THE STRONGEST CREATURE OF THE BEAST PIRATES

"Father-in-law, freedom is a fundamental part of human nature. The way you're restraining Yamato is completely wrong. You should admit it!"

"What did you just say, you bastard!"

Kaido was incredibly annoyed. How dare this little brat teach him a lesson? Hadn't he already beaten him once? The audacity was maddening. His anger rose further, and he roared:

"Don't think I won't kill you!"

In the next moment, the green dragon began to stir up the skies, creating thunder and rain as if the world was on the brink of doomsday.

"Tornado Tempest!"

A series of massive tornadoes appeared, accompanied by countless enormous wind blades slashing in all directions.

King rushed to the roof, only to be struck by a wind blade. He was thrown backward for thousands of meters.

Fortunately, his defensive strength was unmatched, so he escaped injury, but his heart was filled with endless terror. From the wind blades, King could sense that Kaido wasn't merely angry, but had entered a "killing mode" fueled by his drunken rage.

For a moment, King regretted stepping onto the roof.

Though countless wind blades raged indiscriminately, Alastor was not so foolish as to stand still and take the damage. He focused entirely on fighting back, aiming to avoid being killed by Kaido, who had now fully entered his "killing mode."

"Ghostly Aura, One Sword Style, Purgatory – Great Demon Dragon!"

Alastor drew his cursed sword and, without holding back, unleashed a pitch-black dragon several feet long, merging his domineering aura with ghostly energy. The demon dragon roared, facing the oncoming wind blades.

However, the wind blades were too numerous. The demon dragon managed to cancel out most of them, but a portion still struck Alastor's body.

Thanks to his internal and external defenses exceeding 10,000 points—making him practically invulnerable—the remaining wind blades didn't leave him incapacitated.

The powerful super tornado eventually subsided.

The fierce eyes of the green dragon stared at Alastor as though surprised that the wind blades hadn't torn him apart.

"Your body is very tough. Is that your strength, kid?"

"Let me try this again. Heat Breath!"

From the dragon's belly, a beam of searing fire, much stronger than Rebecca's breath, shot out. Even from hundreds of meters away, Alastor could feel the intense heat radiating from the pillar of fire.

"Such intense heat… It's probably close to magma temperatures. Even steel would melt under that, yet my body can't endure it."

Alastor's brain cells were fully activated by electric currents, performing complex calculations to determine Kaido's attack power and his own defenses. In battle, aside from sheer strength, tactics and battle IQ play a critical role—something few in the Pirate World truly understand.

Alastor quickly formulated a countermeasure: Using high temperatures to neutralize the dragon's heat with thunder.

He leapt high into the air, grabbed an iron ball, covered it in electric current, creating intense friction and heat.

Alastor then hurled the iron ball forward.

"Super Lightning Cannon!"

The iron ball shot through the air, producing a powerful thunder beam. Though the radius wasn't as wide as Kaido's heat breath, it was faster and far more concentrated.

When the thunder beam collided with the fire pillar mid-air, an incredibly bright light burst forth.

Kaido's dragon eyes narrowed as he instinctively squinted from the dazzling intensity.

"This kid…"

Kaido's surprise continued to grow. He had only heard of Alastor's feats during the battle at Onigashima, but witnessing his strength firsthand was another matter entirely.

When the blinding light finally faded, both the Thunder and Fire pillars vanished without a trace, signaling their cancellation.

King, Who's-Who, and others who had gathered to watch the battle on the roof gasped, unable to believe what they were seeing.

Alastor… was actually holding his ground against Boss Kaido!

Suddenly, Kaido looked up at the sky and laughed. His laughter was so loud that it seemed to shake the very foundations of the world.

"Bastard, I admit you have some skill, but this is just the beginning. Are you ready to endure the baptism of hell?"

Rumble!

In the darkened sky, thunder cracked, howling winds swept across the landscape, and the massive green dragon suddenly vanished. From the ground, an eerie figure resembling an evil ghost emerged, as if from the depths of hell itself.

Kaido wielded his mace, his teeth sharpened like shark's saw teeth. His entire body was covered in blue scales, and a long dragon's tail dragged behind him—this was his strongest dragon form.

"Come on, brat!"

With a violent swing of his dragon tail, Kaido slammed into the ground, using the recoil to charge forward at astonishing speed. The reason he was called the strongest creature was because he lacked no weaknesses—his speed, strength, and ferocity all ranked at the top.

Alastor didn't dare to be careless. Instantly, he released a charge of 600 million volts through his body. His already towering 2.88-meter frame now grew to 5 meters, his hair and eyebrows turning white—the pinnacle of Thor mode.

In Thor mode, Alastor maintained unmatched speed, enabling him to move stealthily.

Therefore, when Kaido arrived at his position, Alastor had already vanished.

"Huh?"

Kaido furrowed his brows.

Alastor's voice came from behind him.

"Father-in-law, speed is what I'm best at."

"One Sword Style, Thunder Sword—Thunderbolt!"

As the words left his mouth, Alastor swung the Thunder Sword, striking Kaido from behind.

Zizizi!

The blade of the second-generation Onitsu clashed against Kaido's scales, generating sparks and electrical surges.

However, the Thunder Sword Slash, which had proven invincible, failed to cut through Kaido's scales this time.

"What?"

Alastor's eyes widened as he quickly accessed the system to check Kaido's defense stats: 50,000!

Hiss!

Alastor took a deep breath. Kaido's defensive power was an astonishing 50,000—more than double Yamato's defense, and even surpassing his combined internal and external defenses. What a freak!

"Are you tickling me? Use more strength," Kaido sneered, turning his head to look at Alastor.

Alastor's mouth twitched. That phrase felt oddly familiar. Oh, right—it's something he himself often said to others. Was this retribution?

Before he could dwell on it, Kaido's massive dragon tail swept toward him.

Alastor was hit, coughing up blood and sent flying backward.

Kaido's defense was far beyond anything Alastor had anticipated, capable of crushing his resistance.

Alastor thrust Sandai Kitetsu into the ground and managed to stabilize himself, wiping the blood from his mouth. His expression was serious.

Even with his prophetic foresight as a time traveler, Alastor couldn't shake the feeling that he had underestimated Kaido's strength.

He had begun to reflect on his previous victories—surviving battles against admirals, defeating foes like Vister, and killing Doflamingo and the Moon Lion—everything had felt too smooth.

This had led to an overconfidence and a lack of caution.

"If I were still the team leader, I wouldn't have rushed into this alone. I would've waited for Yamato before confronting Kaido."

"I can't afford to let my guard down. I need to be more cautious from now on."

Alastor took a deep breath, straightened his posture, and collected himself. He no longer radiated the reckless energy from before.

But Kaido remained his violent self, laughing uncontrollably:

"The ability to take hits is impressive. I can feel it. Though your skin isn't as hard as mine, it's far from the norm for a human—almost like that steel balloon that dead old woman used to be!"

"Interesting! You aren't a Devil Fruit user, but you've got this level of defense. You can control thunder and your sword skills are decent. I'm genuinely surprised!"

"Well, I haven't found such a perfect sandbag in decades!"

Kaido was ecstatic. He fought countless strong enemies, but sandbags like Alastor were rare.

Most of his past foes either fled or fell after just a few blows—like Kozuki Oden.

Kaido swung his mace again, eager to continue beating Alastor.

Alastor hesitated. "Old father-in-law, old father-in-law, I can take a beating, but not a hammer like that. Please, go easy."

Determined to hold out until Yamato arrived, Alastor adopted a strategy of evasion. Using his lightning-fast speed, he dodged Kaido's strikes.

After several failed attempts, Kaido sneered and his eyes flashed with a red glow.

"Don't think you can avoid my attacks with speed!"

Alastor recognized the flash as the color of Conqueror's Haki—Kaido had predicted his movement!

"No, he's seeing my future trajectory!"

Alastor's face paled as he tried to stop, but it was too late. Kaido, who had foreseen his movements, leaped onto him.

He raised his mace and bellowed:

"Drunken Thunder!"

Black lightning crackled, thunder roared, and dark clouds gathered in the sky. The oppressive aura caused King and others watching from a distance to feel as though a mountain was pressing down on them.