Boom!
A massive deep-blue bolt of lightning struck Mama in midair, leaving her no time to react.
"Ahhh!"
Among the dazzling flashes, Mama screamed, a sound that betrayed genuine pain.
The cry echoed across Cake Island, and the watching members of the Big Mom Pirates froze.
"Mama's been hurt again!" someone shouted.
"Katakuri, we must move!" Oven shouted, his hands glowing red with heat. "Mama will hold him at the front, we will find a way to ambush him."
"Oven, no, not yet!" Katakuri answered, folding his arms and frowning. "You overestimate our chances and underestimate Mama. That is Shirogai, a Yonko-level combatant. We cannot take him down with a sneak attack unless he is seriously wounded."
"But are we only going to stand and watch Mama be beaten by that bastard?" Oven slammed a fist into the ground, heat spreading across the street.
"Control yourselves," Katakuri snapped, his teeth grinding beneath his scarf. "We have lost fools who rushed without thinking. Mama has not fallen yet. Look, she is getting back up."
"You damned brat! Who do you think I am? When I ruled the seas forty years ago, you were not even born!" Mama bellowed. She pushed up from Zeus, which had swollen with power, and glared at Shirogai, who watched with a calm smile.
"Because Zeus took most of the lightning, it did not harm you as much?" Shirogai floated forward to hover not far from Mama. "Charlotte Linlin, your Iron Balloon defense is a real nuisance."
"You cursed brat!" Mama snarled. She snatched Prometheus and hurled him toward Shirogai, roaring, [Heavenly Fire: Flame Slash]!
Bang!
Explosive fire tore across the overcast sky, scorching the heavens themselves.
"A bold attack, but useless on me," Shirogai said. The flame enveloped him, and black, eternal demonic flames erupted from his body, absorbing the explosion and folding the conflagration into an even fiercer blaze.
Hissing, the massive fire around Shirogai began to wane. Prometheus, sensing his power ebbing, cried out in fear for Mama.
"Ah! Mama, help!" the homie pleaded.
"You damned brat, release Prometheus!" Mama screamed. Her plump hand, coated in Armament Haki, gripped Napoleon, the bicorne that could become a sword, and she wrapped Haki around it.
She gathered her Haoshoku Haki and swung with titanic force, calling, [Ikoku]!
A colossal slash, laced with crackling black lightning, jagged the sky. A deep purple streak sliced outward, widening and twisting as it bore down on Shirogai.
"Hakoku Sovereignty? I know that one," Shirogai said with a grin. He charged too, sending a slicing blow in reply. "Haki God!" he shouted, and a black, lightning-flecked slashing shockwave ripped through the clouds, leaving a cavernous rift in the air. It struck Napoleon's lightning-infused slash head-on.
"What! You can use the Giants' Elbaf technique too?!" Mama howled in disbelief.
Boom!
When the two world-shredding energies met, an unparalleled surge of force erupted, producing a catastrophic explosion. Blinding light burst through the dark clouds, like perpetual daylight ripping the sky open.
"Down, now!" Even Katakuri crouched, shielding his family with mochi constructs as the shockwave bore down. He used his Devil Fruit ability to form a shield-shaped barrier and protect those near him from the worst of the blast.
For an instant, all sound was gone, replaced by a ringing in the ears.
"Bastard!" Mama's enraged voice cut through the silence as the surviving slice, intact after the upheaval, raced toward her.
She could not believe it. That brat had shattered my own spear technique. My slash had been broken.
Armored in Haki, she swung Napoleon again, its blade blazing with infused Haki, and screamed, "I will not lose to a brat like you!"
Crack, crack, crack. Their clashing strikes released another world-shaking blast. The explosion sent Mama hurtling backward, her garments torn, proof of the wounds Shirogai had inflicted.
When the dust settled, Katakuri rose, eyes raw with worry. He scanned the sky, searching for Mama amid the aftershocks.
"Where is Mama? Why is she not airborne?" he demanded, voice tight.
Perospero licked his candy cane with trembling hands, voice barely steady. "That brat can wield such force. Has Mama been defeated?"
Smoothie stared up at Shirogai, a complicated expression on her face. "Has this man's strength surpassed Mama's? Has she been beaten?"
In the pirate world, might breeds reverence, and even enemies can inspire awe. Smoothie felt that conflicted thrill, almost like submission toward raw power.
"No, no, Mama will not fall to him!" Oven protested, unbelieving. "She is a Yonko. Mama fought her way to the top through countless battles. How could she lose to a rookie who has been at sea less than a year?"
Katakuri's features twisted. "Mama has not lost, but her state..." he began, but was interrupted as Zeus reappeared beneath her.
"You damned stinking brat!" Mama's face had shifted; her flame-like hair whipped without wind. Her body looked unusually thin, the usual roundness gone, the face sharpened into a pointed chin. "You forced me here. I will eat you! I will eat you!"
Shirogai watched her, not unkindly. He noticed the imbalance within her soul, how the other homies had been subdued. After being injured, when Linlin forced the other souls to sleep, did the crazy's soul version of her regain dominance?
The crew on the ground stared in stunned silence.
"How is that possible? Mama is in a food frenzy?" someone murmured.
"This is a disaster," Katakuri growled through clenched teeth. "She usually only goes berserk when starving, and then someone calms her. Now no one knows how to bring her back."
Whether Mama prevailed or fell, the entire kingdom faced ruin.
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