I, Uchiha Hikaru, have joined the chat group.

Chapter 291 The Showdown with Kaido!

"Horns on its head..."

Upon hearing this, Yamato subconsciously touched his forehead.

She also has horns on her head.

However, the long-standing friendship between the two prevented Yamato from misunderstanding Esdeath's words. Instead, he gripped his spiked club tightly, scanned the crowd with eager anticipation, and prepared to lend a helping hand at any moment.

—If it were to fight Kaido and King, Yamato might not be very confident, since both of them are indeed stronger than her.

But what about the others...?

Yamato felt he could take on ten of them.

the other side.

Esdeath and Jin simultaneously leaped out, the two figures, one large and one small, tearing through the air and rushing towards each other with a piercing whistling sound, before exchanging punches!

Bang--!!!!

Fists clashed!

This attack was clearly not a mere test.

King used Armament Haki, while Esdeath used the "Ki" she learned in the Dragon Ball world. The two amazing powers erupted at the same time, instantly blasting apart the surrounding air and forming a milky white shockwave that spread outwards.

From an observer's perspective, it looked as if a huge sphere had formed in mid-air at that moment, enveloping Esdeath and King's bodies.

then……

call--!!

A gust of air, like a gale of force 7 or 8, swept outwards, causing the cold air in the air to condense rapidly, forming more snowflakes and ice crystals that fell.

Amidst the swirling snowflakes.

A dark figure flew backward, smashing over several candlesticks and shattering half a rock wall in its path, like a cannonball hitting the other side of the wall, and temporarily disappeared into the hazy dust.

The other, slightly slender figure took a few steps back in another direction, slamming his boot heels into the ground to regain his footing amidst the flying rubble.

Amidst the smoke and dust.

Her long, icy blue hair billowed high before falling back down, and fine cracks spread from her heels, leaving two inch-deep dents in the ground. However, the woman's face remained calm and composed, a slight, mocking smile playing at the corners of her lips.

"...That's it?"

That's right.

The one who spoke was Esdeath, not Jhin.

Even without looking at their faces, just by looking at their body shapes, this is obvious. King is 6 meters tall, slightly shorter than Kaido, while Esdeath is 1.7 meters tall. The difference between them is like that between an adult and a child, and the result of their confrontation is just like an adult hitting a child.

—The big one is the child.

The air was silent for a few seconds.

Then, things suddenly exploded.

"!!"

"impossible!"

"Lord 'Flame Disaster' actually... Just who is this woman?!"

"..."

Compared to the members of the Beasts Pirates, Uchiha Hikaru was not surprised at all by this scene.

After all, Esdeath's strength is only slightly lower than hers. Although she hasn't been to the pirate world before, using Yamato as a reference, she can roughly estimate her strength level here. Even if Kaido himself doesn't intervene, the rest of them, even if they all attacked together, shouldn't be a match for her.

Well, even if Kaido is added, it's probably not much different; it will just prolong the battle.

but……

The physical attributes of these powerful figures in the One Piece world are quite robust, with a focus on high health and defense.

Especially Jin, who is a descendant of the "Lunaria race" and has eaten a Zoan-type Devil Fruit.

Before the surrounding dust and debris had completely dissipated, his over six-meter-tall figure reappeared at the end of the hall, casting his gaze from among the broken walls and rubble, locking onto Esdeath.

"A troublesome woman..."

"However, I will absolutely not allow you to harm Lord Kaido!"

At this moment, Jin had already shown characteristics of being half-human and half-beast, and the orange flames on his back were flickering with extremely violent amplitude, causing the wounds that had just appeared on his body to heal rapidly in a short period of time.

This is a characteristic of the "Lunaria race." The existence of that flame grants them extremely powerful defensive and regenerative abilities, comparable to dragons in the dragon world.

After a brief period of building momentum.

Jin suddenly spread his black wings, like a ferocious pterosaur, and instantly covered a distance of tens of meters, rushing towards Esdeath's location!

Zoan-type Dragon-Dragon Fruit, Ancient Zoan, Pteranodon form!

At this moment, Jhin's speed and power were more than double what they had been before.

Although Esdeath had already tried to dodge to the side, due to the huge difference in size between the two and the limited space indoors, she was still hit head-on and then tumbled and flew out, breaking a pillar several tens of centimeters thick along the way, before breaking through the rock wall on the other side of the hall!

slam-la-

The sound of rocks falling was incessant.

In the direction the two had left, an entire rock wall, tens of meters high and several tens of meters wide, collapsed completely in less than half a minute. Sunlight streamed in, casting dazzling patches of light in the hall. From the cave entrance, one could vaguely see clusters of flames and ice crystals colliding, accompanied by deafening sonic booms.

Uchiha Hikaru merely glanced at it before casually looking away.

She wasn't worried about Esdeath.

Regardless, the difference in strength between the two sides is undeniable and cannot be bridged simply by unleashing a new power. Even if King displays the abilities of the "Lunaria race" and combines them with his Devil Fruit powers, he can at most cause Esdeath some trouble, but it's unlikely to significantly impact the outcome of the battle.

This current situation is probably what Esdeath wanted to see. Otherwise, it wouldn't be interesting if the victory were too easy.

present.

Uchiha Hikaru stretched his shoulders and neck, then turned his gaze back to Kaido:

"Alright, the troublemaker is gone. Shouldn't we get started here, Mr. Kaido?"

"...Hmph, arrogant brat!"

Although he said that, Kaido's expression had become extremely serious.

He was the one who knew Jhin's strength best.

As the top commander of the Beasts Pirates and the leader of the "Three Disasters," King's strength is among the best in the entire pirate world. Aside from a select few at the very top, most others are at best his equals, and defeating him is no easy feat. But now, a woman who suddenly appears possesses such power…

If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, Kaido would never have believed it was true.

more importantly……

Before the battle even began, the woman uttered the words, "King against king, general against general."

If I understand correctly...

Is this petite, black-haired girl in front of her even more powerful than her?

This is really a bit...

That's unbelievable.

"Hey, you brat with the surname Uchiha."

Kaido suddenly spoke up: "Although we are still enemies, but... are you interested in joining the Beasts Pirates? With your and that blue-haired woman's strength, if you were willing to join forces with me, we could definitely turn this world upside down."

"Um?"

Uchiha Hikaru raised an eyebrow, sensing a degree of sincerity in the words of this Yonko.

This guy... actually wants to recruit me?

To be fair, Kaido is actually quite similar to Esdeath in the past. Both of them are typical warmongers who think the world itself is utterly boring and only want to prove their worth through violence and fighting.

Unfortunately……

"Your suggestion sounds interesting, but... I'm sorry, I decline."

"Because I've already joined the 'Dimensional Pirates,' and I'm even the vice-captain. By the way, Yamato is also one of our crew members. Out of respect for her, I can let you join too. How about it? Our pirate crew is pretty strong, you know."

"...It seems there's no point in talking about it."

Kaido would never abandon his Beasts Pirates.

When Uchiha Hikaru said those words, he already knew what the other person meant. At this moment, he just sighed and quietly adjusted his breathing.

Suddenly!

An invisible aura erupted from Kaido, sweeping through the entire hall like a shockwave. Everyone, including Uchiha Hikaru, felt a jolt in their hearts, a strange tremor rising within them—

Conqueror's Haki!!

Kaido's Conqueror's Haki was clearly much stronger than Yamato's. The weaker members, such as Ulti, fell to the ground on the spot, their entire bodies enveloped in Haki, unable to move for a moment.

Kaido himself grabbed the spiked club beside him and swung it out as he leaped into the air! It came straight at him with a howling wind!

"Since you won't join... then hurry up and die!"

"Thunderous Eight Trigrams!"

Facing the howling wind, Uchiha Hikari formed a sword with her fingers, and the spiritual weapon "Fire and Thunder God" instantly transformed into a veil that flowed out and wrapped around her right hand, quickly forming the shape of a palm-shaped short sword, which collided with the spiked club!

Do not……

To be precise, the two did not collide directly, but were about 20 centimeters apart.

Because Kaido had wrapped his Conqueror's Haki around his spiked club—the so-called "Conqueror's Haki Entanglement"—he could attack without making contact. Instead of using a conventional weapon, Kaido used "Fire and Thunder God" to envelop his bare hand in a parry, causing Uchiha Hikaru to feel a tingling sensation in his palm, his hand going numb from the force of Kaido's attack.

Followed by.

Kaido opened his gaping maw again and blew forward with a mighty roar:

"Bad wind!!"

At this moment, a large number of wind blades were spat out from Kaido's mouth, like the slash of a kamaru, tearing through the air, and were about to continue to tear the flaming veil around Uchiha Hikaru!

Facing the wind blades, Uchiha Hikaru formed a hand seal with one hand, then slightly opened his mouth and exhaled: "Fire Release... Great Fire Annihilation!"

Chakra condensation.

With the blessing of "Fire and Thunder God", the fireball that Uchiha Hikaru spewed from his mouth was larger and hotter than ever before!

boom!!!!

(End of this chapter)