The battle continued without pause as both sides pushed forward relentlessly.
Kaido, empowered by his awakened Devil Fruit, had greatly enhanced all his attributes. Yet even so, Marco's growth surpassed him in every aspect. After two hours of intense combat, Kaido's breathing grew heavy, his body finally showing clear signs of exhaustion.
He stared at Marco as if facing sothing beyond reason. It had only been half a year since their last fight. The gap between them should not have widened this much.
Kaido exhaled sharply and lowered his weapon. "Hmph… I'm done. You win."
The mont those words left his mouth, the mbers of the Phoenix Pirates erupted in cheers.
"Great, we won!"
"Marco won!"
"Captain Marco has reclaid the title of the strongest man in the world!"
"He's the leader of the Three Emperors Alliance now!"
Amid the excitent, Marco remained calm.
Back when he was at Strong Emperor Level, only his recovery had surpassed Kaido's. In every other aspect, Kaido had been superior.
Now, everything had changed.
All six of Marco's attributes had overtaken Kaido's. His mastery of Armant Haki, Observation Haki, and Conqueror's Haki had reached a higher level, and even his Devil Fruit had been developed further.
Kaido's Azure Dragon Fruit had only just reached initial awakening, with no refined awakening techniques. In contrast, Marco possessed the Flas of Destruction, a far more advanced ability.
At that mont, the system's voice echoed in his mind.
"Mission 'Vengeance' completed. Defeat Kaido. Reward, 10,000 attribute points."
A panel appeared before him, displaying updated missions.
Mission: Overthrow the World Governnt and Slay Imu
The World Governnt has ruled for eight hundred years and has beco rotten to the core. Overthrow it and eliminate Imu.
Reward: 50,000 attribute points
Bounty Objectives:
Kill a Celestial Dragon guard, reward 10 attribute points
Kill a CP0 mber, reward 200 attribute points
Kill a Celestial Dragon, reward 500 attribute points
Kill a Holy Knights mber, reward 5,000 attribute points
Kill a Gorosei, reward 10,000 attribute points
Kill Imu, reward 50,000 attribute points
Mission: Revenge
Eliminate the Blackbeard Pirates
Reward: 10,000 attribute points
Bounty Targets:
Captain Marshall D. Teach, 3,000 attribute points
Crew mbers, Shiryu, Jesus Burgess, Doc Q, and others, 500 attribute points each
Mission: Surpass the Old Era and Beco the Strongest of the New Era
Reach a bounty of at least 5,564,800,000 Berries and inherit Whitebeard's title as the strongest man in the world
Reward: 10,000 attribute points
Looking at the remaining missions, Marco quickly assessed the situation.
The third mission was already within reach. His performance in the Egghead Island War had surpassed Kaido, and now that Kaido himself had admitted defeat, recognition from the World Governnt and the Marines was only a matter of ti.
As for the bounty requirent, that was even simpler.
After the Whole Cake Island War, his bounty had already risen to 5.5 billion Berries. The remaining gap was negligible.
"Mama mama, looks like we finally have soone to lead us properly," Big Mom said with a grin.
In the past, the Three Emperors Alliance had effectively revolved around Kaido. At that ti, Kaido had defeated Marco, while Marco had defeated Big Mom, placing Marco in a strange position as the strongest individual without actual authority.
Marco never cared about leadership, while Big Mom used her influence to control the balance, preventing Kaido from consolidating power.
Later, during the Whole Cake Island War, the Phoenix Pirates had carried much of the effort. Kaido's delayed arrival caused dissatisfaction among both the Big Mom Pirates and Marco's crew.
Then ca the Egghead Island War, where Marco's overwhelming strength made any claim Kaido had to leadership irrelevant.
Now, despite suffering heavy losses across both wars, the alliance finally had a clear leader.
Kaido walked up to Marco, his expression serious.
"Marco, how did you beco this strong?"
He paused briefly before continuing.
"Do you really have power that goes beyond this world?"
The question imdiately drew everyone's attention. Even the Phoenix Pirates grew curious.
Marco rarely trained in any obvious way, yet his strength had grown at an unbelievable rate.
Vista and Jozu, who had known him for decades, felt this the most. Their strength used to be close, but ever since Whitebeard's death, Marco had left them far behind.
Marco looked at Kaido, then swept his gaze across Jozu and the others.
"You all want to know too?"
Jozu and the others laughed awkwardly.
"We are curious," Jozu admitted. "You don't seem to train much, but the gap keeps growing. If there's so kind of thod, we'd like to know."
Marco looked at them for a mont before speaking.
"There's only one reason my strength has reached this level."
Everyone leaned in slightly, their attention fixed on him.
"What is it?" soone asked.
Marco replied calmly, "Accumulation, followed by a sudden breakthrough."
The answer left everyone montarily silent.
Kaido snorted, clearly unconvinced. He understood that Marco had no intention of revealing the truth, so he did not press further.
Instead, he shifted the topic.
"Fine. Now that you're the leader of the Three Emperors Alliance, what are you planning to do next?"
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