The smoke from Queen's explosive exit had barely cleared before the air pressure in the courtyard plummeted once more.
King the Conflagration did not hesitate. He did not waste time screaming in outrage or checking on his fallen comrade. He was a survivor of a wiped-out race, a lunarian raised in the crucible of Kaido's brutal campaigns, and his combat instincts were completely absolute.
The roaring fire on King's back abruptly extinguished itself.
Instantly, his physical speed shifted into a realm that completely bypassed regular human sight. He became a transparent silhouette, cutting through the heavy smoke like a phantom. His large, serrated katana was drawn back, coated in a thick, jet-black layer of Armament Haki that pulled the surrounding shadows into its edge.
SHING!
He materialized directly above Giovanni's blind spot, bringing the blade down in a lethal, silent executioner's arc meant to sever the youth's neck.
"Too slow," Giovanni muttered.
Without even turning his head, Giovanni pivoted on his right heel. Ace flashed upward in a clean, elegant parry.
CRACK!
The collision of their blades produced a high-pitched ring that vibrated through the teeth of everyone standing in the courtyard. The ground beneath Giovanni's boots instantly cratered, spider-webbing outward for several yards, but his single right arm did not shake. The dark purple sparks of Advanced Conqueror's Haki hissed between the two metals, violently pushing back against King's immense downward leverage.
King's hidden eyes narrowed behind his leather mask. He immediately realized that physical weight alone would not break this Giovanni. With a sharp twist of his torso, King dragged his blade along Ace's guard, generating a shower of sparks, and executed a lightning-fast, mid-air spinning kick aimed straight at Giovanni's broken left shoulder.
Giovanni didn't attempt to block with his useless arm. He used a hyper-precise burst of Sky Walk to launch himself directly backward, his boots skimming the dirt as he created a safe distance.
King pursued him instantly, his body flickering across the yard in a series of jagged, high-speed shifts. His katana became a blur of horizontal and vertical slashes, each one throwing out razor-sharp flying vacuum waves that tore the ground to absolute ribbons.
Giovanni met the assault head-on. Despite using only his right hand to wield Roger's heavy cutlass, his swordsmanship was flawless. He parried every single incoming slash with minimal, calculated movements, his eyes tracking the trajectories before the steel even arrived. The sounds of their rapid clashing echoed through the burning estate like a rhythmic sequence of thunderclaps.
A few dozen yards away, the remaining spectators could only watch the high-tier duel in absolute, unadulterated awe.
Hanafuda stood frozen, his massive club trembling slightly in his grip as he watched one of the legendary All-Stars being systematically held at bay by a heavily injured, single-handed rookie.
Marco stood perfectly still beside Toki and Hiyori, his lazy eyes completely wide behind his glasses. His mind was racing, trying to process the sheer absurdity of the power scaling unfolding right in front of him.
'This is entirely insane, yoi,' Marco thought, a cold sweat breaking out across his forehead. 'Less than a month ago, he was just a troublesome, reckless brat. He was strong, sure, but he was nowhere near this level. To master the color of the Supreme King and refine it to this degree while dealing with a broken body... he hasn't just grown. He is a complete and utter monster.'
Toki clutched the weeping Hiyori tightly against her chest, her pale face illuminated by the dancing blue and orange flames. She looked up at Marco, her voice trembling with a mixture of profound gratitude and deep confusion.
"Marco-san..." Toki whispered, her eyes never leaving Giovanni's flickering form. "Who exactly is this person? Why... why did he come all this way across the sea, risking his very life to save us?"
Marco let out a soft, dry chuckle, shaking his head. "To be completely honest with you, Toki... if I had to guess, Giovanni most probably came to this country because he wanted to duel Oden. He's obsessed with fighting the strongest legends of this era." Marco's expression softened slightly as he watched Giovanni parry another one of King's brutal overhead strikes. "But when he realized what was happening here... he probably just decided to save you and Hiyori on a complete whim. That's just the kind of selfish, unpredictable pirate he is."
From the shadows of the western tree line, three familiar figures quietly emerged into the perimeter of the courtyard.
Diamond Jozu, Izou, and Vista had finally broken through the outer defenses of the Kuri region, their weapons drawn as they rushed to reinforce their first mate. But the moment they stepped into the clearing, they froze, their eyes completely locked onto the spectacular aerial display of swordsmanship.
Vista adjusted his top hat, his signature mustache twitching as a profound, respectful smile broke across his face. He watched the precise angle of Giovanni's parries, his own master-level understanding of the blade allowing him to see the hidden genius behind every single movement.
"Unbelievable," Vista murmured, his hand resting lightly on his dual sabers. "I fought Giovanni in a serious spar just a year ago on that isolated island. If we were to cross blades again right now... I am honestly not sure how it would go. In fact, I see myself losing to him more often than not."
Jozu crossed his massive, diamond-reinforced arms, his heavy brow furrowing. "And he is doing all of that with a single arm, Vista. His left side is completely incapacitated."
"His growth rate is terrifying," Izou added, his grip tightening on his flintlock pistols as he watched the purple lightning arc across the sky. "He is fighting a Lunarian calamity as if it's a regular training exercise."
Back in the center of the battlefield, the struggle was rapidly reaching its natural conclusion.
King was growing increasingly agitated. His high-speed movements were failing to break through Giovanni's observation haki, and the natural heat of his Lunarian heritage was being completely neutralized by the dense, protective barrier of Advanced Conqueror's Haki coating Giovanni's skin.
Deciding to end the stalemate, King accelerated backward into the sky, his massive black wings catching the rising thermal currents of the burning mansion. The fire on his back suddenly ignited with a roaring, violent fury, shaping itself into a massive, draconic serpent of white-hot magma.
"Imperial Flaming Wings!" King roared, thrusting his sword forward.
The massive construct of natural Lunarian fire descended from the heavens, screaming with absolute destructive energy as it aimed to cremate the entire southern district.
Giovanni stood his ground, his ragged breathing stilled as he drew Ace back into a classic, low-profile stance. He ignored the agonizing pain ripping through his broken ribs and his fractured left arm. He focused every single remaining drop of his spiritual essence into the tip of his cutlass.
The dark purple and crimson lightning around the blade didn't just crackle. It turned into a hyper-compressed, absolute line of pure, unadulterated sovereign power. The ambient sound of the burning courtyard vanished completely, swallowed by the vacuum of space warping around the steel.
"Divine Departure!" Giovanni shouted.
He unleashed a single, massive horizontal sweep.
The towering wave of compressed crimson energy erupted from Ace, cutting through the spatial fabric of the courtyard. The strike cleanly intersected King's imperial flame, splitting the massive magma serpent completely down the middle like a piece of silk.
King's eyes widened in absolute horror as the crimson wave maintained its terrifying velocity, slamming directly into his torso before he could even raise his sword to guard.
BOOOOOOM!!!
The explosive force of the Advanced Conqueror's Haki detonated against King's chest, shattering his reinforced leather armor and sending a massive spray of dark blood into the air. The All-Star was launched backward through the sky like a broken doll, crashing violently through the remaining stone walls of the outer estate before embedding himself deep into the solid bedrock of the distant cliffs, completely unconscious.
The silence that followed was absolute. The remaining smoke was entirely blown away by the kinetic residual energy of the strike.
Giovanni let out a long, ragged breath, the crimson aura around his body slowly fading back into his skin. He leaned heavily against the hilt of Ace, his right leg trembling slightly from the sheer physical exhaustion of back-to-back high-tier fights.
With a slow, deliberate pace, he dragged his feet across the dirt, walking down to the corner of the yard where Marco, Toki, and Hiyori were standing.
He stopped right in front of the blonde first mate, his golden eyes narrowing into an irritated glare.
"Hey, Marco," Giovanni rasped out, his voice dripping with pure exhaustion and annoyance. "Why the hell didn't you take Toki and Hiyori away while I was busy dealing with that leather-masked freak? You were just standing there like a decorative statue."
Marco blinked, his jaw dropping slightly as his brain finally caught up with the situation. He looked at the unconscious forms of King and Queen, then back at Giovanni, a look of genuine embarrassment crossing his face.
"Huh..." Marco muttered, scratching the back of his neck as a sheepish smile broke out. "Now that you mention it... why didn't I really? It completely slipped my mind, yoi. I guess I was just too busy watching you pull off miracles."
Giovanni let out a sharp, painful groan, rolling his eyes. "You are an absolute idiot."
Toki stepped forward, bypassing Marco completely. She bowed her head with timeless grace, her eyes shining with profound emotion. "Thank you, young warrior. You have saved my family from an absolute nightmare. But please... let me treat your wounds. Your left arm is severely broken, and you are bleeding heavily."
Giovanni shook his head slowly, looking down at his dangling left arm with a grimace. "Now is not the time for that, lady. We are still in the middle of a literal war zone."
He slowly crouched down, his knees popping from the strain, bringing himself to eye level with the young Hiyori. The small girl was still trembling, her tiny hands clutching her mother's silk robes as she stared at the bloody, terrifying pirate with wide, tear-filled eyes.
Giovanni's expression softened completely, the harsh, arrogant mask of a conqueror vanishing entirely. He reached out his right hand and gently patted her on the head, his fingers lightly stroking her green hair in a comforting, reassuring rhythm.
"Hey there, little princess," Giovanni murmured, his voice surprisingly gentle. "Don't cry anymore. The bad guys are gone. You're completely safe now."
'Wow, she really is incredibly cute right now,' Giovanni thought to himself, watching her tiny shoulders slowly stop shaking. 'It's almost a completely softer, innocent kind of beauty compared to the drop-dead gorgeous appearance she's going to have when she grows up. Looking at her like this... it makes you instinctively want to protect her at all costs.'
Hiyori sniffled, looking up at his warm smile, and slowly nodded her head, her tiny fingers reaching up to touch the golden hilt of his sword.
Suddenly, Giovanni's face turned incredibly pale. A violent spasm of pain ripped through his chest, causing him to stagger backward and drop to one knee, coughing up a small splatter of fresh blood onto the grass. He clamped his right hand over his chest, his breathing turning incredibly shallow.
'Damn it...' Giovanni thought, his teeth gritted as sweat poured down his neck. 'Using Advanced Conqueror's Haki against Kaido, and then immediately following it up with two more maximum-output strikes against the All-Stars... my stamina reserves are completely bottomed out. My body is hitting its absolute limit.'
"Giovanni!" Marco shouted, stepping forward to catch him.
"Stay back, Marco," Giovanni barked, hoisting himself back onto his feet with pure, unadulterated willpower. He looked at the first mate with absolute seriousness. "Listen to me. Take Toki, Hiyori, and the rest of the crew and get the hell away from this island right now. The ship needs to sail immediately—"
Before the words could fully leave his mouth, the sky above the Kuri region completely shattered.
ROOOOOOAR!!!
A thunderous, apocalyptic roar echoed from the upper atmosphere, so loud that it violently shook the very foundations of the island. The remaining clouds over Wano turned into a swirling, pitch-black vortex as an immense, suffocating shadow descended from the heavens.
A colossal, blue-scaled dragon, spanning hundreds of feet in length, tore through the storm clouds. His draconic eyes were burning with an absolute, unmitigated fury, and a fresh, bleeding cross-shaped scar was vividly glowing across his massive chest.
Kaido had arrived.
The massive dragon circled the burning estate, his voice booming like a sequence of tectonic shifts.
"Do you honestly think you can leave my country alive after what you did to me, brat?!" Kaido roared, his massive jaws opening as a volatile torrent of purple fire began to gather in his throat. "You are not getting away!"
---
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