"Ka-chak!"
Caesar's eyes bulged, and his hands flew to his head as the champagne bottle he'd prematurely opened shattered on the floor.
"Oh no, oh no! Enel got eaten!!"
"When the BOSS gets back, he's gonna lose it. Damn it—we're getting a pay cut for sure!"
"Idiot! Enel's not dead. And forget about your paycheck!"
"When Aramaki gets here, no one's escaping. Go back him up!"
Judge had already suited up in his new gear. With a crackle of electricity beneath his boots, he vanished in a flash.
"Ah, yeah yeah, backup, right! The BOSS is really gonna go nuclear this time!!"
Caesar scrambled after him in a panic.
...
The surveillance room gradually fell into silence.
Indigo, who had stayed behind, suddenly shouted.
"Lily Carnation"
(T/N: Lily Carnation was a monstrous, sapient plant and the main antagonist of the sixth movie.)
But when he looked around, he found himself completely alone.
He scratched his head, confused.
"Where'd everybody go?"
...
The Immigrant Zone
Boom! A sharp crack echoed out.
A figure flashed through the air using Soru, appearing in front of the cocoon of vines wrapped around Enel.
Gold condensed around his right hand, radiating intense heat that warped the surrounding air.
He struck down with all his might.
It was Gild Tesoro.
Seeing Enel being devoured, he didn't waste time thinking.
He attacked immediately.
"How crude!"
At the same time, Lily bloomed outward, multiplying into a monstrous man-eating plant with a single massive eyeball, lunging toward Tesoro.
Thump!
Tesoro's punch left only a faint dent in the fireproof wood.
His pupils contracted—but there was no time to retreat.
A howling gust screamed overhead.
Even Kami-e wouldn't be enough to dodge it.
He reinforced his legs with Armament Haki and lashed out with a Tempest Kick.
Whoosh!
At such close range, the Rankyaku sliced through the plant's gaping maw, making it veer off course.
Then a hardened leather shoe, coated in Haki, smashed into its lower jaw.
Boom!
Tesoro was sent flying.
Huff!
Ignoring the pain in his leg, he stomped on the air several times, steadying himself midair.
He glared cautiously at Aramaki, who looked smug and wild.
This guy's Haki… it was on a whole other level.
Crack!
Inhale… exhale~
Aramaki lit up a cigarette, grinning maniacally at the golden boy across from him.
"Lah-hahaha! Give it up! Hand over the method for crafting Seastone!"
With Doflamingo gone, who could possibly stop him now?
This whole place—it was his. Everything here belonged to him.
"Give up? That would be betraying the BOSS, Aramaki-san."
A faint shimmer of gold dust drifted from Tesoro's nose and mouth.
Back when Enel froze up, he'd sensed something off.
There had been gold dust around his nose and mouth, blocking his breathing.
Even so, he could still smell something… off.
A strange scent had made its way into his lungs.
"You damn—so it was that bastard Doflamingo's subordinate!!"
The smug look on Aramaki's face instantly twisted into fury.
That Paramecia-type Gold-Gold Fruit… he had traded for it himself.
Vines that sprawled across nearly the entire immigrant district erupted all at once.
Like a nest of snakes in mating season.
They surged toward Tesoro.
Bang bang bang bang!
Tesoro zipped through the narrow spaces between sky and island clouds.
But the encirclement was already complete.
The light on his body was fading fast.
As shadows began to engulf him completely, Tesoro's eyes sharpened.
In the control center, Aramaki's laughing mouth suddenly froze.
The vines around him spasmed like a video buffering frame by frame.
Tesoro took the opportunity he created and dashed for the cage's exit.
But just a moment later—
The vines revived, slamming shut every route of escape.
"You really know how to use that fruit. The Celestial Dragons will love you. Go keep your pals company in the afterlife!"
Aramaki's figure melded out from another vine, a greedy grin on his face.
Tesoro's stiffening body shrank like dried fruit being drained.
A handful of gold powder condensed from his form.
"Damn it!"
Cursing, Tesoro willed the gold on his body into armor.
He coated it with Armament Haki and shot straight upward.
In the blink of an eye, he was caught in a deadly situation.
...
New World – G-5 Branch
The Navy was licking its wounds after suffering devastating losses.
In the conference room, three elderly men wrapped in bandages gathered.
"Fleet Admiral Kong," Sengoku stood and broke the silence, "this defeat was entirely my fault. Once I return to HQ, I'll submit my resignation to the World Government and step down as Admiral."
...
Kong crossed his arms and was silent for a moment before speaking.
"It's not your fault. Doflamingo's involvement in the war… that was the World Government's doing."
"The World Government?!" Sengoku shouted in disbelief.
Even he—who had always followed their orders without question—was shaken.
Was this some kind of death sentence?
...
New World
Both the Beasts Pirates and Big Mom Pirates were licking their wounds.
Of the original ten Mutant Oni warriors, only eight remained. They were now capturing small Sea Kings near the island.
Thud!
Queen slammed down a barrel taller than himself.
The jam porridge inside had been devoured completely.
The sugary sweetness left him with a satisfied smile.
His already bloated figure had visibly grown.
He looked over at King, who was tallying the casualties.
"How many did we lose, King?"
"The flying unit held off the Navy during the retreat. Only one ten-man squad survived."
"Luckily, the beastfolk heal fast. We've still got enough fighters."
King reported coldly.
"Ha! Still not as good as Charlotte's leftovers. Kaido-sama's gonna be pissed when he wakes up."
Queen eyed the remaining Homies soldiers—their numbers were far higher than their own.
"Idiot! You think those Homies compare to our fighters?"
King snapped, voice cold.
He glanced at the Charlotte Family busy fussing over cakes and added,
"Besides, their losses are way worse than ours."
"You—King, you..."
Katakuri shot a glare at the bickering duo.
Then returned to calmly kneading mochi.
The Homies' casualties weren't a big deal—after all, they weren't people.
As long as Mama was around, they could be remade.
But this time, not only was Mondée dead…
Cracker was gravely injured and unconscious, and Perospero had lost an arm to a female Navy swordsman.
What did the future hold for them?
Perospero didn't have time to ponder that.
He was drenched in sweat from overwork.
A candy prosthetic now replaced his severed arm, and with it, he conjured vivid candies to decorate the cakes before him.
Because Mama was about to wake up.
...
Island Center
A mountain of completed cakes surrounded Charlotte Linlin, Kaido, and Doflamingo.
Watching Linlin's rapidly shrinking, visibly leaner figure, Doflamingo's suspicions grew stronger.
BIG MOM's food cravings—her eating sickness—must have something to do with that body of hers.
Her extreme sweet tooth was tied to the fact that her body constantly burned through energy.
He knew what hunger was.
As a child, he'd starved.
That feeling of an empty, gnawing stomach—gastric acid corroding your insides—could drive a person mad.
And with Carmel, the previous Soul-Soul Fruit user, doing who-knows-what…
It had only made BIG MOM more unstable.
"I'm starving!!!"
Charlotte Linlin bolted upright, her eyes bloodshot red.
Her thunderous voice could rupture a normal person's eardrums.
The surrounding cakes trembled from the sound waves.
She immediately grabbed the nearest cake and started devouring it.
Hearing her screech, Kaido jolted awake too, clutching his ears.
"So damn loud, Linlin!"
Then he spotted the cakes nearby—and his stomach turned.
He roared, "Queen! King! I want booze and meat!!"
He'd burned through a lot of energy too.
"Kaido-sama! Coming right up!!!"
Several roasted Sea Kings were dragged over by the Eight Oni warriors.
"Fuffuffuffuffu... Since you two are awake, I think I'll—"
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Fanfic is finished 527 chapters in total on p@treon/tambeerg