When Kaido's hands didn't feel the impact of a solid hit, he knew he was fucked.
Sure enough—
Splurt...
A wound tore across his chest, blood spraying like a waterfall.
Only his massive size and blood volume kept him going. This amount of bleeding would've put any normal person into shock and near death. But Kaido just rolled his eyes back before quickly steadying himself.
The wound on his body rapidly scabbed over, stopping the flow.
"So this is the legendary version answer—Mythical Zoan?"
Aus looked at the bloody gash that had dealt damage but wasn't critically wounding, casually flicking blood off his blade.
Seeing Kaido slashed by one strike, and Aus now pumped up with battle lust plastered across his face—
Big Mom wanted to explain, but Aus wouldn't listen at all. Helplessly facing Aus's assault, she had no choice but to join the fight.
At the battle's edge—
Everyone watching these three top-tier monsters was frozen solid.
The Big Mom Pirates who snapped back to reality—whether they could help or not—all wanted to do something. They couldn't just stand there watching.
Owen and the others were most desperate, clenching fists to charge forward.
"Sandstorm!!!"
A cold voice cut through. Before they could get close, a dust tornado swept toward them.
A woman with a world-weary face, coat draped over her shoulders and a scar across her features, stepped out.
Casually lighting a cigar, she stared at them like garbage.
"Hey!!! Crocodile! What the hell's your deal?!!"
"You trying to start a war with us?!!"
"You bastard..."
"Don't get too full of yourself!!!"
The crew who barely dodged the sandstorm all glared furiously at Crocodile. Finally Katakuri stepped forward.
His face was ice-cold as he tried to speak:
"This is all a misunderstanding..."
Before he could finish, a sand blade shot up from underground, stabbing at his gut.
But obviously...
"Hey, Mihawk, I don't need backup... This guy who's as good at Observation Haki as a certain asshole is mine."
Seeing Hawk Eyes silently gripping Yoru, about to jump in, Crocodile cut him off.
She was pissed right now—
Perfect time to beat the shit out of people with good Observation Haki.
Looking at Katakuri in front of her—completely unharmed, waist slowly reforming from mochi—Crocodile's expression was ugly.
That disgusting feeling again—
Totally predicted.
"Future Sight? How about this move..."
"Samsara: Erosion!!!"
Hearing this, Katakuri's eyes flashed red as cold sweat broke out.
Attack range this massive?
Next second, endless yellow sand replaced the fancy venue. A thousand-meter radius turned into desert.
Massive quicksand waves crashed down, impossible to dodge through mochi transformation.
A sand blade struck. Katakuri could only tank it with Armament Haki, trying to get in close combat with Crocodile.
But in this desert world, Crocodile clearly had home field advantage.
BANG—
Black fist met golden hook, separating instantly. Both fighters backed up several steps.
They were evenly matched.
Hard to say who was stronger, but at this rate, this 50-50 split meant Crocodile would be fighting for ages.
Besides Katakuri, the other Big Mom kids were all pretty weak.
Stussy and others led their people, "loyally" blocking them off.
Not for any other reason—they were too young right now.
Even future Sweet Commanders Smoothie and Cracker were just young adults and a teenager.
One was twenty-five, the other barely fifteen.
Around twenty years old, despite being the same age as Mihawk and crew, their potential wasn't even close.
If they really fought, current Mihawk beating them wouldn't be harder than Kuzan's invasion in canon—just instant kills.
Stussy alone, going all out, could handle them. Never mind with a bunch of underworld pros backing her up.
Mihawk looked around—no opponents left for him.
So he finally locked onto the main battlefield.
Big Mom seemed to be using a sword...
Right?
Hawk Eyes gripped his hilt, about to draw and fire off a slash.
But suddenly...
Whoosh—
His Observation Haki picked up something dropping from the clouds, just like Kaido before.
A weird black bird, diving from the clouds like a fighter jet. That unstoppable momentum made Mihawk tense up.
Something... was flying straight at him?
Whatever.
Cut first, ask questions later.
Suddenly sidestepping, Hawk Eyes two-handed his blade, slashing viciously at the incoming figure.
CLANG—
Screech screech screech!!!
Unlike the clean cut he expected, Mihawk—who always trusted his slashes and could easily slice through mountains—was genuinely surprised.
His blade hit that beak and got completely stuck.
Even with Armament Haki coating, this defense was seriously unexpected.
This kind of insane defensive power actually existed?
After the collision, the strange black bird quickly pulled back, its form shifting into a tall figure completely covered in black leather armor.
Not one patch of skin showing. Broad wings on its back, flames burning behind its head.
Of course, that wasn't what caught Mihawk's attention most.
What he cared about right now was—
The bastard had a sword.
"Beasts Pirates All-Star, King?"
Connecting this to Kaido showing up, Hawk Eyes wasn't surprised.
"'Black Emperor' Aus's right hand, 'Hawk Eyes' Dracule Mihawk. I've heard your name."
As second-in-commands of both crews, and both being the reliable type, Mihawk and King obviously knew of each other.
Neither was big on small talk. After confirming they were enemies—blades out, let's fucking go!
Mihawk's razor-sharp eyes locked onto sword-wielding King, battle hunger flaring up again.
It had been so damn long since he'd had such an intense duel with another swordsman.
One motion—a several-hundred-meter emerald slash shot skyward, carving through ground and buildings, heading straight for King.
"What the hell?!!!"
Too fast. King couldn't react, his body swept back by the sword energy, smashing through dozens of buildings before barely stopping.
Even though it still didn't really hurt King, it left him stunned for a moment...
CLANG—
Armament-wrapped Yoru struck King's body again through the rising dust, but still couldn't break through.
"Don't you get it yet? Just on a biological level..."
"There's no way you could beat me!!!"
"That so?"
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
Read up to (60+ ) advanced chapters on Patre\on
Visit us here: patreon.com/DarkGolds
Happy reading, everyone!