Chapter 1038: Battle Against Kaido

Chapter 1038: Chapter 1038: Battle Against Kaido

BOOM!

The earth shuddered violently as the ground shattered instantly. Kaido’s massive, demon-like frame surged forward like a cannonball, his kanabo raised high as he swung down with brutal force at Zephyr and Crocodile, who stood directly in his path.

A terrifying, razor-sharp gale erupted upon them. Zephyr and Crocodile’s expressions tightened, and they scattered instinctively to either side.

CRASH—!

Kaido’s club cratered the earth, instantly carving out a pit over a dozen meters in diameter. The shockwave swept outward like a hurricane, the ground beneath him trembling with a sudden, violent intensity.

"Soru!"

"Black Arm... Blaster!"

Zephyr, having dodged dozens of meters away, let out a thunderous roar. His arms hardened with Armament Haki as he lunged forward at blinding speed, unleashing a punch aimed squarely at Kaido’s head.

"Old man, you should have died long ago!"

Kaido’s face twisted into a wild, feral grin. His hair danced in the wind as he let out a deafening roar, swinging his kanabo to the right. The weapon whistled through the air, colliding with Zephyr’s fist with a thunderous THUD.

The sheer force of the impact shook the very air. A visible shockwave rippled outward in a ring, followed by a violent gale that sent clouds of dust and debris swirling into the sky.

At that moment, streaks of yellow sand coalesced behind Kaido, rapidly forming the upper half of Crocodile’s body.

"Die! Desert Spada!"

Crocodile’s expression was savage. His left arm transformed into a giant, crescent-shaped sand blade, which he swung fiercely at Kaido’s back. With a soft shing, the blade sliced instantly through Kaido’s flesh.

"Nani?!"

Kaido immediately realized that the spot where the sand blade had pierced him had withered significantly, as if some invisible force had drained the moisture away, leaving nothing but skin and bone.

"How is this possible?!"

Watching as only a ring of withered marks remained on Kaido’s body, Crocodile stood stunned, unable to believe his eyes. He knew that this technique was practically foolproof. Once it landed, he could instantly suck the moisture out of any living being, leaving them a dehydrated mummy, helpless and collapsing.

"Interesting!"

Kaido looked at Crocodile with a surge of excitement. The withered area began to swell as if being inflated, and within a blink of an eye, it had returned to normal.

Seeing this, the muscles on Crocodile’s cheek twitched uncontrollably. A sense of dread washed over him. "This monster!"

"Eat this!"

Kaido swatted Zephyr aside and spun around, driving his fist toward Crocodile.

For a moment, Crocodile felt his breath hitch. Despite the gale-force winds whipping around them, it felt as though he were trapped in a vacuum, unable to draw air.

"Sand Serpent!"

Crocodile forced the words out, struggling against the pressure. His arms turned to sand, forming a dozen solid sand ropes that lashed out like snakes, swiftly binding Kaido’s limbs.

But Kaido’s strength was simply not something Crocodile could contain. In less than a second, the sand ropes shattered, dissolving into dust that rained to the ground.

However, that brief second gave Crocodile the opening he needed to activate his Logia powers, his body poofing into a cloud of sand.

BOOM—!

A split second later, Kaido’s fist tore through the space where Crocodile had been. The sheer wind pressure from the strike exploded outward, carving a semicircular trench over a hundred meters long into the earth and kicking up a massive wave of dust and debris.

SWISH—

Suddenly, an intense murderous intent flared. A blood-red, crescent-shaped slash flew through the air, exuding a terrifying sharpness.

"Oliver—!"

Kaido reacted instantly. With a roar, he swung his kanabo, crashing into the blood-red slash. With a massive BOOM, the ten-meter-long strike was shattered into dozens of fragments, creating a violent air turbulence that sent sand flying for hundreds of meters in every direction.

WHIRR—

Immediately following, a thick, searing column of thread descended from the sky, instantly binding the still-disoriented Kaido in a tight trap.

Break White!

"This is... Doflamingo!"

Kaido paused, glancing at the thick column of thread wrapped around his body before looking up. High above, he saw a flamboyant pink figure, with pink feathers drifting down through the air.

Under Kaido’s piercing gaze, Doflamingo felt a flicker of fear, but he reminded himself that since he had already made his move, there was no turning back.

Gritting his teeth, Doflamingo tightened his grip. The threads around Kaido’s body began to contract, digging into the giant’s muscles and slicing into his flesh, desperate to tear him apart.

"Joker, it seems the lesson I taught you wasn’t enough!" Kaido flashed a set of stark white teeth. He suddenly grabbed the thick column of threads bound around him and gave a violent tug, yanking Doflamingo straight out of the sky.

Doflamingo felt an irresistible, monstrous force pull him downward. As he stared into Kaido’s approaching face and the brutality gleaming in his eyes, the fear in his heart resurfaced.

Suddenly, Tesoro, controlling the Golden Giant, grabbed Doflamingo’s body with one hand, though the force of Kaido’s pull made the construct stumble and nearly collapse.

Fortunately, Doflamingo managed to disconnect the threads on his hands in time, causing Kaido to tilt backward, narrowly avoiding a fall.

"You bastard!"

Kaido was enraged. He leaped into the air, intent on transforming into his dragon form and unleashing a Boro Breath on Tesoro.

But at that critical moment, Zephyr took flight, stepping on the air with Geppo. He became a streak of black, crashing fiercely toward Kaido.

"Get out of the way!"

Kaido sensed the movement below, glanced down, and roared as he swung his giant kanabo downward with lethal intent.

DONG—!

In an instant, Zephyr threw a lightning-fast punch, colliding with Kaido’s massive weapon.

A ripple of distorted air swept outward, followed by a muffled, thunderous BOOM. A circular white shockwave exploded, sweeping across the sky and earth like a howling gale.

"Desert Spada!"

Below, Crocodile let out a roar. He slammed his palms into the sand-covered ground. The earth buckled, and three thick, hardened sand pillars erupted, shooting toward the sky and piercing Kaido in a formation like the character ’pin’ (品).

CLANG—!

In an instant, the three massive sand pillars slammed into Kaido’s obsidian-hard body, emitting a metallic ring and using their combined force to send him flying into the distance.

"Hahaha—die!"

Tesoro laughed maniacally in his excitement. Controlling the towering Golden Giant, he unleashed a punch at Kaido, who was still soaring through the air.

"Gon Inferno!"