Dire Situation and Revitalized Monster

__________ POV Narration__________

'Too late to chicken out now... I need to take one of them out, the other should be easier by default.'

Kaido immediately set his sights on Francisco.

'He's clearly the one with the least endurance, Garp can probably fight me for the next 3 days without any issues, but this old monster's already looking exhausted.'

And so, the plan became rather obvious, and the two old men knew it as well.

Kaido was well aware that Francisco was currently unable to even injure him properly. But he could still prove to be troublesome if he fought alongside Garp.

And so, Francisco became the main target, and Garp was the person he truly needed to watch out for.

Kaido's next move was to rush at them once more, he was confident that his stamina and strength exceeded that of his opponents.

That proved to be a big mistake though... Garp rushed and met him head-on, proving why exactly he was allowed to stand on the same stage as Roger and Xebec back in the day he stopped Kaido's club with one arm, slightly cracking it as he gripped it in his hand.

Kaido's eyes widened when seeing that, and his tail quickly turned to smack Garp away from him.

A flying slash stopped that from happening completely though, as Francisco circled around Kaido and attacked from a distance.

The flying slash parted the clouds around them, but ultimately only left a small mark on Kaido's skin.

Garp quickly took the opportunity that he had been given, his other arm quickly taking a jab at Kaido's chest, caving it in slightly and pushing the Dragon Emperor further.

'I can't fight Garp up close properly like this...' Kaido looked at Francsico hatefully, who was now standing off to the side a bit.

Garp himself was having a different perspective though.

'Even when using Shigan to that extent, he's still barely injured? I guess I had forgotten just how annoyingly thick his skin is...'

Garp had turned his entire fist into a 'Finger Gun' and he had hoped to at least spill some blood from the wound or pierce the skin a bit.

But the only result he had was a few drops of blood dripping from the corner of Kaido's lips.

At that point, Kaido decided to act, immediately turning back into his gigantic dragon form, as his enormous body pushed Garp away once more with the flick of a tail.

'I don't have to keep a hybrid from now... As long as Francsico can't cut me, I can go all out like this!'

And so, the fight continued on like that, with Garp jumping around and punching at Kaido, only for his attacks to be shrugged off, as Kaido's defences reached a new level while in full dragon form.

Still, every punch from Garp was slowly creating more and more internal injuries along the way. Francisco also constantly sent flying slashes his way, though Kaido could mostly ignore those, as they didn't even scratch his skin at that point.

Still, after constantly dancing around in the sky and trying to push Garp off his tail, the Dragon decided to attack the island below, giving the old men something to worry about.

Kaido reeled his head back and opened his gigantic maw.

"Kaifu!"(Demolishing Wind!) Hundreds of wind blades travelled at mad speeds towards the island, as Kaido kept his mouth open and swatted away Garp with his tail, ignoring the punch he received in the process.

Francisco jumped in front of those flying blades with a calm expression on his face, his hand turned into a blur as he released just as many flying slashes to counteract Kaido's attack.

Swift flicks of the wrist created large waves in the sea of clouds, as Francisco's flying slashes met the Wind Blades head-on.

It was unfortunately a contest of endurance though, as the wind blades and flying slashes were cancelling each other in the air, it was only a matter of who could produce more.

Francisco was starting to grow tired after a few seconds, but thankfully that was all they needed, as Garp managed to punch Kaido's mouth closed with a thunderous roar, cracking the giant Dragon's teeth as they clanged together.

The old swordsman was forced to land on the island's shore, as he could no longer keep jumping from cloud to cloud.

He sat down on the sand as he lamented the current situation.

'At this rate, we might really fail to protect the Sky Islands...'

His body's condition somewhat prevented him from aiding Garp properly, he was already running low on energy and the fight had barely even started.

'I guess Kaido did grow on to become pretty strong... This isn't good, though I am a bit proud.'

Francisco couldn't help but sigh in wonder at that. It felt somewhat surreal to see the giant dragon in the sky that was fighting Garp and even overpowering him slightly.

'To think this is the same Kaido that used to sail with me... Well, I guess he was always talented.'

"Well... This is looking like shit..." The old swordsman heard a voice from the side, to which he simply nodded his head.

"Language! But yes." The old swordsman snapped his head to the female voice that spoke out to him.

It was none other than Bonney, who was looking at the sky with a concerned gaze.

"Actually, is worse than you think. In my state, I can barely stop Kaido's attacks on this island, I'm not even sure I'll hold out for the next one..." Francisco said as Bonney walked up beside him and sat down near him.

"... Do you think Kaido will kill everyone here?" Bonney asked as she looked behind her with a frustrated gaze.

"Well, that wholly depends on who he takes more after, me or Xebec...

But after seeing how his subordinates carried themselves, I'd say chances are pretty high that he's going to kill everything with a pulse."

Bonney seemed to be scowling at that news, not that it made any difference to Francisco.

The old man finally managed to catch his breath as quickly straightened his back and prepared to jump back into the fight.

"Say... Would you have been able to win if you were younger?"

Francisco would've raised an eyebrow at that question if he had any. But he still decided to respond.

"Bah! I would be able to end the fight in a few swings! But those days are long behind me..."

The old man couldn't help but brag about his prime years. It was obvious that he was no humble pirate, and that he took quite a large amount of pride in his own strength.

"I see..." Bonney muttered as she slowly stood up and looked at Francisco's back.

It was only at that time that the old/near senile swordsman remembered Enel's explanation of Bonney's situation.

'Somehow possesses the ability to de-age living organisms... A devil fruit I've never heard of. But if she has it, then she can definitely help win us this fight!'

'Oh, right! Enel did tell us not to ask her to use her powers or force her to do so under any circumstance...'

The old man took a few seconds to ponder on that, before deciding that it was better to just request a quick helping hand against Kaido.

'I'd rather risk offending her than risk the safety of the people of Skypea any further, honestly. I'm sure Enel will understand.'

But he didn't even get to utter a word, as Bonney tapped him on the back before he even opened his mouth.

Francisco could feel his body shift instantly, and, for the first time in decades, Francsico's vision turned completely white.

For the better part of 40 years, he had only been 'staring' at a black void, no light to be felt or seen on his eyeball, that was because they were melted away.

At least they were supposed to be.

The old man quickly rubbed his face, only to notice that it was completely healed, he blinked a few times as his eyes adjusted to the light.

And for the first time in decades, Francisco could observe his surroundings directly. But he wasn't the only one noticing a change,

Bonney could also clearly see the changes.

'I just hope I didn't make a mistake...'

She looked at Francsico change in front of her, his grey hair turning a deep blonde, his golden locks flowing in the wind as he adjusted his sight.

His previously scarred body turned into the body that most men could only dream of achieving. He was still wearing the same clothes, a bottomed-up white shirt with rolled-up sleeves, loose pants and black boots.

But he was completely different. His presence alone spoke for itself.

She was even forced to take a step back. Sweating a bit as the second the old man turned younger his entire aura shifted.

From a laid-back old man on death's doorstep to a sharpened sword, his back standing straight, his spine no longer bent.

Bonney also clearly saw Francisco open his eyes, a pair of deep blue eyes greeting her. Those blue eyes looked absolutely mesmerized at her, making her blush a bit.

She quickly shook off that blush before Francisco noticed it and started teasing her though.

'Still, one thing is for sure... Francisco was damn handsome, in a rugged kind of way, I guess?

His thick blond goatee makes him look that way...

His looks are certainly more up my alley than Enel's though... Gah, those earlobes! How is he not even slightly insecure about them?!?'

Then, the old man looked at his own hand, still wearing the mechanical glove that he had been forcing himself to use in order to be useful in a fight.

With seemingly no effort, and with a great sense of familiarity, Francisco gripped his cutlass. The glove seemed to crack and explode almost instantly, unable to restrict his grip as the metal on his palm was almost ground to dust.

"Gihahihah! This, I can work with!" Francisco said confidently as he gripped his weapon with a smile on his face.

'That laugh though! What is he? A donkey?' Bonney couldn't help but sweat as she took another step back.

To say that Francisco was excited would've been a gross understatement, after all, for an 80-something-year-old man, going back to his thirties was a dream, a fantasy.

'I guess I'll have to drink a few barrels with Bonney to celebrate and thank her for this... That will come later though... The matter at hand is still more important.'

Francisco jumped up from the beach, creating a sonic boom with his speed as Bonney was almost sent flying backwards.

"Watch it Jerkass!" She complained as she wiped the sand from her eyes.

Kaido and Garp were still fighting. The Dragon Emperor took his attention away from Francisco after noticing that he was not much of a threat anymore.

Instead, he decided to focus fully on Garp, and try to throw him down to the lower seas.

After all, Kaido had an advantage in aerial combat.

Things were actually going well for Kaido though, Garp was even forced to take a tail swipe directly in order to redirect it from the Sky islands.

It was pretty clear to Kaido that he would win that fight thanks to the people Garp was trying to protect. He'd make sure to make their cremation as painless as possible as a form of thanks.

Unfortunately, he was snapped out of his thoughts as he felt a figure approaching him fast. His eyes widened, scoffing when feeling that it was just Francisco's aura that was approaching.

Swinging his blade towards him only once.

'That old bastard can't even reach me... Heh, what a-'

He didn't even get to finish his condescending and rude thoughts before a gigantic red flying slash pushed him backwards with great speed.

Francisco smiled when feeling the familiarity of his own strength. Kaido was sent flying like a worm in the wind, forced to pay dearly for his own carelessness.

Blood rained from the skies as Kaido's pained shout rang out for the world to hear.

As tough as the dragon's defences were, the flying slash still cut through him, threatening to cut him in two.

In the end, Kaido managed to resist getting cut in half, he quickly turned into his Hybrid form to try and avoid another slash, but no other attack came.

Even in Hybrid form, the wound was clearly visible, spanning from his upper left arm, which was hanging by a strip of muscle at that point, to his lower abdomen diagonally.

Kaido had turned completely white at that point, as he dropped his weapon and grabbed his damaged arm, trying to cauterize it in place.

The fear in Kaido's gaze only intensified when seeing Francisco's appearance though.

"Hmm... I was expecting you to be able to block that better... Well, whatever, I always wanted to try out dragon sushi~"

Francisco jumped a bit, imitating Garp's Geppo as he propelled himself forwards and stopped on a small cloud in front of Kaido.

'... A monster returned to full strength...' Kaido could only lament as he felt his wounds burn up in pain.

"Well, Kaido, old comrade of mine! You are in a bit of a pickle here, if I do say so myself! I'll give you a few options though, I'm generous like that...

One - You get to fight me to the death, which probably won't take long, by the way.

Two - You obediently get captured, and are to be held until my new captain returns to base."

Francisco tapped himself on the chest as he spoke, and Kaido could only sweat a bit, thinking about his choice as the shock of seeing the old monster as his younger self still weighed on his mind.

"I-..." 'What the hell do I do?!'

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Hope you liked the chapter!

Was a long time coming, huh? Kaido kinda got fucked, sadly.

My bad about yesterday too, was busy af

If u want to support me look up VeganMaster(Vegan Cult) on Patre_on, you'd also get 10 chapters in advance (or 5 depending on tier)