"You think cheap tricks like that can fool us?" Baron Eggman said coldly.
"How could I possibly think that?" Rosinante replied calmly. "If your Big Mom Pirates were that easy to talk to, you wouldn't be called the Big Mom Pirates. You and I both know this battle is inevitable. The only reason I led you here was to keep the already ravaged Joromia Kingdom from taking more damage."
As he spoke, several figures with stern expressions stepped out from the shadows, slowly surrounding the Big Mom Pirates. Though there were only six of them, the oppressive aura they gave off made it clear—none of them were ordinary fighters.
"Aban, with a bounty of 130 million berries. The quick-draw gunman Black, 115 million. Bonning at 150 million. Beedle at 170 million. Saul, also at 170 million. And Bins, at 190 million," Baron Eggman intoned. "Joromia Kingdom really has assembled quite a cast."
"Perospero, are these the people you're counting on?" Baron Eggman sneered. "You think a few trash-tier pirates like them can resist Big Mom?"
"Of course not," Rosinante replied. "I know my limits. It would be delusional to think we could fight the Big Mom Pirates head-on. But taking down you guys here… that, we can do."
"Heh… looks like we've been thoroughly underestimated," Perospero said, licking his massive candy cane with a twisted grin. "But we are the Big Mom Pirates."
"You'll find out soon enough if I've underestimated you. Bins, leave Baron Eggman and the rest of the riffraff to the others. Perospero is mine," Rosinante ordered.
"Yes, understood, Your Majesty," Bins and the others replied, drawing their weapons.
"Don't get cocky—Candy Wave!" Perospero roared.
Viscous syrup surged forward like a tide, forming a sticky swamp rushing toward the group.
"Spread out! Don't let it touch you! If that stuff gets inside your body, you'll turn into a candy statue!" Rosinante shouted as he leapt backward, narrowly avoiding the sticky tide.
Not that they needed the warning. Bins and the others already knew this wasn't ordinary syrup. Perospero, after all, had a bounty of over 510 million berries. Each one of them scattered in different directions.
Seeing Rosinante avoid the candy tide, Perospero snarled and focused the syrupy deluge toward him. Take out the king, and the rest would fall.
Wave after wave of sticky syrup pounded forward, growing larger and more vicious. One massive wave rose ten meters high and crashed down on Rosinante, completely swallowing him.
"I've heard of you—The Silent Blade, Rosinante. Rumor says you beat Borsalino in Loguetown," Perospero sneered. "Looks like the rumors were exaggerated. You're nothing special! Perorin~!"
Shiiing!
A blinding arc of sword light sliced out of the syrup. A figure shot out at high speed.
"Damn, that was close. Almost got swallowed whole," Rosinante said coolly, holding a new longsword. His previous blade had been destroyed by Sakazuki, so he'd chosen this one from Joromia's treasury. Rumor had it this blade was one of the famed Grade Blades.
"You escaped…?" Perospero's eyes widened. "And you're not even sticky? How is that possible?!"
Plenty in the New World had managed to break free from his syrup waves, but this was the first time someone came out completely clean. Not a single drop clung to Rosinante.
"Perospero," Rosinante began, "do you know why, as the eldest son of the Charlotte Family, you aren't one of Big Mom's Sweet Commanders? Why your younger brother, Charlotte Katakuri, holds that title instead?"
"Shut up!" Perospero snapped, face twisting in anger. The wound was fresh—he had always resented not being chosen. Now, Rosinante had struck it directly.
"It's because your ability has a fatal weakness," Rosinante said. "Sugar melts in heat."
As he spoke, Rosinante snapped his fingers.
BOOM!
An earth-shattering explosion erupted directly beneath Perospero's feet. The blast swallowed him whole.
Before the smoke even cleared, a figure shot into the explosion and moments later flew out, dragging with him a mangled, blood-soaked body.
It was Perospero—badly injured, barely conscious. And carrying him was a tall, imposing young man whose face was dark with fury.
"The Sweet Commander—Charlotte Katakuri," Rosinante muttered, narrowing his eyes. "Didn't expect Big Mom to send you to a small kingdom like Joromia."
"I only came to be safe," Katakuri said grimly. "But clearly we underestimated you. You figured out my brother's weakness from the start."
"More or less," Rosinante replied. "Once I knew he had the Candy Fruit, his vulnerability was obvious."
In truth, it was well-known in the original story that Perospero's powers were weak against heat. Once Rosinante suspected Perospero might be dispatched, he had filled the underground with highly potent explosives. They were pre-lit, but he used his power to silence the flames until the right moment. When Perospero stepped into the trap, Rosinante released the silence, setting off the chain of explosions.
"Mother had high hopes for you, you know," Katakuri said darkly. "She even thought of marrying you into the family. But now… I'll just be bringing your corpse back."
He gently laid Perospero into a palace made of sticky mochi to protect him. Then his face hardened.
With no more words, he kicked out—his leg stretching with terrifying speed and armed with Haki.
This was the Mochi Mochi Kick.
Katakuri, wielder of the Mochi Mochi no Mi, possessed a special Paramecia ability allowing him to transform his body into sticky mochi. The power closely resembled that of the series' protagonist, Luffy—elastic, extendable, and tough—but with the added adhesive property rubber lacked.
His leg shot forward like a cannon, coated in Armament Haki, aiming straight at Rosinante's chest.