“They’re both still young…”
Kaido and Dragon watched the sword duel unfolding in the distance.
“I never imagined someone their age could fight a Lunarian on equal footing.”
If the two of them fought each other directly, neither was confident of gaining a decisive advantage.
For Dragon, however, his greater concern was the safety of his subordinates.
Even he couldn’t ignore the weight of Kaido’s reputation.
So he remained where he was and continued watching.
Meanwhile, Arthur continuously swung his sword with both hands, his eyes fixed on Alber’s massive blade.
Every clash ended the same way.
No matter how much force Alber put behind his attacks, Arthur effortlessly deflected them.
“Haa…”
Arthur’s breathing grew heavier and heavier.
After blocking Kaido’s Thunder Bagua, he hadn’t been given even a moment to recover before being forced back into battle.
“Why do you only defend?”
Alber frowned in irritation.
“Quit relying on tricks and attack me!”
No matter how fiercely he swung, his blade was always knocked aside.
Under Arthur’s terrifying concentration and composure…
Alber couldn’t find a single opening.
With a shout, he ignited his blade with the flames from his back and swung a massive arc of fire toward Arthur.
Watching the blazing crescent slash toward him, even Arthur’s normally calm expression became serious.
He sidestepped the attack and leaped backward, widening the distance between them.
Then he spoke calmly.
“I couldn’t wound you even after putting everything I had into my attacks.”
“So why would I attack again before finding your weakness?”
Alber blinked.
He hadn’t expected Arthur’s way of thinking to mirror his own.
Both of them were searching for the other’s weakness.
A faint smile appeared on Alber’s face.
Unfortunately…
It was a smile filled with confidence.
“That’s a shame.”
“If your sword can’t cut me…”
“Then you’ll never defeat me.”
Arthur shook his head.
“Everything that’s hard enough has a weakness.”
“Don’t use ‘never’ so casually.”
“I don’t have one!”
Alber spread his black wings and fired a barrage of blazing fire bullets.
“Hm?”
Arthur’s sharp eyes immediately caught something unusual.
Each time Alber created a fire bullet…
The flames burning on his back weakened ever so slightly.
The flaming projectiles streaked through the rainstorm.
Arthur calmly deflected them one after another with his sword.
At that exact moment—
Alber noticed Arthur’s attention was occupied.
The flames on his back vanished.
His speed skyrocketed.
He disappeared instantly.
“Where did he go…?”
Without Observation Haki, Arthur couldn’t sense Alber’s presence.
He continued deflecting the incoming fire bullets.
Then—
Alber silently appeared behind him.
The shadow of his enormous body stretched across the ground, swallowing Arthur’s own.
Clang!
Arthur knocked away the final fire bullet.
Looking down—
He froze.
The shadow beneath him revealed everything.
Unable to turn around in time, Arthur immediately activated Iron Body (Tekkai), hardening his entire back.
“It’s over!”
Alber swung his sword down without hesitation.
Dragon instinctively moved to intervene.
But Kaido’s kanabo blocked his path.
“If you interfere…”
“I’ll kill you.”
Dragon’s expression darkened.
“Do you really think I’m afraid of you, Kaido?”
Yet if he fought Kaido now…
He would have to abandon every unconscious Marine behind him in order to save Arthur.
He hesitated.
Cooper didn’t.
Without a second thought, the eagle spread his wings and flew toward Arthur.
“Cooper!”
Ignoring Dragon’s warning, Cooper desperately rushed toward Alber.
“And you too…”
Kaido’s Conqueror’s Haki erupted again.
The overwhelming pressure slammed into Cooper.
As an animal, he was affected even more strongly.
His wings stiffened mid-flight.
Between instinctive fear…
And protecting the person most important to him…
He chose Arthur.
Thud.
Cooper crashed to the ground.
He didn’t lose consciousness—
But his body refused to move.
Alber’s blade tore through Arthur’s Iron Body.
Blood instantly poured from the wound across his back.
Since arriving in this world…
It was the first time Arthur had suffered such a devastating sword wound.
Far more painful than any punch.
A horrifying gash stretched across his back.
“…He’s still standing?”
Alber maintained his finishing stance.
His blade had already struck the ground.
Yet Arthur refused to fall.
Under everyone’s gaze…
Arthur remained hunched over for several seconds.
Then—
The expression on his face slowly changed.
The sword in his hand suddenly underwent a transformation.
Cold mist poured from the blade.
Frost dripped from It’s edge onto the ground.
Ice rapidly spread outward beneath Arthur’s feet.
In an instant, freezing cold sealed the horrific wound across his back.
The bleeding stopped by force.
“…Cold?”
Dragon’s expression changed.
He had been preparing to intervene, but now he stared in astonishment at the strange phenomenon surrounding Arthur.
“It froze?”
Kaido frowned.
Then he glanced toward Dragon.
“Hey.”
“Is that kid a Devil Fruit user?”
Seeing the unexpected change, Alber immediately sensed danger.
He swung horizontally, intending to cut Arthur in half before anything else happened.
The blade swept through empty air.
Arthur had vanished.
His movement was completely silent.
Not even animals could detect it.
“I knew this sword wasn’t ordinary!”
Arthur laughed excitedly.
Appearing behind Alber, he brought his sword down again.
“He disappeared?”
Reacting instantly, Alber reignited the flames on his back.
He chose to endure the attack head-on.
BOOM!
Arthur’s tremendous slash struck Alber’s left wing.
The sensation felt like cutting solid steel.
“…Still can’t cut him?”
Arthur frowned.
“When I was wounded…
it felt like this sword awakened.”
Then he noticed it.
A thin layer of frost coated Alber’s left wing.
Even the flame that the pouring rain couldn’t extinguish…
Had weakened slightly beneath the sword’s freezing aura.
The cold rapidly spread.
Alber’s entire left wing became stiff.
His face twisted in pain.
“…It hurts.”
He let out a low groan.
“The cold…”
Dragon stared in disbelief.
“Is this the power of that sword?”
Under the influence of Arthur’s blade…
Raindrops around Alber froze into tiny shards of ice before falling onto his body.
“Is it over already?”
Arthur snapped back to reality.
With another powerful swing, he blasted Alber over a hundred feet backward.
Alber skidded across the ground, carving a long trench through the earth.
“What do you mean, ‘over’?”
Alber steadied himself.
“I told you before.”
“My body can take far worse than this.”
Arthur walked over and picked up Cooper.
Then he turned his sharp gaze toward Kaido.
From more than over thirty feet away, he swung his sword.
A flying slash wrapped in freezing energy shot straight toward Kaido.
Kaido casually blocked it with his kanabo.
The instant he did—
Frost spread across the weapon.
Then the freezing aura crept onto his hand.
A piercing cold stabbed into his flesh.
Kaido’s expression finally changed.
What is this…?
Arthur’s eyes blazed with anger.
“That’s twice now…”
“I politely respected your invitation earlier, Kaido.”
His killing intent surged.
The sword in his hand pointed directly at Kaido.
“Do you really think…”
“…that smug confidence of yours can never be shattered?!”
Arthur placed Cooper on his shoulder.
The eagle clung tightly to him like a living shoulder guard.
At that very moment—
BOOM!
Dragon finally made his move.
His fist, coated in Armament Haki, smashed into Kaido’s face without warning.
Kaido’s enormous body shot through the forest, snapping several massive trees in half.
“I’ve wanted to punch you for a long time, Kaido!”
Dragon shouted.
Seeing Kaido sent flying, Alber immediately spread his black wings and rushed after him.
“Kaido-san!”
Taking advantage of the opening, Dragon summoned a gentle current of wind.
The unconscious Marines were lifted into the air and carried safely toward the warship waiting along the coast.
“Arthur!”
“We’re retreating!”
Dragon continued controlling the wind while calling out to him.
“It doesn’t matter if this mission is a failure.”
“Kaido’s body is abnormal.”
“We can’t beat him.”
“He’ll simply wear us down until we’re dead.”
Arthur was still furious.
But reason won over emotion.
He nodded.
Together, they retreated toward the coast, intending to leave Punk Hazard and return only after Kaido had departed.
Then—
A deafening roar echoed across the entire island.
A bolt of purple lightning crashed down from the dark sky into the forest where Kaido had landed.
Moments later…
A colossal Azure Dragon, over a thousand meters long, burst into the sky and disappeared into the storm clouds above the island.