"Kaido, come here! I'll heal you!"
At this moment, Charlotte, who had re-energized her body with Soul-Soul Fruit powers, quickly strode towards Kaido.
Her right hand had already gathered soul power; she intended to reattach Kaido's arm.
Kaido quickly snapped out of the shock of his arm being severed. His pupils constricted when he saw Uchiha Tamahiko was gone, immediately realizing Uchiha Tamahiko was going to attack Charlotte.
"Linlin, dodge!"
Kaido roared.
At the same time, he rapidly charged towards Charlotte, preparing to intercept Uchiha Tamahiko.
However, his speed was no match for Uchiha Tamahiko. By the time he arrived, Uchiha Tamahiko had already severed Charlotte's right hand, which she used to perform her Soul-Soul Fruit powers, causing Kaido's eyes to nearly burst with fury.
By the time he got there, Uchiha Tamahiko had already raised his sword, preparing to sever Charlotte's left hand.
"Stop!"
Kaido extended his left hand, clawing at Uchiha Tamahiko, trying to stop him.
Charlotte also wore a ruthless expression. Although her right hand was severed, her left hand continued to strike at Uchiha Tamahiko, and she opened her gaping maw, preparing to swallow Uchiha Tamahiko whole.
As the black sword severed Charlotte's other left hand, both Kaido's and Charlotte's attacks landed.
However, Uchiha Tamahiko's Susanoo bones instantly appeared, extending a bone arm wrapped in Two-Colored Haki, clashing head-on with Kaido's beast-like claws.
Charlotte's gaping maw was directly gripped by a Chakra arm, firmly holding her upper and lower jaws, preventing her from biting him.
But at this moment, someone suddenly intervened in the battle.
A powerful Conqueror's Haki instantly enveloped the entire area.
Red-Haired Shanks appeared between the three, gripping Gryphon in his right hand, his eyes solemn as he looked at them.
"Could you give me some face? Let this battle end here!"
Shanks spoke with a heavy tone, as if a fight would break out if they disagreed.
Kaido abandoned his struggle with the Susanoo bones, leaping back to create distance from Uchiha Tamahiko.
Charlotte also didn't hesitate. Having lost both hands, she already felt that the chances of winning this battle were slim. She gave up on pouncing on Uchiha Tamahiko and retreated some distance before stopping.
"Almighty Pull."
Uchiha Tamahiko, with outstretched hands, pulled all three severed arms of Kaido and Charlotte to his side, giving Charlotte no chance to recover.
Seeing this, Charlotte's face clouded with gloom. She gritted her teeth, glaring at Uchiha Tamahiko, but she didn't foolishly continue her attack. With her life in peril, she no longer had her usual temperament; she genuinely might die.
"This battle is enough. The strongest in the world is, without a doubt, Uchiha Tamahiko. You are the strongest in this world."
"By holding this World's Greatest Martial Arts Tournament, Kaido and Charlotte, the two leaders, are no longer your opponents. I also believe this is enough to prove you are the strongest!"
"Since that's the case, this battle can stop. If it continues, even if you can kill the two of them, the New World would be missing two Four Emperors, and the World Government would take advantage of the opportunity."
Red-Haired Shanks, now acting as a neutral mediator, spoke to Uchiha Tamahiko.
He did not wish for the current situation to be broken and wanted to maintain the status quo, waiting for the person he was expecting.
Moreover, he felt that if these two Four Emperors were gone, leaving only himself, he would be unable to stand alone and would struggle to put pressure on Uchiha. He did not want the Uchiha family to dominate, recreating the situation of the Rocks Pirates decades ago.
"Strongest?"
"I don't care about that title at all. I said before, you are vying for the number one under heaven, while I am above the heavens!"
"If you had intervened when those two were ganging up on me just now, I might have believed you were genuinely here to reason. But you only stepped out when I was about to kill them, which is clearly taking sides!"
"Furthermore, your confidence in stepping out is based on the belief that with three Four Emperors, I would be difficult to deal with, so I would have to take a step back and give you face, right?"
"You guessed wrong!"
Uchiha Tamahiko looked at Red-Haired Shanks coldly, speaking very impolitely.
Such 'neutral' people always appear when you're gaining an advantage, but they never show their face when you're getting beaten.
As the last sentence fell, a light blue halo enveloped the entire area.
The pupils of Shanks and the other two constricted violently. They felt their scalps tingle, as if death could come knocking at any moment.
This feeling quickly vanished, but Shanks and Kaido's expressions drastically changed, because they saw Charlotte's head disappear from her body.
"Thud."
At the same time, Charlotte's head, with an expression of shock still on her face, fell onto the pitted ground. She had never imagined she would truly die like this.
Uchiha Tamahiko also landed softly, holding his black sword.
Operating Room.
He directly swapped his position with a small stone behind Charlotte, appearing behind her and severing her head with a single sword strike—a simple yet effective combo.
Charlotte reacted, but her speed was no match for Uchiha Tamahiko. Coupled with the loss of both hands, she could only cover her body with Haki, but it was useless.
Truth-Seeking Orb possesses extremely strong destructive power, a composite of seven Yin and Yang attributes, a destructive force even stronger than Dust Release. Haki simply cannot resist it.
"Linlin!!"
Kaido let out a mournful cry.
He hadn't expected that his former comrade would truly die here.
He looked at Uchiha Tamahiko with eyes full of rage and hatred, wishing he could devour the man alive.
"Don't look at me with such eyes. When you dealt with those challengers before, when you occupied Wano Country, they felt the same way you do now."
"I'm simply doing to you what you did to them."
Uchiha Tamahiko felt not the slightest bit of guilt about eliminating people like Charlotte and Kaido.
Shanks's anger was also somewhat uncontrollable at this moment. He hadn't expected Uchiha Tamahiko to genuinely disregard him. Now, he was caught between a rock and a hard place, unsure if he should truly go to war with Uchiha Tamahiko.
"What I want to do is overturn this world, not claim this title of'strongest.'"
"These two were very annoying. If they had followed the rules, they wouldn't have died today. Since they actively provoked me, then let them have their wish and let them know my power."
Uchiha Tamahiko raised his black sword and walked step by step towards Kaido.
"Boy, only one person can overturn the world, and that is Joy Boy!"
"You are not that person, you can't do it!!"
Kaido knew his death was near, but he felt no fear; this was what he had pursued before.
However, he directly refuted Uchiha Tamahiko's words. The person this world was waiting for was Joy Boy, not Uchiha Tamahiko.
"Who cares about such things!"
"As long as I'm strong enough, then I can be whoever I want to be!"
Uchiha Tamahiko said earnestly.
After speaking, he charged directly at Kaido. Kaido also did not give up resisting, raising his only remaining arm and striking with all his might towards Uchiha Tamahiko.
Inevitably, Kaido died.
His death was the same as Charlotte's; his head was severed.
The strongest creature in the sea died just like that.
Shanks, with a gloomy face, sheathed Gryphon. In the end, he still did not make a move, because he was not confident.
....
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