Chapter 1052: Learning the Hard Way

Chapter 1052: Chapter 1052: Learning the Hard Way

Whoosh—whoosh!

A terrifying hurricane whipped up by the violent shockwaves howled across the earth, the sheer force of the gale scraping away the topsoil like a shovel.

"Damn it, is this guy actually unkillable?!"

Hiding behind a massive boulder overturned from the depths of the earth, Oliver reeled as he recalled Kaido’s monstrous regenerative powers. Compared to that level of recovery speed, the healing rates of their own captain, Otto, or even ordinary awakened Zoan-type users were nothing more than child’s play.

"Get the hell out here!"

Clutching his spiked club, Kaido swept his gaze across the surroundings and roared up toward the heavens. The monstrous sound wave rolled outward, kicking off a fresh cascade of explosions and billowing dust.

Just then, several massive fragments of the nearby golden giant suddenly morphed, transforming into dozens of thick golden tentacles. Each tentacle exceeded half a meter in diameter as they whipped and lunged toward Kaido.

"Tesoro, you coward!"

Roaring, Kaido swung his club forward. The immense power whipped up a howling gale, and with a rapid succession of deafening booms, he smashed more than ten golden tentacles to pieces.

Immediately after, Kaido kept swinging his club through a barrage of explosive clashes, shattering five or six more golden tentacles that surged toward him one after another.

Countless fragments of gold splattered in all directions, pitting the surrounding ground into a cratered wasteland with a force rivaling actual cannonballs.

Yet, there were simply too many incoming golden tentacles for Kaido to shatter them all. Two slipstream tentacles managed to bypass his guard and wrap around his body, instantly forcing him to halt and bogging down his movements.

More and more golden tentacles swiftly coiled around him, while several sharp, spear-like golden spikes thrust straight at him, clashing violently against his body with a flurry of metallic clangs.

Meanwhile, atop the severed golden arm in the distance, a bleeding-mouthed Tesoro crouched low. He violently thrust forward the uninjured ring finger of his hand, transforming it into a straight golden spike measuring a full two to three meters in diameter.

"Damn you, Kaido! I’ll smash your head to bits and see if you can regenerate this fast!"

Roaring in fury, Tesoro manipulated the giant golden spike beneath him. In the span of a single breath, it extended a hundred or two meters, lunging toward Kaido’s head with a howling whistle that pierced the air, imbued with unimaginable power.

At once, Kaido roared and struggled violently as a terrifying surge of force erupted from within him. The dozen-odd golden tentacles binding him all emitted teeth-gritting sounds of distortion, fracturing with countless cracks of varying sizes.

"Raaaagh!"

Seeing that he hadn’t broken free immediately, Kaido flew into a berserk frenzy. His skull elongated, his neck thickened, and scales erupted across his skin as he transformed midway into a ferocious dragon-human hybrid, physically snapping one of the golden tentacles wrapped around his throat.

The next instant, Kaido opened his jaws and exhaled a blinding surge of scorching dragon breath. Like a fiery arrow, it shot straight out, colliding head-on with the incoming golden spike.

BOOM—!

With a thunderous explosion, surging shockwaves and raging flames burst outward. The overpowering heat blast melted and obliterated the thick golden spike with unstoppable force, continuing its relentless path straight toward Tesoro.

"Oh no!"

Utterly horrified, Tesoro frantically manipulated the section of the golden arm beneath his feet, converting it into a fluid golden wall that raised itself like a gigantic shield right before him.

BOOM—!

The next moment, a violent explosion erupted, kicking up a terrifying wall of fire that swept outward, scorching the surrounding earth into a barren wasteland.

"Mere gold thinks it can block my breath? Wororororo!"

With his massive, ferocious dragon head raised, Kaido looked out at the raging epicenter of the blast and burst into wild laughter.

’An ordinary humanoid-form dragon breath already possesses this kind of destructive power... If he enters his full sacred dragon form, he could probably wipe out an entire town in a single blow!’ Oliver thought, his heart sinking with heavy gravity.

Yet, no matter how grim his thoughts were, Oliver leapt out from his hiding spot and charged straight toward Kaido.

Mid-run, Oliver smoothly sheathed the twin blades at his waist, condensing his entire mind, body, and spirit into a single point without leaking a shred of aura, keeping his eyes locked entirely on Kaido.

Instantly, Kaido felt as though an invisible blade was piercing straight toward him, making his skin prickle with pain and even sending a creeping numbness across his scalp.

Suddenly, a fierce glint flashed in Oliver’s eyes. With lightning speed, he drew his blade and bellowed, "Two-Sword Style Iai: Dragon Slayer!"

A dazzling, blinding flash of snowy sword light tore horizontally across the air, accompanied by a sharp, cutting edge that permeated the entire atmosphere.

Kaido’s vision blurred. Just as he managed to swing his club up toward his chest, a soft shing sound echoed out.

"Ahhhhhh—!"

In the blink of an eye, a spray of blood erupted. Kaido let out a wretched scream as a long, terrifyingly deep gash split open across his chest, stretching all the way from his right flank to his left shoulder and neck, slicing right through his internal organs along the way.

As for the upper half of the club in his hands, it slid off at a clean angle, dropping to the ground with a crisp clink. The cut was as smooth as a mirror, entirely devoid of rough edges.

Rumble—!

The earth let out a groan. Extending outward from behind Kaido, a massive, thousand-meter-long fissure tore through the ground, kicking up clouds of dust and debris.

Yet, a truly terrifying sight unfolded before them: the massive, gruesome gash across Kaido’s chest was healing at a visible, breakneck pace, skin, flesh, bone, and internal organs alike repairing themselves in the blink of an eye.

"I won’t let you heal that easily again! White Sea!"

Doflamingo roared as he plummeted from the sky, slamming one hand flat against the ground.

Instantly, a flash of white surged forth as the earth rapidly transformed into countless pure white, wispy threads, spreading outward at blinding speed to form a sea of strings covering a radius of nearly a thousand meters.

This white string-earth writhed like an ocean churned by raging waves, thrusting countless white tentacles upward to rapidly bind Kaido’s limbs and torso. Several string tentacles even attempted to burrow directly into the open wound on his chest.

Too late, by a mere fraction of a second, Kaido’s chest injuries finished regenerating ahead of schedule. The probing string tentacles flailed about blindly like headless flies, rendering them entirely useless.

Rumble—rumble, rumble—!

Suddenly, a low, thunderous roar echoed from afar. As everyone looked up, they saw a terrifying sandstorm bearing down on them. It whipped up massive waves of sand across the desert, towering like tidal waves on the high seas, as if intent on swallowing everything whole beneath the light-blocking veil of the sandstorm.

"Kaido! Prepare to die!"

Towering sand waves dozens to a hundred meters high rolled downward, shaping themselves into the towering face of Crocodile as he let out a terrifying roar.

"Come and get it if you’ve got the guts!"

Kaido let loose an unbridled roar as his physique suddenly ballooned, instantly snapping the string tentacles binding him as he transformed into a ferocious dragon-human standing over ten meters tall.

Right at that moment, a massive circular mirror materialized out of thin air in the sky, instantly drawing the attention of everyone present, accompanied by an impatient and familiar voice drifting through.

"I told you, things would be so much easier if you just cooperated. You really have to learn the hard way, do you?"