Time seemed to freeze. All sound vanished from the world as the members of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet watched in horror; Luffy had been struck squarely by Charlotte Linlin's blade in the sky. Zoro gritted his teeth, Yamato's face turned deathly pale, and Nami covered her eyes in terror as they watched Luffy plummet toward the ground.
This time, Charlotte Linlin denied Luffy's companions any chance to intervene. She descended rapidly, landing before the fallen pirate. As the dust cleared, she grabbed Luffy's body, hoisting him high into the air to declare her victory.
"Straw Hat, it seems your journey ends here! Mamamamama!" Charlotte Linlin's laughter echoed across the Wan Guo sea area.
No one dared to refute her. Every fighter on the battlefield who possessed Observation Haki had felt the same truth: Luffy's heart had stopped, and his aura had completely dissipated.
"Luffy!!!" Nami screamed in disbelief. Yamato's eyes widened in shock, and Chopper wailed in agony. Zoro and Sanji attempted to charge forward to reclaim their captain's body, but Zeus and Prometheus materialized to block their path.
"We won't let you disturb Mom!" the Homies hissed.
"Damn it!"
Hana no Hyogoro's expression darkened. This boy had truly surprised him. Had Luffy not chosen to challenge Big Mom at such a critical moment and been allowed to grow further, he might have eventually had the strength to defeat Kaido. But now, seeing the lifeless body held up like garbage, the outcome of the war seemed set. The Wano Country samurai in the Grand Fleet began to show signs of retreat, while the Big Mom Pirates' morale surged.
In the distance, Loki watched Shanks with a smirk. "Red Hair, it seems the kid you favored is finished!"
Shanks frowned, his expression grim as he sensed the total absence of Luffy's aura. "Was it still too early, Luffy?"
Suddenly, a gust of wind swept across the sea. The waters, which had fallen calm following the apparent end of the fight, began to churn violently. Every powerful user of Conqueror's Haki in the vicinity froze—from Luffy, who should have had no aura at all, a massive surge of power suddenly erupted.
"Whoa, no way!" Loki's expression shifted.
In the center of the battlefield, Big Mom was startled. An incredible, elastic force exploded from the hand she was using to grasp Luffy. She was forced to let go as Luffy bounced from her grip, landing on the ground. Powerful Conqueror's Haki, transformed into crimson lightning, erupted from his body. White flame clouds surged from within him, and as the ground beneath him morphed into a trampoline, Luffy's body began to bounce rhythmically.
Big Mom's face changed drastically. She remembered Kaido's warnings: could these white flame clouds be the result of the Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Nika Fruit awakening?
"What a joke!" Linlin refused to accept it. She raised Napoleon, intending to execute Luffy once and for all.
Before she could strike, two powerful bursts of Conqueror's Haki, also glowing with crimson lightning, crashed toward her. Linlin's eyes shifted, and she instinctively raised a hand to block the incoming pressure.
"Boom!"
As the three auras collided, lightning tore through the sky. Behind the flickering flashes, Charlotte Linlin's eyes turned blood-red with fury as she stared at the two figures approaching from the distance: "Red Hair, and Dragon!"
Holy Land Mary Geoise, above the canopy of Sun Tree Eve, the battle ceased. Neither side had won; both Kaido and Imu had sensed the shift in the world's aura.
"Hoo hoo hoo... Has she awakened? Linlin did well, Worororo!" Kaido's triumphant laughter echoed through the palace.
In contrast to Kaido's excitement, Imu, the World King, appeared incredibly grim. "Nika!"
"Worororo, are you afraid, World King? If so, give up your position. Let me help you resolve your inner fear."
Imu's gaze turned toward Kaido, lingering for a moment before he made a final decision and summoned a magic book. "Kaido, I have lost my patience. I invite you to die. Neither you, nor Nika, nor Joy Boy can stop me!"
As he spoke, streams of black, viscous substance erupted from the book, not to create puppets, but to flow directly into Imu's own body. Imu's dark form began to expand. Crimson Conqueror's Haki and black flame clouds erupted around him.
Seeing this, Kaido finally grew serious. He knew the critical moment had arrived. He calmed his mind and focused, knowing it was time. Powerful Haki—dark Armament, crimson Armament, and fully unleashed Observation—erupted from him, coiling around his body like seawater.
In this moment of total exertion, he finally saw it: the opportunity for the perfect fusion of flesh, soul, and Devil Fruit. He had previously sensed the complexity of his own power—the souls of two people, the Giant bloodline, the Blue Dragon Fruit, the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, Sacred Lightning, the Mother Flame, and the "Greater and Lesser Heavenly Cycle Self-Rotation Method."
He realized that to break his limits and achieve the "Three Flowers Gathering at the Summit," he could no longer rely on partial fusions. To enter the final state and become a true "God," he had to fuse every aspect of his essence, qi, and spirit into one. To find the breakthrough, he had to exhaust every drop of his power.
"Then, let's begin."
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