One Piece: Kaido's adopted son, starts with the Eight Gates Formation.

It was as if the space in front of it had been stretched countless times. Although it was only a few hundred meters away, it felt like there was an uncrossable river called "time" between them.

Next comes the "aging" of energy.

The blood-gold flames, which had been so intense they could distort light, dimmed rapidly, and the temperature plummeted, transforming from an intensely hot flame capable of melting anything into a warm campfire, and then into cold embers...

Finally, when this once devastating dragon breath struggled to reach a position just tens of meters away from the throne of Barragán,...

It has completely lost all its energy and form.

Silently, it transformed into a wisp of harmless blue smoke, drifting in the air.

"..."

The world fell silent once again.

Kaido's dragon mouth remained in a firing position, but for the first time, his enormous beast eyes revealed an expression of "confusion."

His...attack...

Disappeared?

"Ants."

An ancient, hoarse voice, filled with endless majesty and weariness, came from the throne.

Barragán finally, slowly, raised his head.

His two eyes, burning with crimson flames, swept indifferently over Kaido below, over Whitebeard, over Big Mom, and over all the living beings present.

That look was devoid of any emotion.

Like an eternal god, looking down upon those tiny, pitiful insects that live only a day and die at night.

"Before me, time is the only true master."

"And you..."

"It's nothing more than a tiny speck of dust, soon to be completely erased by time."

The moment the words fell.

He slowly raised his right hand, which was made entirely of stark white bone.

Then, he casually pointed at the enormous blue dragon below, whose body was as large as a mountain range.

"Rotten away."

There was no light emitted, nor any energy fluctuation.

Barragan simply raised his hand and pointed at Kaido.

However, this simple action seemed to have activated a terrifying switch that transcended all physical laws.

Kaido's massive, mountain-like dragon body trembled violently.

An unprecedented, indescribable, eerie feeling instantly swept over his entire body.

It wasn't pain, it wasn't burning, and it wasn't cold.

It's a kind of illusion... a forced "fast forward" coming from the very source of existence.

"Um?"

Kaido let out a confused growl. He tried to move his body, but found that his movements had become incredibly slow and stiff.

It was as if that powerful, tempered body, brimming with explosive energy, had been imbued with billions of years of time in that instant.

He slowly lowered his enormous dragon head and looked at his own body.

Then, his beastly eyes, like molten gold, suddenly contracted!

His blue dragon scales, which were supposed to be able to withstand any sword or blade strike and were even impossible for him to completely destroy, were now... losing their luster at a speed visible to the naked eye!

The scales, which were once as brilliant as sapphires, quickly turned gray and dry, like fragile rocks weathered over countless centuries.

Followed by.

Click.

A soft yet incredibly clear sound reached Kaido's ears.

Without warning, a dragon scale that was on the tip of his nose peeled off his skin.

During the fall, the once indestructible scale scattered in the wind, silently turning into a handful of gray dust, finer than grains of sand.

"What...is this?"

For the first time, Kaido's voice carried a tremor that even he himself was unaware of.