Vice Captain of the Straw Hat Pirates

Liam checked Luffy's condition and realized his situation was bad. Although Luffy did quite a lot of damage to Kaido, he suffered even more damage to his hand.

"Thankfully, his devil fruit isn't a Paramecia."

Liam took out several pieces of meat that had been kept inside a large cloth.

Sniff! Sniff!

"Meat!"

When Luffy smelled meat, he opened his eyes full of energy and took several bites.

"Since you are awake, just eat and recover. It's my turn now."

Although Luffy's attack was strong, he didn't think it was powerful enough to defeat Kaido.

This was the man who fought Nine Scabbards, Five Supernova, Yamato, and Gear Fifth Luffy.

To understand the durability of this man, he tanked the attacks from all Nine Scabbards, let supernovas attack him several times, faced Yamato until she could no longer fight, and finally fought Gear Fifth Luffy.

The same Luffy went on to almost one-shot Lucci. The only reason why it came so close was that he played with Lucci too much.

Otherwise, that would have been a one-shot battle.

But the same guy later went on to fight Zoro for a while until Zoro used his strongest state to defeat him.

Nine Scabbards could be considered a level closer, if not equal, to Vice Admirals.

Supernova were stronger than Vice Admirals. Among the five Supernovas, Luffy was infinitely closer to the Admiral candidate, while the other four were equal, if not several times stronger than Vice Admirals.

Yamato was almost an admiral-level candidate, if equal to the admirals like Aramaki and Fujitora based on what they have shown.

Gear Fifth Luffy was an Emperor-Level powerhouse. His Haki was all advanced. His devil fruit was awakened, and despite being in low health, especially after his death, he was still able to fight Kaido on equal terms.

Of course, Kaido was also in a similar situation, but that just showed how powerful Luffy was in his Gear Fifth Form.

That's why even though his Galaxy Blast's firepower surpassed any other attacks that Luffy has learned, including Thousand Hands Cannon, it wasn't enough to take down someone like Kaido.

Just as he expected, only two minutes later, Kaido, in his Dragon Form, arrived in front of them.

There was a huge burn mark on his face that surprised both Luffy and Liam.

"Wororo! That was a powerful attack, Straw Hat. I admit that you are reaching the same level as me, but it's not enough."

Kaido didn't care about the wound. His voice was even more excited as he talked about Luffy's previous attack.

"That's why your next opponent is gonna be me." Liam spoke as he moved toward Kaido using Geppo.

"Boy, this time, I won't hold back. If you don't give it your all, I will kill you." Kaido roared as he turned into his human beast form.

Several large thunderclouds emerged above their heads. The sea began to form several whirlpools, and the ground beneath them began to cool down into a black island.

[Roaring Thunder Eight Trigrams]

Kaido instantly appeared in front of Liam and slammed his mace forward. The purple lightning coated his mace alongside a strong Armament Haki as it moved forward.

[Galaxy Divide]

Liam turned a fist-type attack into a sword-type attack by converting its name. Galaxy Divide was almost the same as Divine Departure except it had stronger destructive force.

With Liam's perfect control over his Advance Conqueror Haki, this technique flawlessly appeared in his sword.

Bang!

A large gap emerged between a sword and a mace. This gap created a vortex-like structure that caused the atmosphere to shake.

A powerful bolt of black lightning rose toward the sky and cleared the dark clouds.

'Splitting the Heaven'

Kaido's eyes almost widened in shock because he expected Liam's Haki to be weaker than Luffy after he wasn't the Captain.

Instead, he found Liam's Haki to be stronger than Luffy, which almost made him mentally unstable.

How could a Captain's Conqueror Haki be weaker than his vice-captain's?

But Kaido was a veteran pirate and fighter. He quickly noticed the difference between Liam and Luffy's Conqueror Haki.

There was a huge difference in quantity and quality.

Conqueror Haki wasn't something like mana. A person could control it, but it didn't mean he could weaken it.

Every time Advance Conqueror was used, it must be used to its full capacity. Of course, the potency and quality of Haki could fluctuate based on the state of a fighter.

This was where Kaido found the difference between Liam and Luffy's Haki. If Liam's Haki was a two-story tall building, then Luffy's Conqueror Haki was a five-story tall building.

But Liam's building was reinforced with concrete, had a strong foundation, and had many things inside.

Luffy's building wasn't reinforced, nor did it have anything inside. Even its foundation was a bit shaky due to its height.

Because of this, Liam's attack held stronger power than Luffy's, even though he lacked quantity.

"Boy, how did you learn Conqueror Coating with such a weak Willpower?"

Kaido asked as he pulled back his mace and landed on the ground. The island had changed from molten lava to dark earth.

Unlike the other two types of Haki, Conqueror required strong Willpower. Even if Kaido knew he couldn't bring down the World Government, he was never afraid of it.

Even though Whitebeard knew he would be sacrificed in the War, he was never afraid of it.

Emperors could be weak, but they would never fear a battle. That's why their Haki was enormous and strong.

Liam's Haki was weak, similar to Katakuri. That's why he couldn't understand why Liam was able to learn Conqueror coating.

After all, someone like Katakuri had been a pirate his entire life and had to fight from the early age of a teenager.

But even so, he never managed to learn Advance Conqueror. Was it because he wasn't talented enough?

No, Kaido had seen his devil fruit and even his mastery over his Observation Haki.

To make something like Mochi into a deadly weapon needed a lot of talent, not to mention learning Advance Observation Haki.

But even so, Katakuri wasn't able to learn Advance Conqueror Haki. Because his Willpower was weak.

He wanted to protect his brothers and sisters from his mother, but he never thought of going against her Will.

This weak mentality was the reason behind his weak Conqueror Haki. That's why Kaido thought.

But seeing how Liam turned such a weak Conqueror Haki into a deadly weapon, he couldn't help but question his previous thoughts.

"I cheated." Liam had no reason to lie. He didn't think he could hide the power of his devil fruit for much longer.

"I used my devil fruit to grant me Conqueror Haki."

When Kaido heard that answer, he thought for a moment and laughed.

"Worororo! That means I am not wrong. Although I don't know what kind of devil fruit grants such a power, it doesn't matter. Because my Haki is stronger than yours."

As he spoke, a large amount of Armament Haki coiled around his mace. The purple lightning suddenly flashed off his mace before Kaido disappeared in front of him.

In an instant, he appeared next to Liam, so fast that his Observation Haki wasn't even able to perceive it until Kaido was already there.

No, it was able to perceive his action. But by the time his Observation Haki sent the information to his brain, Kaido was already there.

Liam grabbed the hilt of his sword with all of his strength and spun. He swung his sword with all of his power.

Armament Haki and Conqueror Haki coiled in his sword as it collided against Kaido's mace.

[Destroyer of Death Thunder Bagua]

[Against the Gods]

Bang!

Two different attacks collided with so much force that it broke the ground beneath them. Although Liam put a lot of strength into his attack, it wasn't enough.

Kaido's mace broke through Liam's attack and struck his chest with all of its force.

Liam kept his grip on the sword, but he sent it flying. Without Geppo, he would have fallen to the ground, but Luffy instantly appeared behind him and caught him.

"Liam, how are you?" Luffy anxiously asked.

That attack was too powerful. He could see it because Kaido put a lot of Conqueror Haki and Armament Haki into his attack.

Not to mention, it was backed by his powerful strength. More importantly, Liam didn't possess a mythical Zoan like him.

"Cough!"

Liam coughed out blood as he started kicking the air and left Luffy's hands.

"Don't worry, I was able to block his attack."

Liam gritted his teeth as he felt some wounds opening his chest. As blood flowed out, he realized Kaido had destroyed his chest with that attack.

"To be honest, if I hadn't used that medicine to increase my Haki amount, I would've been dead in that attack."

At this moment, he fully understood why Luffy, who had defeated Katakuri, lost to Kaido in a single strike, and that strike wasn't even his strongest attack.