The towering blade of light came crashing down, and the first to meet it was the shield of Cracker's biscuit soldier.
Layer after layer of hard biscuit shields were sliced apart like paper before that sky-splitting light.
Although Cracker desperately tried to make the biscuits as hard as possible, he was still very young at this point. The toughness of his biscuits was far inferior to what it would be in later years.
Even in the future, his biscuits would have struggled to withstand this strike. After all, this slash carried every ounce of the attack power Rosinante had silently stored up since the start of the battle.
Charlotte Linlin's offensive power was no joke. Throughout the fight, Rosinante had endured countless of her attacks, and now, all that force was being unleashed at once. It was easy to imagine the destructive potential of this strike.
"Roll Pretzel!" Cracker shouted, seeing that the biscuit soldier's shield could not stop the descending blade. The biscuit soldier's longsword spun rapidly before thrusting forward.
One after another, those high-speed spinning longswords struck the massive blade, sparks flying as point met edge, holding it back for a brief moment.
But Rosinante pressed down hard, and the overwhelming force within that light blade shattered every single sword before continuing its unstoppable path forward.
Biscuit soldiers in its way were split apart one by one as the slash kept driving toward Charlotte Linlin.
Perhaps sensing the danger from this attack, Linlin had already taken up her blade with both hands, gathering her strength.
The moment Rosinante's slash came down, she unleashed her own.
"Elbaf's Spear…!" A sword strike brimming with power shot forth.
The sword aura, like a giant's lance piercing through the world, met the incoming slash head-on.
When the two overwhelming strikes collided, the unleashed force carved cracks into the floor of the grand hall.
"This isn't good—the hall won't hold much longer!" Daifuku said anxiously.
"This place is too dangerous. If this continues, we'll all get caught up in the aftershocks of their battle," Perospero warned.
"I didn't expect Rosinante to fight Mama to this extent. Even though she's in a frenzied state, her strength is still real. Not only did Rosinante withstand all her attacks, he's able to launch such a fierce counterattack!" Owen said in disbelief.
"That's Rosinante's Devil Fruit ability—he can silence the damage from enemy attacks and store it, then release it all at once. This slash is partly Mama's own power!" Daifuku expRyand.
"This ability is way too cunning!" Moscato muttered.
"No, we can't stay here. If we get caught up in this clash, even we won't come out unscathed—and Perospero is still badly hurt!" he urged.
"I'm fine. What matters most right now is checking with the kitchen—has Streusen finished? Tell them to hurry! We must restore Mama's consciousness as soon as possible, or at this rate, she might actually suffer a loss!" Perospero said grimly.
"That's impossible, isn't it? No matter what, she's Mama—how could she lose to Rosinante?" Owen argued.
But the moment Owen's words left his mouth, they saw Rosinante's light blade tear through Linlin's attacks and keep going straight for her.
It crashed heavily against Napoleon.
Bang! Napoleon was sent flying, and the thirty-meter-long blade of light carved directly into Charlotte Linlin's body.
Pfft! Blood spurted from her form.
For a moment, time seemed to freeze. Seeing Big Mom's blood fly through the air left every member of the Big Mom Pirates utterly stunned.
Their faces turned slack, expressions frozen in disbelief.
As the blade light faded, they saw a long sword wound across Charlotte Linlin's body, blood flowing from it.
Yet with her monstrous physique, the bleeding stopped quickly, and the wound began to heal before their eyes.
Impossible. How could this be? How could Mama be hurt? The entire Big Mom Pirates couldn't accept it.
This was Charlotte Linlin—known as the Steel Balloon. Even without Armament Haki, her body could not be pierced by blade or bullet.
With her Armament Haki, honed over decades on the seas, even the so-called "World's Strongest Man" Whitebeard, the late Pirate King Roger, or the peerless swordsman Golden Lion would struggle to harm her.
Yet here she was, injured before their eyes—and the one who dealt the blow wasn't Whitebeard, wasn't Golden Lion, wasn't Roger.
It was a young upstart—Rosinante.
After being struck, Charlotte Linlin seemed to regain some clarity. She looked at her wound, touched the blood, and her face showed a rare expression of disbelief.
"This is bad!" Katakuri's expression shifted suddenly.
With his ability to see a glimpse into the future, he seemed to have foreseen something terrible. At once, he formed two white mochi plugs and shoved them into his ears.
"Ahhh!!" Just as Katakuri sealed his ears, an earth-shattering shriek erupted.
The monstrous sound surged into the sky, sweeping through the hall, threatening to rupture everyone's eardrums. Instinctively, they clutched their ears, their bodies stiffening under the sonic assault.
Snap! Rosinante flicked his fingers, and a barrier-like wall appeared around him, blocking the sound outside.
"Silence Wall… I thought I'd never have to use this ability again," Rosinante said with a smile.
He could have simply silenced the sound itself, but that wouldn't have benefited him.
After all, there were no allies of his here—well, except for one. The only person present who could be considered "his" had already taken precautions before the sound began, so they didn't need his help.
Thinking of this, Rosinante shot Katakuri a mildly annoyed look.
Since he knew in advance, couldn't he have given a little warning? It had startled Rosinante, and now his ears still ached from the blast.
Katakuri ignored his annoyed glance, instead creating more mochi earplugs and sending them flying toward the Charlotte family members.
He didn't bother giving Rosinante one—after all, Rosinante had the Silence Fruit. There was no way he couldn't handle a sound-based attack.
The Charlotte family members exchanged glances before stuffing the mochi plugs into their ears.
Relief washed over them instantly, their bodies relaxing.
Then, the Big Mom Pirates closed in on Rosinante.
They knew that right now was the moment when Charlotte Linlin was most vulnerable—and they feared Rosinante might strike her down while she was in this state.
Should I take this chance to kill her here? Rosinante pondered.
This was perhaps her weakest moment—her mind muddled, her defenses lowered. If he wanted to end her, this might be his best opportunity…