"Mahapadma!"
Elior whispered the name of his ultimate technique in his mind. In an instant, a shimmering ice-blue sphere erupted from his body, expanding to a radius of nearly thirty meters. This was the largest manifestation of his time-freeze domain so far — and from this moment onward, everything within the area, except Elior himself, was completely frozen in time.
Or rather… halted.
Kaido, mid-air and mid-swing with his kanabo, was suddenly locked in place, stuck in the same ferocious pose.
Inside, Kaido was in disbelief. He couldn't move — at all.
Only now did Kaido recall the warning Jack once gave him — how Elior's powers were bizarre, involving the freezing of time itself. Rumor even had it that Admiral Akainu had suffered from this power and paid a steep price.
Kaido had dismissed it then. He hadn't taken Elior seriously.
But now, frozen in time by that very ability, Kaido finally understood how terrifying it was.
For someone of Kaido's strength to be suspended like this — it was unthinkable.
"You think this is cheating, Kaido?" Elior said with a grin. "But hey, I'm not exactly a demon."
"Just like this is your strongest form… this is my ultimate technique."
Of course, Kaido couldn't hear him — not while frozen in Elior's domain.
A technique with no counter in a duel: Mahapadma.
A technique unbeatable in group combat: Ice Cavalry.
These were Elior's two trump cards.
He clenched his fists, then launched a punch. White air-pressure spiraled around his knuckles.
This was his strongest brute force, fused with the secret Rokushiki technique: Rokuogan — the Six King Gun.
His monstrous strength, amplified by the pinnacle of martial arts, raised the destructive potential of this attack several levels. But the cost was equally steep. Using this alongside the time-freeze drained Elior immensely.
As Kaido hung frozen mid-air, the world seemed to pause. The only person who remained calm was Gion. Everyone else watched in stunned horror.
"Kaido... he's not going to lose, right?" asked Tokikake uneasily.
The very thought unsettled him — and likely Fleet Admiral Sengoku too.
BOOM!
The punch landed. Elior believed it could probably shatter a small island. It crashed into Kaido's chest with a thunderous explosion that echoed across hundreds of meters.
The sound was deafening—but what couldn't be seen was even more terrifying: Kaido's chest caved inward from the strike. Elior could clearly hear the sound of bones snapping.
Kaido's expression didn't change. He was still frozen. Oblivious.
But then, the time-freeze faded.
Kaido suddenly felt a monstrous wave of pain flood through his body. His mind reeled in shock.
And then Elior twisted his fist and delivered a follow-up, slamming Kaido away like a cannonball, sending him flying toward the Beasts Pirates' fleet.
"Go crawl back to the far end of the New World, Kaido!" Elior roared.
Kaido's enormous body blasted through the air like a missile, dragging behind it two thick trails of white pressure. The frozen ground cracked, split open in a direct line from the impact force.
Meanwhile, Urouge was getting pummeled by two of the Tobiroppo — Black Maria and Sasaki. Both of them had transformed into their full dinosaur hybrid forms and were relentlessly chasing him down. Yet the more they beat him, the more he smiled—clearly enjoying the pain, to their increasing frustration.
"He's getting stronger the more we hit him!" Maria snapped.
"Sasaki, we need to end this—now. Use your strongest attack!"
"Right!"
The two launched Urouge away with coordinated strikes—not their finisher yet, but enough to create space.
But then something terrifying happened.
From a distance came a colossal boom.
They turned instinctively—and saw a massive shadow rocketing toward them like a warhead.
It was Kaido.
"What the hell—!?"
Sasaki raised his arms, ready to blow the object apart.
"Sasaki! That's Kaido-sama!"
"Nani!?"
Even with the time-freeze lifted, Kaido couldn't control his flight path. His body was too damaged. Sasaki froze in confusion, and in the next instant—
CRASH!!
Kaido slammed into both of them, sending all three flying into the Beasts Pirates' fleet. The main ship was completely destroyed in the impact.
Kaido coughed up six mouthfuls of blood, his vision blurring. Had his skin not already been so dark, he would've been deathly pale. He nearly passed out.
He was heavily injured.
Even though Elior hadn't fully pierced his defenses, the shock of the blow was like being hit through a mountain—his ribs shattered, his internal organs crushed.
That was the power of Elior: his monstrous strength combined with the ultimate Rokushiki technique.
Elior couldn't help but wonder — had that punch rivaled a blast from the Ancient Weapon Pluton?
Maybe.
But one thing was certain—the combined cost of the time-freeze and that punch was staggering.