Chapter 15: Master Kaido

"That guy Kaido has gotten way too strong." Whitebeard watched the clashing side with a solemn expression.

"Fuffuffuffu, how very interesting." Doflamingo watched the situation unfold, feeling his scheming still had a chance: "Whitebeard, you of the old era should be stepping down."

Koby had already gone numb.

"I knew that person was amazing, but I didn't expect Mr. Luffy to already be able to fight one of the Four Emperors."

While everyone on the field was paying attention, Su Lin's points kept shooting up. Just as he had predicted, why bother showing his true face to act cool — having attention was enough.

King the Conflagration, who was also monitoring the battlefield, stared dumbfounded at the Kaido on the TV broadcast, then glanced at the real Kaido standing outside the room, drinking a little sake at the bow of the ship.

Then fury welled up inside him.

"Mr. Kaido!"

"Hm?" Kaido turned his head in confusion; it was rare to see King this panicked.

"Someone impersonating you has appeared at the Summit War!"

"What? What nerve!"

After hearing King's account, Kaido hurriedly looked at the TV, so enraged he transformed into a fish-dragon form.

"Queen, how far is this place from Marineford?"

"If we just sail there, taking the shortest route it'll be about three hours."

Yesterday he had planned to take Whitebeard's territory, but unexpectedly Red-Hair had to come sticking his nose in.

After the standoff, he had originally wanted to follow Shanks and have another bout with him, but he realized that guy's target seemed to be Marineford, so he had just turned around and left.

"Damnable."

Kaido was a bit annoyed: "You guys sail the ship over, I'll head there first to teach this fool who's imitating me a lesson."

Seems like he's got some skill. Kaido watched the performance of 'himself' on the screen — putting everything else aside, it really did have that flavor.

Kaido suddenly wanted the two guys fighting on the TV to become his subordinates. Of course, first he'd have to beat them up.

Transformed into a blue dragon, Kaido shot into the sky and flew at top speed toward Marineford.

"That guy Kaido, what's he rushing off in such a hurry for now?" Red-Hair held his bottle of sake and noticed Kaido fly past his field of vision: "Isn't that direction Marineford?"

"Shanks, wasn't Kaido confronting us yesterday?" Beckman stared at the TV: "I remember his ship was trailing behind ours for quite a while."

"Yeah, just a few seconds before you spoke he flew past the stern of our ship."

"What's going on?"

A crowd gathered around.

On the screen, they saw—

"Not qualified!"

'Kaido' brought his kanabo down on Luffy, sending Luffy flying toward Ace's side.

When the blow connected with Luffy, the amount of Haki weakened considerably.

That strike extinguished the intention of several Admirals who were about to launch an attack.

Because 'Kaido' had also chased after him; launching an attack at this moment meant this guy might just go wild.

"Tch." Akainu gritted his teeth, wishing he could take Kaido out right now.

But he wasn't a fool. Whitebeard was about to come over, and Kaido was in a fierce battle with the Straw Hat kid, so that would save him a lot of trouble.

If Kaido were dragged into it, and he gave up fighting the Straw Hat kid to join the battle, even with Hero Garp and Sengoku dealing with Kaido together—

Once the melee started, then a Straw Hat kid and Whitebeard, who were no weaker than Kaido's current state, could be freed up to deal with them.

"Damned Kaido, if you want to fight then get the hell away."

"Luffy!" Ace called out anxiously, flames igniting on his hands as he prepared to attack Kaido.

No one could hurt his little brother right in front of him!

"Ace!" Luffy reached out to stop Ace: "Leave him to me, you guys pull back first."

"What kind of joke is that? As your big brother, I don't need my little brother protecting me!"

A fireball smashed toward 'Kaido' and was casually shattered by a single swing of the club.

"You haven't even properly trained your Haki."

"You're awfully negligent, Fire Fist Ace."

"Shut up! I don't need you to lecture me." Flames ignited on both of Ace's fists: "Bring it on."

"Foolish Logia user, dodge!"

'Kaido' revealed a look of disdain: "Roger was also a non-Devil-Fruit user, but do you know why he was able to become the Pirate King in the end?"

"Only Haki! It stands above all!"

The spiked club swung toward Ace, carrying black lightning.

If that club connected, even Fire Fist Ace would have to kneel.

"Ace, get out of the way!"

"Gum-Gum... Kong Gun!"

The spiked club and the fist collided once again.

The onlookers seemed to see cherry blossoms scattering, fluttering across this battlefield.

That was the change brought about by the advanced form of Haki.

"Advanced Armament Haki, 98 points."

'Kaido' kicked off with both feet, leaving a deep crater in place, and swung the spiked club through the air, narrowly missing Luffy's cheek.

It also happened to smash toward the two Admirals who were watching the show.

Of course, they dodged it.

"Observation Haki, 99 points."

"Next up is, Conqueror's Haki Infusion!"

Kizaru and Aokiji unconsciously stepped back a bit.

These two brawlers hadn't used their Devil Fruit abilities yet, especially Kaidou — they knew Kaidou would only grow stronger once he brought his fruit power to bear.

They themselves might not be afraid, but there were far too many soldiers around.

"Fleet Admiral Sengoku." Aokiji spoke up to remind him.

No need for more words — Sengoku understood the situation as well.

"Everyone below vice admiral, scatter and move to suppress Whitebeard's side."

And so it went back and forth, the surroundings falling into a chaotic melee. Every time an admiral or vice admiral tried to make a move, Kaidou and the Straw Hat kid — whether on purpose or by accident — would spread the fighting over to their side.

And Ace, watching Luffy's battle up close for the first time, finally understood just how strong his little brother had become.

Happy as he was, he also felt the gap between their current strength.

Luffy, who was younger than him and had set out to sea later, could already fight on par with one of the Four Emperors.

"Luffy…"

They fought like this for nearly ten minutes.

'Kaidou' suddenly stopped, cast a sideways glance at the two admirals slacking off nearby and at Akainu, whose killing intent was palpable: "Dare to interfere and I'll deal with you first."

"You mere pirate — what do you take this place for?"

Akainu's fists dripped with magma, looking every bit ready to unleash a big move at the slightest provocation.

Sengoku commanded at this moment: "Sakazuki, go coordinate with the Seven Warlords and surround Whitebeard!"

"Hmph." Akainu turned and charged at Whitebeard: "Crimson Lotus!"

Whitebe grunted, and a white spherical barrier appeared in his hand.

"Garp!"

"Got it." Garp walked over while pulling on his knuckle-dusters: "Kaidou, this old man's grandson doesn't need you to teach him."

"Then how about you teach him, uhuhuhuhu!"

Seeing Garp about to step in and interrupt his performance, Su Lin began steering the conversation elsewhere.

"Do you know how long it took me to teach your grandson to this level?"

"Oh, how long?" Garp was stumped by the question.

"Three strikes!"

"What three strikes?" Garp hadn't caught on and asked back.

"I only needed three strikes to train the Straw Hat kid into this."

"What nonsense are you spouting." Sengoku was also walking toward Kaidou — it looked like they were going to join forces to suppress him.

"First strike, learn Advanced Busoshoku Haki! Second strike, grasp Infusion! Third strike, Awaken the fruit!"

"Go ask your grandson yourself — I only hit him a few times and he picked up all these skills."

Su Lin was spouting lines he'd once seen online.

"Fruit Awakening?"

The people nearby seemed to feel they'd just heard some extraordinary term.