250. Futile

Kaido grins at Cricket as his body starts to transform. He doesn't transform into his full dragon form, but his hybrid human-beast form. Cricket's Conqueror Haki's awakening has made Kaido get more serious.

Seeing Kaido's hybrid form makes Cricket a little wary now. Even when Kaido didn't transform, he already has a hard time fighting Kaido because his attacks didn't work. Now when Kaido transformed into this form, his chance has getting lower.

But there's no time to worry about that. He just needs to keep fighting with all he has even if his chance is very low. A low chance is better than no chance and even if he has no chance, he will make that chance.

Cricket covers his gauntlets with A-Haki again before he starts attacking. He jumps at Kaido and sends a right hand Hasshoken punch using all his strength. Kaido is ready to counter it by swinging his club horizontally on his right side.

The 2 attacks clash in the middle and ripples with lightning-like effects appear between them. They collide for a moment before Cricket suddenly gets pushed back. He flings away at high speed and crashes onto many people on his path.

Cricket keeps flying and only stops when he hits a thick pillar. Many people are getting crushed by him when he flies. There are Beasts Pirates & samurais among these people, they were fighting before.

These people's sacrifice actually helps Cricket because they act as cushions. They reduce the impact of Kaido's attack and lower the damage Cricket receives. Even so, he still gets some injuries, especially on his right hand.

His right-hand feel numb because he clashed directly against Kaido. Blood even trickles from his gauntlet, showing that his right hand is wounded. But at least his body is still safe because of the cushions and his right hand is still strong enough to punch.

Cricket rushes again at Kaido and attacks the human dragon again. Kaido grins and swings his club at Cricket from above. It seems like Cricket will get hit again, but suddenly he moves to the side right before the club hits him.

Kaido gets surprised by it and Cricket uses this chance to punch Kaido's lower jaw. His punch hits Kaido's lower jaw and pushes him upwards. But Kaido doesn't get injured at all even after receiving such a strong punch from Cricket.

He lands on the ground easily and shows his perfectly fine lower jaw. There's no bruise or any mark at all on his lower jaw where Cricket punched. Cricket has used all his strength in that attack, but it still doesn't work.

Kaido is impressed though, "Worororo, your strength is better than I thought. It's a waste for you to be in that brat's crew. How about you join mine? I can make you a lot stronger than you ever thought."

Cricket just smirks and says, "I know that you are very confident with your strength. But I doubt you can accomplish what Captain has done for us. Look around you, Kaido! Is it your or our side that dominates this war?"

Kaido looks around a little and sees that they are quite equal now. But he then realizes that the Clowns are dominating his men. They defeat the Beasts Pirates rather easily while the samurais have some difficulties.

It shows that the Clowns are stronger than his men and the samurais. It's just that their number is lower than the other groups, so they aren't too eyecatching. They've defeated a lot of Beasts Pirates, but it's still low compared to the enemy's number.

"This is what Captain has accomplished Kaido. He has made his crew become this strong even with such a low number compared to yours. I doubt you can do the same or you won't gather these many members. Besides, we've defeated a lot of your so-called strong officers in these last 6 months. Now, it's time for us to defeat you & your main group. There is no way in hell will I join people that we'll destroy," says Cricket smugly.

The Clowns also grin when they hear what Cricket says. They all have full belief in their group's power and that they will win. Even though their Captain isn't here now, they will still do their best and win this war.

"Worororo, too bad then. I will lose such a promising potential crew member. Then I'll tell you in advance, there's no room for regret, brat," says Kaido.

"Say that to yourself," says Cricket as he rushes forward to attack Kaido again.

Cricket now covers his whole body with A-Haki and prepares his Hasshoken punch combined with his karate that he learned on Karate Island. This is the strongest punch that Cricket can use right now.

Kaido also prepares his metal club and holds it with his right hand. Then he suddenly uses his tail to propel himself forward. He moves very fast and attacks Cricket's body, his club moves past Cricket's punch and hits Cricket's body.

"Thunderclap Eight Trigrams!" says Kaido as he swings his club while moving at high speed. A Black lightning-like trail is created by his club swing.

Cricket suddenly sees a glimpse of himself getting hit on his chest by Kaido's club. So he concentrates his A-Haki on his chest immediately because he can't use his hands to cover it in such a very short time. Then the club really hits his chest with a very strong force.

"CRICKET!" shouts Mantis with widened eyes.

"MANTIS, CONCENTRATE! THIS IS A WAR, DON'T LOSE YOUR FOCUS!" shouts Palu as he clashes against Queen.

"But-," says Mantis before Palu chimes in again.

"He will be fine, just believe in him. Worry about yourself for now. Defeat your opponents before you worry about him," says Palu.

Mantis is worried but she still nods, "Alright."

Kaido's attack sends Cricket flies at a very high speed. Cricket spats some blood & air as he gets hit by the club attack. The attack is very painful as if it hits his sense of pain directly. His A-Haki also seems to not give him much protection.

He flies very fast toward the destroyed port and hits everyone in his path. Unlike before, there's no big pillar or anything to stop him. The people who get hit are mostly Beasts Pirates and some samurais without any Clown Pirates because they can move to evade it.

All who get hit by Cricket fall unconscious instantly. They aren't getting hit directly by Kaido, but they fall unconscious instantly. It can be imagined just how powerful the attack that Cricket received just now.

He keeps flying toward the port and seems like he'll fall onto the sea. But suddenly he gets stopped slowly by a pair of wet flying hands. The hands stop him slowly to reduce the damage that he'll get if he stops so suddenly.

Cricket coughs some blood but he smirks, "Took you long enough."

The Clowns who are worried about Cricket now smile widely and they shout, "CAPTAIN!"

Buggy finally arrives with Oden after swimming for some time. Oden is lying on the ground tiredly while Buggy is standing in his very wet clothes. Water drops from his wet hair and body, drenching the ground. His eyes are red because water kept hitting them, making them look like his nose.

"ACHOO! Damn, it's very cold," says Buggy while wiping the snot that comes out of his nose.

"You don't seem so good, Cricket," says Buggy as he puts down the heavily injured Cricket.

"And whose fault do you think it is?" asks Cricket with scornful eyes.

"Kaido?" asks Buggy back.

Cricket has a tickmark but then he sighs and laughs because now they can get relaxed. Buggy calls Manba and orders him to take care of Cricket. Then he walks toward Kaido and stands in front of the big & tall humanoid dragon.

Buggy grins and says, "It's time for payback, Kaido."

______________________________________________________________

You can read up to 35+35 chapters ahead of my fanfics on my Pa_treon page if you are interested.

Voting for this book is highly appreciate.

I've uploaded:

1. Chapter 274 of Fairy Tail: Sun Eater

2. Chapter 285 of Transcended as Lord Buggy

https://www.pa_treon.com/CaptMermain

(the web didn't use _underscore_, it's to avoid censorship)