"No, this won't work. I need to find some way to stall them… but with the strength of the people we still have left, there's no chance. Looks like I'll have to find Katakuri after all."
Perospero ran through the situation in his head, quickly summoned Brûlée and told her to stay behind and continue monitoring everything, then immediately set off.
…
"What… what happened to you?!"
Perospero stared at Katakuri in disbelief.
His younger brother was sprawled on the ground, one arm twisted and clearly broken, while bruises and wounds covered nearly every part of his body. He looked more battered than Perospero could ever remember seeing him.
"How did anyone manage to beat you this badly?! Was there an intruder? Someone actually put you on the ground? We need to tell Mama immediately!"
"No need, Perospero."
Katakuri forced himself upright and looked steadily at him.
"Mama did this."
He paused, his voice low but resolute.
"And from now on, stop repeating that story about me never letting my back touch the ground."
Perospero immediately grabbed him by the shoulder, staring between Katakuri's battered body and his mangled arm in complete confusion.
"What the hell happened? You're saying Mama attacked you? Why would she do that? And what did you mean just now about that rumor?"
"That story was only something I created to make our younger brothers and sisters feel safe."
Katakuri's voice was hoarse, yet strangely calm.
"But somewhere along the way, I became trapped by it too. I kept telling myself that protecting everyone from harm was enough, and I relied so heavily on my future sight that my actual strength stopped progressing."
He slowly raised his head, his eyes clearer than they had been in years.
"Being able to predict what someone will do lets me overwhelm plenty of opponents, but isn't that also a form of avoidance?"
"Seeing the future and having the strength to change it are two completely different things."
That realization was exactly why Katakuri had gone directly to Big Mom and challenged her.
He wanted to smash through the bottleneck holding him back, even if the only way to do it was to force himself into a true life-or-death battle. When his challenge enraged Linlin and she attacked him seriously, Katakuri refused to dodge a single blow. He didn't use his future sight, didn't use Mogura, and didn't try to exploit openings. He simply stood his ground and met the overwhelming assault head-on.
At the time, Big Mom had been almost entirely focused on the Ancient Giant experiment and had little attention to spare for anything else. Yet Katakuri provoked her so thoroughly that she still took the time to beat him into the ground with overwhelming force.
Katakuri didn't resent her for it.
Even though he hadn't suddenly become stronger from that one fight, and even though his entire body was now covered in injuries, he was satisfied.
It had been far too long since he had truly experienced the pressure of a battle where his life felt at risk.
"Katakuri… you…"
Perospero stared at him in shock.
When had this quiet, distant younger brother become willing to push himself this far?
Then he suddenly remembered why he had come.
"No, wait! This isn't the time for that!"
Perospero snapped back to reality and pointed urgently at Katakuri's injuries.
"Go get treated! We need you at the tournament right now. You can't stay down like this!"
…
At the same time, several different groups had begun quietly infiltrating Totto Land.
Smoker slipped into the facility where the Energy Steroids were being processed and began planting explosives in hidden locations throughout the building.
He had no intention of detonating them yet.
There were far too many people gathered across the islands at the moment, and not all of them were pirates. Mercenaries, civilians, spectators, and countless people of uncertain allegiance were mixed into the crowds.
Smoker intended to wait until the event was nearing its end and most of those people had begun leaving.
Only then would he personally light the fuse.
Elsewhere, Koala followed Sabo's directions and reached the outer perimeter of Caesar's laboratory.
The place was surrounded by Homies and guards so densely that there was no realistic way for her to infiltrate alone. All she could do was wait for Sabo to make the next move.
Fortunately, she didn't even need a Den Den Mushi to contact him.
Every meaningful vibration and sound across the island was within the range of Sabo's heightened perception.
Koala only needed to speak quietly.
Sabo, who had been chatting with Cain and the others only moments earlier, had already transformed himself into electrical current and traveled through the island's wiring. Now, hidden as little more than electricity flowing through the facility, he silently observed the entire laboratory complex.
At its center, Big Mom stood beneath the Ancient Giant, whose body had already grown to nearly sixty meters tall.
She trembled with excitement as she stared upward.
"Mamamama! You're almost ready to be born! Aren't you excited, Thor, my precious son?"
Caesar was sweating heavily as he hurriedly wrapped the disassembled pieces of equipment in clouds of gas, trying to conceal them while frantically explaining the process.
"He's already entered the adolescent stage! We can begin the memory implantation and final maturation process now. It'll just take… roughly the entire night!"
"We've already reached that point?"
Big Mom's eyes practically shone.
"Then I should tell Pudding to get ready. Once the memories have been implanted successfully, this tournament the entire world is watching will become the stage for your grand debut!"
Her grin widened as she looked up at the giant.
"The Ancient Giants will finally become true members of Totto Land."
Her voice filled with almost childlike excitement.
"Don't disappoint me, Charlotte X Thor."
…
'So that's it.'
Hidden within the machinery in his electrical form, Sabo silently pieced everything together.
This was the real purpose of the marriage tournament.
The Charlotte family would use the competition to identify the strongest challenger, then have the Ancient Giant defeat that person in front of the entire world. It would serve as a public demonstration of the creature's strength and, at the same time, announce that the Ancient Giant race had joined Totto Land.
Sabo formed a single eye from electricity and focused it on the distant equipment.
One additional giant warrior wasn't especially important to the Revolutionary Army.
The real danger was the technology capable of mass-producing giant weapons.
That changed everything.
Those machines had to be destroyed, along with the blueprints and research data.
Caesar needed to be taken as well.
And if the scientist resisted, Sabo would simply knock him unconscious.
Unfortunately, Caesar's Gas-Gas Fruit created one significant problem.
Even a tiny electrical spark in the wrong place could trigger an explosion, and if that happened while Big Mom was standing nearby, there was no chance she would fail to notice.
So before Sabo could make his move—
he needed to wait for Linlin to leave.
…
Vinsmoke Reiju was in an even worse position.
Ichiji had been defeated, while Niji and Yonji had already lost their right to participate. The three brothers had subsequently been confined to a room under heavy guard, with soldiers patrolling outside to prevent anyone from leaving until the tournament ended.
That left Reiju with only one useful option.
The unfinished prototype of Stealth Black's invisibility system.
The device significantly restricted her combat ability, but hiding from ordinary guards was well within its capabilities.
Reiju activated the camouflage and quietly slipped away to continue investigating.
The problem was that she still had almost no idea where to look.
After wandering for some time, she eventually climbed to a higher vantage point and caught sight of a heavily guarded carriage moving slowly through the streets below.
That was suspicious enough to deserve attention.
Reiju silently dropped onto the roof and lay flat against it.
Then a voice came from inside the carriage.
A voice she knew instantly.
"I'm really sorry, Pudding-chan! I never meant to hide it from you!"
Every bit of Reiju's attention immediately focused on the conversation.
"When it comes to the Vinsmokes… I don't want anything to do with them, but technically they are still…"
The voice faltered.
"Ahhh, no! That bastard doesn't count as family at all!"
"No, I'm the one who should apologize," Pudding hurriedly replied. "I was the one who kept asking, even though I didn't realize those were memories Sanji-san didn't want to talk about. I'm really sorry."
Reiju's eyes widened.
"Sanji…"
If she had only suspected it before, there was no longer any doubt.
The person speaking inside that carriage was her younger brother.
Vinsmoke Sanji.