Yet in such chaos, "Zeus" thrived like a fish in water.
It devoured the dense, rolling thunderclouds around it, and without hesitation hurled bolts of lightning down upon Davy Jones.
Flocks of ravens once again poured out from every direction.
They formed into living shields, throwing themselves into the storm—shattering, burning, and dying—to block every descending strike of lightning.
Davy Jones pressed his massive black blade deeper into Prometheus's body.
A horrifying force crushed down upon Prometheus, forcing it toward the sea below.
When Prometheus looked down, it saw the waters beyond the island—
A vast, pitch-black abyssal whirlpool had formed out of nowhere, twisting violently as it rose into a colossal sea tornado, like a dragon of raging ocean!
The dragon opened its gaping maw and swallowed Prometheus whole!
Then, twisting its serpentine body, it dove straight back into the sea, drawing upon the power of the ocean itself to digest Prometheus.
Hiss—
Charlotte Linlin soon felt the "soul fragment" she had placed in Prometheus tear free, returning to her body.
The thing she feared most… had still come to pass.
Charlotte Linlin seemed to see herself again, as she had been at just six years old.
Starved for days because of a festival's fasting ritual, she had been just as ravenous as now.
So when the nun who had taken her in brought out those delicious pastries and sweets, she had devoured them without restraint.
When it was all over, the nun—and every one of her little companions—had vanished, leaving only the wreckage of the feast behind.
And in that moment, Linlin had inherited the nun's Soul-Soul Fruit ability.
From that day forward, her heart had grown more fragile.
She carried the nun's photograph with her always. She regarded Prometheus as a sacred bond between herself and the nun—and made the nun's dream, "to build a peaceful nation of racial equality," her own.
More than anything, she refused to face the terrifying details buried in those memories.
But Davy Jones had destroyed that bond—forcing her to relive the past she never wanted to recall!
Still, Charlotte Linlin refused to confront the truth.
She simply believed the nun had only "left" her, and that one day, she would return.
If the nun comes back someday and finds that I've lost Prometheus… she'll be so sad. Maybe she'll leave me again!
Unforgivable!
Unforgivable!
Unforgivable!
Transformed into a demon goddess, Charlotte Linlin roared in rage and swung her Napoleon blade.
BOOM—
The entire sea of fire before her vanished in an instant, leaving only gray-black ruins!
Her Observation Haki—driven purely by instinct—locked onto Davy Jones's position.
Her Conqueror's Haki surged, roaring beyond the range of human hearing, reducing everything nearby to nothingness.
"Elbaf's Spear—Ikoku Sovereignty!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The devastating blast tore through the island, ripping across the sea toward Davy Jones.
It left her blade almost as soon as it was unleashed—reaching him in the blink of an eye!
But Davy Jones, in that instant between life and death, countered with a slash imbued with equal Haki.
The high-pitched screech of clashing power was so sharp it stole the breath from the air.
Davy Jones roared, pressing down with a force like the Red Line crashing from the heavens, and drove the Ikoku Sovereignty back.
The impact struck the sea like a cannonball.
BOOM—
A shockwave exploded outward, flinging seawater in all directions. The waves split apart, revealing the seafloor's mud and rock—leaving behind a crater like that of a meteor strike, which did not heal for a long time.
Only after nearly ten seconds did the sea's might surge back to fill the wound.
Even its aftermath showed the terrifying scale of its destruction.
The island where Davy Jones and Charlotte Linlin had fought could no longer withstand the power of monsters—it shattered.
It broke into fragments, scattered among towering waves like drifting landships.
Charlotte Linlin now rode atop an enormous, enlarged Zeus, soaring into the sky.
She had grown thinner—almost regaining the beauty she'd had at twenty-eight.
Zeus, obeying her will, rushed straight toward Davy Jones again, heedless of rest.
Davy Jones steadied his breath. He handed his black blade to the countless tentacles beneath his cloak, which held it aloft.
Then, between his hands, a yellow-covered tome materialized from thin air.
On its cover, golden letters gleamed—
"The Pirate Codex."
The book opened on its own, aged pages fluttering, and a quill pen appeared between them.
Come, Charlotte Linlin. This is our final duel.
Davy Jones grasped the quill and swiftly wrote upon the page:
"From this moment, Davy Jones relinquishes 'Super Regeneration,' 'Death Rhythm,' and 'Indestructible Heart,' in exchange for equivalent Haki."
He set down the quill. At once, both pen and codex vanished—its contract activated, the countdown beginning!
It was a pact between Davy Jones and the Pirate Codex.
By sacrificing certain powers or abilities, he could exchange them for equal Haki.
The more valuable the offering, the greater the Haki received.
No matter how he chose to use that power, the contract would enforce itself for exactly nine minutes.
Charlotte Linlin, atop Zeus, had already closed the distance.
But instinct screamed through the souls of Napoleon and Zeus—they both felt terror.
What is that?!
The malice of death itself?
Though Davy Jones stood motionless in the air, his mere presence made them tremble.
Charlotte Linlin, stripped of reason, wanted only to destroy everything before her—to annihilate Davy Jones along with that memory of devouring the nun alive!
You were never meant to exist. None of you. Disappear—disappear!
She unleashed another deafening roar, bringing down Napoleon, wrapped in Zeus's lightning, toward the man in the tricorn hat!
Davy Jones's icy gray-blue eyes locked on her. The black blade in his grasp—already raised without her noticing—flashed.
BOOM—
The shockwave bloomed like the death of a sun: first blinding light, then spots of black, and finally infinite darkness.
Charlotte Linlin's slash shattered the instant it touched his—followed by Zeus, who screamed as he was annihilated.
As his soul fragment returned to her, Charlotte Linlin regained a fleeting surge of strength—only to be struck down again by the aftershock.
Her limbs, flesh, and bones quivered violently—as if none of them belonged to her anymore.
"Aaaaahhhh—!"
She screamed. The agony briefly restored her humanity; her eyes cleared for a heartbeat—then vanished once more, leaving only primal instinct.
I… I will… I will kill you…
The "demon goddess" lunged at Davy Jones, even as the shockwave had already destroyed her arms and legs.
She opened her mouth wide, sinking her teeth into his left arm and writhing tentacles, and tore them away!
Blood and flesh filled her mouth as she devoured him—chewing and swallowing raw.
Through this savage, beast-like act, she restored a flicker of her power.
But Davy Jones would not grant her the chance to rise again.
The black blade flashed—piercing her temple with a wet crack, driving straight through.
Charlotte Linlin's eyes flew wide. For the first time, she clearly saw Davy Jones's face… and recalled her family, her Charlotte children.
But it was already too late.
A savage light flickered once in her gaze—then faded, leaving only the dull haze of death.
Davy Jones drew the black blade from her skull, trailing blood and brain matter.
Her limp, mutilated body tumbled from the sky and fell—splash—into the raging sea below.
Davy Jones flicked the remains from his sword before slowly merging it back into his body.
His tentacles retracted beneath the cloak, no longer flaring outward.
Nine minutes later, as the Pirate Codex's contract expired, his left arm and tentacles began to regenerate.
But he didn't care about the pain of his wounds or the itch of rebirth.
He felt only satisfaction—
The satisfaction of slaying yet another powerful foe, a pleasure surpassing all others in the world.
This flavor… was simply irresistible.
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