Arrogance.
Invincibility.
That was everything Kaido embodied at this moment.
Renji was no less impressive.
The awakening of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit had granted him the power of resonance.
Now, he was not merely using the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's abilities.
He was also absorbing the vibrations from the island beneath him and even from the surrounding sea.
Wave after wave of vibrations flowed into his body.
Crack after crack spread across his arm.
For a moment, it seemed as though mountains were collapsing and oceans were roaring behind him.
The ground beneath Renji's feet shattered inch by inch.
Breaking.
Collapsing.
As if the entire world was on the verge of destruction.
"Tremor... World."
Renji threw out his right fist.
Endless fractures instantly spread in every direction.
[You picked up a Devil Fruit Growth Experience!]
[You picked up an Armament Haki Insight!]
[You picked up an Armament Haki Insight!]
[You picked up Strength!]
[You picked up...]
Boom!
A muffled explosion echoed through the battlefield.
Renji's fist collided head-on with Kaido's kanabo.
At that instant, the world itself seemed to split into two separate realms.
On one side, thunder raged endlessly.
On the other, countless fractures spread through the air.
The entire world suddenly appeared bleak and apocalyptic.
RUMBLE!!!
RUMBLE!!!
Deafening explosions capable of shattering the heavens spread outward in every direction.
At this moment, it felt as though the entire world had focused its attention on the clash between Renji and Kaido.
Even the Beasts Pirates and the Whitebeard Pirates, who had been fighting fiercely moments before, unconsciously stopped their battles.
All eyes turned toward the two monsters.
"T-This..."
The apocalyptic scene stunned everyone present.
"Can humans really wield this kind of power?"
"Is this truly something a human can possess?"
No one knew what to say anymore as they watched Renji and Kaido's clash.
Even the members of the Artificial Devil Fruit Corps paused their assault.
"Has Renji become a little too strong?"
Their brief hesitation gave Marco, Jozu, and the other Whitebeard Pirates a much-needed chance to catch their breath.
Looking toward Renji's battlefield, Marco's face filled with shock.
"This guy..."
"It feels like he's gotten even stronger."
Not far away, Crocodile frowned as he watched Renji.
The expression in his eyes was equally filled with disbelief.
Jinbe, standing nearby, wore an equally stunned expression.
The combined population of all the races in the world easily numbered in the billions.
With so many people, the existence of hidden monsters wasn't impossible.
As a veteran who had sailed the seas for decades, Jinbe had long since prepared himself for that reality.
But someone like Renji someone so young yet so powerful still left him speechless.
BOOM!
A deafening explosion echoed through the battlefield.
Lightning collided violently with the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
The island beneath Kaido and Renji's feet began to crack apart.
Bit by bit, it shattered.
Gradually, it showed signs of sinking back into the ocean.
And all of that...was merely the aftermath of a single exchange between the two.
"Again!"
Boundless fighting spirit erupted from Renji's eyes.
Ignoring the island as it collapsed, shattered, and slowly disappeared beneath the waves, he used Geppo and soared into the sky.
"Good!"
Kaido's temper flared as well.
He hadn't expected his full-powered strike to end in nothing more than a draw against Renji.
Such a result...was something he had only experienced against monsters like Roger and Whitebeard.
The power of his Azure Dragon form lifted his body into the air.
Countless bolts of lightning exploded around him once again.
For a moment, it looked as if he were connecting heaven and earth themselves.
Standing high above the battlefield, surrounded by endless thunder, Kaido resembled a god descending from the heavens.
A true God of Thunder.
Renji was no less imposing.
Fractures spread across half the sky around him.
Countless cracks, dense as a spider's web, stretched endlessly through the air.
The scene made him appear less like a human and more like a deity who had crossed over from another world.
"Thunder..."
Kaido raised his kanabo once more.
For the first time, a truly serious expression appeared on his face.
The lightning around him, along with his Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki, poured into the weapon without restraint.
When the power reached its peak, Kaido swung his kanabo toward Renji once again.
"Tremor..."
Renji also raised his right fist.
With the enhancement granted by his awakened Devil Fruit, he drew out every vibration in the surrounding area.
Instantly the howling winds vanished.
The tsunamis that had been created by the destruction caused by Renji and Kaido began to fade away.
For a brief moment, the entire sea fell into absolute stillness.
A thoughtful expression appeared on Renji's face.
Renji swung his right fist toward Kaido.
"Bagua!"
"World-Ender!"
Renji's fist and Kaido's kanabo collided at incredible speed.
BOOM!
The explosion sounded like a bolt of heavenly thunder.
Or perhaps the detonation of a world-destroying nuclear weapon.
The very space centered around Renji and Kaido seemed to be torn apart.
The terrifying force plunged more than a hundred meters beneath the ocean's surface.
The foundation of the island that had once existed there was completely obliterated.
Nothing remained.
[You picked up an Armament Haki Insight!]
[You picked up an Armament Haki Insight!]
[You picked up Strength!]
[You picked up Stamina!]
[You picked up...]
A flood of attributes poured into Renji's body once more.
He could clearly feel his strength increasing at an astonishing rate.
Originally, he had been somewhat weaker than Kaido.
But after these two exchanges, the already small gap between them had been completely erased.
The attributes dropped during battles with Kaido far surpassed anything he had ever obtained before, both in quality and quantity.
The realization filled Renji with excitement.
"Again!"
The two figures crossed paths and separated once more.
Renji's eyes gleamed as he stared at Kaido.
He looked less like a fighter and more like a hunter staring at prized prey.
"Bring it on! You think I'm afraid of you?!"
Kaido felt extremely uncomfortable under Renji's gaze.
Even so, his fighting spirit had been fully ignited.
Taking a light step forward, Kaido instantly appeared before Renji.
He understood that Renji was strong enough that overwhelming him with a single devastating technique was unrealistic.
If he wanted victory, he needed to suppress Renji with an endless stream of attacks.
Only by maintaining constant pressure could he hope to win.
"Kaido took the bait."
Aboard the Marine observation ship, Sengoku watched the battle between Renji and Kaido with surprise in his eyes.
Renji's objective was obvious.
He wanted to keep Kaido occupied himself.
By doing so, he could boost the morale of the Whitebeard Pirates.
From a strategic standpoint, Kaido shouldn't have engaged Renji so directly.
Even if they fought, the ideal situation would have been for Renji to attack while Kaido remained on the defensive.
Instead, the situation had completely reversed.
"It's almost like..."
Sengoku narrowed his eyes as he watched the battle overhead.
"Kaido is the one being led around by Renji now."
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