Pfft—!
External release was one of the highest levels of application of Armament Haki.
In the original story, the method the three Admirals used to block Whitebeard's shockwave, which had spread from the square to the execution platform, was the external release of Armament Haki.
The technique of external release was actually very simple.
It was to transform Armament Haki into a shockwave to attack the enemy, or to form an air wall to block the enemy's attack.
Compared to Armament Haki hardening, external release was actually more in line with the title of Armament Haki's "invisible armor."
If a super-powerhouse were to use external release, then the attacks of Supernovas and the monsters of the New World would have a hard time even touching the super-powerhouse's body.
Facing the Third Raikage's "strongest spear," Kaido had given it the greatest importance. Not only had he used his dragon-human form, but he had also used the highest level of application of Armament Haki.
What was surprising was that the invisible armor formed by the external release of Kaido's Armament Haki was as fragile as a thin piece of paper in front of the Third Raikage's "strongest spear."
After a stalemate of only a few seconds, just as the energy storm was forming, and before it could even spread out, the sound of cloth tearing and a sharp weapon entering a body came from Kaido's foot.
After the Third Raikage had torn apart Kaido's invisible armor, the Hell Stab, at its maximum power, like an indestructible sharp blade, directly pierced into Kaido's foot, which had transformed into his dragon-human form and had its defensive power increased to a certain extent.
A long-forgotten pain immediately came from his foot.
The "World's Strongest Creature," whose monstrous body even Fourth Gear Luffy, who could instantly defeat a second-tier Warlord like Doflamingo, could not break, had had his defense broken from the outside by a ninja who did not know the internal destruction of Armament Haki.
Just like... Kozuki Oden back then!
"I'm getting more and more interested in you!"
In response, Kaido was not angry but pleased.
Looking at the Third Raikage, whose whole body was shining with a dark blue electric light, Kaido looked at him as if he were a treasure.
In his mind, he couldn't help but imagine a scene of his whole body shining with a dark blue electric current, and then breaking the defense of Charlotte Linlin, and even Karl's Body of Steel.
"Thunder Bagua!"
As a reward for the Third Raikage breaking his defense head-on, Kaido used his full power mode.
The spiked club in his hand was once again wreathed in red lightning, but it carried a terrifying aura completely different from the previous two moves, and he swung it down at the Third Raikage, whose pupils had contracted.
Looking at the enlarging spiked club in his eyes, even the Third Raikage, whose sensory ability was not strong, also felt a fatal threat from this move.
Without any hesitation, the Third Raikage's two-meter-plus body quickly transformed into a dark blue electric light and disappeared with the Lightning Release Body Flicker Technique.
Boom—!
Almost the second after the Third Raikage disappeared, the ground in a radius of several hundred meters, with the place where he had disappeared as the center, was instantly covered in cracks.
A deafening sound, along with a violent airwave, submerged the Third Raikage, who had appeared a few dozen meters away.
If one looked closely, one would find that Kaido's spiked club had not touched the ground at all.
That's right...
Kaido's Thunder Bagua was wreathed in Conqueror's Haki, an attack that had been sublimated to an otherworldly level.
As the "World's Strongest Creature" of two worlds, of the current era, both the Third Raikage and Kaido could break each other's defense.
The Third Raikage's method of breaking Kaido's defense was the Hell Stab: One-Fingered Nukite at its maximum size just now.
The penetrating power of this move was far greater than the sharpness of an S-rank Wind Release nature transformation.
Even Kaido's external release of Armament Haki and the defense of his dragon-human form were as fragile as a thin piece of paper in front of this move.
It was just that, unless this move hit a vital spot, for Kaido, a Mythical Zoan user whose healing ability was more terrifying than his blood loss, it was just a drizzle of an attack.
There were many ways for Kaido to break the Third Raikage's defense.
The internal destruction of Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki Infusion. The Third Raikage, who was invulnerable to blades and spears and could ignore the sharpness of an S-rank Wind Release nature transformation and the explosion of a Tailed Beast Bomb, would be seriously injured if he took a blow from Kaido head-on.
No matter how strong his physique was, his insides were as fragile as anyone else's.
In the end, the Third Raikage's overall strength was far inferior to Kaido's.
If an ordinary Kage corresponded to an ordinary first mate of an emperor, then the pinnacle of the Kage, like the Third Raikage and Ōnoki, corresponded to a first mate of an emperor like Charlotte Katakuri and Marco.
They could fight against an Admiral or a pirate emperor for a period of time, but they could absolutely not defeat a Four Emperor.
Only a super Kage-level powerhouse, whose overall strength could completely dominate the Five Kage, and who symbolized an all-round ninja in this world, Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha, were opponents of the pirate emperors, who were also at the pinnacle of mind, technique, and body in the pirate world.
It was for this reason...
That Kaido admired the Third Raikage so much, because he saw the Third Raikage as a second King the Conflagration.
As long as he could gain the allegiance of the Third Raikage, or... as long as he occupied Kumogakure, then not only would his strength break through its limits, but the Beasts Pirates would also gain a new first mate of an emperor.
Just like Charlotte Linlin, who cherished her possessions (Kirigakure) very much and was reluctant to kill Karatachi Yagura, Kaido also would not kill the Third Raikage.
At the same time, he personally made a move to let this future member witness the invincible strength of his future captain.
As long as he defeated the Third Raikage, then Kumogakure would be an insignificant small force.
This was Kaido's thought.
Little did he know...
Kumogakure not only had a Chakra Cannon that was no less than the three Ancient Weapons.
At the same time, when he sent out King the Conflagration to investigate intelligence and use his Observation Haki to sense the combat power of Kumogakure, the Third Raikage had already gone to Iwagakure and had formed a ninja alliance with the remaining three great ninja villages to jointly resist these foreign enemies from another world.
In this ninja alliance, there was a God of Shinobi with an immortal body and an overall combat power in no way inferior to a pirate emperor.
Swish—
Almost at the moment the airwave dissipated, two figures appeared out of thin air on this battlefield.
The arrivals were the Konoha reinforcements, whose speed was faster than the ninja troops of Kumogakure.
One was the "Yellow Flash," Minato Namikaze, who was the second to learn the Flying Thunder God Technique after Tobirama Senju.
The other was the "God of Shinobi," Hashirama Senju, whose whole body was covered in cracks and whose pupils were different from an ordinary person's.