With a colossal explosion that shook the surrounding ocean, the pinnacle duel between the two supreme leaders of the Sunagakure Pirates and the Big Mom Pirates officially began!
Air currents violently reversed as Shiraishi flickered forward with his silver blade, executing an instantaneous slash aimed directly at BIG MOM's vitals.
Yet, even with Armament Haki layered over his high-tier swordsmanship, the initial strike failed to penetrate her skin by even a fraction of an inch.
This defensive durability...
How on earth did Kikyo manage to break her guard back then?
Taking several quick steps back, Shiraishi noticed a faint heat radiating from his silver blade. During that initial clash, BIG MOM's purple Conqueror's Haki had inflicted physical force, nearly damaging the weapon itself.
BIG MOM swung her giant blade Napoleon downward. Shiraishi parried at an angle, freezing frost coating the blade as a flash of cold light gleamed in his eyes, releasing a burst of Nihilego's neurotoxins into the air.
Yet BIG MOM showed no adverse reaction to the toxins whatsoever. As the poison seeped into her system, it failed to produce any tangible debilitating effect—if anything, it only seemed to heighten her manic excitement.
Despite her colossal frame, BIG MOM was unnervingly nimble. Transitioning from stillness to a dead sprint in a split second, she closed the distance between them in two strides, raising her massive arms like a tiger preparing to pounce.
Knowing she possessed both monstrous brute strength and devastating burst techniques, Shiraishi chose not to clash head-on. Shifting his swaying center of gravity, he snapped his back and sprang laterally like a bolt of lightning.
Twisting her waist and adjusting her dense muscle fibers in a deceptively clumsy yet fluid pivot, she redirected her momentum to hound Shiraishi's retreat without a hitch. A deep purple glow flared across her palm, channeling her brute physical might.
Within a single breath, Shiraishi sensed the lethal danger. Heart tightening, he stepped sharply to the left.
The moment he planted his foot, pairs of ice wings unfurled from his back. Snapping them forward, the kinetic recoil pulled his body back into a sharp evasive rightward bank, attempting to break her pursuit.
BIG MOM planted her left foot, seemingly outmaneuvered for a brief second. Yet her leg instantly snapped rigid, using the ground as a springboard to generate counter-torque.
Turning her massive frame, she caught up to Shiraishi's flank in an instant, raising her right arm to drive down a brutal hammer-fist that unleashed a devastating shockwave.
Such impenetrable, unyielding flesh was an absolute tactical headache!
Kikyo had managed to break BIG MOM's defense because her shrine maiden purification techniques and the Shikon Jewel specifically targeted the lingering soul-connection BIG MOM maintained through Mother Carmel's photo.
With Kikyo recuperating, Shiraishi—facing BIG MOM in a direct head-on slugfest—was forced to endure the full brunt of her near-invulnerable physical defenses.
If a single BIG MOM was this troublesome, what kind of nightmare would Kaidou—the future "Strongest Creature in the World"—turn out to be?
With that thought, Shiraishi condensed his frost powers in midair, forging a colossal lance of solid ice.
Ice Lance!
Hardened by Armament Haki, the frost lance thrust forward at blinding speed, only to be stopped cold by BIG MOM's sheer bodily mass. Leaping into the air, her momentum multiplied her crushing power several times over.
Something is wrong!
With a heavy, muffled crash, Shiraishi raised his blade to block the downward strike of Napoleon.
The impact felt as though a massive siege log had slammed into his guard; from his forearms down to his toes, his frame trembled violently as his center of gravity was broken, momentarily putting him on the defensive under raw physical pressure.
BIG MOM twisted her torso once more, channeling her massive bulk into a single coiled fist that whipped out like an iron flail, carving through the air with a piercing screech as it swept toward Shiraishi's knee.
Inhaling sharply, Shiraishi recalibrated his muscle tension in an instant. Gathering dense Armament Haki, he tensed his left leg, lifting it outward to deliver a focused burst of point-blank force to intercept BIG MOM's low kick.
CLANG!
A deafening impact rang out. Shiraishi felt a dull ache thrumming through his shinbone. Before he could re-anchor his footing, BIG MOM drove a straight punch toward his chest—moving like a siege cannon and hitting like a sledgehammer, detonating a sonic boom right in his ears.
Landing back on the ice, Shiraishi noticed a subtle, bizarre distortion rippling through the frozen ground beneath his boots. It was faint, but he understood the mechanism instantly.
The entire island of Ice Island is alive!
It was actively reading, analyzing, and calculating his movement patterns, feeding real-time sensory data directly to BIG MOM to optimize her combat foresight.
In an instant, Shiraishi realized why BIG MOM had deliberately chosen Ice Island as her primary battlefield.
This colossal ice island was a Homie itself. That explained why, aside from her three personal combat Homies, none of her standard Homie minions were present today.
To prepare for this battle against Shiraishi, BIG MOM had poured vast quantities of gathered souls into Ice Island, transforming the entire frozen landmass into a dedicated combat-class Homie.
While Shiraishi appeared to hold the environmental advantage with his frost powers, the Ice Island Homie was simultaneously providing continuous buffs to BIG MOM's strength, speed, and spatial awareness.
The eyes of the colossal Ice Island Homie slowly peeled open across the frozen landscape.
Somewhere in the One Piece World...
A colossal Divine Tree had long taken deep root and begun to sprout. Though its growth was slow—and many of the fundamental rules governing the generation of Chakra were being altered by the local world's natural order—it steadily expanded.
The mysterious youth who had previously borne the exact likeness of Uchiha Madara stood beneath the canopy of the Divine Tree. Feeling the raw energy being distilled through its roots, his eyes were clouded with dazed intoxication.
"Sunagakure Pirates... keep growing," he murmured. "The stronger you become, the faster the Divine Tree will gather power. When the time comes, I will attain absolute supremacy transcending all other clan members."
Letting out a manic laugh, the mysterious figure shed his disguise, revealing the traditional ceremonial robes of the Otsutsuki Clan beneath the branches. As Madara awakened his Sharingan across the sea, this Otsutsuki member's eyes flared with a dazzling, malevolent light.
As he immersed himself in his ambitions, the fruit ripening upon the Divine Tree began merging with the unique natural laws of the One Piece world, undergoing a profound mutation. A primordial energy was beginning to subtly reshape the foundation of this world.
The Shinobi World...
The colossal Demonic Statue of the Outer Path (Gedo Mazo) finally broke through the upper atmospheric boundary, tearing open a massive dimensional rift in the sky.
Hagoromo Muto, Senju Rona, Hozuki Haigetsu, and Uchiha Kaede appeared together at the threshold. Gazing at the mutated Gedo Mazo, they moved to step forward, but were stopped by the Sage of Six Paths.
Holding his shakujo staff, the Sage of Six Paths manifested before the four ninja, looking up at the darkening celestial rift.
Hozuki Haigetsu stepped forward: "The Otsutsuki Clan has already invaded the world on the other side..."
"Yes," the Sage replied, his eyes deep and solemn. "Yet this also presents the single greatest opportunity to permanently eradicate the threat of the Otsutsuki Clan."
The Sage of Six Paths gazed toward the direction in which the Gedo Mazo was growing. What he could deduce, Aoki Shiraishi had undoubtedly deduced as well.
This was why the Sage had halted Kaede and the others—he chose to leave the disposal of the Otsutsuki infiltrator entirely in Shiraishi's hands.
Yet the one who originally planted the seeds of the Divine Tree was someone else entirely...
Could it really be you... Asura?