"You'll know soon enough whether I've eaten or not."
Kairos Flint narrowed his eyes at Kaido and replied coolly.
The next moment, his blade fell again—an elegant and deadly sword slash.
The Third Generation Kitetsu, wrapped in both Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki, gleamed with lethal precision.
Ripppp!!!
As the blade made contact, it tore across Kaido's dragon flesh like it was paper, leaving vivid gashes in its wake. Blood sprayed into the air from the deep wounds.
Though Kaido's massive body could withstand immense punishment, even he couldn't ignore the sharp sting of this strike.
It wasn't life-threatening—not yet.
But it hurt.
A rare occurrence for someone with Kaido's monstrous resilience.
After all, an injury is still an injury. And when attacks like these stack up, even the strongest beast begins to feel it.
"Brat, your attacks may not mean much to me—"
"But they're starting to sting a little."
Up in the sky, Kaido's colossal body, still shrouded in clouds and mist, began to twist and spin.
A violent spiral of motion.
Tornado!!!
With his tremendous bulk rotating like a storm turbine, several massive tornadoes ripped into existence.
Their power?
Tremendous.
The resulting winds became something akin to typhoons at sea, pulling up seawater and twisting it into a monstrous seaspout—an enormous column of spiraling water hurtling toward Kairos.
"Dragon Absorbs Water."
That was what the move resembled—a terrifying, natural weapon crafted from Kaido's wrath.
But Kairos Flint didn't flinch.
"Shinra Tensei!"
With a raised hand, an explosive wave of repulsive force burst forth from his body.
BOOM!!!
The crushing wave of invisible energy clashed directly with the incoming seaspouts, shattering them instantly in the sky.
The remnants of Kaido's sea-warping attack were scattered like broken glass under the overwhelming push of Kairos's divine Repulsion Slate.
"Not bad, little brat," Kaido grunted.
"If you're not scared, then follow me—let's finish this on that island!"
And with that, Kaido turned and soared off into the sky, heading for a distant island in the middle of the sea.
Kairos watched him go and glanced in the same direction.
From his vantage point in the sky, he could clearly see the island Kaido had targeted.
It wasn't far.
"So that's where you're going, Kaido…"
"Was this really your plan all along?"
"Or did a storm just toss you off course, and you happened to crash-land onto my ship?"
Kairos smirked.
He found it more than likely that Kaido had accidentally landed on his vessel. Maybe fate—or dumb luck—brought the Emperor of the Sea to him.
But it didn't matter.
Whether it was fate, force majeure, or coincidence, Kaido had shown up on his doorstep.
And that meant Kairos Flint had every right to kill him.
He wasn't going to waste the opportunity to earn a stack of epic-level ability crystals.
With a subtle hum of power, Kairos activated his sonic movement technique and zipped through the sky, easily overtaking Kaido.
Moments later, he landed on the island first.
It wasn't particularly large—about the size of areas 1 to 10 in the Sabaody Archipelago—but it would serve as a suitable battlefield.
At least, for now.
Whether the island would survive the fight… was another question entirely.
After all, when two emperor-level beings clashed, entire landscapes could be obliterated.
It was very possible that nothing would remain once their battle concluded.
Soon after Kairos landed, Kaido descended as well.
His enormous body slammed into the earth—and then, in a flash of transformation, Kaido shifted forms from the massive Eastern Dragon into his hybrid human-beast form.
This form blended the agility of a human with the brutal power of his beast side—a balanced state perfect for battle against a skilled opponent like Kairos.
Kaido wasn't foolish.
His full dragon form might've worked against foot soldiers and navy fleets, but against Kairos Flint?
Too big.
Too slow.
Too vulnerable.
In a one-on-one fight, his gigantic dragon body would make him a walking target.
Especially against someone as fast and nimble as Kairos.
And with Kairos's abilities—many of which Kaido had already witnessed during his battle against the Navy—Kaido wasn't about to give him any more advantages.
The Realm of Nothingness was particularly worrying. An ability like that? Kaido had never seen anything like it.
On the surface, Kaido still wore his arrogant smirk, still sneering.
But deep down?
He was watching Kairos with full attention now.
Ever since those two devastating sword slashes…
He no longer underestimated this young god-slayer.
Not for a second.