*Chapter 280: Jack vs Kaido*

Jack's bold statement left everyone stunned, mouths agape in shock.

Instinctively, the crowd looked up at the person sitting high above in the stands.

Kaido grinned, showing a hint of interest on his face.

"You want to challenge me? You're a brave one! You gain a bit of insignificant power and suddenly dare to bare your fangs at me."

"Alright, I'll allow it. If you can hold your own against King, I'll let you challenge me!"

"But if you get killed... Wahahaha!"

Kaido's wild laughter echoed throughout the hall.

The next moment, the entire crowd burst into cheers.

It had been a long time since they'd seen Boss Kaido fight.

Lately, he only fought powerful enemies outside; they hadn't even had the chance to watch.

Now, with Jack daring to challenge him, they were in for a real show.

As for the fear of getting hurt in the aftermath?

If they were afraid of getting hurt, they wouldn't have ventured out to sea to make money in the first place.

"Heh heh!"

Jack sneered, reaching behind himself.

To the horror of the crowd, he pulled out his own spine.

Even more shocking, the spine kept growing, extending rapidly.

Strange patterns appeared on it, and rows of long bones grew from its sides.

But Jack acted as if nothing was wrong, twisting his neck with ease.

His greedy eyes glanced at the onlookers outside.

They were all just good nourishment for him.

They would help him grow stronger.

"This guy..."

Even Kaido was startled.

He thought he was a freak, but Jack had just taken it up a notch.

Looking at Jack now, he didn’t even seem human anymore.

If Kaido hadn't already known him, he would’ve thought some lunatic had escaped from somewhere.

"Ahh, I feel amazing right now," Jack said, sighing with pleasure, a twisted smile on his face.

The bone greatsword in his hand was covered in strange markings, looking as if blood swirled around it.

It was terrifying, and even King was stunned by the scene in front of him.

"Brother King, are you ready? I'm coming!" Jack snarled, charging forward.

The Devil Fruit? It didn’t matter anymore.

The Devil Fruit's boost was too weak for him.

If he had found this power earlier, Jack would never have eaten a Devil Fruit.

"Come on!"

King drew his long sword, and the flames behind him suddenly flared up.

Boom!

The two stood in the center of the arena!

The moment they collided, a fierce windstorm erupted across the stage.

Crack!

The platform started to crack and splinter.

The audience gasped in shock and ran for cover.

After a few steps, rocks exploded and scattered everywhere.

The shockwave alone had already shattered the arena.

"Oh no! My carefully built stage! I haven't even sung on it yet!"

Queen screamed instinctively.

Quietly, he pulled a microphone from his pocket, tears of sorrow streaming down his face.

He had meticulously crafted this stage for singing and dancing at banquets.

But now, he hadn't even danced on it once.

Boom! Boom!

The fight above showed no sign of stopping, despite Queen's wails.

Jack and King kept clashing.

Bone and sword collided again and again.

Sparks flew.

Jack's bone greatsword broke off in pieces.

But thanks to his Ghost Blood Technique, it quickly repaired itself at an alarming speed.

"Let me show you the gap between us!"

Flames flickered in King's eyes.

Jack's strength increased again.

But King hadn't been wasting time either.

"Flame Dragon Emperor!"

Whoosh!

The flames behind King surged, engulfing his entire sword.

A sea of fire roared around them, and the terrifying heat made the wooden building seem like it might catch fire.

Before Jack could respond, a fire dragon formed from the flames, swallowing him whole.

King knew that with Jack's Ancient Zoan abilities, he wouldn’t die so easily.

At most, he would be severely injured and need time to recover.

You had to be tough when disciplining subordinates.

They didn’t respect you because they thought you were weak.

At times like these, you had to show that you were even stronger.

Boom!

The entire platform was engulfed in flames.

The members of the Beasts Pirates clasped their hands together, praying for Jack.

After all, only Jack could provoke Lord King like this.

The other members of the Beasts Pirates couldn’t pull off such arrogance.

No doubt about it, Jack was something else!

"Hey, hey, hey! King, you haven’t won yet!"

Just as King was about to sheath his sword, a voice came from the sea of flames.

A massive dark silhouette pushed through the fire, slowly walking forward.

Jack staggered, his entire body unrecognizable.

One arm looked nearly roasted.

But then something unbelievable happened.

Jack's wounds started to heal rapidly.

His recovery was visible to the naked eye.

Even the roasted arm was back to normal in seconds.

"You haven’t beaten me yet!"

Jack felt a surge of power in his body and roared furiously at Jin.

Although he recovered quickly, it made him even hungrier.

He desperately needed to eat something to regain his strength.

Jack remembered the potions Kakashi had given him earlier.

These potions could help him overcome some of the side effects of being a demon, like needing to eat.

As long as he consumed a small amount of blood, it would work as a substitute for food.

However, that was the bare minimum needed to sustain his energy. In a fight, he'd burn through it much faster.

So Jack didn’t think much of it at all.

He had already abandoned his humanity, so why should he care about side effects?

"I'm starving! After I deal with you, I need to fill my belly."

Jack licked his lips, giving Jin a once-over.

But he quickly looked away. He couldn't make a move on Jin just yet.

"With that kind of recovery power! Ooooh, looks like you got something good there, but I wonder just how far that recovery can go," Kaido mused.

"Could he possibly turn into an immortal monster like me?"

Kaido didn’t expect Jack’s recovery ability to be this strong.

This clearly wasn’t from an ancient Zoan fruit.

The power Jack was displaying already had Kaido amazed.

If he truly had the power of immortality, Kaido figured he’d have to hand over that title to Jack.

Then he could go defeat Whitebeard and become the so-called strongest man in the world.

"Boom!"

Jack, eager to end things quickly, attacked Jin recklessly without caring about his injuries.

It looked brutal—his body was already covered in countless wounds in such a short time.

Blood poured out, and at a glance, it seemed like Jack was on the verge of death.

But then, everyone saw Jack rapidly healing before their very eyes.

Even his hand, which had been sliced in half, was back to normal in an instant.

The crowd looked on in shock, not expecting Jack to turn into such a monster.

"Does his recovery know no limits?"

Jin dodged Jack's attacks again and again, noticing that the injuries he inflicted were healing in no time.

The face beneath Jin's mask began to twist in frustration.

Why is everything in Dressrosa so strange?

And also—

Why do these idiots like to share everything with others?

Most people hoard their secrets, afraid of someone else discovering their power.

But the people of Dressrosa? They seem obsessed with sharing everything.

What on earth is Dressrosa protecting?

How many monsters have they created on the seas?

Jin was exhausted from trying to fend off Jack!

This guy had no fear of death, and that made Jin hesitant and cautious in the fight.

Jack might not fear death or injury, but that didn’t mean Jin wasn’t afraid!

And Jack's bone knife, it was like it had eyes.

Sometimes it would even bend, and if Jin wasn’t careful, he’d get hurt.

Jin felt like his kidney had already been stabbed.

Jin thought his own recovery ability was quite strong.

Back in Dressrosa, they had experimented on him, giving him wood-style chakra and more.

That doubled his recovery speed compared to what it had been before.

A serious injury would usually heal with just a bit of bandaging and some rest.

But this wound? Jin figured it’d take him at least a full day to recover.

"Boom!"

As the two exchanged blows, a massive spiked club came crashing down from the sky.

Both Jack and Jin noticed it and instinctively stepped back a few paces.

Then, a huge figure descended.

“Ooooh, Jin, you probably can’t fully test this kid’s strength!”

“This kid has gotten way stronger—this isn’t just a little improvement. Let me handle this,” Kaido said with a grin as he landed in front of Jack.

The more he looked at Jack, the more pleased he was.

But Kaido felt like Jack still hadn’t unleashed his full power.

Maybe it was because Jin wasn’t strong enough to push him to his limits.

You couldn’t exactly have Jin open the Eight Gates just to fight Jack, right?

They were here to test their subordinates, not kill each other.

“Kaido-sama!”

“Jack-sama, show us your limits!”

“That’s right! You can’t just talk big!”

As Kaido appeared, the crowd began cheering and shouting encouragement.

But most of them were just there to stir things up.

They wanted to see how badly Kaido would beat Jack.

They only cared about enjoying the fight.

"Boss, I was planning on challenging Jin first before coming for you," Jack said with a grin.

Kaido was imposing, but Jack knew one thing—

Kaido couldn’t kill him!

The only thing that could end him was the sun.

“Hahahaha! You’ve already shown your strength. You definitely have what it takes to challenge me.”

“There’s no need to wait. Let’s see what kind of progress you’ve made!” Kaido laughed loudly. He didn’t expect Jack to play by the rules like this.

No!

Defying his superior—this was hardly following the rules.

But Kaido didn’t care about that stuff.

Pirates lived for freedom.

On this ship, there were plenty of people who’d love to take Jack’s place.

Kaido never cared about things like that!

"Then let me show you my immortality!"

Jack sneered, boldly revealing his power.

"Immortality?"

Kaido raised an eyebrow. Was Jack sick or something?

He dared to claim immortality in front of Kaido?

Could he really grow a new head after losing the old one?

That was clearly impossible.

"Bring it on!"

Jack charged at Kaido recklessly.

"Thunder Bagua!"

A spark of electricity flashed in Kaido's eyes, and his spiked club crackled with black lightning.

In the next moment, he swung it down hard on Jack’s head.

“Crap!”

Kaido sensed something was off.

Jack, that idiot, hadn’t even used Armament Haki to defend himself.

Kaido knew exactly how hard he had struck.

Only people on his level could take a hit like that head-on.

But clearly, Jack wasn’t at that level yet.

But by the time Kaido realized, it was too late to pull back!

“Boom!”

Jack’s body flew backward like a cannonball.

Blood sprayed through the air, and his bone knife was shattered.

Everyone froze in place, not expecting Jack to go down so easily.

They couldn’t believe Jack hadn’t even blocked one of Kaido’s attacks.

“Hahahaha! This kid thinks that just because he gained new powers, he doesn’t need to defend himself? What a fool,” Kaido muttered, feeling a bit regretful. He hadn’t planned on using his full strength to teach Jack a lesson.

He hadn’t expected his subordinate to be this stupid!

Not even defending against his deadliest attack.

“Crack!”

At that moment, a sound came from the pile of rubble where Jack had landed.

Everyone turned to look and saw Jack reaching up to move the rocks off himself.

They finally got a good look at Jack’s sorry state. Half of his head was gone, and he was covered in blood, looking like a terrifying, blood-soaked creature from hell.

“He’s still moving!”

“No, look closely—his head is healing!”

“That guy’s a monster!”

“How can he recover from that kind of wound? He really is a monster!”

The crowd watched in awe as the flesh on Jack’s head slowly knit itself back together. In mere moments, Jack’s head had fully healed, with no sign of injury left.

This horrifying recovery left everyone stunned.

While there were many powerful abilities on the seas,

Jack’s power clearly didn’t belong to the usual category.

This guy was truly a monster.

“There’s actually someone more of a monster than me?” Kaido said, his eyes wide in disbelief.

If Jack could recover from such a wound, did that mean he really was immortal?

“Hahahahaha! See? I wasn’t lying! I’m already immortal.”

“Even your Thunder Bagua can’t kill me.”

“So? How do you like my immortality?”

Jack stood up proudly, grinning as he saw the shock on Kaido’s face.

He loved seeing Kaido caught off guard like this.

(End of Chapter)