Seven-Colored Divine Dragon

Seeing Kaido’s look, Pudding nervously took a step back. After all, he was a Great Pirate on the same level as her mother. It would have been strange if she felt no apprehension at all.

Pudding knew her own abilities well enough. Anyone with great strength and a firm will could definitely resist her Sharingan. Even someone who knew a little Haki could put up resistance against it.

Let alone someone who had awakened Conqueror’s Haki. Even if she directly used the Memory Fruit’s abilities, she might not be able to alter a monster like that’s memories.

Yota stepped forward, blocking the aggressive Kaido, and said with a smile, "Long time no see, Kaido."

Kaido snorted, gulped down a gourd of liquor, and said irritably, "It’s only been a few months. Does that count as a long time? And I don’t welcome you, either!"

As he spoke, he seemed to work himself up. Casually drawing the spiked club from his back, he brought down a Thunder Bagua.

Yota smiled and threw a punch wrapped in powerful Armament Haki, colliding head-on with the Thunder Bagua.

Strange black lightning flickered a few times. The spiked club, originally wrapped in Conqueror’s Haki and brimming with force, was actually smashed flying, and Kaido himself staggered back two steps.

Kaido’s expression shifted slightly, his face filling with disbelief. "You… got stronger again!"

Kaido had been forced back partly because his strength had declined after losing the Azure Dragon Fruit, but the bigger reason was that Yota had visibly grown much stronger than before!

Kaido remembered clearly that, back then, unless Yota used those strange abilities to amplify his power, he had still been somewhat inferior to Kaido. Even factoring in his Devil Fruit abilities, his chances of winning had never been high.

Yet now, even if Yota did not use his Devil Fruit abilities, and even if Kaido regained the Azure Dragon Fruit, another fight between them would still undoubtedly end in Kaido’s defeat.

Yota truly had grown much stronger. The improvement he gained after fighting Kaido, the boost to his stamina brought by the Azure Dragon Fruit, and the physical constitutions of Kaido and Charlotte Linlin had all raised Yota’s potential once again. With all these factors combined, the current Yota was practically a different person from when he had been in Wano Country.

Yet this was nearly unbelievable to Kaido. Once strength reached a certain threshold, further improvement became unimaginably difficult. One Piece, the Four Emperors, Fleet Admirals, Naval Admirals, Navy Heroes—these people could all be said to stand on the same level. That was because they had already developed their potential to the limit. Whether it was Devil Fruit abilities, Haki, or physique, they had trained everything to the absolute peak they could reach. Taking even one more step forward was immensely difficult.

At such a limit, continuing to advance by leaps and bounds was something Kaido had never even considered. It was practically the same as shattering the ceiling of the Pirate World!

Of course, when he thought of the special power within Yota’s body and the might it displayed when empowered by that force, Kaido calmed down instead.

Yota already possessed an explosive ability that completely defied common sense. Him breaking past his limits now did not seem all that shocking.

Even so, as Kaido looked at Yota’s young face, he still felt something indescribable.

My era has passed…

Kaido had never entertained such a thought before. Among the older generation of pirates, he was one of the youngest. Even now, he could be considered in his prime.

In the Pirate World, where fighters remained active for a long time, one’s fifties could be called the peak period for a powerhouse. Their experience had accumulated to its strongest point, their Haki and Devil Fruit abilities had been developed to the fullest, while their stamina had not yet begun to decline with age. Kaido had always believed that he was the strongest of all pirates at that time.

Until Yota gave him a merciless ORA-style beating that left him unable to fight back.

However, Kaido quickly stopped dwelling on memories that would only make him more despondent and asked, "What exactly did you come here for? There aren’t any Devil Fruits here for you to plunder now."

"No, I didn’t come to plunder your Devil Fruits. On the contrary, I’m giving you one," Yota said with a smile.

"And weren’t you disappointed when you were driven out of Wano Country? This time, you can become the Guardian Deity King again!"

Hearing Yota’s words, Kaido’s face immediately filled with confusion. Based on his understanding of Yota, he could not figure out what Yota was trying to do.

But in his heart, he was certain that Yota’s actions could not possibly be well-intentioned.

"No need. I’ll take back Wano Country and its Devil Fruits myself! I don’t need your charity!"

"Honestly." Yota sighed. "Can’t you just accept my kindness obediently?"

The moment he finished speaking, Yota vanished.

Kaido had already been on guard, and his expression changed drastically. He had barely raised his arm when Yota’s palm struck his chest!

"Pfft!" Kaido violently spat out a mouthful of blood. A huge hole exploded through the clothes on his back, and a faint column of air burst from it. With a thunderous boom, it became a storm.

Taking advantage of Kaido opening his mouth to vomit blood, Yota directly stuffed the Devil Fruit in his hand, along with a small dumpling, into Kaido’s mouth. Kaido’s eyes immediately changed.

"Bastard, what exactly did you make me eat?"

Having lost the Azure Dragon Fruit, Kaido had not actually been too depressed. With his strength, snatching another powerful Mythical Zoan-type Fruit might not be easy, but it was certainly not difficult either.

If it came down to it, Kaido could make do with a powerful Logia-type or Paramecia Devil Fruit.

But if he had truly eaten some useless Fruit, Kaido would never be able to recover his strength. Naturally, he was extremely anxious.

However, he was only anxious for an instant, because with that roar, a tiny flame unexpectedly spurted from his mouth.

"Hmm!? This… this is…" An incomparably familiar power surged through Kaido’s body. He stretched out one hand, and soon his entire arm turned into a dragon claw, except it was pink.

"The Azure Dragon Fruit?! How is that possible? Could this be a Red Dragon Fruit similar to the Azure Dragon Fruit?"

Hearing that, Yota nearly laughed out loud. That color could only be called pink no matter how he looked at it. And if there really was a Red Dragon Fruit as Kaido claimed, then with red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and violet, there would be far too many of these Divine Dragon Fruits, wouldn’t there?