was toyed with by a seventeen-year-old kid.
How could someone like him accept this?
But before he could even think of something, Luffy appeared in front of him. His face showed a sinister smile.
Luffy never had a sinister smile, but when dark clouds overshadowed it, it was hard to make it look nice.
At this moment, Luffy's right fist turned into a blazing core of high-temperature flames. These flames were so hot that they reminded Kaido of Luffy's previous attack.
But they were different. They weren't as powerful as before, but they had something in them, something even deadlier.
Those flames started spitting out black lightning, and the more they released, the darker the flames got.
[Gomu Gomu No]
[Red Dwarf]
In an instant, Kaido's entire body turned dark. It was his Armament Haki. It was so massive that even while attacking, Luffy was shocked.
When Luffy and others drank the potions that Chopper made, their bodies went through a certain process where all of their potential was squeezed out.
But it wasn't like using their talent. It was rather the experiences, fighting strength, body, and mind, all of them coming together to help a person go through a tedious training regimen.
So, every single ounce of improvement that they could've had but didn't because of the lack of knowledge and training methods was fully explored and enhanced.
That allowed them to increase their physical strength and Haki exponentially.
For Luffy, that alone was worth more than a year of non-stop Haki training.
But it was just a year.
One Year!
Nothing more. So when he saw the ridiculous amount of Haki Kaido was generating, he was stunned.
He realized just how big the gap between them truly is. Even with all of his talent and training, he couldn't get as strong as them without truly spending enough time.
Despite this realization, Luffy didn't stop. His fist was like a gigantic sun under dark clouds.
The red light was intense and also blinding. When his fist moved forward, Kaido felt heat through his skin even though he covered himself with Haki.
Bang!
Although Kaido did his best to defend himself, he was bombarded by Luffy's fist. It smashed through his Haki, reaching his hard scales, and even melted them.
But two different collisions had already consumed most of his strength, weakening the power behind his attack.
Boom!
But the attack wasn't done. The next moment, Luffy returned to his normal state and entered Gear Second before disappearing in a flash.
What followed was a massive explosion, an explosion so big that it brightened the sky and sent flames in all directions.
And in the middle of that explosion was none other than Kaido. He didn't understand what happened or how Luffy's flames caused an explosion.
But this explosion wasn't normal. Only then did Kaido understand the situation.
'Conqueror Haki and Armament Haki. He used Conqueror Haki to enhance his Armament Haki, but instead of attacking, he used it to contain the flames inside his fist.'
'Because of an insane build-up in pressure, the moment he released it, all of that caught a spark from flames outside and turned into an explosion. If it wasn't Queen, I wouldn't even know how that works.'
'But this doesn't make sense. That brat is an idiot. If this attack came from his vice-captain, I would understand, but him? How?'
Despite being in the middle of an explosion, Kaido wasn't worried. He had trained enough to contain himself within Magma.
How could such an explosion hurt him?
What he wanted to find was the brain that Luffy showed during this fight. Because from his men, he had some level of understanding about this crew.
But he didn't know much about it before. In his eyes, the only thing that mattered was strength.
It was only at this moment that he realized that he had not known his opponent well enough.
Suddenly, he realized something and thought.
'I understand. His previous attack. It had similar principles, but he used that move in his normal state and without using this new principle.'
'That move was deadly, it truly had decisive power to hurt me. But this attack isn't something that can truly hurt me. But now he won't be injured by his attack.'
'So, this guy can improve himself using his past battles.'
Suddenly, a big grin appeared on his face. He transformed back into his human-dragon form and walked out of the flames.
The burnt marks were slowly healing. There were some heavy bruises on his chest and face, but they were also healing.
The only wound that didn't heal was the one in the middle of his chest. It was also a wound that Liam caused him in this battle.
It was a wound that Liam traded for his injuries. It was also a wound that made Kaido realize how much of a threat this crew can be.
So now, he was done holding back.
He was done with getting beaten every single time.
Now, it was his turn to inflict some damage. It was his turn now.
Roar!
Kaido started generating wind. A fiercely blowing wind emerged all around the island. The sea started shaking once again.
The island trembled as the wind transformed into massive blades.
The next moment, Kaido dashed forward. His body moved like purple lightning as he appeared in front of Luffy with his mace.
The wind wrapped around his mace as he smashed forward.
Splash!
Luffy did see it coming, but before he could dodge, Kaido launched a powerful wind blade with his mace. Luffy couldn't dodge it and had his chest slashed by it.
"Damn! Sharp attacks are dangerous for me."
"Straw Hat, let me show you my power."
Kaido roared as he suddenly disappeared. In an instant, Luffy saw a terrible future.
Attacks were coming from all directions. All were slashes that were strong against him.
Luffy gritted his teeth and filled his body with a lot of air. He started rotting his lower body and even his stomach before launching himself into the air.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Those four wind slashes struck each other at the middle and dispersed. But the ground was split open horizontally and vertically.
"Mugiwara!"
Kaido roared as his body suddenly appeared above the clouds. Even Luffy didn't predict the future this far.
He could helplessly fly up as Kaido came down with his mace. Purple and black lightning covered that mace as it rammed into his head.
Bang!