Ritter sat high upon a throne forged from condensed blood mist, his fingers tapping rhythmically against the armrest.
Though the narration made it sound swift, any true pirate knew battles in this world could span days four had already passed since this clash began upon the raging sea.
"Charlotte Linlin, enjoy the show," Ritter murmured softly. His voice rippled through the blood mist, resonating directly in Linlin's mind. He could tell it was almost time.
With a slight motion of his finger, the Blood Prison Scroll encasing Linlin began to shift. The illusions that had been torturing her psyche for days started to fade like a retreating tide but before vanishing, they subtly rewired her senses.
The blood mist wormed into every crevice of her mind, threading delicate lies between neurons, reshaping what her eyes saw, what her ears heard, what her heart believed.
To put it bluntly
She was trapped in an illusion.
"Vision... hearing... touch..." Ritter murmured, drawing graceful arcs in the air. "And the most important part emotional resonance. I really am such a considerate opponent."
A smirk tugged at his lips as he imagined the next act of his performance.
"Look closely, Linlin. This is the one you hate most. The former crewmate of the Pirate King Roger, the man who twice attacked Totto Land and shattered your dream. Don't you want to kill him?"
His voice slithered into her ears like the whisper of a demon. The blood mist obeyed his every command, shaping an illusion of himself complete with that trademark crooked grin, the blood-red sword, and even his slightly mocking tone at the end of every word.
Then, like a master puppeteer, Ritter took all of Linlin's hatred, humiliation, and fear from the illusion and redirected them toward this fake version of himself.
Yes, he literally made her despise himself.
When Kaido's roar echoed across the sky, Ritter's illusion slipped in perfectly, his voice taunting:
"Is that all you've got, old hag?"
"Ritter... you're still alive?!" Linlin's pupils constricted. In her mind, she had already killed him a dozen times during her hallucinations. Seeing him alive and unscathed snapped the last thread of her sanity.
The bottled-up emotions Ritter had amplified rage, despair, grief, madness erupted like a volcano.
Ritter watched it all with quiet delight, like an artist admiring his masterpiece.
He had to admit sometimes, he really was insane. But that madness was part of what made him terrifying. When there was no danger, he could be his own crew's greatest threat; but when danger arrived, his blood mist became their most indestructible shield, turning the battlefield into his domain.
He snapped his fingers, adding the final flourish to his illusion the fake Ritter grinning as he drew his thumb across his throat in a mock execution.
At once, the Blood Prison Scroll dissolved around Linlin. But though the spell lifted, the illusion didn't vanish entirely.
"Ritter... you dare mock me?! I'll tear you apart!" Linlin's voice was pure fury.
"Mamamamamama! DIE!"
She leapt skyward, Napoleon in hand, her blade wrapped in blazing Conqueror's Haki as she brought it crashing down straight toward Kaido.
Kaido, still locked in combat with Whitebeard, barely had time to react. Even with the Azure Dragon fruit giving him monstrous endurance, he was already struggling. He had been counting on Linlin to finish Ritter and come help him.
After all, in Kaido's mind, there was no way Ritter could have pierced Linlin's "Iron Balloon" defense. That was why he dared to resume the war. A two-on-one advantage meant easy victory. How could a pirate crew barely numbering in the double digits hope to challenge two Emperors?
What Kaido hadn't counted on was that Ritter was a walking cheat code.
"Didn't the Golden Lion think the same thing?" Ritter chuckled to himself from afar.
Each clash of Kaido's kanabo and Whitebeard's naginata, Murakumogiri, shook the heavens.
"Newgate!" Kaido roared, spewing dragon fire.
Whitebeard smashed it aside with one quake-enhanced fist. "Gurararara! Kaido, let's settle the score for Oden today!"
The air split apart as Whitebeard's quake-punch hammered Kaido's chest, sending him hurtling hundreds of meters, scales shattering and blood spraying.
He barely steadied himself before
"Divine Departure!"
A titanic slash cleaved toward him from the side. Kaido's pupils shrank. He barely managed to lift his club to block.
"Charlotte Linlin?! Are you insane?!"
The only reply was Linlin's deranged laughter.
"Mamamamamama! Ritter, this time I'll rip you apart!"
Kaido froze she thought he was Ritter!
Before he could shout a word, Linlin's sword came crashing down again. Kaido was forced to block, and from the other side, Whitebeard charged, his blade cloaked in Conqueror's Haki.
BOOM!
The triple impact of three top-tier haki users shattered the ground. Shockwaves leveled the battlefield, tossing pirates and samurai alike like ragdolls.
Kaido coughed blood, fury burning in his eyes. "Linlin! Snap out of it! It's me, Kaido!"
But in her eyes, his dragon form was still shrouded in Ritter's mocking smirk.
"Your tricks won't fool me again!" she screamed. Prometheus' flames engulfed her body.
"Blazing Thief Overdrive!"
Prometheus ballooned into a massive sphere of living fire and detonated beside Kaido.
Kaido soared upward to dodge but Whitebeard's quake had already sealed his retreat.
"Gurarara! Seems your ally isn't much of a team player, Kaido!"
Kaido gritted his teeth. His veins bulged with rage Ritter had turned his entire plan against him.
From the edge of the battlefield, Ritter stood amidst swirling blood mist, his presence like a storm devouring all life around him. Every corpse, every dying pirate each became nourishment.
The mist spread wider, sapping Kaido's strength whenever his Haki wavered. Without full-body Armament Haki, even he wouldn't last.
"Kaido," Ritter's voice echoed through the chaos, calm and cruel, "didn't you say you loved dying? Then enjoy it."
Meanwhile, Moria's shadow army continued to multiply, cutting down Beast Pirates and raising the fallen as zombies. Their numbers swelled, overwhelming the enemy ranks.
Another one of the Yonko's elite forces had fallen into chaos.
"Zzzzzzt "
Golden lightning streaked across the sky.
Enel floated high above, thunder cracking from his hands. Quinn tried to hold him back, but could barely keep up. Cracker attempted to assist, but his biscuit soldiers burned to ash before reaching the sky.
Neither could overpower the other quickly but Enel's power covered the entire battlefield. Back when he was weaker, he could envelop Skypiea in lightning. Now, the sea itself trembled under his storm.
No corner of the battlefield was safe from Ritter's fleet.
The Blood Dawn Pirates had become an unstoppable force
the empire of crimson fog rising amid thunder and quake.
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