The situation was dire.
Charlotte Linlin could only use Armament Haki to shield Kaido's wounds.
To prevent his condition from worsening.
But the relentless flow of magma…
Was carving more and more wounds into both of their bodies.
"Damned Marines!!!!!"
Kaido, already gravely injured, was pushed even closer to death. Although Charlotte Linlin noticed in time and reinforced him with Armament Haki—
At this point, Kaido was barely breathing.
Looking at Kaido, on the verge of death, Charlotte Linlin nearly lost her mind from rage.
But for Kaido's sake, she forcibly kept herself in check.
In an instant, she thought of a solution. Her eyes gleamed with killing intent as she looked toward the surrounding pirates and Marines.
"Offer up your lifespan!"
With Charlotte Linlin's furious roar, her Conqueror's Haki exploded outward, infused with the power of the Soul-Soul Fruit.
Every pirate and Marine caught in the shockwave visibly aged and died on the spot.
"Linlin, we're allies!!!"
"Linlin has lost her mind!!!"
Countless pirates and Marines screamed and cursed.
Seeing themselves and those around them visibly age—
All those emotions eventually turned into one singular feeling: fear.
Along with it, their ambition and dreams faded away as they closed their eyes in despair, their lives extinguished.
In that moment, countless pirates and Marines perished.
The entire battlefield fell silent, everyone staring in terror at the magma-covered figure holding a man in her arms.
Charlotte Linlin didn't have the time to care about any of that.
The harvested lifespans gathered in her right hand, which she swiftly pressed onto Kaido.
All the lifespans she had reaped from thousands were poured directly into him.
As Kaido's lifeforce was replenished, his breathing gradually stabilized, but the lifespan reserve was being depleted at an alarming rate.
Not daring to waste another second, Charlotte Linlin picked up Kaido and charged toward Rocks' pirate ship.
On the way, she continued to reap the lives of both pirates and Marines. Wherever she passed, only corpses of aged elders remained.
The pirates on this battlefield, after enduring two magma barrages from Sakazuki…
Had only just started to regroup.
But under Charlotte Linlin's harvest—
Their morale finally collapsed completely!
Once she made it onto Rocks' ship,
The whole battlefield slowly began to stir—first with movement, then with walking, and finally a full-on stampede as all the remaining pirates rushed toward the last few pirate ships.
"Bastard, get down from there!"
"Get lost! This is my ship!"
A sea of pirates surged forward.
Brotherhood, loyalty—at this moment, they meant nothing.
To board the ship, they slaughtered one another without hesitation. Blood and flesh flew through the air.
Leaving behind a field of corpses…
Sakazuki, unaware of all that had just transpired,
Could only faintly sense, through his magma-based ability, that the lava he'd left inside Kaido had erupted.
As for whether Kaido would die or not…
Considering Charlotte Linlin's Devil Fruit powers, even just transferring others' lifespans into Kaido might not be enough to keep him alive.
But some burned internal organs were inevitable—Kaido's skin may be thick, but that didn't apply to his insides.
His deep voice echoed as Sakazuki, now fully transformed into magma, continued burrowing into the depths beneath God Valley.
He was preparing a special… "gift" for Rocks and the Celestial Dragons!
No one knew how much time had passed. The temperature gradually rose. He had descended several thousand meters.
Finally, he felt a wave of searing heat—the heat radiating from the magma churning beneath the Earth's crust.
Sakazuki descended into the magma, half of his body reverting to human form.
Standing atop the molten surface, he closed his eyes and summoned his power. The endless magma below began to swirl around him.
Time seemed to stand still. In this moment, Sakazuki was like the god of magma itself.
The magma converging around him grew more and more agitated. Countless lava bubbles formed and exploded.
"Don't rush it. The time hasn't come yet."
Sakazuki slowly opened his eyes, his deep voice breaking the silence.
Like a father gently calming a restless child.
And surprisingly, the once-turbulent magma actually began to quiet down at his whisper.
Only Sakazuki knew the true power that lay beneath this calm surface.
It was power capable of wiping an entire nation off the map.
Power that could plunge all four seas into eternal winter. Power that… could destroy the world.
"We just need the right trigger…"
He looked upward, as though his gaze could pierce through the thousands of meters of solid earth.
Seeing the catastrophic battle taking place far above, he once more turned into magma.
He surged upward toward the battlefield. Wherever he passed—
The land turned into rivers of molten lava, carving open a path for this seething power to vent.
"It's almost time… almost…"
Sakazuki's low voice echoed through the molten sea deep underground.
As if it understood him, the magma leapt and danced with excitement, growing ever hotter...
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