"That strike is indeed stronger than three years ago, but it's still not enough!"
Kyle spoke calmly.
He hadn't expected that his influence would lead Kaido to develop a stronger hybrid form than the one in the original timeline.
With the Flame Clouds supporting him, Kaido's aerial combat ability had been compensated for.
If Kaido had possessed this form three years ago, then Kyle would have been the one who needed to flee back then.
However, days apart can lead to a whole new perspective on someone, let alone three years.
Kaido was getting stronger, but so was Kyle, and the magnitude of his increase in strength far surpassed Kaido's.
Therefore—
"You also shall receive one of my blades!"
Kyle gripped Purple Lightning with both hands and raised it. Terrifying purple thunderbolts shot out from the blade itself, forming a gigantic lightning sword above him.
The shape of this enormous lightning sword was identical to Purple Lightning's, its entire body composed of violent purple thunder, crackling with a fearsome aura, the sound of thunderclaps incessant.
"Chop!!"
As Kyle brought Purple Lightning straight down, the massive lightning blade above him also followed suit, cleaving downward.
Where the lightning blade passed, the air expanded violently due to the extreme heat, forming supersonic shockwaves. Within an extremely short time, the energy decayed, the wavelengths lengthened, gradually transforming into ordinary sound waves—in other words, thunder!!
The fearsome lightning blade, accompanied by rolling peals of thunder, arrived above Kaido in the blink of an eye.
The stray purple thunderbolts that landed on his skin surface caused a series of slight, tingling numbness.
Kaido's expression changed drastically. Without a moment's hesitation, he dodged to the side.
This attack absolutely could not be taken head-on!
But even with his instant decision and immediate attempt to evade, he still couldn't completely avoid the strike, getting 'grazed' by its edge.
Swoosh!!
Kaido's body plummeted from the heavens at tremendous speed. Violent purple lightning coiled around him, carrying an incomparably fearsome momentum as it crashed straight down onto the desolate island below.
Rumble—
In an instant, as if a meteor had struck, a massive crater suddenly appeared on the desolate island below. Centered on Kaido's impact point, the ground fractured in a spiderweb pattern, inch by inch, spreading outwards.
A terrifying shockwave expanded, kicking up billowing clouds of dust. The surrounding trees and topsoil were all sent flying.
Fortunately, Kyle had aimed roughly, causing Kaido's landing point to be at the opposite end from where the unconscious Marines lay.
Otherwise, if he had landed near those unconscious Marines, with that kind of power, wouldn't some of them have died?
Kyle hovered in the sky, gazing down at the area shrouded in dust. His form suddenly flickered, transforming into a bolt of purple lightning that shot towards the dust cloud at immense speed.
The next second, another tremendous sound came from within the dust cloud.
A shockwave burst forth once again, completely dispersing the surrounding dust, revealing the figures of Kaido and Kyle within.
One could see the two of them now, blade and club locked together, forming a void between them. Terrifying residual waves continued to spread outward with the two at the center, black and red lightning still constantly flashing.
Suddenly, the void exploded. Both of them retreated a distance, but the moment they steadied themselves, as if by mutual understanding, they charged toward each other once more.
What followed was one clash after another. Each collision generated a powerful shockwave, and the surrounding area for several kilometers had now been leveled, covered in cracks and rubble.
These successive shockwaves continuously expanded beyond the island, causing the sea around it to churn incessantly, kicking up enormous waves.
After fighting on the island for some time, they both took to the sky once more, engaging in a new round of battle in the heavens.
A series of tremors resonated through the void.
Zoro, standing atop the mountain peak below, gazed at the two figures flickering in the sky. Feeling the continuous shockwaves impacting him, his eyes narrowed slightly.
"As expected, the gap is still huge!!"
This could be said to be the most intense battle Zoro had witnessed so far.
Both Kyle and Kaido were top-tier powerhouses in the current world, part of that small group standing at the very apex.
If he were to go up there and face those two, he would likely struggle just to withstand a single strike.
However, this didn't discourage Zoro; instead, it excited him further. Knowing that his own strength still had plenty of room for improvement was a good thing.
It made him clearly understand that even if his current strength wasn't weak, in the grand scheme of the world, it still didn't amount to much.
He still needed to guard against arrogance and impatience!
But that was for normal circumstances. When facing curly eyebrows, however, he had to be arrogant without limits.
After all, how could a guy who had only defeated a pirate with a bounty of a mere 300 million compare to him, who had defeated one with a 500 million bounty? There was simply no comparison at all!
The train of thought stopped abruptly. Zoro once again focused his attention on the battle between the two above.
Watching a battle between powerhouses of this level was still quite helpful for him.
Meanwhile, up in the heavens, the exchange of blows between Kyle and Kaido continued unabated. Both seemed tireless, constantly attacking the other.
But the difference was that Kyle bore not a single scratch, while Kaido's body was covered in several crisscrossing sword scars and blackened marks left by the thunderbolts.
Although the injuries weren't severe, who held the upper hand in this fight was already clear as day.
After another clash, Kaido's heavily blackened right shoulder suddenly went numb, slowing his movement by half a beat.
Kyle's eyes sharpened. Seizing the opportunity, his form flickered instantly. A fist wreathed in purple lightning slammed viciously into Kaido's face.
Kaido's entire face caved inwards. His body, like a cannonball, was instantly sent flying backwards. Purple lightning spread over him again, engulfing his whole form.
Amidst the crackling thunder, several more blackened marks appeared on Kaido's body.
This was how fighting Kyle was; the longer it dragged on, the more disadvantageous it became.
Because every one of Kyle's attacks carried the Violet Heaven Thunder, simply by engaging Kyle in combat, one would inevitably have the thunder continuously invade their body during the fight.
This was true for anyone, at least for all those Kyle had fought so far.
They couldn't completely block Kyle's thunder. How much they could withstand depended on the strength of their Armament Haki and their physical constitution.
Therefore, when fighting Kyle, a strong opponent's Armament Haki would deplete especially quickly.
Because they needed to constantly use Armament Haki to defend against Kyle's thunder attacks.
Although the consumption was immense, not using it wasn't an option. Relying solely on their physique, even someone with Kaido's constitution couldn't withstand several of Kyle's thunder attacks.
Haki was depletable, not inexhaustible. Using Haki at high intensity consumed a great deal of stamina.
And once Haki was depleted, that's when the advantage of Logia types became apparent.
For instance, Kyle, Sabo, or the current three Marine Admirals could inflict considerable damage using just their Devil Fruit abilities, even without Haki.
But for others…
Looking at the original storyline, after Luffy used Gear Fourth on Whole Cake Island and exhausted his Haki, his Giant Pistol attack, lacking Haki, couldn't even break through the attacks of small fry. From this, one can clearly understand the importance of Haki.
…