The air trembled as Kaido's massive form loomed over the battlefield, his crimson eyes burning with the arrogance of a god. The ground beneath Ace and Lale cracked under the weight of his presence, but neither flinched.
Ace wiped blood from his lip, flames igniting along his arms. "Took you long enough," he taunted, though his voice carried an edge Lale had never heard before—something darker, sharper.
Lale's Sharingan spun wildly, analyzing every twitch of Kaido's muscles, every flicker of his monstrous aura. Dragon scales. Mythical Zoan. Weak point: underside of the jaw, where the flames don't reach.
Kaido laughed, the sound like boulders crashing. "You brats think you can challenge me? I am storms. I am endings."
Ace's grin turned feral. "And I'm fire."
Ace moved first, a blur of orange and black. "Hiken: Shinka!" A spear of white-hot fire lanced toward Kaido's throat. The dragon barely dodged, but the heat seared his scales, leaving them blackened and bubbling, releasing a stench of burnt flesh.
Lale was already in motion, her blade singing as she aimed for the gaps between his claws. Kaido swung his kanabo, but her Sharingan predicted the arc—she flipped over it, landing a kick to his wrist that forced him to drop the weapon. Bones cracked loudly from the impact.
Kaido roared, spewing a torrent of blue fire. Ace crossed his arms, unleashing a wall of flames to counter. The collision shook the island, melting the stone beneath their feet and sending villagers fleeing as the sky turned into a battlefield of heat and fury.
Lale's breath came in sharp gasps. He's too strong. Even with her precognition, Kaido's raw speed was overwhelming. A backhand sent her crashing into a cliffside, her ribs snapping audibly, rubble burying her legs and slicing through her thigh.
Ace's voice cut through the dust. "Lale!"
Kaido loomed over her, raising his clawed foot to crush her. "Useless eyes."
Then—
A pulse.
Ace's Conqueror's Haki erupted like a supernova, cracking the earth. Kaido staggered, his sneer faltering for the first time. "You—?"
Ace stood silhouetted against the inferno, his eyes alight with something primal. "Don't. Touch. Her."
Kaido recovered with a snarl, swinging his kanabo in a devastating arc. Ace blocked with a flaming fist, but the impact sent him skidding backward, a tooth flying from his mouth, blood dripping from his nose and ears.
Lale forced herself upright, her vision swimming. No. Not like this.
Kaido lunged for Ace, his maw opening wide
And Lale's world slowed.
A whisper in her mind, a voice she'd never heard before: "Awaken."
Her Sharingan shifted. The tomoe bled into a new pattern—a kaleidoscope of spirals and blades. Mangekyō.
Time bent.
One moment, Kaido's teeth were inches from Ace's throat.
The next, they were fifty feet away, teleported mid-air by Lale's Kamui.
Kaido crashed into the mountainside, disoriented. The cliff shattered behind him, a section of the mountain sliding into the sea.
Ace whirled to stare at Lale, his eyes wide. "What the hell was—?"
Lale collapsed to her knees, blood streaming from her left eye. "Run," she gasped. "Now."
They barely escaped, the villagers smuggling them onto a fishing boat under cover of night. Ace cradled Lale against his chest, her breathing shallow.
"You idiot," he muttered, thumb brushing the blood from her cheek. "What was that?"
Lale's new eyes—still spinning with unnatural power—flickered shut. "A debt," she whispered. "One I'll pay for later."
Ace tightened his grip. "We'll pay it together."
As the island faded into the horizon, Kaido's roar echoed across the sea—a promise of vengeance.
But for now, they were alive.
And that was enough.
TO BE CONTINUED…