Looking at Charlotte Linlin—whose body had now expanded to rival that of an average giant—Valthior rubbed the chain in his hand and said, "Big enough now, Gaban-senpai?"
"Whew… perfect," Gaban grinned and joked. "If I ask for a truce now, is it already too late?"
"She might not even be interested in you. You're not from one of the Twenty Kings' bloodlines, and you're not some rare race either…" Rayleigh chuckled from the side.
Roger, who usually preferred one-on-one fights and often stopped others from interfering when he got excited, showed no such intention this time. Instead, he shouted:
"Still standing around talking? Based on Valthior's intel, the World Government might show up to stir trouble any moment. All of you—attack together! Take Linlin down!"
As his words fell, Ace in his hand surged with Conqueror's Haki as he swung:
"Divine Departure!!!"
Linlin's heart sank. What did he mean, the World Government is coming?
But she had no time to think.
With a furious roar, she swung her Cognac Sword:
"Indra!!!"
A bolt of purple lightning crashed down from the sky, merging with her slash and colliding head-on with Roger's Divine Departure.
At nearly the same moment, Rayleigh roared:
"Spider Lily Steel!!"
A sharp flying slash tore through the air toward Linlin's massive body.
Gaban stomped forward, launching himself straight at her. His twin axes danced in a flurry as he bellowed: "Yasotakeru!!!"
A brilliant azure Conqueror's Haki erupted from Valthior. In an instant, a massive skeletal upper body enveloped him—his eyes transforming into a four-pointed Mangekyō Sharingan as he entered his Susanoo form.
Blue flames ignited along his axe, Merciless, laced with a bone-chilling frost beneath.
"Armored Form: Winter God!!!"
For a fleeting moment, Linlin felt as if she had returned to God Valley—only this time, she stood in Rocks' place.
Her Cognac Sword managed to neutralize Roger's attack—but she had no way to deal with the other three.
She rolled away in a clumsy but desperate dodge, barely avoiding Rayleigh's slash.
The next instant—
Gaban was already in front of her.
His axes erupted into a storm of strikes, multiple brutal blows landing almost simultaneously.
The ghostly green soul flames surrounding her were suppressed instantly, dimming as blood burst from her body.
She was sent flying into the air.
In just that instant, at least seven or eight deep wounds tore across her body, blood pouring out.
And it wasn't over.
Linlin barely managed to raise her Cognac Sword to block—
When Valthior's axe, infused with Susanoo's Conqueror's Haki, came crashing down.
A freezing chill instantly extinguished the flames on Napoleon.
Then—
The Cognac Sword shattered into fragments of soul energy.
Frost surged up her arm, spreading at terrifying speed. In the blink of an eye, half her massive body was frozen solid.
Roger wasn't about to miss such a golden opportunity.
Before Linlin could react, he flashed above her falling body, Ace blazing with Haki as he struck down hard across her chest.
"Rampaging Spirit!!"
Blood exploded outward.
Her ribs were exposed beneath the torn flesh. Linlin's face twisted in pain as blood spilled uncontrollably from her mouth.
Her huge body was blasted sideways like a cannonball, smashing into the ground dozens of meters away, shattering the earth beneath her.
At that moment, it felt like every bone in her body was broken.
Pain screamed from every inch of her.
But her combat instincts as a top-tier fighter remained sharp.
Ignoring the agony, she pushed off the ground the moment she landed, rolling away dozens of meters in a desperate but agile retreat.
In the next instant, Rayleigh's blade cleaved into the ground where she had just been.
Gaban stepped onto a chunk of flying debris and surged forward again—
But suddenly, a thundercloud shot out from beneath Linlin, slamming toward him.
Forced to block, Gaban split the cloud apart with his axes—but the delay slowed his pursuit.
At the same time, Linlin's soul power surged, forming a massive shield in front of her.
Almost instantly, Valthior's axe crashed into it.
The intangible soul shield froze solid under the icy force—then shattered.
But that brief moment was enough.
Linlin narrowly avoided the strike, stepping back as her Cognac Sword reformed in her hand.
Without even catching her breath, she roared:
"Elbaf's—"
"Too slow!"
Roger had already caught up.
With a savage gleam in his eyes, he swung Ace again, his strike slamming into her body once more.
Despite her best efforts, Linlin still couldn't regain the rhythm of the fight, each exchange being forced further out of her control.
Another spray of blood arced through the air.
Heavily wounded, she crashed down over a hundred meters away.
Roger clearly had no intention of killing her. He flicked the blood off Ace and said in a low voice:
"I'll admit it—your trump card is strong. But you don't have any chance of winning, do you? Hand over the Poneglyph now, and we'll call it here."
Half-kneeling on the ground, her body riddled with wounds and bleeding heavily after only a brief clash, Linlin propped herself up with her Cognac Sword.
She looked up at Roger with savage eyes.
"Don't underestimate me, you bastards… I never said I was done yet!!!"
As her voice fell, the dimmed soul flames around her surged once more.
As she consumed her own soul energy, her body shrank slightly—but at the same time, her injuries began healing at a visible rate.
The broken bones in her chest shifted, taking on the form of Homies as if given life, rapidly knitting themselves back together.
In an instant, though her aura weakened somewhat—
Her wounds were completely healed.
Her mastery over the Soul-Soul Fruit was terrifyingly refined.
Even Valthior couldn't help but think—if Linlin had fought on her home turf in the original story, there was no way she would have lost to the so-called "Worst Generation alliance."
In Wano, she had never displayed her true peak strength.
Standing back up, Linlin gradually steadied her ragged breathing. Her face darkened. "If you want my Poneglyph, try and see if you can survive, Roger!!!"
As her words fell, she reached out, green soul ripples flickering between her fingers—
Then slammed her fist into the ground.
"Great Tsunami!!!"
The entire Whole Cake Island trembled under the impact. Simultaneously, the surrounding seas surged violently, and a terrifyingly massive tsunami rolled up in the blink of an eye.
Unlike the tsunamis kicked up by Newgate, this was a giant Homie!!!
Clearly, Linlin intended to use this tsunami to drown the entire island!
However, in the next heartbeat, a blast of cold air erupted from nearby. Valthior raised a hand and pointed a finger toward the massive wave that seemed to blot out the sky.
"Ice Age..."
At the same time, a grin played across Roger's face. "You see? I told you that you have no chance, didn't I?"
As his words fell, the massive tsunami froze solid, turning into a towering glacier in an instant.
Linlin's expression darkened as she stared at Roger and Valthior.
But just then—
A new change occurred.
Roger was about to say something else when he suddenly turned to look at the frozen glacier.
At the same time, Linlin, Rayleigh, Gaban, and Valthior all looked over as well.
Crack—!
A sharp sound rang out.
A massive fracture split across the glacier—
Then a thick arm burst through the ice, shattering it and opening a cavern-like hole.
"Hah… looks like we didn't arrive too late."
A bold, booming voice echoed out.
Moments later—
The Giant King, Harald, stepped out from within the broken ice.
...
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