Luffy felt as if the entire island was pressed against him. He had tried lifting the weight of a mountain before, but this was a dozen times more than that.
Even though he was quick enough to cover himself with Armament Haki, it wasn't enough. Kaido's mace broke his armament and struck his skin.
Boom!
His body flew down like a cannonball, creating a crater that was the size of a mountain. Because his body was rubber, he didn't suffer permanent damage.
But he did suffer a lot of internal injuries, not to mention a broken face.
"Cough! Cough!"
Luffy was coughing up blood. He was barely able to keep himself awake after that attack.
It was simply because Liam wasn't in any condition to fight Kaido.
So, he must keep Kaido busy until Liam recovers.
He gritted his teeth and stood up. As he did so, his instinct flared up. He didn't even need to utilize his Observation Haki to know the danger was coming.
He immediately released his Observation Haki to sense the danger and jump to the side.
Bang!
As he jumped away, Kaido landed on the ground. He was originally going to step on Luffy, but he missed the target.
Of course, he didn't care. He smirked and put the mace on his shoulder.
"Mugiwara! You are strong, but I am tired of playing this game." Kaido spoke.
"I expected this. Cough! Cough!"
Luffy muttered.
"Huh?" Kaido raised his eyebrows in confusion.
"Liam said you and the other Emperors are still too strong for us. Even the Admirals were stronger than us. But, we have been improving, Kaido."
"They might be stronger than us, but we are now equal. You might be stronger than us, but we will soon be equal."
Luffy spoke with a strong determination. Despite knowing his words would anger Kaido, he didn't care. He had a level of confidence that a strong man should've.
"Wororororo!"
Kaido started laughing. He almost teared up while he laughed.
"I miss Sake. I want some Sake. Unfortunately, I didn't bring any. I'm sad. I don't want to let you live, but I also don't want to kill you right now."
"Worororo! I've decided. I am going to take you with me and imprison you, break, and slowly make you my soldier, my crew."
Luffy immediately shook his hand and said.
"Dream on! Neither I nor my crew will join you. But Kaido, what makes you so sure you can capture us?"
Luffy's eyes narrowed as a strong Conqueror Haki came out of him. This Conqueror Haki rubbed against Kaido until Kaido released his own.
"And, what makes you so sure you can win against me?"
Luffy slowly smiled. He raised his hand, clenched his fist, and said.
"My Vice-Captain."
"Ohhhh….. Then, where is he? Look! He can't even move. If I attack him, he doesn't even have the power to fight back. So, how can he help you win?"
Luffy filled air into his muscles and entered Gear Fourth. He bounced a few times before he said.
"You don't understand, Kaido. He will make sure our victory, but I will be the one to defeat you."
[Gear Fourth- Bound Man]
Whoosh!
He tapped on the ground and gained enormous momentum to propel himself forward at an extraordinary speed.
Kaido instantly saw his action through Observation Haki and swung his mace forward.
Bang!
Luffy's hand and his mace collided. This time, they didn't create a vacuum in the middle, but they still created a powerful Conqueror clash.
Several black lightning bolts emerged around their weapons and reached the crater underneath.
"You can not win against me, Mugiwara."
Kaido waved his left hand, and a large amount of wind gathered near him. With a fling of his tail, he created several large wind slashes.
Luffy knew he couldn't face them head-on, so he instantly used Shave on top of his fourth Gear and disappeared.
The next moment, he appeared several hundred meters in the air.
'Tch! I can't use powerful moves. I need to give Liam enough time to recover. Liam is right. Kaido is still not using his full power.'
'Without awakening my devil fruit, the only way I can defeat him is if I use that move, but if it can't defeat him, then neither Liam nor I would be in the condition to fight him.'
'So, for now, let's just distract him.'
Luffy rushed downward and tried to kick Kaido with a sneak attack, but Kaido was very good at Observation Haki.
He instantly sensed Luffy and fought back. Then, they got engaged in a straight-up fist-to-fist battle.
In Kaido's case, he was using Mace. Because he was using mace, the injuries he could inflict on Luffy were very minimal.
Unlike Liam, Luffy wasn't afraid of blunt attacks, and they couldn't hurt him either.
So, he was fighting Kaido on equal terms. But just within five minutes, he instantly came out of Gear Fourth.
He could certainly go on for more than ten minutes with Gear Fourth, but he knew he needed to preserve his Haki.
He started fighting Kaido in his normal form.
But as time passed, his control over his Haki also grew. With this battle, his Haki amount also began to rise.
From not being able to use Fourth Gear twice in ten minutes, he went to using Fourth Gear five times within thirty minutes.
This was also because he was constantly going in and out of Gear Fourth. But it was also due to a massive boost in his Haki.
He realized why this was the case.
Before this, the only tough opponent he fought was Kizaru. But against Kizaru, he would need to rely more on his Observation Haki and didn't have Advanced Conqueror.
So, he was very passive in that battle during the first half hour.
But as time progressed and as he learned Advanced Conqueror, he managed to fight Kizaru in his normal form.
That's also because Kizaru wasn't using his full strength.
But with Kaido, he didn't need to be so cautious. He could completely read Kaido's mood.
Unless he truly wanted to finish this battle instantly, Luffy could simply rely on his body to tank Kaido's attack and reserve his Haki.
But as time passed, Kaido began to realize the situation, and this realization made him angry.
"Mugiwara! You're dead."
Kaido roared and instantly rushed toward Luffy. The increase in his speed made Luffy alert as he quickly utilized his Observation Haki to its maximum.
He saw several large-scale whirlwinds coming towards him from all directions. Seeing this, he immediately entered Gear Fourth and flew towards the sky.
"Where are you going, Mugiwara?"
Kaido roared and released several large wind blades from his mouth. These wind blades towards Luffy, but Luffy was able to dodge all of them.
Kaido soon realized that Luffy wasn't running away.
No!
He was going into the clouds so that he could prepare his attack.
Kaido's Observation Haki fired up instantly. He saw hands, lots and lots of hands coming his way.
Instantly, he understood the situation and turned it into his Dragon Form. He spun and released those whirlwinds towards Luffy.
But Luffy was already prepared.
Bang!
A large lightning bolt fell from those clouds. It didn't hurt him, but it did reveal his shadow.
It was like a god standing above the world with a thousand arms.
Kaido didn't know whether they were an illusion or real, but he knew Luffy's attack was coming.
[Gomu-Gomu No]
[Thousand Arms Cannon]
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Dozens and dozens of fists struck the whirlwinds, blowing them into pieces. Wind blew and dust scattered, but those fists didn't stop.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
[Kundali Dragon Swarm]
Kaido tried his best to fight back with his attack. His hands moved, leaving only a few afterimages behind as his mace struck Luffy's hands.
Just like his fists, Luffy's hands also left images behind.
Whether it was Kaido or Luffy, they were only leaving behind images, but Luffy was seriously hurting Kaido.
This was the advantage of his attack. Because he was moving his hands extremely fast, only his hands would be injured upon impact.
But he could prevent it by applying Armament Haki on his hand. But since he was punching at supersonic speed, every punch carried an extremely powerful force.
Even Kaido's mace wasn't able to handle it.
As time passed, Kaido immediately fell into a disadvantage. He couldn't even move his mace, but his body was bombarded by punches.
There was some good news. Because of the extreme consumption of Haki in his move, Luffy wasn't using the Advanced Conqueror.
So his attack was barely able to injure Kaido, and it was only thanks to Advanced Armament piercing his skin.
Luffy's punches ended, leaving Kaido beaten and bruised, and Kaido on the ground.
But there was not a single trace of fear or anger in his eyes. Instead, he raised his towards the clouds and laughed.
"Worororo! This is it, Mugiwara. This is the fight I want."
"Let's continue!"