Abrupt. Brutal. Powerful.
That was the conclusion Charlotte Linlin reached at the very first moment.
It completely overturned the shallow impression she had held of Demon Ren.
How was he some newly risen pirate who had luckily managed to leave a scar on Kaido?
He was clearly a terrifying opponent powerful enough to put her life in danger!
Only now did Charlotte Linlin understand why Whitebeard had shown signs of joining forces with Ren during that war.
And why this upstart dared to make a move against the Celestial Dragons.
It was not arrogance born from ignorance. It was precisely because he possessed this level of strength!
And what she had seen was not even everything.
"Mama! I didn't do it on purpose! That bastard took control of me!"
Zeus supported his master's body while explaining what had happened to him just now.
Very quickly, Charlotte Linlin understood the general situation.
"You can control lightning? You can even control Zeus?"
Her face darkened as she pointed the Emperor Sword at the enemy in the distance. "Is this your source of confidence?"
"Not only that."
Ren swept his gaze over her indifferently, then let it fall on the red mark on her chest. "But you really are strong. That attack just now didn't even break your skin.
"Even with the protection of both types of Haki, that toughness is still somewhat absurd.
"But there is one thing I'm curious about."
His crimson eyes locked onto the empress, and surging killing intent violently outlined a blood-red demonic shadow.
At this moment, Ren began to change. Six wings slowly unfolded behind him, transforming him into a six-winged armored demonic figure.
Only, compared to his enormous form back in Dressrosa, this demonic shadow was almost the same size as Ren's main body, merely a little larger.
Violent energy turned into lines, sketching out complex patterns, before finally sinking inward at his chest and forming a split-like fissure.
The magnetic field capable of restraining a sun was the fissure itself, firmly binding that vast and terrifying power.
It was not merely the energy of the Judgment's main cannon. It was a terrifying force formed from the main cannon, Heavenly Might, and the More-More Fruit.
Meteor Burst · Phase Three · Seraph!
Ren's attributes in this state had already soared to an extremely terrifying level.
The enhancement brought by Meteor Burst was not fixed. The most important factors were the quality and quantity of energy.
The Judgment's main cannon energy was massive in scale and high in quality, which was why the boost brought by Meteor Burst had been so enormous.
After obtaining the More-More Fruit, Ren's own energy scale had effectively increased a hundredfold out of thin air.
As long as his body could withstand it, the more energy there was, the greater the enhancement became.
What needed to be noted was that because of the electromagnetic ability Ren had obtained on Kuja Island, along with two years of concentrated training, he had mastered a devil technique based on magnetic-field restraint during that period.
This greatly increased his control over energy, allowing him to shrink his body size while constructing a restraint structure similar to "magnetic-field-confined nuclear energy."
At the same time, he could also increase the magnetic field's intensity to force the quality of the energy—that is, its temperature—to rise.
The slash with which he had instantly killed Oven, described as "light," had not been false.
It was, in the truest sense—
Energy approaching the sun!
At this moment, the Seraph spoke in an indifferent voice:
"Can you—make me draw my blade?"
He raised both fists. Heavenly Might had already vanished. Astonishingly, he intended to fight a Yonko with his bare hands!
What an absurd question.
And its target was one of the Four Emperors.
The veins on Charlotte Linlin's forehead bulged at once, and rage like a volcano threatened to erupt from within her.
But she had no choice but to restrain herself, because this opponent was not someone she could casually crush.
From Observation Haki alone, she could sense an extreme threat.
It was as if the one before her was not an enemy, but a sun!
However, she was no rookie pirate. She was a pirate emperor who had stood in the New World for decades.
No matter what else could be said of her, her spirit and bearing would never be lacking!
"If you want to make an enemy of me, then prepare yourself to fall into hell!"
Charlotte Linlin's voice turned demonic, and crimson light flared in her massive eyes.
This was—Soul Pocus!
Anyone who heard it and showed even the slightest wavering of spirit would have their soul seized and lifespan extracted.
However—
"You think you're worthy?"
Ren sneered, and his entire body transformed into a bursting meteor!
This was not a large-scale release of energy. Instead, according to his needs, he allocated energy and both types of Haki to create an even more terrifying and violent force.
Black-red lightning arrived together with light and shadow, striking that old face at a speed even Charlotte Linlin could not react to.
Boom—!
The thunderous sound and explosion arrived late. At the end of the surging flames, Charlotte Linlin had been smashed into the earth.
"Mama!"
"Mama!"
"Mama!"
Napoleon, Prometheus, and Zeus let out cries of disbelief.
"How is this possible? How many years has it been since Mama last bled?!"
Prometheus wore an incredibly human expression of his mind going blank, completely unable to believe what he was seeing.
Napoleon and Zeus were the same, their humanlike eyes widening.
Charlotte Linlin was covered in blood, embedded inside a crater several hundred meters wide and dozens of meters deep.
She raised her hand in disbelief and covered the blood gushing from her mouth.
One punch!
Just one punch!
It had broken through the defense that no one had managed to pierce for who knew how many years!
Even though she had expected something like this, witnessing it with her own eyes still felt truly unbelievable.
"Prometheus! Zeus! Napoleon!"
Charlotte Linlin let out a shrill cry, then reached out and seized the three top-tier Homies, forcing them to transform according to her will.
Prometheus wrapped around Napoleon's hilt as Big Mom gripped it, while the blade's tip passed through Zeus, forming an energy ring between the three of them.
At the same time, massive amounts of both types of Haki coiled around this special combined weapon.
The moment preparations were complete, Charlotte Linlin swung without hesitation.
"Maser Sovereignty!"
A violent tide of light erupted in an instant, turning into a deadly wave of destruction that swept toward the enemy in her perception.
"A move I haven't seen before, huh…"
Ren, who had not pursued her, simply watched in silence. Then he raised his hand, clenched his fist—
And punched!
His fist and the Sovereignty light wave collided in the next instant. Before they even truly touched, the high-density dual Haki wrapped around them had already begun clashing.
The atmosphere trembled. Space twisted as if it had fallen into a washing machine, rotating, distorting, and then forming a sphere of light.
A violent shock wave was released immediately afterward, transforming into a hurricane that tore through the earth.
Tens of thousands of tons of molten lava fluid across Whole Cake Island were blown into the sky, then turned into cold, hard stone, before shattering completely into powder!
The entire island's terrain underwent a shocking and rapid transformation because of the clash between the two.
A "sinkhole" spread out with the point of impact at its center, causing Whole Cake Island to completely lose its original appearance.
"Very strong, but—
"Still only this much!"
Ren's fist released terrifying Haki energy, pouring in even more horrifying power like a floodgate being opened.
In the next instant, an umbrella-shaped energy wave erupted in the direction his fist advanced.
Corresponding to it was the Maser Sovereignty light pillar, which shattered inch by inch, disintegrating, breaking apart, and collapsing!
Boom—!
Within the following wave of fiery explosions, Charlotte Linlin was blasted backward like a meteor.
Her speed was nearly as fast as a true meteor, and in the blink of an eye, she vanished beyond the far end of the island.
Ren's six wings vibrated, and he immediately gave chase.
For the two of them, Whole Cake Island as a battlefield was still far too narrow.
After they left, within the ruins of Whole Cake Island,
A figure suddenly appeared inside a shattered mirror. Then, a terrified Brûlée crawled out from within.
She stared blankly at her surroundings. In just a single round trip, it was as though heaven and earth had been replaced.
But as the source of the Mirror-World entrance, she understood that this was where the original entrance had been.
However, even after sweeping her gaze around, she still could not find anyone.
"Big Brother Perospero? Sister Compote?"
She kept calling out, but still found nothing. There were only endless ruins as far as the eye could see.
Brûlée then realized something, her expression growing solemn as she returned to the mirror space.
She had to—absolutely had to—notify the others!
An enemy who absolutely had to be taken seriously had invaded!
(End of Chapter)