Boom—boom—boom.
The atmosphere trembled again and again. Space warped over and over.
One orb of light after another flickered in and out, releasing terrifying shockwaves like natural disasters.
First, the mountain that had been split apart by meteors was shaved down layer by layer by the aftershocks. Then the land within ten kilometers caved in and heaved upward, tearing open mountains and abysses.
A hurricane, its wind speed high enough to form blades of air, swept everything clean within dozens of kilometers.
Great trees were ripped out by the roots and hurled into the sky, joining the wreckage of buildings on a long journey elsewhere.
Ren was still swinging his fists, reckless and wild, as though venting everything inside him.
It was different now.
Different from when he had faced Kaido, and different from when he had faced Whitebeard.
Just this much was enough to completely suppress a serious Yonko.
Although she was only Big Mom, the weakest among the Yonko, it still let him feel the pleasure brought by his own strength.
And so, he turned that pleasure into the motions of his hands, using the most sincere method possible to thank Charlotte Linlin for serving as his punching bag.
Weak, weak, weak, weak, weak!
The shadows of his fists surged like a tide, not giving Charlotte Linlin, whose aura was gradually weakening, even a moment to breathe.
The force of each punch was like a mountain, adding one injury after another to Charlotte Linlin at every instant.
Even though they were only blunt strikes, and even though she defended with dual-color Haki, she still could not block his attacks.
It was not merely because of the Armament Haki: Internal Destruction technique. It was also because the opponent's strength was far too absurd!
But Big Mom showed no intention of stopping. Instead, she grew even more crazed as she exchanged blows, while also preparing to continue consuming her lifespan to bestow soul upon her body and strengthen herself.
She had a premonition that if she showed cowardice and retreated here, then Charlotte Linlin would never again find the One Piece Roger had spoken of!
And this incomparably young man before her would step on her dead ambition and climb to an even higher place.
That was something she absolutely could not allow!
Crack—!
Amid the utterly intense exchange, Napoleon also began making faint sounds.
That was the sound of the damaged notch widening bit by bit, by the millimeter.
But because it could still endure, it continued carrying out its duty as a weapon.
Charlotte Linlin, whose eyes were red with bloodlust, once again used Soul Bestowal.
Five years of lifespan transformed into a simple, brutal enhancement, causing her body to expand to nearly twenty meters tall, her strength multiplying several times over.
The increase in size did not look that great, but as a natural-born destroyer, she had been able to punch a giant bear to death at the age of five, and a casual slap meant to swat a mosquito could break the bones of a giant soldier.
Her physical talent was so outstanding that even the elder hero of the giants could not compare to her when she was still young.
And now, she was in her prime, while also applying an enhancement to herself with her lifespan as fuel.
The increase in strength it brought was absolutely terrifying!
Boom—!
The clash between fist and Emperor Sword entered a white-hot state. The scattered, scorching aftershocks completely changed the island's terrain.
They turned a mountain into a molten crater spanning several kilometers, while enormous cracks measuring thousands of meters at every turn spread across the island like a spiderweb.
At this moment, Ren fell into a disadvantage, because his opponent's strength was indeed beyond imagination.
This time, Charlotte Linlin's attack finally touched Ren.
However, with careful observation, one would realize that Napoleon's successful slash had actually struck the protection formed by dual-color Haki and the Demonic Shadow armor.
Even the energy restrained by the magnetic field did not ripple much.
It was just that Big Mom, whose eyes were red with killing intent, could not see that. Instead, she believed her offensive still was not fierce enough.
So she became even wilder, more overbearing, and more direct!
"Blazing Mother Blade!"
Scorching flames wrapped around Napoleon. The great blade came slashing down from above, clashing against Ren's fist and once again causing space to warp.
As the orb of light flickered, violent power erupted alongside the shockwave.
Then, for the first time since the battle began, Ren stiffened!
"Mamamama—! It's over, Ren!"
Even after paying an extremely heavy price, the instant she saw herself gain the upper hand, Charlotte Linlin still roared in wild delight.
Then, seizing this rare opening, she unleashed an incomparably ferocious strike.
Elbaf Spear: Ikoku!
The flying slash surged forward with bursting flames, plowing through everything in its path like a bulldozer.
Ren vanished with it, leaving behind only a hollow slash scar a hundred meters wide and stretching for over ten kilometers!
Her Observation Haki swept out.
Charlotte Linlin tightened her grip on her great blade and leapt violently upward, launching herself toward the direction she sensed.
The humiliation from before, the fury from before, the hatred from before, and the frustration of now—all of it would be repaid in this moment!
"Die for me!"
The flame-version Mama Rush was still fast, but it still took time measured in milliseconds.
As she descended, Charlotte Linlin's face was filled with fanatical joy. But suddenly, she noticed Ren below assuming a sword-drawing stance.
She abruptly remembered something.
After killing so many of her children on Whole Cake Island, the enemy had once said a line that, at the time, had seemed like nothing more than provocation.
"Can you make me draw my sword?"
What an absurd question it had been. Back then, it had filled her with incomparable rage.
Yet at this moment, when she saw her opponent assume a sword-drawing stance, Charlotte Linlin's Observation Haki began screaming alarms.
She suddenly realized that it might not have been provocation!
"Looking at it now, you do qualify to make me draw my sword."
Ren raised his eyes. Charlotte Linlin's blindingly fast movements appeared slow within his crimson pupils.
His five fingers closed together at his waist, and Heavenly Might, bright as light itself, emerged into his hand.
It was a blade formed from plasma, but its temperature was on an entirely different level from the past.
The greatest reason he had chosen to study the Devil-level technology of Magnetic-Field Restraint was so that Heavenly Might could truly become a part of the "sun"!
There were no excessive movements. Heavenly Might's magnetic-field scabbard was released, extending along with the motion of his slash.
There was no roaring of wind. No trembling of the atmosphere.
Because the speed of the slash had already surpassed the reaction of matter itself. It was as swift as sunlight, and like the source of sunlight itself—
Unstoppable!
"Mama!"
Napoleon, slashing toward him, felt fear. It closed its mouth and desperately carried out its duty as a weapon.
However, Charlotte Linlin, who refused to retreat, paid it no heed at all and swung the great blade with all her strength.
Flashes of sword and blade blossomed hundreds, then thousands of times in this moment!
One second, two hundred strikes!
Two seconds, five hundred strikes!
Three seconds, eight hundred strikes!
At the fourth second, Emperor Sword: Broken Blade suddenly let out an abnormal sound without warning.
A clear crack appeared at the spot where Napoleon had originally been chipped and battered.
"Mama, I'm going to shatter!"
Napoleon cried out in terror, but it still faithfully carried out its duty as a weapon.
Prometheus noticed as well, but likewise did not dare relax in the slightest.
Crack, crack.
The fissure grew larger and larger!
Charlotte Linlin still did not stop. The sense of danger in her perception had not faded for even an instant.
This was close-quarters combat to begin with. Taking one step back now would be the same as handing an opportunity to the enemy!
Emperor Sword: Broken Blade's attack speed grew faster and faster. More and more dual-color Haki wrapped around the blade, and the power squeezed out from within grew stronger and stronger.
The insane exchange of slashes against Heavenly Might continued, and the constantly scattering high-energy aftermath caused Cacao Island itself, the battlefield beneath them, to begin cracking apart.
Until—Napoleon broke with a wail!
As a top-class Homie granted a fragment of Big Mom's soul, and with dual-color Haki wrapped around it, it should not have been this fragile.
At the very least, it should not have snapped before the battle ended.
Yet only Napoleon itself, as the weapon, understood.
How was that weapons clashing?
That was clearly a tree branch being swung at a bonfire!
That blade itself was a mass of incomparably scorching "fire," hotter and more terrifying than Prometheus.
No, rather…
It was basically the same as the sun!
Compared to that blade, it truly was nothing more than a "tree branch"!
"Napoleon…"
Charlotte Linlin's expression froze, and her eyes could not help widening.
This was the first time…
Someone had cut through her blade!
"Radiant Sun: Burning Star!"
Violent energy poured in, accelerated by the magnetic field, transforming into a terrifying force identical to Heavenly Might.
Ren's slash erupted through the opening. Blinding radiance filled Charlotte Linlin's field of vision, like a sharp sword—cleaving Cacao Island apart!
The incomparably scorching energy merely scattered outward, yet it turned the entire island into molten ruins.
The terrifying slash of light advanced, splitting both island and sea in two!
The earth trembled, then was completely dismembered as though an earth dragon had turned over.
Seawater evaporated, and the depressed surface of the sea sank into an abyss over a thousand meters deep beneath the slash of light.
Then came the tsunami, the shockwave, stirring the heavens and earth within dozens of kilometers.
But the slash of light was still advancing. Charlotte Linlin crossed her arms and desperately blocked it.
However, even with her body strengthened a second time, and even after pouring every bit of her dual-color Haki into defense, she still could not truly withstand the power of this sword!
The light shot toward the farther reaches of heaven and earth, crossing dozens of nautical miles before finally cutting through another island.
It was as though one-third of a pizza had been sliced away. After the slash of light disappeared, the remaining two-thirds were met with a terrifying explosion!
Boom—!
That small island instantly vanished beneath a rising mushroom cloud.
A meteor crossed the sky and descended. A Six-Winged Seraph hovered in the air, and then Ren's brows furrowed.
Hm?
Premonition Perception and Observation Haki swept out, landing on the last remaining scrap of island land.
Charlotte Linlin had been there.
But now she had disappeared.
Boom—!
Ren transformed into a falling star and crashed down. Silverfall Dagger, long unused, activated once more. Countless waves of sword energy surged in every direction the instant he hit the ground.
The houses on the remaining land were instantly overturned, and miscellaneous items were hurled high into the air.
His crimson eyes swept over the area before finally fixing upon the falling shards of a mirror.
"Interesting."
Ren seemed to think of something. He curled his lips into a cold smile, his gaze focusing on the mirror fragments as though he could see the other world within.
If there was anyone in the Big Mom Pirates capable of truly rescuing Charlotte Linlin from right under his eyes, it would be that mirror witch.
Her ability was similar to the Door-Door Fruit. It could create a Mirror World and use mirrors as mediums to enter and exit.
Without the cooperation of the Devil Fruit user herself, ordinary people could not enter the Mirror World.
In other words, Big Mom had been lucky enough to pick up her life.
A miscalculation… Tch. No, I should call it anticipation.
Ren was not annoyed. Instead, the corners of his mouth curved upward.
Compared to killing Charlotte Linlin on the spot here, after experiencing just how strong he was in the previous battle, he seemed to look forward even more to becoming stronger after obtaining the Gura-Gura no Mi.
And then—the moment he would crush two Emperors at once would arrive!
(End of Chapter)