"Damn it! Is the gap really this big?"
Perospero gripped his candy cane tightly, shock reverberating through his chest like thunder.
You have to understand, there are no shortcuts to improving Conqueror's Haki. It only strengthens as the user's own power increases through countless battles and trials.
Just Oni Princess Yamato alone made them struggle desperately, and beside her stood Natural Disaster Kai himself.
At this crucial moment, an explosive shout rang out across the deck.
"Go to hell, bastard!"
The humiliation and hatred that had festered for three long years erupted like a volcano finding release. Oven's eyes turned bloodshot as prominent veins bulged across his forehead with barely contained rage.
His massive arms instantly became like red-hot branding irons, radiating terrifying heat that could distort the very air around them into shimmering waves.
"Taste the results of my three years of relentless training!"
"Ultimate Heat Wind Fist!"
Oven roared with primal fury and leaped upward, his fists wrapped in super-high-temperature air that could instantly melt steel, blasting toward Kai with devastating intent.
However, facing this terrifying strike capable of burning mountains and boiling seas to nothing, Kai remained standing calmly in place, not even bothering to lift an eyelid in acknowledgment.
"If you want to fight Kai, you'll have to get past me first!"
"Mahoraga!"
Yamato blocked protectively in front of Kai, rapidly swinging her kanabo as an extremely condensed freezing slash swept outward like a glacier given violent motion.
BOOM!
As the kanabo and burning fist made thunderous contact, freezing air and scorching wind collided in a spectacular display. Extreme cold and extreme heat crashed together, immediately erupting in earth-shaking sounds that echoed across the deck.
Large amounts of white high-temperature steam shot skyward like geysers, instantly enveloping the entire deck in a thick, choking cloud.
Thud thud thud!
In the steamy mist that obscured all vision, Oven's figure flew backward in complete embarrassment, his feet plowing two deep furrows in the reinforced deck before retreating more than ten steps to barely stabilize his battered form.
He breathed heavily like a wounded animal, the red color on his superheated arms having dimmed considerably. He had clearly suffered greatly in that brutal head-to-head collision.
Before he could even catch his breath properly, a clear challenge cut through the chaos.
"Ice Slash!"
A clear, cold shout rang out as the white wolf-person tore through the concealing steam with predatory grace, leaping high above Oven's vulnerable head.
Yamato gripped her kanabo tightly with both hands, pouring all her considerable strength and freezing energy into the weapon as she prepared to smash down toward Oven's skull with lethal intent.
Perospero's pupils contracted sharply with alarm as he hurriedly waved his ornate candy cane.
"Candy Wall!"
Purple-red syrup flowed rapidly from his weapon, quickly forming a protective hemisphere above Oven's exposed head.
BOOM!
The moment the kanabo contacted the candy barrier, freezing air exploded thunderously, spreading across the entire defensive structure like wildfire.
The thick candy wall became covered with a layer of solid ice at visible speed, frost racing across its surface.
"Blocked it." Perospero felt a moment of pleased satisfaction.
But before his victorious smile could fully bloom across his features, dense and clear cracking sounds reached his increasingly worried ears.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Starting from the exact point where the kanabo had struck, the brittle frozen candy wall surface showed countless spiderweb-like cracks without any warning.
The structural failures spread rapidly, instantly covering the entire hemisphere like a disease.
CRASH!
Under Perospero's shocked and horrified gaze, his proud candy wall that could normally withstand heavy cannon bombardment shattered into countless glittering fragments.
Having demolished the obstacle completely, the kanabo's devastating momentum didn't decrease in the slightest as it continued straight for the defenseless Oven below.
"Bone-Scorching Blazing Hell Storm!"
In this critical moment of mortal peril, Oven roared as he pushed his Heat-Heat Fruit powers to their absolute limit, extending both arms and thrusting his palms forward with desperate energy.
Whoosh! A violent, blazing hot wind, resembling solar flares erupting from the sun's surface, burst from his palms and completely enveloped Yamato in superheated air.
The atmosphere was instantly ignited, and the Queen Mama Chanter's solid deck made from precious Treasure Tree Adam spontaneously combusted, becoming a raging sea of fire in seconds.
The terrifying heat waves made even distant Perospero and the other Charlotte family members feel their skin burning uncomfortably.
"Turn to charcoal in my heat wind that burns everything! Hahaha!"
Oven laughed maniacally with renewed confidence. "I originally wanted to save this ultimate move for that bastard Kai, but since you're seeking death so eagerly, I'll test it on you first!"
But the next second, his harsh laughter stopped abruptly, like a duck being strangled.
From the heart of the raging sea of fire, a figure glittering with icy cold light rushed out without any obstruction whatsoever.
It was Yamato, completely unharmed.
She was covered in a layer of protective ice armor that sparkled like diamonds.
BANG!
A crisp sound like a mirror shattering exploded across the deck.
Under Oven's despairing and unbelieving gaze, the ice coating on Yamato cracked and fell away, revealing her completely uninjured form beneath.
"Hmph, is this really all you've got after three years?"
Yamato pursed her lips with obvious disappointment written across her features. "Then this ends here and now!"
Before her dismissive words had fully finished echoing, her figure had already disappeared like a ghost.
The next second, a white kanabo rapidly enlarged in Oven's terrified pupils.
BANG!
In the dull, thunderous sound of impact, Oven was blasted away like a broken doll without any resistance, falling straight toward the churning sea beyond the ship's protective rail.
"Oven!"
Daifuku hurriedly rubbed his round belly with frantic energy.
A giant lamp genie made of thick purple smoke instantly formed and rushed toward the falling Oven with desperate speed.
At the critical moment, the lamp genie's massive palm barely managed to catch Oven just before he would have touched the deadly water.
Perospero and the other Charlotte family members finally breathed a collective sigh of relief. If Oven had fallen into the sea, it would spell disaster, as they were all Devil Fruit users and couldn't easily rescue him from drowning.
"Damn Oni Princess!"
Amande's eyes shot out cold light like daggers as her slender fingers instantly pressed against her sword hilt, directing murderous killing intent at Yamato.
But Kai's calculating gaze swept past her like she was insignificant dust, turning instead to address Perospero directly.
"Do you really want to continue this pointless conflict? For the sake of the relationship between your captain and our captain, I can forgive your brother's rash behavior just now."
He paused deliberately, his tone suddenly turning dangerously cold. "But my patience has very definite limits."
These condescending words with their implied threats made Perospero's face twitch involuntarily, his already gloomy expression instantly turning an ugly liver color.
Since Mama had become a Pirate Emperor ruling the New World with iron authority, how long had it been since anyone dared speak to him with such casual disrespect?
"Sorry." Perospero squeezed these two painful words through clenched teeth, firmly pressing down on Amande's sword hilt that was beginning to slide from its sheath.
Suppressing his burning anger with tremendous effort, he managed to say, "Oven was impulsive and acted without thinking."
"We're leaving."
Kai casually waved his hand in dismissal, signaling Yamato to follow him back.
The two jumped smoothly back onto the Rayquaza with athletic grace.
Watching the Rayquaza turn around and head once again toward Gran Tesoro's massive golden entrance, the Queen Mama Chanter's deck fell into dead, oppressive silence.
"Perospero-nii-san, are we just letting them leave like this?"
Amande pressed her thin lips tightly together, her paper-pale face filled with unwillingness and burning humiliation.
"Calm down, Amande. Though I don't want to admit it, we're simply no match for that bastard Kai," Perospero explained with a gloomy face, harsh reality weighing on every word.
Amande's expression changed uncertainly, cycling through various emotions before finally becoming completely overcast.
She had to admit that Perospero's tactical judgment was absolutely correct.
Judging by how easily Yamato had handled Oven-nii-san, aside from the three Sweet Commanders, probably no one else in their entire family was her equal.
Not to mention Natural Disaster Kai watching menacingly from the sidelines like a predator.
Daifuku suggested in his characteristically muffled voice, "Should we contact Katakuri-nii-san for backup?"
Perospero scolded harshly, "Haven't we already lost enough face today?"
As the eldest son of the Charlotte family and designated future heir to the Big Mom Pirates, if he asked Katakuri for help over something like this relatively minor confrontation, that would truly mean losing face completely.
How would he have any credibility to inherit the family legacy and rule Totto Land in the future?