The pirates began chatting excitedly among themselves.
The Cosmic Dark Matter Pirates were now at their peak—an unstoppable force in full bloom. Even with the world government, rulers of the seas for over eight hundred years, as their next opponent, none of them believed they could possibly lose.
After all, Boros single-handedly suppressing two Pirate Emperors was simply too unbelievable—and scenes like that had become almost a daily spectacle. Even the newcomers soon learned just how terrifyingly powerful Boros truly was.
So when the massive flagship Dominion shook from the violent commotion above deck, the pirates below barely flinched. They were so used to it that some even started betting on how long this particular fight would last.
Of course, the only ones fooled were the rookies—those who had just joined yesterday or earlier that very day. The "veterans" all had near-blind, even irrational faith in Boros.
The battle raging atop the Overlord was still ongoing.
At first, Charlotte Linlin had only wanted to use the chaos as a chance to get back at Kaido—but now, she was trapped on the tiger's back, forced to go all out against Esdeath, the "newcomer," to preserve her status.
If Esdeath managed to end the duel on even footing—or worse, came out on top—then as a fellow Supreme Combatant, she would inevitably take part of Linlin's authority and prestige.
For someone like Linlin, who had already fallen so far, that was absolutely unacceptable.
"Elbaf Spear: Nation's Might!"
Realizing what was at stake, Big Mom poured every ounce of her strength into each attack, determined to tear Esdeath to pieces if that's what it took to prove herself. Even the risk of Boros's wrath didn't deter her.
After all, she knew Boros too well—to him, the strong and the victorious were always right.
Even if it damaged the Cosmic Dark Matter Pirates' strength, Boros wouldn't care in the slightest.
"Armament: Twin Frozen Walls!"
Sensing the furious warning from her Observation Haki, Esdeath bit down and drove her sword into the ground. Two massive ice barriers instantly formed before her.
Against Big Mom at full strength, Esdeath's physical inferiority was finally becoming evident.
The difference in raw power made close combat impossible—and after testing the old woman's monstrous defense, Esdeath had long abandoned the idea of cutting her down with mere sword strikes.
The difference in stamina only worsened things. Esdeath had to conserve her strength, while Charlotte Linlin simply didn't know the meaning of exhaustion.
Even at five years old—without any training—she had destroyed an entire giant village with her bare hands. Since then, she had never once experienced what it meant to run out of stamina.
Crack… crack… crack…!
The overwhelming sword pressure drilled into the ice like a high-speed auger. Knowing Big Mom's destructive power all too well, Esdeath dared not relax for even an instant. Armament Haki flooded into the ice walls, layer by layer, absorbing and weakening the incoming attack.
"Stolen Fire!"
At that crucial moment, Prometheus bared a grin identical to Linlin's. It transformed into a blazing meteor and smashed violently against the weakening ice wall.
Boom!
A wave of violent flames filled every inch of the passage.
Empowered by the explosion, the sword pressure of Elbaf Spear: Nation's Might finally shattered the ice barriers, bearing down on Esdeath, ready to obliterate her completely.
At that very moment—far away in Marineford—Kizaru's body glowed with dazzling light, while Boros, watching silently through psychic projection, had already prepared to tear open space itself for an emergency rescue.
But both of them froze at the last second.
"Heh... witness my limit!"
Esdeath's voice rang out, steady and resolute.
Intentionally throwing herself into an almost suicidal situation, Esdeath's exquisitely beautiful face twisted into a crazed smile.
A gold arrow, its shaft decorated with beetle motifs, appeared in Esdeath's hand.
With an ear-splitting explosion, Charlotte Linlin's expression turned exceptionally ugly.
The next instant, a blizzard of freezing air surged from the explosion's center, snuffing out the roaring flames in an instant—and Esdeath stepped out of the pale frost completely unharmed.
"Doesn't look like Devil Fruit power… hm! As expected, a troublesome one…" Kaido squinted. His Observation Haki sensed something trailing behind the blue-haired woman, but he couldn't make out what it was.
If Kizaru were here he'd see it: behind Esdeath was a "woman" wearing an iron mask, wine-red hair falling long, a figure almost identical to Esdeath herself.
That was Esdeath's Stand she'd obtained in her desperate moment. Thanks to the Stand's power she'd not only survived but also gained an ability Esdeath found quite satisfying.
"Die, bitch! Tremor-Thunder!" Charlotte Linlin snarled, seizing her thundercloud Zeus and hurling a massive pillar of lightning at Esdeath.
The thunderbolt, wrapped in Conqueror's Haki, struck Esdeath directly with a force that could have killed a Sea King in a heartbeat—yet it did not injure her at all. It vanished the moment it hit her.
Instead, Esdeath's Stand clutched its arms and curled in on itself, as if enduring pain—and at the same time as if experiencing an overwhelming surge of pleasure, trembling all over.
"Eleven percent… only this much?" Esdeath glanced at the Stand behind her and let a faintly disdainful smile slip across her face.
Watching from afar, Smoothie had gone blank.
She'd never imagined any woman could go toe-to-toe with Mama—much less take Mama's full-power strike without a scratch. That girl also looked much younger than Smoothie.
Aside from calling her a monster, Smoothie couldn't think of a better word to describe Esdeath.
"So terrifying… so terrifying… Lick-lick, no wonder she's rated equal to Mama among the top-tier fighters. Lick-lick—are you sure it's okay to keep fighting like this, Katakuri?" Perospero kept licking his candy scepter; it was his nervous habit to soothe himself by licking candy.
"Their fight isn't for us to interfere with, and Captain Boros still hasn't shown himself…" Katakuri's grip on his trident loosened slightly. He had been ready to intervene at any moment, even if it meant risking his life.
But now it seemed he'd overthought it. The top-tier fighters Boros acknowledged really were on the same level as Mama.
If that tornado-looking lady really had strength comparable to Esdeath, then even facing the World Government wouldn't be so worrying!
"You damn little bitch!"
Charlotte Linlin's feet shattered the ground beneath her as her enormous body launched forward at a terrifying speed toward Esdeath.
Although she couldn't understand why her last two attacks had no effect, the battle-hardened Emperor of the Sea instinctively realized something was wrong.
Adding to that, her Observation Haki detected an unknown presence trailing closely behind Esdeath—prompting Linlin to abandon the idea of ranged attacks altogether. Instead, she charged straight in, blade swinging wildly.
"Just what I wanted!"
Seeing Linlin rushing in with such brutal ferocity, Esdeath's lips curled into a wide, dangerous grin.
It was as if she had completely forgotten the difference in strength and defense between them—she didn't hesitate for a second before swinging her own blade to meet Linlin head-on.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Their blades collided in a flurry of sparks, again and again. Though Esdeath's swordsmanship was no worse than Linlin's, their physical strength was worlds apart.
Linlin pressed forward relentlessly with raw power—but she failed to notice the malicious smile spreading across Esdeath's face.
Slash!
Seizing what looked like an opening, Linlin's enormous blade sliced into Esdeath's body—almost cutting her in half.
But before Linlin could even start to grin in triumph, Esdeath countered as though completely unharmed, her blade nearly cleaving through Linlin's arm in return.
If not for the "Iron Balloon's" legendary defense, that single strike would have taken the arm clean off. As it was, it left a deep gash that exposed bone.
"Prometheus—Fireball from the heavens!"
Fortunately, Prometheus acted just in time, spitting out a massive fireball that exploded between the two of them.
Though Esdeath took no damage thanks to her Stand's ability, the blast still sent her flying backward.
"Mom! Mama, are you okay?!"
Zeus, the thundercloud homie, panicked as it floated over—this was the first time since its creation that it had ever seen Linlin wounded.
"That little brat…"
Linlin's massive frame trembled as a tangible wave of killing intent poured out from her. That single strike from Esdeath—nearly taking off her arm—only ignited the Sea Emperor's bloodlust even further.
"Mama, stop! You can't fight her! That woman can't be killed!"
Napoleon, the talking sword, cried out in terror. He was sure of it—just moments ago, Linlin had cut Esdeath clean through, almost splitting her in two.
But the woman hadn't been hurt at all—and had nearly taken Linlin's arm in return.
"Twenty-four percent… shall we continue?"
Esdeath reappeared before Linlin once again, completely unscathed—not a trace of injury or soot on her body despite the explosion.
Meanwhile, Kaido stood not far away, watching intently with a grim expression. The sense of danger emanating from Esdeath's back was growing stronger by the second.
He was certain now—there was something following her. Something unknown.
And because of that thing's presence, Linlin's attacks hadn't just failed—they had triggered something far worse.
Among everyone present, only Katakuri could faintly see it—another Esdeath, standing silently behind the original.
°°°
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