While Naruto and Garp were catching up and playing turn-based battle, Kizaru over there was practically using all his strength.
Initially, he had gained the upper hand thanks to the high-speed movement of his Pika Pika no Mi, making Big Mom unable to fight back.
Unfortunately, Kizaru's attack intensity wasn't enough to seriously injure Big Mom.
Instead, the continuous accumulation of shallow but numerous wounds kept Big Mom's emotions running high.
Her rage meter filled rapidly.
After several slashes that missed, Big Mom finally realized:
Since Kizaru was darting around like a fly, she didn't need to engage him in close combat!
Big Mom had far more tricks up her sleeve than one might imagine.
With the decision made, Big Mom directly tanked Kizaru's attacks with her physical defense and began channeling power into her Homies.
The thundercloud Homie, Zeus, rapidly expanded in size.
"God of Lightning Tenjin!"
As Big Mom let out a shrill scream, countless lightning snakes began indiscriminately striking downward.
Some people may think that 'the speed of lightning is close to the speed of light'.
This is actually a misconception.
Both speeds are indeed difficult to discern with the naked eye, but even at peak levels in the atmosphere, lightning only reaches one-third the speed of light.
To truly match the speed of light, it would be the electromagnetic waves generated by electric current in a vacuum… but that's getting off track.
Simply put, in any world, lightning's speed cannot catch up to the speed of light.
Unfortunately, Kizaru's Pika Pika no Mi also couldn't achieve true light-speed movement.
To be more precise, it was Kizaru himself who couldn't.
Even with his high mastery of Observation Haki, he had to limit his movement speed, otherwise, his reaction speed simply couldn't keep up.
At full speed, even he couldn't control his direction and distance.
This ultimately resulted in Big Mom's dense lightning rain completely enveloping Kizaru's movement range, forcing him to continuously maintain his 'light form' high-speed movement state.
"Yare yare, so scary-"
Even then, the tone of his voice remained unhurried.
The voice, distorted by speed, reached Big Mom's ears, only making her angrier.
But it didn't matter, as this wasn't her killing move.
"Marine, I hope you can be this arrogant later too."
Big Mom's grin stretched to her ears as she directly used the power of the Soru Soru no Mi to begin splitting her own soul.
Kizaru, moving at high speed mid-air, saw this and instinctively felt something was wrong.
But Kizaru couldn't stop Big Mom's actions at this moment.
Even if he briefly returned to his human form and used laser attacks on Big Mom's body, she simply tanked them.
The defensive power of the [Steel Balloon] was no joke.
Under Kizaru's gradually widening gaze, Big Mom completed the soul division. She then placed her split soul into two different things.
One larger soul drifted into a giant rock. Immediately, the rock grew a face and limbs, though its overly round shape made movement difficult.
The other soul was stuffed into a nearby mirror that was still intact.
A face immediately appeared on the mirror, accompanied by sharp laughter.
"Go! Gaia, Artemis!"
"Yes! Mama!"
"Okay~ Mama~"
The voices of the two new Homies were starkly different, one deep and weighty, the other sharp and piercing.
It was clear that the two new Homies Big Mom created this time were also high-level Homies similar to Zeus and Prometheus.
The lifespan consumed by splitting out this soul was on a completely different level from mass-produced low-level Homies. At the very least, the wrinkles on Big Mom's face visibly increased by several lines.
Upon receiving their master's command, the two Homies immediately entered combat mode.
The giant rock Homie, Gaia, expanded dozens of times in size. Although it remained short and stout, its sense of oppression suddenly increased.
Just as Kizaru was curious what Big Mom intended to do with such a stone giant, Gaia's ability activated.
"Get down here!"
With a roar from the giant stone creature, an invisible force field erupted from its body.
It was one of the universe's four fundamental forces… gravity!
Empowered by the Soru Soru no Mi, the stone Homie, Gaia, gained the ability to exert gravity.
Although this powerful gravity wasn't enough to stop Kizaru in his tracks immediately, it truly restricted his speed.
He could no longer return to human form. Even while maintaining his light form, he was caught by the pursuing lightning several times.
Meanwhile, the mirror Homie called Artemis laughed shrilly while splitting to create more pristine mirror surfaces.
The mirror surfaces quickly formed a massive dome around the thundercloud area and began contracting inward.
At this moment, even if Kizaru were foolish, he would have realized Big Mom's plan.
Lightning continued to rain down mercilessly around him, and gravity constantly tugged at him, causing his speed to continuously decrease.
He couldn't escape the thundercloud range. Every time he approached the edge, he was reflected back by the mirrors created by Artemis.
Even if he canceled his elementalization just before contact, those mirrors could still block him.
It's no wonder. After all, these were Homies that cost Big Mom a full year of her lifespan. If they only created mirror surfaces, it would be far too wasteful.
In fact, Artemis's special ability should be considered 'reflection'.
Strictly speaking, only physical attacks of sufficient strength could shatter the reflective surfaces it created.
Simultaneously, its suppressive power against natural phenomena like light, which are inherently easily reflected, was multiplied.
And all of this was merely the 'environmental advantage' Big Mom created to restrict Kizaru's movement.
The real killing move was still brewing.
Because he was blocked by the mirrors, Kizaru couldn't see what attack Big Mom on the outside was preparing.
Even his Observation Haki was 'reflected' back by those mirrors.
But Kizaru was, after all, a Marine genius from the same generation as Aokiji and Akainu. Despite usually seeming listless, he might actually be more reliable than the other two at critical moments.
As the saying goes: You can pretend to be weak, but you can't actually be weak.
"Huu-" Kizaru suddenly returned to human form mid-air, forcefully enduring the lightning snake's electrocution with his Haki, while his body continuously descended under gravity's pull.
But this was exactly what he wanted.
The gleaming golden [Ama no Murakumo] was 'pulled' from his hand, and Armament Haki coiled around it.
Very few had seen this lazy Admiral use Haki against an enemy.
Again, it's because Devil Fruit's Abilities are just too useful.
"Zephyr-sensei, if you're watching, please don't scold me again." He muttered.
Saying this, Kizaru used a technique Zephyr had once taught him, based on memory.
The black and gold Ama no Murakumo, infused with Haki, descended from the sky, striking Gaia's body directly.
At the same time, Big Mom outside, holding Napoleon, determined Kizaru's location through the Homies' 'telepathy'.
"Ikoku Sovereignty!"
The purple slash completely covered Kizaru's body along with Gaia.