Chapter 45: The Sniping Begins!

Normally, when Rosinante moved, he would silence both friction and drag, allowing his speed to increase drastically. If he also silenced sound and breath, then with silent motion combined with incredible speed, most people would have no chance of detecting his movements or attacks.

That worked fine against regular opponents—but against a monster like Kaido, it hardly made any difference.

Not only did Kaido possess superhuman vision, but his instincts were also razor-sharp. It was nearly impossible for Rosinante to completely conceal himself from such a beast. While Rosinante was indeed fast, speed alone wasn't enough—Kaido's extraordinary eyesight could easily track his movements. At most, Rosinante could catch him off guard for a second. But once Kaido adjusted, Rosinante's acceleration tricks no longer worked.

However, just now, Rosinante's speed had far surpassed Kaido's expectations.

Despite Kaido's phenomenal vision, all he caught was a fleeting flash of light—barely a glimmer.

In most battles, Rosinante didn't silence gravity. Even in emergencies requiring full acceleration, he'd only partially mute it. Silencing gravity entirely would place him in a weightless state. While this allowed him to reach unimaginable speeds and gave him the ability to fly, it was useful mainly for travel—not combat. In battle, weightlessness made it nearly impossible to control speed and direction, often causing him to miss his target and crash around wildly.

Over the past year, Rosinante had rigorously trained to control his body in this zero-gravity state. Though he hadn't mastered it completely, he had learned enough to begin using it in actual combat. From this training, he developed a technique called Flying Shadow.

Flying Shadow was executed by entering a weightless state, then accelerating and striking at full force. The speed was so extreme that even Kaido struggled to keep up. At the moment of impact, Rosinante would suddenly release the silenced gravity. This produced a shockwave of velocity and power—an impact like a falling star—that created immense force upon contact. This was the Flying Shadow technique.

"That speed, you bastard! That actually hurt!" Kaido growled, coldly glaring at Rosinante.

As a certain sneaky figure once said: speed is power. When speed reaches a certain threshold, even the smallest amount of force can unleash devastating strength. This was the essence of turning speed into destructive power.

And Rosinante's strength was already formidable to begin with. That punch had hurt Kaido enough to make even his monstrous body feel genuine pain.

Enraged, Kaido snarled and swung a palm down toward Rosinante.

"Wormhole One, open! Target: Kaido's arm! Three, two, one..." Bins barked.

As his voice fell, Ryan and Winter charged toward a mirror, holding their laser shells. Miraculously, the moment they touched the mirror, its surface rippled like water, letting them pass through without resistance.

Kaido's massive palm came crashing down toward Rosinante. Rosinante darted backward at lightning speed to dodge, but Kaido's hand followed him swiftly and relentlessly.

Suddenly—whoosh!—two figures burst out from below Kaido's arm.

"Laser Shell!" they shouted, slashing upward with enormous laser blades. Kaido's palm was mid-swing when it collided with their assault, and—

"AAARGH!" Blood sprayed from Kaido's arm. The laser swords had sliced two long, deep gashes into his flesh.

Ironically, the reason the attack worked so well... was mostly because of Kaido himself.

It was the sheer force behind his own strike that caused his arm to crash directly into the laser blades, creating such devastating wounds.

"Portal One: direct hit. Target damaged. Repeat—target damaged! Portal Two, commence suppression!" Bins's expression shifted drastically.

Seeing the wounds on his arm, Kaido flew into a rage and slammed a fist toward Winter.

At that moment, Portal Two had yet to open. Kaido's gigantic fist was just about to land on the pair when suddenly—a stream of cloud-river surged forward, wrapping around his fist and restraining him.

But Kaido's power was no joke. The cloud-river could only restrain him for a moment before his brute strength tore it apart, and he resumed his attack toward Winter and Ryan.

Fortunately, that one-second delay was just enough for them to escape.

"What kind of monster is this? My cloud-river only held him for a second!" Shaxia said, face full of shock.

"Kaido's power might be on par with the Navy hero Garp. For your cloud-river to restrain him for even a second is already amazing. Increase restraint strength! Enel, prepare your thunderstrike!" Bins commanded.

"Understood!" Shaxia raised her hands, summoning several more streams of cloud-river to entangle Kaido.

"Understood!" Enel responded, lightning crackling violently all over his body.

As Enel's thunder surged, the others instinctively moved back.

"Lightning? Is that a Logia-type Devil Fruit?"

"Looks like it. That should be the Rumble-Rumble Fruit—rumored to be the strongest offensive fruit among the Logia types. His Majesty has been searching for it for years. Didn't expect you to be the one to eat it."

"Focus! We're still in battle! Enel, get ready! Portal Three is about to open—unleash your full thunderstrike into the mirror!" Bins bellowed.

Thanks to the training under Bins, his orders carried weight. The entire team immediately focused as he spoke.

"Yes, understood!" Enel shouted.

"Three, two, one—Portal Three, open! Enel!" Bins called.

"Got it! Thunder release!" Enel roared as bolts of lightning surged from his hands and blasted into the wormhole.

"ROARRR!" Kaido punched again—but only hit empty air. Enraged, he howled furiously.

Then, more streams of cloud-river surged toward him. Kaido roared again, swinging his arms to disperse them—only to be struck by streaks of lightning riding along the cloud-rivers, coursing across his entire body.

The lightning might have been devastating to others—but to a freak like Kaido, it was barely even irritating.

"That didn't seem to do anything..." Enel muttered, watching through the portal. With his innate Observation Haki awakened since childhood—and enhanced even further by consuming the Rumble-Rumble Fruit—Enel could clearly perceive most of what was happening on the other side of the wormhole.

"Keep discharging!" Bins ordered.

Enel nodded, continuing to pour out high-voltage lightning.

While the lightning didn't physically harm Kaido, the continuous shocks did induce mild paralysis. That slight paralysis didn't do much alone—but as it accumulated, Kaido's movements began to slow ever so slightly. His massive strength and techniques weren't being fully unleashed.

"Now's our chance! Limit Break—Crushing Fist Barrage!" Rosinante saw the opening. He instantly silenced all internal limiters and threw his fists forward at blinding speed. One after another, powerful shockwave punches tore through the air.

He chose the Crushing Fist Barrage instead of the Ultimate move for a reason: the Ultimate move (Limit Break - Critical Blow) focused all power into a single explosive punch, but once that force left the fist, it scattered and lacked ranged impact. On the other hand, while the Crushing Fist had less power, it retained its force across distance—perfect for this moment.

With Kaido surrounded by electricity, Rosinante couldn't get too close without being electrocuted himself. Sure, he could silence the electricity using his Fruit ability, but doing so might inadvertently help Kaido recover.

That's why he opted for the Crushing Fist Barrage. Though the Ultimate Crushing Fist hurt his own body, now wasn't the time to worry about pain.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!—the barrage of punches slammed into Kaido, one after another.

"You bastard! Are you trying to tickle me?" Kaido growled, then swung a fist toward Rosinante—one that was still crackling with Enel's lightning.

"Not so fast!" Shaxia shouted. Seeing Kaido's punch heading for Rosinante, she summoned her cloud-rivers once more, wrapping tightly around Kaido.

Over the past year, Shaxia's strength had grown tremendously, and her Devil Fruit abilities had become much more powerful. One stream couldn't hold Kaido? Then she used two. Two not enough? Try three. Thirteen streams of raging cloud-river spiraled around him, unleashing a storm-like force that finally—finally—held Kaido in place!

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