After Kaido's retreat, Sean immediately ordered his fleet to pull back several miles and remain on standby.
Leaving Hawkeye behind to recover, Sean took the rest of his primary combat forces and traveled to the Totto Land battlefield via Blueno.
At that moment in Totto Land, Lucci and Fujitora were finding it difficult to handle a berserk and out-of-control Big Mom. However, repelling Big Mom—just as they had with Kaido—was the linchpin of the entire operation and an absolute necessity. If they failed, the final stage of the plan could not proceed smoothly.
The problem was that even by joining forces, Lucci and Fujitora were unable to defeat her. In her current state of frenzy, Big Mom's power was terrifying. Thunder crashed across the sky and flames raged everywhere; the scene looked like the apocalypse. Even Lucci and Fujitora had to give their all, not daring to show the slightest negligence.
Suddenly, a door opened silently in the air.
A figure leaped out from the portal and unleashed a terrifying slash that flew straight toward Big Mom.
Although Big Mom was currently in a semi-berserk state, it didn't mean her Observation Haki had stopped working. On the contrary, her Observation Haki was even stronger than usual, both in terms of range and sensitivity.
After brushing aside Lucci and Fujitora with one move, she spun around to meet the incoming strike.
"Ikoku Sovereignty!!"
BOOM!
The slash that had reached Big Mom was instantly blasted apart by the sheer force of her attack.
Even Sean had to admit that the power of this move was formidable; a standard slash released in his normal state simply couldn't compete with it. The key issue was that Sean could not trigger Bankai again on such short notice. To quickly repel Kaido, he had exhausted all nine of his thunder powers during his previous Bankai. Until those nine thunders recovered, Bankai was temporarily unavailable.
But that didn't mean he was out of options. He had gained a great deal during the Paramount War—specifically, the energy of Blackbeard's Dark-Dark Fruit.
While eating a Devil Fruit didn't grant Sean the actual fruit's abilities, his system converted the energy characteristics of the fruit into a similar attribute from Bleach.
As for the attribute of the Dark-Dark Fruit...
Watching the massive shockwave of Sword Energy that had obliterated his slash continue to roar toward him, Sean raised his left hand—the one not holding his sword—to his face and suddenly ripped downward.
A black energy began to manifest following his hand's movement, rapidly materializing into a mask that covered Sean's face. In the next instant, a terrifying energy with a hint of malice flooded the area.
Almost simultaneously, the devastating shockwave from Big Mom's "Ikoku Sovereignty" slammed into Sean.
BOOM!
A violent explosion erupted, and dissipating shockwaves swept across the surroundings. Even Lucci and the others, who were hundreds of meters away, were forced to defend themselves against the mere aftershocks.
The sheer scale of the attack was staggering. After weathering the blast, everyone looked up in alarm. Sean hadn't just taken the aftershock—he had taken a direct hit!
However, when they saw Sean's condition, they breathed a sigh of relief. At least, it appeared that he hadn't been harmed.
Judging by his posture, he seemed to have blocked the blow with his sword...
But what was with that mask and the evil aura radiating from him? And more importantly... what was that massive hole in Sean's body?
Had Big Mom actually blown a hole right through him?
Everyone was utterly bewildered.
'''
Beneath the mask, Sean's lip twitched.
'Level 1 Hollowification only lasts 30 seconds? If I exceed that time, I'll become a full Hollow and never be able to change back?'
Feeling the system countdown ticking in his mind, Sean's expression soured. This was a dangerously volatile ability. If he got too caught up in the fight and ignored the timer, the consequences would be dire.
'In that case, I'll just go all out from the start! Testing the waters is just a waste of precious time!'
The countdown now read 19.
As if pushing off an invisible wall in the empty air, Sean crouched and launched himself downward like a cannonball. In an instant, he appeared before Big Mom and swung Hekireki down with a casual motion.
Unlike his usual slashes, the attack Sean unleashed this time was a black blade of energy. It was somewhat similar to Hawkeye's, but whereas Hawkeye's was clean and precise, this was exaggerated and overwhelming.
The suddenness of the attack caught even the semi-berserk Big Mom off guard. However, as one of the peak powers of the sea, her reactions were still lightning-fast. She immediately raised Napoleon, in the form of the Emperor's Sword, to intercept the blow.
But the moment the Emperor's Sword clashed with the black slash, she saw it...
A crack appeared on the blade of Napoleon.
Then, a second crack, then a third. The terrifying momentum of the black slash forced her backward relentlessly. After several seconds, the increasingly fractured Emperor's Sword could no longer withstand the pressure and shattered instantly.
With the obstacle gone, the black slash tore through Big Mom's chest without resistance, sending her flying backward.
"Mama!!"
Daifuku and the others, who were currently entangled with Ryokugyu, screamed in horror. They wanted to rush to her rescue, but Ryokugyu blocked their path.
Daifuku gritted his teeth, but he was powerless against Ryokugyu. The man was already stronger than them in raw power, and more importantly, the ability of his Devil Fruit was far too bizarre.
BOOM!
The already dilapidated Whole Cake Island suffered another heavy blow, and a large section of the land began to collapse. Big Mom plummeted into the sea along with the falling debris.
Sean checked the time; 11 seconds remained. He reached up and tore off the mask, returning to his normal state.
Rescue Big Mom? Don't be ridiculous; he didn't have the time.
"Capture those few, then proceed according to the original plan!"
"Understood!"
Upon receiving the order, Lucci, Fujitora, and Gion—who had accompanied Sean—charged straight at Daifuku and his subordinates.
Previously, Daifuku and the others had already been firmly suppressed by Ryokugyu alone. Now, with three more Admiral-level combatants joining the fray, any hope of resistance was utterly extinguished.
In just two minutes, the group was completely defeated and captured.
Following that, much like the situation in Wano Country, the New World Marine's Second Fleet began its withdrawal, retreating toward the edges of the Totto Land waters.
Every piece was now in place. All that remained was for the final Emperor of the Sea to take the bait.
'''
Half an hour later.
A massive pirate ship appeared on the fringes of the former Whitebeard Pirates' territory. Waiting for them, as if they had known their route all along, was the New World Marine's Third Fleet, lying in wait.
An immediate sense of foreboding washed over both Shanks and Beckman.
However, they weren't overly concerned. Within this fleet, there was only one Admiral-level powerhouse: Akainu. To them, he didn't pose a catastrophic threat.
Furthermore, wasn't the purpose of this trip to deal a heavy blow to the Marines while Sean was causing chaos in Wano Country and Totto Land, thereby forcing Sean's main force to retreat?
Since that was the plan, they might as well get started.
Shanks' eyes narrowed. Having made his decision, he ordered the navigator to press forward and commanded the officers with long-range capabilities to prepare to intercept any incoming cannon fire.
To his surprise, however, the New World Marine's Third Fleet did not utilize their range advantage to launch a long-distance bombardment as he had expected. Instead, they simply allowed the pirate ship to approach.
This abnormal behavior gave Red-Haired another inexplicable feeling of unease.
'Could this... be a trap?'
'But that should be impossible!'
After all, Sean and the other Admiral-level combatants of the New World Marine were all stationed at Totto Land and Wano Country. Even if they could fly, they couldn't possibly return this quickly.
'Could they be bluffing because they know they're outmatched?'
'But Akainu isn't the type to bluff...'
Three miles...
Two miles...
One mile...
The distance between the two forces continued to shrink. For those with immense strength, the distance was now short enough to clearly see the people on the opposing ship even without a telescope.
Admiral-level power... only Akainu.
'As I thought, I was overthinking it,' Shanks thought, finally breathing a sigh of relief.
But just as he was about to signal the attack, the unexpected happened.
On the deck of the massive battleship, a doorway appeared—one that Shanks had seen before and recognized instantly.
In that moment, he remembered exactly what he had overlooked.
It was just like the time in the Calm Belt when he had tried to snatch Luffy from Gion's warship. That man, Sean, had a space-type Ability User under his command who could ignore distance and deploy troops instantaneously.
'Damn it... how could I forget that!'
No wonder Sean dared to deploy the vast majority of his forces to Totto Land and Wano Country without worrying that a fellow Emperor of the Sea would seize the opportunity to strike.
So that was the trick.
In the next instant, a multitude of figures stepped out from the doorway.
Sean, Lucci, Gion, Fujitora, and a large number of Vice Admirals, Rear Admirals, Commodores, and others...
The expressions of everyone on the pirate ship shifted instantly.
Aside from Hawkeye and Ryokugyu, the entire high-level command of the New World Marine had arrived. Was this something a single Emperor's crew could face alone?
He had thought he was raiding Sean's home turf, but it appeared Sean had simply cast a hook, and he had bitten it.
"Navigator! Turn around immediately! Full speed, retreat!"