While Naruto and Garp exchanged casual banter between devastating punches, Kizaru found himself pushed to his absolute limits against Big Mom's overwhelming presence.
Initially, the Admiral had gained a significant advantage through the Glint-Glint Fruit's incredible speed, dancing around the Four Emperor like a golden phantom. His light-speed strikes peppered her massive form, denying her any opportunity to retaliate effectively.
Unfortunately, Kizaru's attacks, while precise and numerous, lacked the raw power needed to pierce Big Mom's legendary defenses. The shallow cuts and burns accumulating across her body served only to fuel her mounting rage rather than weaken her resolve.
Her fury was building to dangerous levels.
After missing several wild swings and strikes, Big Mom finally grasped the futility of trying to match Kizaru's mobility in direct combat. A cruel smile split her features as a different strategy formed in her mind.
If this buzzing fly wants to dance around me, then I'll create a cage he cannot escape.
Big Mom possessed far more devastating techniques than most people could imagine.
With her decision made, she deliberately tanked Kizaru's next barrage of laser strikes, using her Steel Balloon constitution to weather the assault while channeling her considerable power into her loyal Homies.
The thundercloudHomie "Zeus" began expanding at an alarming rate, its dark mass swelling until it dominated the sky above them.
"Tenjin!"
Big Mom's voice cracked like a whip across the battlefield. Countless serpents of pure electricity erupted from Zeus's bloated form, striking downward with indiscriminate fury.
Some people believed lightning speed approached light speed, but this was a fundamental misconception. While both phenomena moved too quickly for normal human perception, even at peak atmospheric conditions, lightning only reached roughly one-third of light speed. True light-speed movement would require electromagnetic waves propagating through a vacuum, but that was getting into unnecessary technical details.
Simply put, in any world, lightning could never match genuine light speed.
Unfortunately for Kizaru, his Glint-Glint Fruit couldn't achieve true light-speed movement either. More accurately, Kizaru himself couldn't handle such velocity.
Despite his masterful Observation Haki, he was forced to limit his movement speed to maintain control. At maximum velocity, even he couldn't adjust direction or distance precisely. The human mind, no matter how enhanced, had its limitations.
This fundamental restriction allowed Big Mom's dense lightning storm to completely saturate Kizaru's operational area, forcing him into continuous high-speed photonization just to avoid being roasted alive.
"Oh my, how terrifying..." he drawled, though his voice carried a slight strain despite the casual tone.
The sound, distorted by his rapid movement, only served to further enrage the Four Emperor.
But lightning was merely the opening act. Big Mom's true killing move was still in preparation.
"Navy, I hope you can maintain that arrogance in just a moment," she sneered, her mouth stretching into a grotesque grin that reached from ear to ear.
Without hesitation, Big Mom activated her Soul-Soul Fruit ability and began the painful process of cutting away portions of her own life force.
Witnessing this horrifying display while weaving between lightning strikes, Kizaru felt genuine alarm for the first time during their battle. His instincts screamed warnings, but stopping Big Mom's actions proved impossible from his current position.
Even when he briefly materialized to unleash concentrated laser beams that struck her center mass, she absorbed the punishment without flinching. The Steel Balloon's defensive capabilities were no mere boast.
Under Kizaru's increasingly concerned gaze, Big Mom completed the soul division, separating her essence into two substantial masses before infusing them into carefully selected objects.
The larger portion flowed into a massive boulder, which immediately sprouted a humanoid face and crude limbs. Though its rotund proportions made movement awkward, the raw power emanating from its form was undeniable.
The second soul mass merged with a nearby mirror that had somehow remained intact despite the surrounding destruction. The reflective surface instantly developed facial features and began emitting sharp, maniacal laughter.
"Go! Gaia, Artemis!"
"Yes! Mama!" boomed a deep, resonant voice.
"Okay Mama" chimed a higher, almost musical tone.
The contrasting voices marked these as high-level Homies, comparable to Zeus and Prometheus in power and sophistication. Creating such advanced beings required a tremendous sacrifice, as evidenced by the new wrinkles etching themselves across Big Mom's weathered face. Years of her life had just been consumed in moments.
Following their master's commands, both Homies immediately shifted into combat mode.
The boulder Homie Gaia underwent a dramatic transformation, its mass expanding dozens of times over. While retaining its comically stubby proportions, the sheer oppressive presence it radiated increased exponentially.
Kizaru puzzled over Big Mom's strategy in creating such a cumbersome stone giant when Gaia's true ability manifested.
"Come... down!" the massive creature roared, its voice shaking the very foundations of reality around them.
An invisible force field erupted from Gaia's core, wielding one of the universe's fundamental forces with casual ease. Gravity itself bent to the Homie's will, enhanced by the Soul-Soul Fruit's supernatural influence.
While the crushing gravitational field couldn't instantly halt Kizaru's movement, it severely hampered his speed and maneuverability. Maintaining constant photonization became a struggle as the enhanced gravity dragged at his light-form, causing him to be clipped by trailing lightning bolts several times.
Meanwhile, Artemis worked with disturbing efficiency. The mirror Homie laughed gleefully while generating additional reflective surfaces through some form of supernatural division. These mirrors rapidly formed an enormous dome around the thundercloud's area of effect, then began contracting inward with mechanical precision.
At that moment, even Kizaru's usually unflappable demeanor cracked as Big Mom's strategy became crystal clear.
Lightning continued its merciless bombardment from above while gravity pulled at him relentlessly, steadily reducing his speed and options. Every attempt to escape the thundercloud's range was thwarted by Artemis's mirrors, which reflected him back into the kill zone regardless of his approach angle.
Even canceling his elementalization at the moment of contact proved useless. These weren't simple mirrors, after all. Big Mom had sacrificed a full year of her lifespan to create them, and such a costly investment would be wasted on mere reflective surfaces.
Artemis's special ability fell under the classification of "reflection," but with supernatural enhancement. Only physical attacks of sufficient raw power could shatter the barriers it created. For natural phenomena like light, which were inherently susceptible to reflection, its suppressive capabilities were magnified tremendously.
Yet all of this elaborate preparation served merely to create environmental advantages that restricted Kizaru's movement. The real killing blow was still being prepared beyond his sight.
The mirror blockade prevented him from observing Big Mom's actions outside the trap. Even more disturbing, his Observation Haki was being "reflected" back by those cursed mirrors, leaving him blind to incoming threats.
However, Kizaru belonged to the same generation of marine prodigies as Aokiji and Akainu. His usual lack of motivation masked a brilliant tactical mind that could rise to any challenge when circumstances demanded it. There was truth in the old saying: you could pretend to be weak, but you couldn't actually be weak and survive at this level.
"Huh..."
Kizaru suddenly abandoned his light form mid-flight, allowing his human body to plummet through the air while using Armament Haki to absorb the lightning serpents' electric fury. His flesh burned and muscles spasmed from the electrical assault, but he endured it all with grim determination as gravity dragged him earthward.
This descent was exactly what he needed.
The golden "Ama no Murakumo Sword" materialized in his grasp, its ethereal form solidifying as Armament Haki wrapped around the construct like living shadow. Few people had ever witnessed this typically lazy Admiral employ Haki in serious combat.
As mentioned before, Devil Fruit abilities were simply too convenient for most situations.
"Teacher Zephyr, if you were here, please don't scold me again," he murmured with genuine affection, drawing upon techniques his former instructor had drilled into him through countless training sessions.
The black-gold Ama no Murakumo Sword descended from heaven like divine judgment, striking directly at Gaia's core with all of Kizaru's accumulated momentum behind it.
Simultaneously, Big Mom positioned herself outside the mirror dome, using her telepathic connection with the Homies to pinpoint Kizaru's exact location despite the visual obstruction.
"Elbaf Spear: Ikoku!"
The massive purple slash erupted from Napoleon's edge, tearing through the air with enough force to split islands. Combined with Gaia's crushing presence, the attack completely engulfed Kizaru's descending form in a maelstrom of destructive energy.