"This is bad, Lord Katakuri! All our exits have been sealed!"
Inside the pitch-black tunnel, Katakuri's expression was grim.
Using his Devil Fruit ability, he had transformed the solid earth into mochi and opened underground passages that belonged to him.
Unfortunately, now even their only path had been blocked by the Marines.
The transformation ability of the Mochi-Mochi Fruit was not unlimited.
He had to preserve a large amount of stamina to deal with the Marines' sudden arrival.
"Mm? No…"
"The Marines are already down here!"
Katakuri had just been about to say something when he suddenly sensed the auras of the pirates within his domain disappearing one after another.
An enemy with an extremely powerful aura had broken in, and his killing speed was terrifyingly fast.
Katakuri pulled out his trident.
He was prepared to face this Marine head-on.
Inside the mochi space, he did not believe he would lose to a Marine.
The pitch-black passage seemed to have no effect on the intruder. The long blade in his hand harvested the pirates' lives at terrifying speed.
Many pirates had only just raised their blades when a thin line had already appeared across their necks.
Then they weakly dropped to their knees before that figure.
"Mochi Thrust!"
Just as the black shadow was advancing at high speed, the wall to the side suddenly transformed into mochi.
Then a figure holding a trident spun out from the wall and stabbed forward.
In Katakuri's estimation, even an elite Marine Vice Admiral would be thrown into confusion by such a sudden attack and fall into Katakuri's rhythm.
Clang!
The collision between the long blade and the trident illuminated both their faces.
One was Katakuri, with his terrifying teeth.
The other wore a long black hat, and beneath the brim was a pair of soul-piercing eyes, sharp as a hawk's.
"You?"
Katakuri recognized the enemy before him almost at once.
"Were you not already dead?"
Katakuri was startled by the person in front of him.
In his memory, this man should have been called Dracule Mihawk, a Marine hunter.
It was said that his swordsmanship had already reached the level of a great swordsman, and that he had been about to challenge for the title of the world's greatest swordsman.
Unfortunately, he had never completed that goal.
Because he hunted Marines, Raleigh had set his sights on him, and he had ultimately died miserably at the hands of the Marines.
So why was he now standing before Katakuri again, alive and well?
"No…"
Katakuri sensed that something about the Mihawk before him was extremely strange.
Even after being recognized by Katakuri, his emotions did not fluctuate in the slightest. His eyes were like a pool of dead water, calm to a frightening degree.
Mihawk paid no attention to Katakuri's reaction. He reversed his grip and slashed straight toward Katakuri's legs.
Facing such a powerful enemy, even Katakuri did not dare be confident that his Observation Haki and future sight could let him avoid the attack.
He could only use the trident in his hand to block, then pull back and widen the distance.
"Mochi Bind!"
Several arms condensed from mochi emerged from Katakuri's body, scrambling forward as they rushed toward Mihawk.
There was also mochi summoned by Katakuri in the air, trying to stick Mihawk in place.
In Katakuri's vision, it seemed as if Mihawk had already been wrapped up by his mochi.
But in the next second, his nerves began issuing frantic warnings, and an image from three seconds in the future appeared in his sight.
It was a pitch-black great blade, mercilessly chopping into his chest.
'Not good!'
Katakuri had no time to think. He instinctively placed his trident in front of his chest.
Clang!
The enormous impact sent Katakuri flying backward as blood sprayed from his mouth.
Only at that moment did the mochi in the air finally land.
Katakuri hurriedly stood from the ground and stared coldly at Mihawk ahead.
At this moment, the mochi on the ground automatically split in half, as if it had been cut open by something incomparably sharp.
Mihawk was not shaken by Katakuri's methods.
He had already become a merciless killing machine, so he naturally continued attacking according to his orders.
Before Katakuri could speak, Mihawk raised his hand and released several magnificent sword beams.
Then his figure flashed, disappearing behind the sword beams.
"Left? Right?"
Another image flashed before Katakuri's eyes.
It was a sharp long blade piercing through his chest from behind.
Splatter.
Katakuri, who had been standing in place, directly turned into a large mass of mochi.
The long blade covered in Armament Haki passed through the mochi, but it had no effect.
Only then did Katakuri's figure slowly emerge from the ground in the distance.
At this moment, his face had already turned somewhat pale.
Facing an expert like Mihawk, even he had to handle the fight with extreme caution.
Because this enemy had already integrated all swordsmanship techniques into his own sword path. None of his attacks were especially flashy, but every one of them was enough to kill.
That was what Katakuri found most troublesome.
If he gave Mihawk even the slightest opening, the result would be either death or severe injury.
And once injured, in the eyes of true experts, that was no different from death.
"Mochi Restraint!"
Katakuri stretched out his left hand and controlled the pile of mochi to firmly trap Mihawk's long blade in place.
"Then, how much combat power does a swordsman who has lost his sword still have?"
Katakuri spoke with great confidence.
Mihawk did not care about Katakuri's words in the slightest. He opened his mouth wide and aimed at the mochi mass restraining his long blade.
Inside his mouth, a beam of light began to appear, growing brighter and brighter.
Boom!
A laser beam sprayed straight onto the mochi mass binding the blade.
Under the attack of high-intensity energy, even the mochi created by Katakuri could not last three seconds.
It was directly carbonized by the high temperature, turning into a pile of black residue.
And Mihawk's black blade, Yoru, was once again held in his hand.
"That attack… Are you the same as them?!"
Katakuri finally realized what was wrong.
He knew that before Mihawk died, he had never eaten any Devil Fruit.
But the current Mihawk had inexplicably gained Borsalino's skill.
Moreover, Katakuri had already encountered Pacifista before. With one glance, he recognized this as a product of Marine technology.
Now he finally understood.
The enemy before him was no longer human.
He should be called the Marines' new generation of killing machine.
Against such an opponent, Katakuri's pressure multiplied.
Because Mihawk, who had no human emotion or pain, did not care whether he was injured.
Even if it cost him an arm, as long as he could exchange it for Katakuri's life, he would do so without the slightest hesitation.
Because to the current Mihawk Seraphim, even if an arm was lost, another could be installed. It could even be replaced with an arm carrying special genes.
Whoosh!
Mihawk's figure disappeared into the darkness again.
Katakuri's nerves became highly tense. His Observation Haki was raised to its maximum intensity, constantly preparing for an attack from this great swordsman.
On the surface, the battle between Mihawk and Katakuri allowed Issho, who was skilled in Observation Haki, to locate their exact position.
"Is there no need for support, Sir Zephyr?"
Issho stood on the ground above them with Zephyr, Garp, and the others, then asked.
Zephyr seemed very confident. He slowly said, "Trust the Seraphim battle robot Raleigh sent over. You can already see that from Whitebeard, can you not?"
"That is Mihawk's Seraphim combat robot. Katakuri is not his opponent."
"Besides, we have a more important guest to keep company."
Issho seemed to understand. He nodded and waited together with Zephyr and Garp for that special guest.
...
At this moment, while Katakuri and Mihawk were locked in a life-and-death battle, Charlotte Linlin, who had been rampaging on Whole Cake Island, finally quieted down.
After eating a massive amount of food, she opened her eyes and looked at her children before her, who were crying bitterly. She roared in displeasure.
"Why are you crying? Did Mama not forbid you from crying?"
Even with Charlotte Linlin threatening them, they did not stop crying as she ordered. Instead, one of her children stepped forward and presented a Vivre Card.
"Mama, Brother Katakuri is fighting someone to the death. Judging by the Vivre Card, Brother Katakuri's condition is not good."
Ever since Katakuri had sent them back from that island of certain death, they had been waiting for Charlotte Linlin to regain consciousness, because at this moment, in all of Totto Land, only Charlotte Linlin could save Katakuri.
"Where is he?"
Charlotte Linlin snatched the Vivre Card over.
She looked at the children before her in towering rage.
"Mama, Brother Katakuri is at the third defensive chain, on Fruit Island."
Charlotte Linlin nodded, then summoned her Homies and flew out of the palace.
Before leaving, she casually harvested a wave of lifespan from the children in front of her.
Although those children all had twenty years of their lifespans taken away, their eyes were filled only with excitement as they watched Charlotte Linlin fly away.
This meant their brother Katakuri had a chance to survive.
However, what they did not know was that the moment Charlotte Linlin flew out of Whole Cake Island, a figure long hidden among the dark clouds silently watched her leave.
"Linlin, say goodbye to your children and your Totto Land."
Flowing golden hair paired with a rugged face.
If anyone saw him, he would truly scare several random passersby to death.
Because no one could have imagined that Golden Lion Shiki, whose corpse should have long since rotted away, would appear alive before the world again.
"Then from this moment on, let heavenly punishment descend."
After Charlotte Linlin left, Golden Lion Shiki silently descended from the sky into Charlotte Linlin's palace.
The children who had been kneeling on the ground had not yet left.
The moment one of them raised their head, the corner of their eye noticed that an extra figure had appeared on the throne.
"Who are you? How dare you sit on Mama's throne… You… were you not dead?!"
That sharp cry made everyone turn around.
Together, they looked toward the golden-haired figure seated on the throne.
"This old man naturally died once already. But now, all of you are about to experience your first death."
"Mushroom-Mushroom Fruit: Spore Bomb!"
Golden Lion's body began swelling.
Then countless streams of air sprayed out from his body.
Some were colorless and transparent, while others were faintly green.
The Charlotte Family children immediately knew something was wrong at first glance, but the speed of their retreat was far slower than the speed at which the spores expanded.
Before they could leave the palace, dozens of air currents carrying spores swept past them.
Some Charlotte Family children with weaker bodies immediately began bleeding from all seven orifices and collapsed powerlessly to the ground.
Even the presence of the Minister of Juice, Charlotte Smoothie, among them was useless.
Her resistance to deadly poison was not much higher than the others', and right now, she was relying entirely on her ability to force herself to endure.
But the moisture in her body was always limited, while the reproductive and proliferating power of the spore bomb far exceeded the amount of moisture inside her.
She did not last much longer before half-kneeling on the ground.
Forcing herself to stay conscious, she tried to take out the Den Den Mushi in her coat to contact Charlotte Linlin, only to discover that the Den Den Mushi had also been killed by the deadly poison.
Looking outward from Charlotte Linlin's palace, these madly growing spores were sweeping through Totto Land with Whole Cake Island at the center.
And the hosts killed by them became the best nourishment.
As more and more living beings fell, the entire Whole Cake Island had already turned into hell on earth.
Corpses were everywhere.
Charlotte Linlin, who had long since left Whole Cake Island, knew nothing about any of this.
Right now, her entire mind was focused on rescuing Katakuri, the most capable son under her command.
...
Fruit Island, underground battlefield.
Katakuri's face was already pale, and large amounts of sweat dripped down his cheeks.
The scars across his body proved just how dire his situation was.
Opposite him, Mihawk was not exactly relaxed either. His body had been pierced through by Katakuri's trident.
But just as Katakuri had feared, Mihawk, who had already been transformed into a combat machine, would not have his combat strength affected as long as his core was not damaged.
Even after his chest was pierced, not a single drop of blood flowed out.
Rumble!
The rock and soil above them were suddenly smashed through, and a tall figure landed between Katakuri and Mihawk.
Sunlight poured in, shining on his body.
His iconic crescent-shaped mustache had already revealed his identity.
"Whitebeard… Edward Newgate!"
Katakuri's body turned ice-cold.
One Mihawk had already forced him into a battered state.
Now another legendary great pirate had appeared. He felt that there was no path left for him to escape.
Blu blu… blu blu…
The Den Den Mushi in Katakuri's coat suddenly rang.
As if it were a signal, Mihawk swung the black blade Yoru, while Whitebeard also swung his own blade, Murakumogiri, and charged forward.
Katakuri took out the Den Den Mushi from his coat and glanced at it.
This was the Den Den Mushi Charlotte Linlin used specifically to contact him.
"Katakuri, can you still hold on?"
Charlotte Linlin's voice came through, accompanied by the sound of howling wind.
Katakuri looked at the two people already charging toward him, and a bitter smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"It is too late, Mama!"
At the final moment of his life, Katakuri raised his trident and bravely charged toward Whitebeard and Mihawk.
Crack!
The three figures flashed past one another.
Katakuri stared blankly at the trident in his hands.
During that brief clash, Murakumogiri in Whitebeard's hands had cut through his trident without any obstruction.
Having lost the protection of his trident, Katakuri was naturally struck across the neck by Mihawk's blade.
Three more black holes had also been pierced clean through Whitebeard's chest.
But that did not affect the result of this battle.
The leader of the Three Sweet Commanders, Charlotte Katakuri, had fallen in battle!