Many people's mental defenses collapsed. Weapons were thrown aside as they scattered in all directions like headless flies, fleeing in blind panic.
By contrast, the samurai of Wano remained calm and composed, not a trace of panic on their faces.
Because they knew one thing clearly: whether sky or sea, both were the absolute domain of their general.
And reality proved them right.
As Tenma's Devil Fruit awakening deepened, the range he could assimilate and control expanded to an increasingly absurd degree. With nothing more than a single thought, the seawater that had been pouring back in was forcibly lifted by the power of the Float-Float Fruit, halting its attempt to fill the chasm.
Immediately after, under the manipulation of an invisible, overwhelming force, the seawater surged upward, transforming into a super tsunami that blotted out the sky. Like a world-ending flood unleashed by a god, it rolled toward the enemy camp with an air of utter contempt for all life.
This single move turned the whirlpools that had been devouring ships into a Sword of Damocles hanging over everyone's heads, leaving no chance of escape.
"Those who surrender will not be killed!"
Tenma's icy shout was not loud, yet it rang as if exploding beside everyone's ears, cutting clearly through the chaos of the battlefield.
Countless people raised their heads in terror to look at the figure in the sky. Though his body was still stained with blood, the domineering aura with which he looked down on the world made everyone freeze in fear, halting whatever they were doing.
This was the terrifying existence capable of suppressing the alliance of two Emperors by himself.
BIG MOM, Charlotte Linlin. Kaido of the Beasts.
These two Sea Emperors had both been cut down by one man.
This was no evenly matched, pyrrhic victory—it was a heaven-defying feat of one man crushing two Yonko in succession, a record worthy of standing proudly in the annals of the sea.
Just what kind of water had gotten into their brains for them to choose to go to war against such a monstrous being?
"Damn it…"
King the Wildfire felt a chill run down his spine. But compared to the ordinary officers who had already been scared out of their wits, as the foremost of the All-Stars, he understood far more clearly what he had to shoulder in this desperate situation.
Even if defeat was already certain!
Surrender? To him, that was a humiliation more unbearable than death.
Especially since he was a witness who had watched Kaido step by step evolve from a great pirate into a monster, and then ascend to the throne of Sea Emperor.
"Beast Pirates!"
King forcibly suppressed the fear and shock surging in his heart. He abruptly pulled away from Mihawk and turned toward the wavering subordinates around him, roaring with all his might.
"The Beast Pirates have only bodies that die in battle—never souls that know fear!"
The words were thunderous, but in a situation where defeat was inevitable, their effect was minimal. After all, very few people were truly willing to throw their lives away.
Still, there were quite a few diehard loyalists who had been utterly captivated by Kaido's personal charisma. Hearing the Lead Performer's roar, they raised their weapons and let out defiant howls, ready to face death.
Even Katakuri couldn't help glancing at King again. But with his sister Brûlée captured, and both Kaido and his mother defeated, he had long since stopped his meaningless entanglement with Gion.
Katakuri had already made his choice.
He could fight for his family until the last drop of blood was drained from his body. But now, with his mother's life and death unknown, as the pillar of the Charlotte Family, he had to prioritize how to protect his remaining brothers and sisters.
"How infuriating this is to me!"
A furious, feminine shout suddenly rang out from the airborne warship above.
Immediately afterward, the battlefield's surroundings seemed to undergo a strange transformation. One by one, white motes of light—like dandelion seeds—floated up from every corner of the battlefield.
The Big Mom Pirates were all too familiar with this sight.
Those were—souls!
Could it be… Mother had awakened?!
Though it was an extremely unrealistic fantasy, in despair, people naturally clung to the hope that Charlotte Linlin might create a miracle.
However, when everyone's gaze converged, what appeared was not that massive, bloated figure.
Accompanied by the voice brimming with anger, Hancock—once rated by the World Economy News as "the most beautiful ace under the Skyborne General"—stepped gracefully onto the deck of the flying warship, high heels clicking softly.
It was a face and figure so perfect that even the Creator would marvel, possessing a lethal charm that transcended gender and age, irresistible to all.
Countless hearts skipped a beat—not only because of her breathtaking beauty, but also because of the terrifying power she had previously displayed, enough to contend with Kaido himself.
At this very moment, the soul-light motes floating around seemed to be welcoming the birth of a new Empress, consciously gathering and drifting toward Hancock.
"Could it be…"
"She was inside the ship holding Mother for quite a while…"
Recalling the rumors about Tenma's ability to seize Devil Fruit powers, and looking at the scene before them, a horrifying thought exploded in people's minds.
"You ungrateful wretches, daring to refuse Lord Tenma's mercy! Just a pack of uncivilized monkeys—my anger is… swelling! Growing without end!"
As her fury surged, a violent burst of Conqueror's Haki erupted uncontrollably, stirring invisible gales around her.
"Lady Snake Princess!!"
The Kuja warriors, who had completely become "Hancock-shaped," stared with hearts in their eyes, cheering wildly for their mistress's furious bearing.
Hancock released her Haki fully, locking her gaze onto the stubborn few still resisting. She lightly touched her right index finger to her lush pink lips, pulling out a pink heart astonishingly similar to the one from the Love-Love Fruit in the original canon.
Even Tenma was a little surprised by the sight.
He knew that after eating the Soul-Soul Fruit, Hancock's fighting style wouldn't become as crude as that old hag Big Mom's.
But he hadn't expected that even with a different fruit, the techniques she developed would still mirror the Love-Love Fruit so closely.
—Soul-Capturing Arrow!
Hancock raised her right hand in a bow-drawing stance, nocking it against the pink heart pulled from her left hand. In an instant, she fired a rain of arrows that filled the sky.
Under the precise lock-on of Observation Haki, the arrows seemed to have eyes, streaking straight toward the targets she had deemed enemies.
To King's perception, the arrows weren't particularly fast—but they brought with them an intense sense of suffocation and imminent danger.
He swiftly raised his weapon, coating it in Haki, barely managing to deflect the incoming arrows.
But the unlucky ones around him, whose Haki cultivation wasn't sufficient, weren't so fortunate. Unable to evade the tracking arrows, they were struck instantly.
The moment the arrows pierced their bodies, their eyes rolled back as they fell into a bizarre, rigid state.
Then, wisps of white, gaseous substance were forcibly torn from their pores, streaming endlessly toward Hancock.
This sight was even more terrifying—and familiar—to the Big Mom Pirates than the earlier soul orbs. Perospero screamed hoarsely, "That's Mother's soul curse!!!"
Not just him—Katakuri and the other Charlotte Family members saw it clearly as well. This was Mother's signature punishment for traitors.
"Mother… is dead?"
"Mother's Soul-Soul Fruit has been taken by that woman!!"
The enormous shock assaulted everyone's nerves. The same disbelief also spread to the spectators watching the live broadcast far away in the Sabaody Archipelago.
"Headquarters! Headquarters! Breaking news! Confirmed—Wano has mastered the technology to seize others' Devil Fruit powers! Yonko Charlotte Linlin is confirmed dead, and her Devil Fruit ability has been inherited by the Skyborne General's ace—Hancock!!"
Bathed in the gaze of countless eyes, Hancock suddenly clenched the stolen souls in her hand.
They gathered and compressed at her fingertip. She raised her hand in the pose of a pistol.
Conqueror's Haki wrapped around it like black lightning as she aimed at King below. The soul bullet in her hand suddenly ignited into raging flames, and she pulled the trigger.
—Whoosh!
The bullet carried its own homing guidance, several times faster than the arrows before, and with the might of advanced Conqueror's Haki, it instantly pierced the defensive net King had just raised.
Internal destruction from Ryuo, the absolute suppression of Haki infusion, and the piercing property of burning souls.
King's prideful black armor and Armament Haki defense were as fragile as paper before this attack.
The bullet slammed directly into his body—but there was no explosion of flesh and blood.
Instead, an even more horrifying scene unfolded.
Massive amounts of thick, white, smoke-like souls burst violently from King's enormous body.
—Fwoosh!
Those souls were completely ignited. The Lunarian race's innate flame factor became the perfect accelerant, acting directly upon his own soul.
In the next instant, the burning souls formed a gigantic fireball—like Prometheus, the "Heavenly Fire"—and Hancock slammed it down mercilessly.
—BOOM!
A deafening explosion shook the heavens. A suffocating, terrifying heat erupted instantly, engulfing everything below.
King, who bore the brunt of it, had already lost his soul. Like a walking corpse, he was swallowed head-on by the flames ignited from his own soul, and in an instant—true to his name—was reduced to gray-black ashes, completely annihilated.
Along with him, the massive soul fireball also dissipated.
Those who witnessed this couldn't help swallowing with difficulty, looking up at Hancock in the sky, gazing down like a goddess. Their eyes were filled with awe and fear.
Especially after seeing her display such horrifying power, perfectly inheriting Charlotte Linlin's abilities.
At that moment, Hancock lightly brushed her long, jet-black hair aside, revealing a face capable of toppling nations. Under the watchful eyes of the masses, subtle changes began to stir in many hearts.
After all, Hancock's title of "the world's most beautiful woman" was no empty boast.
"Lord Tenma said those who submit will not be killed. Does anyone else want to end up like that pile of ashes?!"
Hancock shouted loudly, her tone brimming with innate arrogance.
The words were blunt and merciless, yet looking at that face, an absurd thought arose in people's minds:
She's terrifying… but she's really beautiful.
The tide of the battlefield shifted instantly due to Hancock's deliberate display of beauty.
Many high-ranking Beast Pirates officers and Big Mom Pirates soldiers had hearts appear directly in their eyes.
"So… so beautiful!"
"I can't take it—this is a goddess descending to the world!"
"We surrender! We give up! We'll do whatever you say, Empress!"
Seeing this group of suddenly lust-addled idiots, Katakuri's expression changed drastically. In what little Observation Haki foresight he could still maintain, he saw an extremely terrifying scene.
This wasn't like Mother's method of stripping lifespan through fear!
In that instant, a vast aura erupted violently from Hancock's body.
Under the spread of this invisible field, the souls symbolizing lifespan were forcibly drawn out from the tops of the heads of those heart-eyed fools who had clearly had their souls hooked away by Hancock's beauty.
Countless people rolled their eyes back and collapsed heavily to the ground like wheat being harvested…
"So this is what 'having your soul stolen' really means?"
Watching this absurd yet horrifying scene, Tenma couldn't help but find it amusing.
In truth, Hancock's development direction for the Soul-Soul Fruit was exactly as Tenma had expected.
Charlotte Linlin relied on the intimidation of Conqueror's Haki to instill fear, thereby extracting souls and lifespan.
Hancock, who also possessed top-tier Conqueror's Haki, could use that method as well—but she also had an unparalleled advantage in her appearance, allowing her to develop an entirely new path.
It was the perfect fusion of the Soul-Soul Fruit with her original Love-Love Fruit abilities.
As long as a target harbored lustful thoughts toward her beauty, their soul would be forcibly extracted.
While it wasn't as convenient as directly using Conqueror's Haki pressure, combined with Hancock's charm, its area of effect was absurdly wide.
After instantly harvesting a massive wave of soul-lifespan energy, Hancock danced her fingers lightly. Those souls transformed into countless dandelion-like motes of energy, drifting toward Wano's forces.
The restorative effects of the souls were immediate. Not only did the soldiers who had already eaten "senzu beans" recover even faster—
More astonishingly, even the warships damaged in the boarding battles seemed to gain life under Hancock's will.
Broken decks and snapped masts regenerated in defiance of physical laws, growing new timber like healing wounds, slowly restoring themselves.
This scene alone proved just how overbearing a rule-based Paramecia truly was—an ultimate strategic weapon on the seas, with benefits far outweighing drawbacks.
After witnessing King's gruesome death despite his talk of "unyielding souls," and seeing the fate of those lust-blinded fools, aside from the unlucky ones who had passed out after losing their lifespan, no voices of defiance remained among the remnants of the Big Mom and Beast forces.
This earth-shattering war had finally entered its final stage.
The victorious side erupted in thunderous cheers and celebrations. With their massive reserves of strength still intact, this overwhelming crushing of the Two Emperors' alliance proclaimed the arrival of a new era to the entire world.
Amid the cheers, everyone tacitly followed Tenma's command—abandoning resistance and choosing survival.
It was all over.
As the eldest son of the Big Mom Pirates, Perospero understood better than anyone that with BIG MOM's death and the loss of her powers to the enemy, not only were they—the defeated remnants on this battlefield—finished, but even Totto Land, thousands of kilometers away, had already become the Skyborne General's possession.
Even if they somehow escaped now, in the brutal New World, without Yonko-level power to anchor them, they wouldn't survive.
"So… is it finally over…"
Katakuri, who had been gritting his teeth and holding on under Gion's relentless pressure, turned his head to glance at the overbearing Skyborne General in the distance, then at his dejected elder brother Perospero.
A fleeting dimness flashed through his eyes before he wearily closed them.
The next moment—
His body, already battered and soaked in blood like a rag doll, could no longer hold up. He fell backward, landing flat on the cold ground, limbs spread out. His trident, "Mogura," which never left his side, slipped from his grasp and rolled several meters away.
They had planned to secretly ally with Kaido and strike from the bottom of the pot.
Instead, the moment the battle began, they were utterly routed.
They had all gravely underestimated the terror of Tenma's faction.
The world was vast enough to give birth to such a monster.
In a short time, he had risen from obscurity to Sea Emperor, and in less than ten years, the power under his command had reached a level capable of effortlessly crushing a Two Emperors alliance.
The instant his back hit the ground, Katakuri no longer wanted to think about what the future might hold. Instead, an unprecedented sense of relief welled up in his heart.
Just then, a softly glowing orb of gentle energy drifted down and landed lightly on his body.
The moment it touched his skin, the energy dissolved, seeping into his limbs and bones.
Katakuri felt in shock as his nearly exhausted stamina and agonizing wounds were repaired at an astonishing speed.
This sudden change made Katakuri—who had already closed his eyes, prepared to accept defeat and death—open them in confusion, looking at Gion before him.
"No need to be so surprised. Even without considering Tenma's wishes, personally speaking, your value is still quite high," Gion said calmly as she sheathed her blade.
"Since you've already made the wise choice, for capable people—even as prisoners—you'll receive the treatment you deserve."
Though this had been a one-sided crushing battle, Gion genuinely acknowledged the strength of the man before her.
Mastery of Conqueror's Haki infusion, top-tier Observation Haki capable of glimpsing the future, and a Mochi-Mochi Fruit developed to awakening—if she hadn't later obtained the Speed-Speed Fruit, the outcome of this battle would have been hard to say.
Before obtaining her ideal Devil Fruit, Gion's strength had already reached the level of an Admiral candidate—one foot through the Admiral's door.
After gaining the Speed-Speed Fruit, which complemented her perfectly, her power underwent a qualitative leap where one plus one was far greater than two. Even against the current three monsters of Marine Headquarters, Gion was confident she could fight—and even win.
"To be honest, being able to pick up your lives, you lot should really go burn some incense in thanks."
Leaning against the ship's rail, Gion let the sea breeze tousle her long hair, paying it no mind as her gaze drifted dreamily toward Tenma's back in the distance.
The longer she followed this man, the more she felt herself being thoroughly assimilated—both in her way of acting and her way of thinking.
That incomparable dominance was truly hard to resist.
Katakuri lowered his head. The thick scarf covered half his face, hiding his expression.
Only his tightly clenched, whitening fists betrayed the turmoil within.
After a long while, the hardened man finally forced out a hoarse question from his throat:
"What… will happen to my brothers and sisters?"
"That depends on how you choose—or rather, what path you can choose for them."
Gion withdrew her gaze and glanced at him with a half-smile.
"Since you're rare talent, I'll let you in on something. Even as prisoners, as long as you have value, that lord has special evaluators."
At these words, Katakuri's eyelids twitched. He then fell once more into deathlike silence.
Cold seastone chains clinked against each other with crisp rattling sounds.
Accepting reality was painful—but it only took a moment.
Soon, these once-unrivaled members of the Charlotte Family were like tigers with their fangs pulled, escorted onto Wano's steel warships.
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