"Boro Breath!"
A terrifying blast of dragon fire tore through the sky. The air warped and twisted from the heat, carrying an all-devouring force as it surged straight toward the Widofnir!
The Beasts Pirates watching below lit up with fanatic worship.
This was their Governor General, the world's strongest creature, Kaido of the Beasts!
Under this single strike, any enemy would be reduced to ash!
Yet on the Widofnir's deck, everything remained eerily calm.
Doflamingo pushed up his sunglasses and let out a low, weird laugh. "Fufufufu. What a gorgeous firework."
Crocodile blew out a smoke ring and snorted. "Brute force. That's all it is."
"Shishishishi! Kaido! Your breath attack is still as uninspired as ever!" Moria's eyes burned with revenge.
At the bow, Kael faced that incoming, world-ending blast and spoke blandly.
"Enel."
"Yahaha! Your will is the will of god! My kami!"
Deep within the ship, inside the power core chamber, Enel's manic laughter rang out.
He'd been dying to show the world the radiance of a god.
"Witness it, mortals! This is true divine punishment!"
Enel poured his lightning into the core without holding anything back. In an instant, every dark-gold pattern carved across the Widofnir blazed at full intensity.
Dozens of massive circular thruster ports along the sides and underside erupted with brilliant blue light as output surged to maximum.
"All batteries, fire!"
With Tom's shout from the control room, the Widofnir finally bared its fangs.
Armor panels slid open along both flanks, revealing dozens of gigantic laser cannons crackling with blue electricity.
Shoo shoo shoo shoo!
Dozens of thick blue beams launched at once, merging midair into an even greater torrent of power, slamming straight into Kaido's Boro Breath.
Boom!!!
Blue and crimson annihilation collided head-on, and for a heartbeat the world lost both sound and color.
A massive sphere of energy swelled crazily at the point of impact, then detonated.
A cataclysmic shockwave tore outward. The clouds above Onigashima were wiped clean.
The sea below was pressed down dozens of meters, forming a gigantic depression, then rebounded into a tsunami that surged a hundred meters high.
Smoke and steam swallowed the sky, blotting out all vision.
Kael stood at the prow, his coat snapping in the violent gale, his heart utterly unmoved.
Yeah, he's stronger than before. At least that spit has some bite now, he thought, amused. Good. If he were still weak, this would be boring.
Kael didn't intend to waste time.
"Alright, boys. Get to work."
He left those words behind, and his figure vanished from the deck.
The next second, he cut through the roiling smoke and appeared right before Kaido's azure dragon form.
"Let me see how hard those new scales really are!"
His voice whispered into Kaido's ear. Black-red Conqueror's Haki coiled around the black-and-gold naginata in his hands, Nidhogg, and the weapon let out an ominous hum.
"Divine Departure!"
No restraint. The opening move was Roger's signature technique.
A hundred-meter-long, black-red crescent slash ripped the smoke apart, carrying an overbearing will that could cleave anything, and came crashing down toward Kaido's dragon head.
"Wororororo! Now that's what I'm talking about!"
Kaido let out a dragon howl. Madness flashed in his huge eyes.
He didn't dodge. He charged straight into it.
Midair, his colossal dragon body rapidly shrank. Scales and muscle reformed, condensing into his half-man, half-dragon hybrid form.
This was the form he fought best in.
He gripped his kanabo, Hassaikai, in one hand, top-tier Conqueror's Haki pouring into it as well, and smashed downward into Kael's slash.
"Thunder Bagua!"
Clang!!!
The collision between naginata and kanabo unleashed a shockwave even more terrifying than the energy clash moments before.
Black-red lightning exploded between them. Even the space beneath their feet screeched like it was cracking under the weight of their power.
The battle between Kael and Kaido instantly escalated to a fever pitch.
Every clash of blade and club shook heaven and earth. Black-red Conqueror's lightning danced like raging serpents, spiderwebbing the skull dome at Onigashima's peak with fresh cracks.
And as their Conqueror's Haki collided again and again, announcing the opening of this war, the monsters on the Widofnir's deck could no longer hold back their bloodlust.
"Fufufufu! The banquet begins!"
Doflamingo spread his arms, his pink feather coat flaring wildly in the wind.
He was the first to leap from thousands of meters above, his body carving an eerie arc through the air, diving straight for the largest figure below.
Jack the Drought.
"A woolly mammoth that only knows brute force? Let me teach you what elegant murder looks like!"
"Shishishishi! Queen! I'm coming!"
Gecko Moria followed, his massive frame oddly nimble in midair. His shadow stretched out like a black venomous snake, lashing directly toward Queen the Plague.
Revenge blazed in his eyes. The humiliation from Ringo would be repaid a hundredfold today.
Crocodile, cigar between his teeth, became a storm of sand and drifted down.
His targets were the Tobiroppo.
The All-Stars could be left to Mihawk and Doflamingo. For Crocodile, dealing with the next tier of officers was more than enough.
"A bunch of brats in clown costumes think they're officers?" His voice dripped with contempt.
Gild Tesoro's golden suit gleamed under the sun. He didn't rush down.
Hands in his pockets, he let countless flecks of gold dust spill outward, spreading across the battlefield like golden snow.
"Money is the strongest power in this world. Today, you beasts will witness the glory of the golden empire!"
His targets were also the Tobiroppo.
He intended to turn them into gilded statues for his collection, in the most dazzling way possible.
Dracule Mihawk moved last.
He slowly opened those hawk-sharp eyes, glanced once at Kael and Kaido locked in combat, then swept his gaze over the companions already diving into battle.
Finally, his eyes settled on a winged figure with a sword at his waist, flames burning across his body.
King the Wildfire.
"A Lunarian?" Mihawk murmured. "Interesting."
No extra motion. He simply wrapped his hand around the hilt of Yoru.
His figure flickered, and he vanished from the deck.
The next second, he stood before King. A plain, unadorned slash descended straight down.
Clang!
Sparks exploded.
King drew his blade to block. The impact shoved him back dozens of meters, gouging two deep trenches into the ground.
He stared at the man in shock. No flashy powers. No tricks.
Just pure swordsmanship, and it carried terrifying strength.
"You… are Hawk-Eye Mihawk." King's voice turned heavy.
"I am." Mihawk's answer was flat. "And Yoru hasn't tasted Lunarian blood yet."
Elsewhere, Doflamingo had already met Jack head-on.
"Elephant Pierce!"
Jack swung his twin scythe-like weapons like a mad mammoth, every strike wide and savage, dripping with primal destruction.
Doflamingo stayed relaxed, stepping across a web of strings in the air, dodging with agile ease. Now and then, he snapped out razor-sharp Overheat whips, carving bloody lines into Jack's massive body.
"Fufufufu! Too slow. Too clumsy. Trash like you isn't even fit to carry Kael's shoes!" Doflamingo's laughter rang with ridicule.
Moria's fight with Queen, meanwhile, looked more like a ridiculous comedy.
"Muhahaha! You bastard! You've got the nerve to show your face again!"
Queen spammed his motor-mouth insults like a machine gun while mechanical arms and laser cannons unfolded from his body in bizarre configurations.
"Shishishishi! Queen! Your body's design is interesting!" Moria cackled back, hacking with his blade while his shadow weapon, Brick Bat Shadow, constantly stabbed at Queen's blind spots. "Once you're my zombie, you'll be my finest masterpiece!"
They traded blows in a roar of explosions and laughter, the noise rising and falling without end.
Crocodile and Tesoro tore through the Tobiroppo like wolves in a herd.
Ulti and Page One charged, known for their speed.
Crocodile only lifted a hand.
"Sandstorm."
A wall of sand swallowed them whole, stealing their sight.
"Ground Secco."
The sand became a gigantic hand that clenched around them. The terrifying dehydration kicked in instantly, and Ulti and Page One felt the moisture drain from their bodies as weakness hollowed them out.
On the other side, Drake and Sasaki tried to push in.
Tesoro merely snapped his fingers.
"Golden Fountain."
Liquid gold erupted from the ground like a geyser, engulfing them, then hardened in an instant, leaving two lifelike golden statues behind.
As for Who's-Who and Black Maria, they didn't even get close.
Tesoro's gold bullets pierced through their hands and feet, pinning them to the ground like specimens.
That was the gap in strength.
Above, Enel piloted the Widofnir like a god surveying his domain.
"Yahaha! Ants, repent before your god!"
Lasers rained down from the sky, like judgment itself, precisely erasing the remaining Beasts Pirates who still dared to resist.
Every shot came with screams and scorched earth.
Onigashima had become a purgatory of blood and fire.
Kael and Kaido's battle raged at the highest point in the sky, blade and club crashing like endless thunder.
Mihawk and King dueled atop the skull dome, every strike erupting with shocking might.
Doflamingo, Moria, Crocodile, Tesoro.
They dominated the mid-level battlefield, crushing the Beasts Pirates' proud All-Stars and Tobiroppo as if they were toys.
And at the lowest layer, Enel executed a one-sided slaughter, backed by overwhelming technology and godlike power.
The World Tree Pirates had arrived.
And they announced it to the entire world in the most brutal way possible.