The entire Seastone Prison fell into a dead silence. Everyone was utterly stunned, blindsided by this bombshell of news that felt like a nuclear strike.
For a long while, no one could gather their wits.
The revelation was simply too staggering. No matter how powerful or infamous these inmates were in the outside world, not a single one of them was unfamiliar with Big Mom. In their minds, she was a terrifying titan far more fearsome than even Aeridar, the man they hated most.
"Y-You've got to be kidding me... That's Big Mom we're talking about!" Trafalgar Law's face twitched violently as he rasped out the words.
"Right! That's Big Mom! One of the Yonko, in the same league as Kaido and Shanks!" Some inmates, deeply superstitious about the overwhelming might of the Yonko, simply refused to believe that Aeridar, a mere thirty-year-old upstart, could possibly kill Big Mom, a woman who had struck terror into the New World for decades.
"Impossible! A monster like Big Mom... I refuse to believe anyone could defeat her, let alone kill her!" Another inmate, who had personally witnessed Big Mom's terrifying power and the apocalyptic, overwhelming might typical of monsters of that tier, flat out rejected the notion.
"Stop talking nonsense! Big Mom isn't some battle-obsessed lunatic who loves charging into enemy groups alone like Kaido. If you told me she was defeated, I might buy it to some extent, but killed? Not a chance in hell!" Rational analysis from another prisoner pointed out that Big Mom possessed three powerful Homies, could freely manipulate the weather, and boasted the legendary "Iron Balloon" defense. Simply breaching that monster's defense was a monumental task in itself, let alone taking her life.
And it was true. Big Mom had reigned supreme over the New World for decades. Back during the eras of Roger, Shiki, and Whitebeard, she had already been in her forties, rising to prominence as a legendary pirate long ago. Her indomitable physique, dubbed the "Iron Balloon," was something even Whitebeard at his absolute prime found troublesome, to say nothing of anyone else.
"If I hadn't personally lived through the Battle of Unzan Port, I wouldn't believe it either." Sanji sighed, his voice heavy with gravity. "The Big Mom Pirates suffered catastrophic losses. If Kaido hadn't unexpectedly stepped in, they would have been completely wiped out. And Big Mom herself perished in a one-on-one duel against Golden Ring Aeridar!"
Pausing for a moment, he delivered the final, crushing blow in a solemn voice: "That man has already renounced his position among the Seven Warlords of the Sea and officially ascended to become a new Yonko!"
"This is impossible!"
"Does that mean I'll probably never get my revenge in this lifetime?"
"Damn it! Why didn't Big Mom kill Golden Ring?! Bastard! Bastard!"
"Big Mom, you useless old hag, getting yourself killed by some brat! Are you a breeding machine whose body finally went completely useless from churning out too many kids?!"
"..."
Instantly, a single stone stirred a thousand ripples. Cries of despair and furious curses erupted throughout the Seastone Prison.
Since all of them had been captured by the Chris Pirates, they naturally held a bone-deep hatred for Aeridar and his crew. If Aeridar and the Chris Pirates had been defeated, they would have celebrated with unbridled joy.
Yet now, the Chris Pirates had crushed the Big Mom Pirates, and Aeridar had personally slain Big Mom, seizing the vacant throne of the Yonko. How could these people, who hated Aeridar with every fiber of their being, possibly accept such a reality?
Listening to the venomous curses echoing from the surrounding cells, the Straw Hats felt a creeping wave of absolute despair.
Clack-clack-clack-clack... Clack-clack-clack-clack...
Abruptly, another chaotic clatter of footsteps echoed from the distance, growing closer by the second.
Outside the corridor, twelve fully armed guards came trudging along, hauling a massive, unconscious man dressed in pristine white. The man's face was deathly pale, his eyes tightly shut, and his wrists and ankles locked in heavy refined-steel shackles.
"It's Copra!"
"The guy actually came back alive! This must make it his twenty-ninth time being dragged out for experiments!"
"As expected of someone handpicked by those mad scientist freaks; that superhuman recovery rate is truly built different."
"..."
The prison quickly quieted down. Inmates in every cell muttered among themselves, casting expressions of shared grief and sorrow, a sense of there but for the grace of God go I.
"Grrrng…"
At that moment, the man who should have been unconscious suddenly snapped his eyes wide open, emitting a low, feral growl.
The next instant, the man named Copra began to thrash violently. With a sudden heave of his arms, he flung the two guards holding him straight into the steel walls on either side with a dull thud, knocking them out cold as they slumped to the floor.
"Damn it! Prisoner 41 has woken up!"
"Did Dr. Jason's anesthetic wear off?"
"Subdue him, quick!"
Panic seized the remaining guards. They rushed forward, swarming Copra from all directions in a chaotic pile.
"Get off me!"
Copra roared in fury. His muscular, two-meter-tall frame suddenly surged, expanding rapidly to three meters. The white clothes he wore tore apart with a loud rip, revealing bulging muscles and thick, protruding veins.
Though heavy manacles and leg irons severely restricted his major movements, a simple, violent twist of his body was enough to fling the five or six guards tumbling off him in all directions.
"Open fire! Open fire!"
"Call for backup! Prisoner 41 is breaking protocol!"
Bruised and battered, the remaining guards stared in sheer shock. Some immediately raised their rifles and blasted away—bang, bang, bang!—while others frantically reached for their Den Den Mushi communication devices to call for reinforcements.
In an instant, the prison erupted with the deafening roar of gunfire. Muzzles flashed violently as brass-cased bullets streaked through the air, slamming directly into Copra's body.
Yet the next second, sheer horror dawned on the guards' faces: the bullets striking his hide simply ricocheted off harmlessly.
"Roarrr—!"
The sting of the gunfire seemed to only enrage Copra further. He let out a mad roar as his physique expanded once more. A dense mass of chaotic brown fur rapidly sprouted all over his body, while his hands and feet elongated and morphed into razor-sharp beastly claws.
"What the hell is that thing? Is he a Devil Fruit user?"
Peering through the window on their cell door, the Straw Hat Pirates watched the unfolding scene with jaws slack in utter disbelief. A hulking monster with a massive head, wide jaws, and a maw full of sharp fangs now stood before them.
"Wait a minute! That guy looks just like... the Orc Otto?!" Law exclaimed in shock.
"Oh crap! The 'Orc Transformation'! Prisoner 41 has entered the 'Orc Transformation' state!" a guard shrieked in terror.
Hum—
Suddenly, the air trembled. A terrifying aura swept instantly across the entire prison, manifesting a tangible, crushing pressure that forced everyone's bodies to sink as if weighed down by an invisible mountain.
Even Copra, whose claws were raised mid-strike to slaughter the nearest guard, froze in place, unable to move.
"Well now, what kind of game are we playing here? An experimental cell break?"
With a relaxed smile, Aeridar strolled leisurely down the corridor from the far end, followed closely by Gin, who carried a pair of heavy black metal maces with an expressionless face.
"Golden Ring… Aeridar!!!"
Copra roared Aeridar's name with the fury of a wounded beast, twin plumes of hot white steam jetting from his nostrils. Every muscle in his body strained as if he wanted nothing more than to lunge forward and tear the man apart, yet some deep-seated terror kept him locked in place, desperately holding himself back.
Seeing Aeridar appear, the surviving guards let out sighs of relief and scrambled backward, putting ample distance between themselves and the rampaging Copra.
"You managed to maintain your sanity even after triggering the 'Orc Transformation'? Looks like you were intentionally holding back during the tests," Aeridar said, glancing Copra up and down with a gleam of genuine interest in his eyes.
"Grrr—Rwaaaah!"
Retaining his beastly form, Copra paced back and forth in a tight circle, emitting low, warning snarls, yet he never dared to initiate an attack against Aeridar.
His primal beastly instincts screamed a deafening warning: this man spelled certain death.
"I'll give you two choices. First, walk your ass back to your cell and behave. Second, I beat you half to death and drag your carcass back myself," Aeridar said casually, raising two fingers.
"In your dreams!" Copra rasped out in a gravelly, monstrous voice.
Swish—
Bang!
The second those words left Copra's mouth, Aeridar's expression didn't even shift. In a fraction of a second, he vanished from his spot, reappearing right in front of the orc. With a lightning-fast motion, he whipped his leg upward, delivering a devastating, whip-like kick straight to Copra's skull.
Boom!
The sheer impact sent Copra flying sideways through the air, crashing violently into the steel wall several meters away with a thunderous thud. He went limp instantly, his eyes rolling back into his head, before shrinking back down to his normal human form.
Gulp...
All across the cell block, inmates swallowed hard, their eyes filled with a fresh, profound dread.
His speed was so blindingly fast that their eyes couldn't even track it. His physical strength was so monstrous that a single kick had knocked out Copra, a man whose skin could deflect live rounds, cold in an instant.
Too strong!!
———————
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over here ——— pa-tre-on.c-om/AlexandrusTL [remove the hyphen for normal access]