As a Paramecia-Type Heat-Heat Fruit user, Charlotte Oven was a high-heat human capable of freely generating vast amounts of heat.
But all he could do was generate heat. There was a huge difference between his power and a flame-based Devil Fruit ability.
He could throw fireballs and the like, but the conversion efficiency would be extremely poor.
What his Devil Fruit ability excelled at most was close-quarters combat.
At this moment, Oven had transformed into a war chariot and was charging over at tremendous speed. Along the path he tore through, magma-like grooves were left in the ground.
Tiny flames burned in his eyes. He had clearly gotten serious.
Yet Katakuri, on the contrary, cried out in shock.
"Don't come over here! Fall back—"
Before he could finish the latter half of his words, a bone-chilling sense of danger made every hair on Katakuri's body stand on end.
Click.
A thumb flicked against the sword guard, and a sky-blue blade sprang out.
In that instant, Ren drew his sword!
Heavenly Might left its sheath—
Scorching light swept past like an unstoppable meteor, slashing across at a speed impossible to capture!
Future Sight had caught that scene in advance, but there was still no way to stop it at all.
Katakuri only had time to step sideways.
The flashing slash had already swept over a hundred meters away.
Light arrived before sound.
Oven, transformed into a blazing war chariot, only felt his vision brighten. Then his field of view was flung high into the air.
He had clearly not jumped, yet he was now in midair.
Still puzzled, his vision caught sight of a headless, flaming war-chariot man continuing to run.
In that instant, Oven understood.
He understood why Katakuri had told him not to come over.
"So strong…"
His final thought faded along with the darkness that swallowed his sight.
The moment Oven's head hit the ground, his headless corpse, carried forward by inertia, smashed through several large trees.
Ren's figure appeared along with it. In his hand, he held a "blade" so bright it could not be looked at directly.
An electromagnetic field formed a domain around it, tightly restraining that light, which was dangerous to the extreme.
At that moment, a furious, grief-stricken roar rang out from behind him.
"Oven! You bastard!"
Katakuri moved in an instant, his eyes savage and filled with rage.
He could no longer care about whether he could win. The murderer who had killed his family was someone he could not possibly ignore.
He stepped forward at extreme speed. Along the way, the ground beneath him was assimilated into mochi terrain.
One bulge after another rose from the ground, as if attacks were brewing within them.
And in response, Ren merely turned his head and coldly spat out one sentence.
"Cut him down, Zoro."
"Yeah."
That simple one-word answer was accompanied by an overwhelmingly brutal flying slash.
It shot out from the side, transforming into a phoenix-shaped azure wave of light that tore apart every tree, patch of earth, and mochi-covered surface along its path.
Katakuri was forced to stop. He raised his trident, spinning it into a whirlwind-like drilling thrust.
A savage gale surged up. That violent force forcibly shredded the terrifying flying slash.
Even so, he was still pushed back dozens of meters.
When he looked up again, a green-haired swordsman holding a single blade stood in front of Ren.
"If you want to test your blade, he's a pretty good target. Among those below the Yonko, he's top tier.
"Whether it's his Haki or his Devil Fruit ability, both can be called world-class. His battle sense is also quite impressive."
Ren sheathed his sword and chuckled. "Soldiers against soldiers, commanders against commanders. The symmetry isn't bad.
"If things go smoothly, maybe you can step over his corpse and rise to an even higher level."
"Is that so? Then don't interfere."
Zoro drew his other two swords once more, entering his Three-Sword Style stance. An overwhelming killing intent spread across the entire battlefield.
Faintly, one could glimpse a dark-red aura rising like signal smoke, then transforming into a bloodthirsty Asura.
"Pirate Hunter, huh?"
Katakuri tightened his grip around his trident shaft and felt pressure as heavy as a mountain.
He had not expected the Demon Pirates to have a swordsman of this level among them.
According to intelligence records, this man had once fought King. However, in those records, he had been in a suppressed state against King.
This time, Sister Amande's target had been Zoro, who was also a swordsman.
But now it seemed… he was stronger than expected.
"Don't bother with pointless nonsense. You're in a hurry, right? Because your family was cut down.
"I'm the culprit. Whether you want revenge or to rescue someone, you'll have to get through me first.
"So—use your full strength. Otherwise, you'll die."
Zoro's gaze was cold and sharp as a blade. The blood-red aura radiating from his body became increasingly violent, eventually condensing into a three-headed, six-armed Asura.
"Then I'll deal with you first!"
Katakuri erupted into motion in an instant. With one step, he shot forward like an arrow released from the string.
The nearby assimilated mochi ground surged, closing in on his enemy from all directions.
His Observation Haki was activated to its peak, triggering Future Sight.
The muscles in Zoro's arms bulged. He crossed his swords and swung, releasing two enormous flying slashes that tore open the mochi terrain.
Violent winds stirred up a towering cloud of dust.
A "Poison Dragon Drill" tore through the smoke and dust, precisely striking at the brief opening left the instant Zoro's technique had just been released.
Clang—!
Metal rang and trembled.
The Wado Ichimonji clenched between Zoro's teeth blocked the Haki-coated spear tip.
Katakuri was not surprised in the slightest. Holding his spear in one hand, he followed through by stepping forward and bending his knee. Power rose from the ground as his other hand transformed into a rising uppercut.
His fist aimed directly at Zoro's chin. If it landed, it would inevitably send him flying.
At the same time, countless Peerless Donuts appeared along the direction in which Zoro would be launched.
It was an entire chain of combination attacks executed based on the image he had seen with Future Sight!
Caught off guard, Zoro fell into the trap. First, he was knocked into the air by the punch.
Then the technique known as Buzz Cut Mochi emerged from countless Peerless Donuts, extending massive arms strengthened by Strength Mochi to strike him from multiple directions.
Terrifying booms rolled on endlessly like ocean tides. Under the violent force, the earth caved in and tore apart.
Until chaotic sword-light flashed.
Three-Sword Style Secret Art: Crossing the Six Paths!
The dense swarm of enormous arms smashing toward him was sliced apart in the shape of the character "卌."
Zoro charged out from within them, raising his hand and immediately unleashing a Flying Slash.
Because Katakuri had once again seen his "future" and reacted ahead of time.
For a time, both sides plunged into an intense battle.
Ren watched the fight between Zoro and Katakuri from the sidelines. He had absolutely no intention of interfering and ending the war early.
Indeed, if he joined in, he could instantly crush and dispose of Katakuri.
The ability of Future Sight was certainly powerful, but Ren himself also possessed "Future Sight."
Moreover, if one's reaction speed was not fast enough, then even seeing the future did not mean one could react in time.
Seeing something did not mean being able to dodge it.
However, for Zoro, this was indeed a powerful enemy. The existence of Future Sight meant he could not rely on grinding things out with stamina to win. He had to reach a level of speed that overwhelmingly surpassed Katakuri in order to defeat him.
The Zoro from before his seclusion would absolutely not have been able to do that.
Even against King, he had been unable to win.
But now things were different. Zoro had gone into seclusion once again, and this time, it had lasted two years.
Although unlike the original timeline, he lacked Mihawk as his teacher, he had gained an extra year of time, sufficient tempering, the supplementation of the Qi system, inspiration from the Blood Demon Art, and all sorts of other things.
Even Ren had no way to judge exactly how strong Zoro was at present.
All he knew was that Zoro had not yet awakened Conqueror's Haki.
Yes.
Although in the original timeline, Zoro himself had never shown any desire to become a king, he had still awakened Conqueror's Haki during his battle with King and even mastered a rough form of Conqueror's Haki Infusion.
It could only be said that a genius was still a genius. Haki truly did need life-and-death battles in order to improve rapidly.
However, Ren believed this was also an opportunity. Conqueror's Haki Infusion was the ticket to stepping into the ranks of peak powerhouses. How could his right-hand man not master it?
Not to mention that Mihawk was eighty percent likely to possess Conqueror's Haki Infusion as well.
If Zoro wanted to compete for the title of the world's greatest swordsman without even mastering Conqueror's Haki Infusion, then defeating Mihawk would be nothing but a joke.
So, Katakuri was the "opportunity" Ren had left for Zoro.
Defeat him, master Conqueror's Haki Infusion, and ascend to the level of peak powerhouses.
Surpass him, and take the most crucial step toward defeating Mihawk and becoming the world's greatest swordsman.
Step over him, and become power held in Ren's hand!
It was precisely because of this that Ren would not allow anyone to disturb the battle between the two of them.
At this moment, the Biscuit Soldier squad controlled by Cracker had barely managed to rush over.
"Get lost!"
Ren turned his head and spat out. Lightning wrapped in two forms of Haki roared forth, shattering them.
The Biscuit Soldiers that could force Gear Fourth Luffy into a bitter battle were no different from toys to the current Ren.
In the distance, Cracker's expression was ugly. He already felt the situation becoming increasingly terrible.
Smoothie was in battle. Sister Amande had most likely met with disaster. Oven was dead. Brother Daifuku seemed to have encountered an enemy as well.
The Katakuri he believed to be the most reliable and unbeatable was being blocked by a swordsman outside their target list.
And it seemed he still could not decide victory or defeat!
One had to know, the man they wanted to capture—Ren—had not even made a move yet!
Within a pirate crew, it was common sense on the sea that the captain was stronger than the vice captain.
Then what level had Ren's strength reached?
There was no answer.
Cracker's heart had already become incomparably heavy. He was even considering whether he should contact Whole Cake Island and have Mama come personally.
But the journey was long. Whether Mama could arrive in time was one issue. The other was that he still held on to a sliver of hope.
What if…
What if Brother Katakuri displayed overwhelming divine might and won?
No matter what the observers on this side were thinking,
the battle between Zoro and Katakuri had already entered a white-hot stage.
After realizing how troublesome Future Sight was, Zoro tried all sorts of methods, including changing his sword techniques.
But he still could not do anything to Katakuri, who could perfectly dodge and counterattack every single time.
Another exchange ended in failure. Along with Katakuri's roar of "Zan Giri Mochi!"
Katakuri turned his arm into mochi and expanded it, transforming it into the shape of a spiked club while combining it with Armament Haki.
Rotating at high speed like a meteor hammer, it slammed into Zoro and sent him flying over a thousand meters.
The savage power that scattered outward forcibly tore a rift into the earth.
As dust surged and great trees were uprooted, Zoro's feet sank into the ground, dragging out two long trenches.
The moment he stabilized himself, he spat out a mouthful of blood. His face was pale as he stabbed Shusui into the ground to steady his body.
"Troublesome guy. No matter how I attack, he predicts it and dodges."
Zoro tightened his grip around his sword hilt, feeling Katakuri's true strength.
This really was a good opponent.
If this level of power and pressure was what he faced, then it should be enough to push him one step further.
"Are you thinking about how to surrender?"
Katakuri's figure appeared. Then his gaze swept over the surroundings, but he did not discover any trace of Sister Amande.
Yes.
That strike had been intentional.
He had sent Zoro flying to shift the battlefield and search for Sister Amande at the same time.
If not for the ability of Future Sight, he would not have dared take such a risk.
(End of Chapter)