"Hey, Brother Kai, is that the legendary Golden Lion Grandpa—the one with the ship's wheel stuck in his head, looking like a ruffled rooster? He looks hilarious!"
Up above, Bonney's high, clear laughter rang out across the clouds.
"Bonney, it isn't polite to laugh at someone's appearance like that," came a patient, steady voice from nearby.
"Okay, Daddy."
Their banter cut through the tension on the island below. Golden Lion's goofy grin vanished, replaced by sharp shock and then raw anger as he looked up, spotting a massive pirate ship floating effortlessly in the sky, held aloft by swirling, flaming clouds.
"Zanpa!"
Without warning, Golden Lion's heel swept out, sending a gigantic golden slash tearing through the air, straight for Rayquaza's hull.
Typical pirate manners—attack first, talk later.
Kai, standing on the deck, sighed and shook his head.
In a single blink, his figure vanished, suddenly reappearing directly in the path of the slash.
Crack!
The titanic arc of energy smashed into his chest. Yet instead of cutting flesh and steel, it simply burst apart like cheap glass, unable to even make Kai step back.
"How is this possible?! Captain's slash—"
"No way... it's useless?!"
Indigo and Scarlet, the scientist and the pink-suited gorilla, gaped from below, struck dumb by the sight.
Kai simply brushed invisible dust from his shirt, as if the attack had never happened.
"Golden Lion, has your strength really fallen this far?" He shook his head in disappointment.
That move didn't even use Haki. If Golden Lion couldn't manage that much, this battle would be a waste of time. Kai's plan to push himself toward Devil Fruit awakening wasn't looking promising.
Golden Lion's wild mane bristled in anger. The cocky youth's tone was grinding away his last nerve.
"You brat! How dare you look down on me!"
The brief pride he had felt moments before in his monstrous new beast was drowned by a furious roar.
Kai floated gently down to the ground in front of him, hands loose and at his sides, posture utterly relaxed.
It was obvious from the first exchange: Golden Lion was a shadow of his prime, his crew scattered or defeated, and this whole fight looked to be almost unfair.
"Golden Lion, enough stalling. Return what you stole from Wano," Kai called, voice light with mock patience. "Stealing in the dark is a poor look for a so-called legend."
Kai drew out the last word, letting it twist like a knife.
Golden Lion's laughter crackled out, sharp as thunder. "Jihahahaha! You think pirating's a children's game, boy? You want your island back, you'll have to take it yourself!"
As his golden mane whipped in the wind, he flared his faded but still overwhelming presence—his aura billowing outward. But when he lashed his will at Kai, the effect was... nothing.
"Tsk," Kai said, almost bored as Conqueror's Haki clashed soundlessly against his own. "Even your Haki's rusted? At this rate, you'll be lucky to scare off rookies on the first half of the Grand Line."
Beneath Kai's composure, Golden Lion stilled. His Haki, once feared across the seas, barely ruffled a hair. On some level, he felt old.
"Listen, Golden Lion." Kai met his eyes. "Why don't you just cooperate? Hand Rusukaina Island back, and for old times' sake—Kaido-san and all—I'll let this go."
The politeness stung like acid.
Golden Lion's pride flared. He wasn't about to take charity from some brat.
"This is MY territory!" he bellowed.
With thunderous speed, he spun, firing a rapid barrage of blade-shaped slashes from his twin prosthetic sword-legs.
"Lion: Thousand Slice Valley!"
A roaring web of gold energy tore across the battlefield, threatening to shred the island itself.
Kai's eyes sharpened. "That's more like it."
Letting Armament Haki cloak his body, he simply stood tall, refusing to budge as the slashes fell.
Boom! Boom! Boom! The ground shook as wave after wave of attacks forced up rock, dust, and flying debris, burying Kai's form beneath a mountain of destruction.
"Did... it work?" Indigo whispered, peering through the settling haze.
But the law of battle dictates: if there's smoke, they're not hurt.
Kai's voice rang out, a little impatient, as his silhouette appeared through the gloom, not a thread of his clothes singed.
"Seriously, Golden Lion, you can't even scratch me now. Why go on?"
Golden Lion's pupils shrank. This man—his defense was absurd; even Kaido would envy it. He remembered the broadcast of that war with Red-Hair—that fearsome creature then looked gentler than this.
"You two, run!"
As Golden Lion barked the order, Indigo and Scarlet exchanged glances—and bolted. They knew better than to posture at a time like this.
Alone now, Golden Lion set his jaw, pressing his palms together and slamming them down.
"Lion Menace!"
The ground rippled like a storm-tossed sea. All around, monumental earth-lion constructs exploded from the bedrock and raced for Kai, jaws gaping, claws poised to rake the sky.
Kai grinned wryly. "Now we're having fun."
He watched the mountainous earth lions, a spark of old battle hunger in his gaze.
"Cute trick. But you can't win by stacking dirt. In the end, Haki is supreme—that's the reality you can't escape."
"Dragon Pulse!"
Kai roared, energy swelling deep in his chest, before he unleashed it in a vibrant, destructive wave.
The beam ripped through every earthen beast, disintegrating lions of stone into flying dust and rubble.
Golden Lion's jaw clenched in frustration.
Enough with the soil, then.
He gestured toward a distant floating island, snow swirling in a perpetual blizzard. The air stilled; the snow and ice stopped in place. Then, like sculptor's clay, it all gathered, whirling skyward into a vast, gleaming ice lion.
The monster dove with silent fury for Kai.
"Flamethrower!" Kai called, releasing a torrent of searing fire. The flame met the cold with a roar, clouds of steam erupting and shrouding the world in boiling mist and frost.
With the ice beast gone, Golden Lion never slowed. He scowled and called for more power.
A whole island of pure ocean boiled violently. From it surged huge watery lions, feral and foaming, a tidal wave of claws and fangs.
Any common Devil Fruit user would have dropped dead right there.
"Useless," Kai declared, bored. He spat a ghostly blue ray—"Ice Beam"—that locked the water mid-pounce. The sea lions turned to glassy sculptures, sunlight glistening on frozen waves.
Golden Lion only glared, launching the frozen lions skyward as fast as he froze more in their place.
"I said... useless!"
With a glare, Kai released a pulse of Conqueror's Haki that thundered through the skies. The whole world seemed to bow—the ice lions shattered en masse, falling in a hail of shards.
Even Golden Lion winced. Kai's Haki was on a level with the Four Emperors.
Kai dusted off his hands and gazed at Golden Lion, respect at last in his eyes.
"Controlling seawater like that—your Devil Fruit is truly something special. If not for that old wound, I'd have enjoyed a real fight today."
"Don't flatter yourself!" Golden Lion raged, his pride stinging. All his attacks thrown at him, and the bastard didn't have a scratch.
He lunged, his sword-legs wrapped in swirling black Haki, intent on a true duel.
Finally. Kai's eyes burned with genuine anticipation.
He leaped skyward, his body expanding and twisting as he shifted into a Dragonoid form—scales shimmering, claws sheathed in Armament Haki.
Steel clashed against scale and Haki, bursts of savage energy splitting the ground. At last, they fought—two legends of land and sky locked in combat, the world itself trembling at the power unleashed.