Just a moment ago, Ortoren had been feeling pretty satisfied. Even in this beyond-the-limit state, his Goro Goro no Mi could still give him an edge in speed.
But then Charlotte Linlin turned around and pulled out a "soul heavy blow." You can be as strong as you want, she'll just hit your soul. It was infuriatingly effective, and it made Ortoren feel awful.
At that point, he couldn't help thinking… was the Soru Soru no Mi the real power that had crossed to the other side?
You old hag. Not only do you come loaded with the strongest "base stats," you've even got an ability that feels like it's from a different era.
Still, Ortoren also caught a few subtle changes in Charlotte Linlin. She'd only just returned to her normal size and exchanged one clash, yet sweat was already beading at her temples.
And every breath she took poured out thick steam.
"She can't keep this up," Ortoren calculated. "At this rate, she'll hit her limit in fifteen minutes at most… which means I'm the one with the advantage."
In this Sulong state, Ortoren could last twenty minutes. If he really gritted his teeth, he could endure the strain for half an hour. The price would come after, though. Once the state ended, the backlash would hit hard, leaving him drained and weak for a long time.
Even so, Ortoren was confident Charlotte Linlin couldn't hold out longer than he could.
So if he dragged things out and forced her to drop this state, then even if he only had five minutes left afterward, he was sure he could finish the fight within those five minutes.
Choosing that strategy meant he'd basically locked in the win ahead of time.
Ortoren's aura surged as he spoke. "Old hag, how long can you last? Fifteen minutes? Twenty? If I wanted to play dirty, you'd already be as good as beaten!"
The moment he said it, a heavy look flickered through Charlotte Linlin's eyes.
Because he was right.
"I could win like that," Ortoren said, spreading his arms as if throwing his chest open, his voice bold, "but… I refuse!!!"
"A win like that is too cheap," he continued. "So as the price for giving up that advantage, in this final brawl, entertain me with everything you've got!!!"
"You arrogant brat!" Charlotte Linlin roared, furious. "You're looking down on me!"
She stomped, and the trembling force of her soul energy spilled outward. Her figure vanished.
In the next instant, she was right in front of Ortoren, a fist already driving toward him.
Ortoren knew full well her blows had a special effect on the soul, but he still refused to dodge.
"A real man fights like this!" he bellowed. "Punch for punch, flesh on flesh, and you tank it all the way through!!!"
He let her fist smash into his abdomen. His consciousness wavered again for a split second, but in that same instant, his will and instincts had already fired back.
Even as his mind blurred, Ortoren's fist, crackling with violent lightning, slammed into Charlotte Linlin's stomach.
Both of them were knocked back a step. Charlotte Linlin recovered first, seizing the gap while Ortoren's awareness was still unsteady. She drove another punch into him, scattering the soul-consciousness that was trying to snap back into place.
"It's over!!!" Charlotte Linlin realized at once. This was her opening.
If she could keep hammering his awareness apart, separating soul from flesh, then Ortoren wouldn't be able to mount a proper counterattack…
Thump, thump, thump! Three punches landed in a row. Charlotte Linlin's combo drove Ortoren back with no room to fight back at all.
But just as her fourth punch was about to come down, Ortoren's body moved.
He clamped a hand around her wrist and stopped the heavy blow dead.
Charlotte Linlin's eyes widened as she looked at him.
And yet Ortoren's eyes were still rolled back, nothing but white showing.
But the very next moment, his eyes cleared. He grinned.
"The human body is fascinating, isn't it? The tougher the body, the stronger its adaptability. The first time you used that power, I already had a feeling… give me a few more punches, and I might be able to adapt!"
He tightened his grip. A faint grinding sound came from Charlotte Linlin's wrist, bones protesting under the pressure. Ortoren's smile turned savage.
"Now it's my turn!"
With one hand locking her wrist, lightning erupted around Ortoren as he instantly shifted into that Lightning Release Armour stance. His other arm folded inward into an elbow strike, then drove forward with all his strength, slamming into Charlotte Linlin's abdomen from below.
"Elbow Bolt!!!" Ortoren roared.
Charlotte Linlin couldn't take that hit. The force snapped her feet off the ground at once. But with her right wrist still caught in Ortoren's grip, she couldn't break free. So instead of being launched away, her body flipped up around that wrist like a pivot, tilting through the air, her face turning toward Ortoren as her legs kicked back behind her.
"Old Monkey's Seal of Authority!!!"
The instant Charlotte Linlin's face came in close, Ortoren's battle-honed technique kicked in on instinct.
Almost the moment her feet left the ground, Ortoren released her wrist. He brought his arms together, palms aligned, and "pushed" a strike out.
Both palms were angled upward, perfectly hooking under Charlotte Linlin's chin. The impact snapped her jaws together, and blood sprayed from her mouth. Her brain rattled like she'd been concussed, and her consciousness blurred for a split second.
Her diagonal flip was forcibly straightened, and the force sent her flying higher into the air.
That was when Charlotte Linlin's daze cleared—but it was already a beat too late.
She saw lightning spilling through the air. Then, a pair of arms slid under her armpits. Before she could react, those arms bent back smoothly, following the line of her shoulder blades, and clamped down on the back of her neck.
The instant her neck was seized, violent, wild lightning flooded her entire field of view.
Then she heard a final whisper at her ear, from her fifth son, Benn Ortoren.
"Lightning Self Bomb!!!"
Blinding lightning tore through heaven and earth. When that raging thunder element crashed into the island, it spread out like a scroll unfurling, covering the entire landmass in an instant.
Then the shock hit.
This carefully chosen island finally couldn't withstand the rampage of monsters like them.
Seen from above, the moment the lightning struck, White Salt Island burst apart like fireworks. The whole island fractured and tore outward across the sea.
The island's foundation was completely destroyed. Totto Land's refined-salt mining plan ended before it ever truly began.
As the "firework" afterglow faded, furious waves gathered and rose into a massive tsunami tens of meters high, surging outward in all directions.
Fortunately, whether it was the warships that had come to watch or the Queen Mama Chanter, there were powerful fighters aboard. They rode out the giant tsunami without disaster.
After the waves passed, it took another ten minutes or so for the sea and the floating island debris to gradually settle.
On a chunk of island several hundred meters across, Ortoren stood at the edge, one hand gripping Charlotte Linlin by the leg.
Half her body was still submerged. Surprisingly, that "Lightning Self Bomb" hadn't knocked her unconscious. She was still flailing her arms, twisting, struggling.
Ortoren didn't waste time. He hauled his old mother up out of the sea and onto the rock.
Charlotte Linlin spat out mouthful after mouthful of seawater. Her hair hung loose and messy, and dark red blood mixed with seawater streamed down from her head. The aura she'd had—like she'd crossed the boundary—was gone completely.
She sat there without standing. Ortoren stood a short distance in front of her.
"Well? Convinced yet? Even if you have a Hunger Pangs attack right now, I can cure it in minutes!"
To his surprise, there was no anger on Charlotte Linlin's face. She stared at Ortoren blankly for more than ten seconds, then suddenly started to laugh.
"You've grown up… Ortoren," Charlotte Linlin murmured, smiling.
Ortoren froze. His expression turned complicated. After a moment, he snorted.
"Don't pull the 'I'm your mother' act at a time like this, you old hag!"
Like you ever really took care of me as a mother…
But when he turned away and looked out at the still-rough sea, he couldn't help thinking…
No, she hadn't, back then. But after they met again, these past years… Charlotte Linlin had… sort of… barely… in her own sloppy way… taken care of him, hadn't she?
Today, the fight was decided.