Kaido was a Mythical Zoan user, and coupled with his innate monstrous qualities, he was exceptionally powerful.
But Sakazuki was also famous for his explosive power in the Marines. The moment these two collided, their Armament Haki clashed violently.
At the same time, magma spurted out. The aftershocks of power came in waves.
Under normal circumstances, the two would have been able to maintain a stalemate. But in this situation, Kaido didn't have the opportunity.
A flash of lightning burst from the ground and reached Kaido in the blink of an eye.
Then, Gion's figure emerged from the lightning. Konpira in her hand, wreathed in dazzling electricity, slashed across Kaido's arm!
With this strike, Gion seemed to have concentrated all the power of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit onto her blade. The high-temperature lightning brought with it a cutting attribute, first breaking through Kaido's protective Haki, then slicing fiercely into his dragon scales.
Although Kaido's dragon scales seemed to have strong resistance to lightning, they still couldn't completely block the blade.
With a crackling sound and a roar of electrical current, Konpira in Gion's hand directly cut into Kaido's arm. Due to the continuous emission of high-temperature thunder, Kaido's wound didn't even bleed. The blood was evaporated and burned clean the moment it appeared.
His wound was cauterized by the electric current.
Kaido hadn't expected Gion to recover so quickly after being struck by him. Feeling the pain, he instinctively loosened his grip.
Two sparks of magma flared in Sakazuki's eyes as he captured this moment.
"Hellhound!" Sakazuki roared. With one punch, he deflected the previously deadlocked spiked club. His arm filled with boiling magma. With Haki reinforcement, he punched Kaido directly in the chest.
Then, it looked as if Kaido's back had been pierced through. A violent eruption of magma suddenly burst from behind him, dissipating like a shockwave.
Sakazuki's wrist was completely embedded in Kaido's chest.
It was obvious that before, the four Marines had just been warming up with Kaido. When Kaido showed signs of wanting to escape, they'd gotten serious. At the same time, because Gion had been struck by Kaido, they were angry.
In the original story, Sakazuki's Hellhound had dealt a fatal blow to Newgate, destroying half his head.
In this world, it was also one of the top-tier offensive techniques.
Extremely lethal.
Kaido was hit by Sakazuki's devastating strike and cried out in pain. His ferocity was aroused. Conqueror's Haki suddenly burst forth, blocking Gion's follow-up attack. He opened his mouth, and Blast Breath mixed with violent wind sprayed directly at Sakazuki in front of him.
Although Sakazuki was extremely strong, he wasn't a true brute. There was no reason for him to stand there and tank Kaido's attack. The ground beneath his feet instantly turned to magma.
The next second, violent winds and burning breath struck, directly blasting him into countless magma fragments.
But it was all useless. Instead, Sakazuki's figure half-emerged from the ground and grabbed Kaido's ankle.
On the other side, Gion, after being forced back by Kaido, landed on both feet. She didn't even have time to wipe the blood from the corner of her mouth. She raised her hand and pulled, then swung. A long whip condensed from lightning directly wrapped around Kaido's other ankle.
She and Sakazuki stood on the left and right, temporarily controlling Kaido's movements.
To be honest, if Kaido were given three to five seconds, breaking free from this restraint wouldn't be a problem for a top-tier master.
But at this moment, where was the time for Kaido to show his abilities?!
Garp's burly figure had already broken through to Kaido's front.
His fist was wrapped with Armament Haki, but that Haki had already begun to flow. At the same time, Garp shouted, "Experience justice!"
The moment the words fell, he punched out.
Kaido's feet were trapped, but his arms weren't caught. There was a flash of shock and fury in his eyes. At the same time, he crossed his arms and blocked his head.
The next second, Garp's tremendously powerful punch struck his arms.
The arm that had just been slashed open by Gion was originally charred, with no blood flowing. But the moment Kaido took Garp's punch, the cauterized wound directly split open, and a stream of bright red blood shot into the air.
You could imagine how heavy Garp's power was.
The Haki wrapped around Kaido's arms was shattered by Garp's punch. Then, his iron fist smashed into the dragon scales, crushing and deforming them, with blood seeping from the cracks. Looking more closely, you could see that Kaido's arm muscles had partially collapsed...
"Open!" Garp roared again. With a twist of his wrist, the brutal force changed direction, pressing against Kaido's arms and bursting upward.
With this punch, Kaido's crossed arms were broken apart, leaving his front wide open.
On the other side, Finn also held Shindokutō, which exuded a dark aura, horizontally in front of him. He gripped the hilt with one hand and slowly brushed the bottom of the blade with the other.
Wherever his palm passed, Shindokutō became extremely dark. It wasn't Haki, but the power of the Press-Press Fruit condensed to the extreme.
The blade barely moved in mid-air, and the surrounding space faintly fractured. The shattered fragments were instantly devoured by the blade's inky black power.
When Finn's palm passed over the blade's tip, staining the entire sword black, he whispered, "Gravity Blade Secret Art: Absolute Void Slash!"
At that moment, Garp's punch broke through Kaido's defenses, leaving him wide open.
Without hesitation, Finn's eyes flashed with intensity. The gravity on his body suddenly disappeared completely. He took a step and appeared behind Garp at a speed that could almost be called teleportation. In his hand, he held Shindokutō, emanating a powerful gravitational aura, and brought it down.
Garp also felt the terrifying power coming from behind him. There was a hint of shock in his eyes. Just from the overflowing momentum of this power, he was certain that if this blade struck him, he might not be able to defend against it. If he couldn't defend, he'd definitely be seriously injured!
"What the hell has this kid developed?" Garp thought to himself. But he moved quickly, not daring to stand in front of Finn and obstruct him. He disappeared in a flash.
The moment Garp vanished, Finn's demon blade Shindokutō also descended!
There was also fear in Kaido's eyes. If Garp could feel the terrifying aura emanating from the dark gravity on Finn's blade, how could Kaido, as the target, not feel it?
But everything happened too fast. So fast that he had no way to resist. From Sakazuki and Gion locking his ankles, to Garp breaking his guard open, to Finn's blade falling, it had actually only taken a single moment.
In that instant, the four Marine masters launched a coordinated offensive, forcing Kaido into a position where he couldn't resist.
A flash of terror crossed his dragon eyes. Then Kaido gathered an extremely concentrated Haki in his chest, as if all the Haki in his body converged there, solely to block Finn's blade.
This was the only way he could attempt to resist!
However, there was no ripple in Finn's eyes. Shindokutō in his hand fell without apparent power. It seemed the speed of the slash wasn't even fast, giving people an almost casual feeling.
But it was precisely this seemingly casual and slow strike that, when Shindokutō's blade touched the Haki Kaido had forcibly condensed, encountered no obstruction at all.
That powerful, concentrated Haki dissipated immediately, then was swallowed by the dark gravitational energy of Shindokutō's blade.
"This is...!" Kaido was shocked.
"Gravitational Collapse," Finn said softly.
Then, Shindokutō passed through Kaido's Haki and touched his chest.
It was at this moment that Kaido felt extreme pain. It wasn't the sensation caused by a blade wound at all. On the contrary, the strange sword in Finn's hand seemed to be devouring and tearing his flesh and blood. The moment it made contact, it forcibly ripped open his tight, dense muscle tissue.
The blade fell, and it was visible to the naked eye that Finn had opened a massive, gaping wound on Kaido's chest. But strangely, no blood splashed out. It was all swallowed by the gravitational collapse on the blade.
It wasn't until the blade left the wound that a large amount of blood flowed out unrestrained.
When the tip of Shindokutō's blade left Kaido's abdomen, the entire wound seemed to come back to life. It was almost visible to the naked eye that Kaido's internal organs were exposed within the wound.
This blow had completely shattered the defense Kaido was so proud of!
At the moment the blade's tip left Kaido, powerful force burst forth, sending Kaido flying. The restraints from Sakazuki and Gion also dissipated at this moment.
Finn stood still. With a flourish, he swung Shindokutō downward. The intense gravity that had been attached to the blade also dissipated.
It wasn't until this moment that the terrifying aura enveloping everyone truly disappeared.
Sakazuki emerged from the magma beneath the ground and looked at Shindokutō in Finn's hand with some shock. "Strange power. There's nothing that blade couldn't cut through just now, right?"
"Hard to say, but severely damaging Kaido? That's easy, no problem at all. This technique of mine was originally prepared for Charlotte Linlin. I've only used it once before, on Whitebeard, but that guy is much stronger than Kaido. I didn't manage to hurt him..." Finn said with a smile.
In fact, after Finn had actually used this move on Kaido, he was basically certain this strike could directly kill Kaido, the so-called "immortal."
If it weren't for the major secrets surrounding Kaido and the situation with the World Government, with that strike just now, Finn could have easily slashed Kaido's neck and severed his body completely.
No matter how capable you are, Kaido, how could you survive after your head is chopped off?
If you could achieve that and grow a new head, then I, Finn, would acknowledge you. In terms of vitality, I'd be willing to call you, Kaido, the strongest!
"Big Mom?" Sakazuki murmured, then nodded. "In terms of defense alone, that woman is indeed stronger."
"I think in terms of overall strength, at least at this stage, that woman is stronger," Finn suddenly said.
He'd once had a fierce battle with Charlotte Linlin. Now, comparing it with Kaido, he didn't know if it was an illusion, but he always felt that Kaido's strength, at least at this current stage, was noticeably weaker than Charlotte Linlin's.
Could it be that it had been too easy for the four of them to fight Kaido, leading to a certain degree of misjudgment?
At the same time, Kaido also slowly stood up in the distance. Perhaps thanks to his Mythical Zoan type, Kaido was obviously an awakened Devil Fruit user.
Although the wound on his chest couldn't heal so quickly, the bleeding had stopped.
However, compared to before, Kaido's aura had become very weak. There was solemnity and a hint of helplessness in his eyes.
Damn it. There's no way I can win!
I couldn't fight when I was in perfect condition before. Now that I'm seriously injured, how can I possibly fight?