"Looks like the Big Mom Pirates are going to claim victory."
Kizaru, hiding on the opposite side of the battlefield and secretly observing the conflict, came to the same inevitable conclusion.
If nothing unexpected happened to change the tide...
Kizaru suddenly looked upward with growing concern.
The originally clear sky was suddenly covered by dark clouds that appeared from absolutely nowhere, as if a lead-gray roof had been placed over the heavens themselves.
Fierce winds suddenly began to blow between heaven and earth, causing the pirates' clothes and battle flags on the battlefield below to flutter and snap wildly in the supernatural gusts!
"Sorry everyone, I'm late."
A thunderous voice rang out powerfully from between the churning clouds.
"Hm? Didn't they say Kaido wouldn't come personally?"
Smoothie looked up sharply, her pupils contracting with obvious alarm. In the depths of those dark clouds, she could clearly see a long and massive dragon-shaped shadow swimming within, looking exactly like when Kaido made his dramatic appearances.
But then she realized with dawning understanding: "No, that's definitely not Kaido's voice."
"Hahaha! Of course it's not Kaido-aniki," Queen, who had been struggling desperately in dire straits, suddenly perked up with renewed energy.
Though he didn't want to admit it openly, that guy Kai truly possessed terrifying strength capable of completely overturning this war's outcome.
At this crucial moment, the victory between the Beast Pirates and the Charlotte Family remained undecided.
The dark clouds in the sky began spinning madly as if stirred by an invisible giant hand, forming a bottomless massive black vortex.
From the center of the vortex, a majestic emerald dragon head slowly emerged with divine authority.
"Oh! How lively this battle has become."
King swung his blade to force Katakuri back, taking the opportunity to speak: "Stop the dramatic chatter, Kai. Join the battle quickly."
"Understood completely, King-san."
With Kai's mental command, the dark clouds gathered in an instant with supernatural speed.
Within seconds, rain began falling from the sky, growing heavier and heavier until it became a torrential downpour.
In the distance, Kizaru's brow furrowed deeply, his entire face becoming like a bitter melon.
An unknown Mythical Zoan that could control weather patterns?
Isn't this just a smaller version of Kaido?
How did the Beast Pirates find this guy and keep him hidden until today?
Queen on the other side was quite irritated: "You idiot! What's the point of making it rain! Can rain actually kill anyone?!"
He also harbored another worry, fearing that Smoothie on the other side might use the rain to grow even larger and more dangerous.
Fortunately, the Wring-Wring Fruit didn't seem to possess that particular ability.
The agitated Queen completely failed to notice Smoothie's increasingly ugly expression.
She had thought of a terrible possibility.
"Don't be hasty about it. Look at Cracker over there. Yamato, attack now!" Kai spoke with calm authority.
On the current battlefield, the Beast Pirates and Charlotte Family were intermixed chaotically. There was no way to use large-scale attack techniques without harming allies.
But fortunately, Cracker on the field had the same critical weakness as Crocodile: he couldn't handle water.
No matter how hard the biscuits were made, biscuits could never become actual metal.
This was the fundamental nature of Devil Fruits.
Just like how the Nika Fruit was 100% immune to Lightning Fruit attacks, it was an insurmountable rule.
"Got it!"
Yamato responded enthusiastically and swung her kanabo toward the biscuit soldiers.
The next second, she noticed something was dramatically wrong.
"So easy! So easy! Hahahaha!"
Wherever Yamato's kanabo passed, the biscuit soldiers barely struggled before falling and shattering completely.
This was entirely different from their previous hard texture!
It was as easy as plowing a field!
"Sof-softened?!"
Queen was dumbfounded, then suddenly understood with dawning realization: "Using the rule that biscuits soften when wet? Kai, you clever bastard."
That's exactly right.
Softened biscuit soldiers couldn't even block Monkey D. Luffy's first-gear Gatling Gun.
"The last one!"
Yamato leaped up and raised her kanabo to smash toward the biscuit soldier containing Cracker's main body.
"Ice Execution Slash!"
The kanabo, wrapped in bone-chilling freezing air, crashed down with tremendous force.
"Don't underestimate me! You think mere rainwater can defeat me?!"
Cracker's face contorted as he roared from inside the biscuit soldier.
He frantically activated his Armament Haki, and pitch-black coloring instantly covered the entire biscuit soldier like a rising tide.
CLANG!
The kanabo and greatsword collided violently, producing a deafening clash of metal, with violent Haki lightning scattering in all directions.
He blocked it!
Cracker's tense nerves had just relaxed slightly, and the savage smile at the corner of his mouth hadn't fully bloomed.
CRACK!
A tiny fissure suddenly appeared on the surface of what should have been an indestructible biscuit greatsword.
Then, like ice struck by a stone, that crack spread at an alarming speed in a spider-web pattern, extending throughout the entire biscuit soldier's body.
CRASH!
The sturdy biscuit soldier could no longer hold together, collapsing like toppled building blocks and revealing the purple-haired, fierce-faced Cracker inside.
The kanabo continued its downward trajectory.
This is bad!
Seeing the situation turn dire, Cracker hastily raised his sword to block. Caught off guard, he couldn't resist at all and was directly sent flying by Yamato's devastating strike.
The tremendous force mixed with bone-chilling freezing air slammed into his body.
It hurts! It hurts so much!
Cracker struggled to steady himself, his entire face twisted into a knot from the intense pain, his whole body trembling uncontrollably.
What he feared most was physical pain. He couldn't even handle something as minor as an injection, which was why he always wrapped himself inside biscuit soldiers.
Cracker looked at Yamato charging at him again, a trace of wariness flashing in his eyes as he quickly moved his wrist, which had become somewhat stiff from the freezing air.
That woman's strength was ridiculously enormous, and that damned freezing air was unbearable.
"Again! Firecracker head!"
Yamato pressed forward with overwhelming momentum, wielding her kanabo as she charged again.
"Bastard! I told you to stop giving people random nicknames!"
Cracker was so angry that the flames at the tips of his two tufts of hair behind his head grew even larger.
Facing the fiercely approaching Yamato, he gripped his longsword tightly and boldly met her charge.
Though he was very afraid of pain, he also had reasons he couldn't lose!
"Thunder Bagua!"
"Wave Pretzel!"
Cracker and Yamato fought fiercely in brutal combat.
Kai no longer paid attention to that battle. He needed to find his own worthy opponent.
"Heat Wind Fist!"
A violent shout suddenly exploded, and the air instantly became scorching hot.
A burly figure flew toward Kai, his fist wrapped in rolling hot wind, striking toward Kai's massive dragon body.
Where the fist wind passed, raindrops falling from the air were instantly vaporized into white steam before they could get close, swirling around him in a hazy mist.
Oh? An opponent jumped out on their own?
Kai's eyes narrowed with interest. He didn't dodge or evade, allowing that scorching airflow hot enough to melt steel to strike his body directly.
The hot wind instantly swept across his entire form.
"Got him."
Charlotte Oven's face lit up with satisfaction.
He was a Heat-Heat Fruit user who could release heat at alarming temperatures.
The hot wind from that punch was so hot that even just grazing something would be enough to ignite an entire mountainside.
But the scene Oven had imagined, of Kai screaming and wailing in agony, never occurred.
"Is that all? This temperature is only fit for heating my bathwater."
From within the scorching airflow, Kai's playful voice suddenly rang out.