Chapter 332: Kaido vs. Crocodile

However, just as the exchange was about to be completed, Kaido's spiked club slammed into Gecko Moria's body.

"Thud!!!"

Gecko Moria's body collapsed from the impact, and it was unclear how many of his bones had been broken. Another mouthful of blood spurted from his mouth.

"Kaido, you forced me into this!!"

Once again, after being struck by Kaido, Gecko Moria coughed up several more mouthfuls of blood, his eyes burning with unrestrained anger as he glared at Kaido.

"Haha, what does it matter? Weaklings don't deserve to fight me for territory. Go back to the Four Seas, this place isn't a playground for you!"

"But if you submit to me, I'll take you in!"

Kaido laughed mockingly.

He had grown stronger now, no longer the inexperienced intern who once needed Charlotte Linlin's protection on the Rocks Pirates' ship. Now, he was on par with the top officers of the Rocks Pirates, and even if he couldn't defeat them, they could never kill him!

"I'm going to be the Pirate King! Kaido, die!!"

"Shadow Gathering!!"

Gecko Moria roared, and in an instant, many shadows quickly flew into his body, and the shadows he had previously collected began to converge.

As a large number of shadows surged into his body, Gecko Moria's form rapidly grew, visibly expanding. Within a few breaths, his body had grown to over fifty meters tall.

"Hehehe, powerful, too powerful. This is my strongest power. Kaido, are you ready to die?"

Gecko Moria relished the immense power coursing through his body. Looking at Kaido's seven-meter height, he felt like he could easily stomp him to death.

"Haha, don't think just because you can transform, that you're something special. I can do it too!"

Seeing Gecko Moria transform, Kaido burst out laughing, tossing his spiked club to the ground. In the blink of an eye, he transformed into a massive eastern dragon and shot upwards, hundreds of meters into the sky.

Gecko Moria's fifty-meter tall body couldn't even reach Kaido's dragon claws!

"Dammit Kaido, how dare you look down on me! Come down here!!"

Seeing Kaido high in the sky, looking down at him with those dragon eyes, Gecko Moria's fury grew even more intense.

In an instant, his massive body leaped up, reaching over three hundred meters into the air. With his gigantic hands, he grabbed Kaido's dragon claws, attempting to pull him down from the sky.

"Hehe, you're too light! Get back down here!"

Kaido laughed heartily, twisting his body as his other dragon claw grabbed Gecko Moria's body and forcefully pulled him even higher into the sky.

No matter how hard Gecko Moria tried to let go, he couldn't fall. Instead, Kaido was pulling him further upwards.

"How can this be? How is Kaido's strength so much greater?!"

Gecko Moria was shocked, but at the same time, he began struggling to free himself from Kaido's grasp.

Just as Kaido was about to let go of Gecko Moria, he suddenly released his dragon claw, throwing Gecko Moria downward.

"Bad Wind!!"

As Gecko Moria tried to use his power to safely land, a dozen massive, violent wind blades shot toward him, easily slicing through his body and leaving deep, gaping wounds.

"Ah!!!"

The interruption caused Gecko Moria to cry out in agony from the intense pain.

"Hot Breath!!!"

Kaido didn't give Gecko Moria a moment to breathe. A massive amount of fiery power gathered and compressed in his dragon throat. When the power reached its peak, Kaido unleashed a huge column of fire energy directly at Gecko Moria.

"No!!!"

Defenseless in the air and unable to fly, with his powers disrupted, Gecko Moria had no way to resist the powerful Hot Breath, which slammed directly into him.

His fifty-meter tall body, like a live target, was hit with the blast and sent crashing to the ground, causing the entire island to tremble from the impact.

As Gecko Moria crashed to the ground, all the shadows he had gathered inside his body were expelled.

Gecko Moria's entire body was shattered, and he lay unconscious on the ground, on the brink of death.

"Boss!!!"

Moria's pirates rushed toward him, hoping to save their leader.

But the Beast Pirates' Jin and Queen quickly blocked their way. After all, these pirates were no match for the Beast Pirates, let alone rescuing Gecko Moria.

"Haha, Crocodile, you want to challenge me too?"

Kaido dropped to the ground, transformed back into his human-dragon form, and picked up his spiked club, laughing as he looked toward Crocodile, who was charging toward him with his crew.

Crocodile, sensing the commotion, had arrived just in time to witness Gecko Moria's defeat at the hands of Kaido.

"Heh, Kaido, I'm taking this territory for myself. Take your men and leave, or I'll show you what it feels like to wish you were never born!"

Crocodile said, casually puffing on a cigarette, his tone dripping with disdain as he looked at the defeated Gecko Moria and Kaido.

Confident in his own strength, Crocodile knew that now that Moria had been defeated by Kaido, he only needed to defeat Kaido to claim all of Wald's territory for himself.

"Haha, I love guys like you—talk big, but your strength is lacking. It's so satisfying to beat you!"

"Thunder Bagua!!!"

Kaido, surrounded by lightning, rushed toward Crocodile like a bolt of lightning. In the blink of an eye, his lightning-infused spiked club slammed into Crocodile!

But just as the spiked club was about to hit Crocodile, his body turned to sand, and Kaido's club struck nothing but the ground!

"Desert Sunflower!!!"

At the same time, the ground beneath Kaido's feet turned into soft sand, and a massive desert whirlpool began to spin. A huge wave of sand surged from all directions, aiming to bury Kaido alive.

"Logia powers are such a pain!!"

Kaido leaped into the air, transforming into his full dragon form to avoid the sand trap.

Even though Crocodile hid underground, Kaido could still sense his location thanks to his Observation Haki.

"Hot Breath!!!"

With his dragon head raised, Kaido gathered another massive wave of firepower and shot it downward, unleashing a scorching pillar of fire aimed at Crocodile's hiding spot.

"Dammit, I've been found!"

Crocodile, seeing the huge stream of fire descending, quickly attempted to dodge, but his speed couldn't match Kaido's breath.

"Block this!!"

"Desert Giant Shield!!!"

In a desperate attempt, Crocodile used the sand he gathered to create a massive shield to block Kaido's fiery breath.

But Kaido's hot breath easily pierced through Crocodile's sand shield, striking him directly.

While Kaido's breath didn't have the power of Armament Haki, the intense heat was enough to melt the sand and cause terrible damage to Crocodile.

"Ah!!!"

Crocodile tried to defend with Haki and dodge some of the attack, but he was still severely wounded!

"Boom!!!"

Taking advantage of Crocodile's weakened state, Kaido dove toward him, and with his claw covered in Armament Haki, slammed it into the ground, pinning Crocodile beneath it.

"Thud!!!"

Crocodile, battered by Kaido's hot breath and now pinned under his claw, began to bleed profusely. More importantly, he couldn't accept being so easily defeated by Kaido, a pirate with much less renown.

"I'm Crocodile! How could I be beaten by a nobody like Kaido?!"

"Get off me!!"

"Desert Pillar!!!"

The massive sand forces on the ground turned into two giant sand pillars that shot up from the ground, lifting Kaido's claw and allowing Crocodile to escape underground.

"Stay right there!!"

Realizing Crocodile was attempting to escape, Kaido immediately rushed toward him, stomping down with his dragon claw, causing the ground to collapse and creating enormous fissures.

Unfortunately, Kaido's Haki wasn't strong enough to fully block Crocodile's escape, and his physical attacks were powerless to stop it.

"Logia powers are such a pain!"

Kaido frowned, watching Crocodile escape, and didn't pursue further. After all, he had no real way of stopping Crocodile's escape.

"Huh? Gecko Moria is also gone?"

Kaido turned to see that Gecko Moria had disappeared, just as Crocodile had arrived.

Earlier, Gecko Moria's crew had used their lives to block Queen and Jin, allowing them to rescue Moria.

"Hahaha, big brother, we've won! The territory of Wald now belongs to the Beast Pirates, and we'll have our place among the greatest pirate crews in the New World!"

Queen laughed loudly, running over to Kaido.

"Hehe, that's right, the Beast Pirates have won!!"

Hearing Queen's words, Kaido couldn't help but feel pleased. From now on, he was on the same level as the top officers in the crew. No longer would he be seen as an underdog!

(End of Chapter)