"Heavenly Flame!"
BIG MOM raised the miniature sun and slammed it down on Katakuri. A violent explosion of flames burst forth.
Katakuri didn't resist. He let BIG MOM hurl him away without even activating Armament Haki for defense. The searing flames scorched him severely.
But when Katakuri stood up again, everyone was stunned to find his wounds had completely vanished.
"Huh?! His injuries are gone!"
"Look at that! They really disappeared. He was just seriously injured by Mama's power and Prometheus' flames—how could that be?"
Members of the Charlotte family exclaimed in disbelief.
"Hmm! That ability really is something special! Mamamama! It seems that mark didn't weaken your power—it actually made you stronger. In that case, never mind!"
BIG MOM stared at Katakuri for a moment, then suddenly smiled. Her fury from moments ago vanished as she burst into a cheerful song about delicious cakes and sweets.
"Well then, let's hold a tea party! Send Rossinante an invitation for the tea party. I want him to come, and we will have delicious cakes and desserts!"
BIG MOM continued, her mood shifting entirely as she hummed happily.
"Yes, Mama! I'll begin preparations for the tea party right away!"
Seeing her mood shift, Perospero wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and quickly responded.
"Then I'll leave the invitation to Rossinante to you, Katakuri. He must come to Cake Island. This time, there must be no mistakes."
BIG MOM's voice grew serious. Judging from her tone, if Katakuri failed to bring Rossinante, the consequences would be severe.
"Yes, Mama..."
Katakuri wanted to say more but ultimately only responded in a deep voice.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Rossinante lay on a bed, recuperating.
The battle with Katakuri had taken a heavy toll. Although his "Injury Seal" temporarily suppressed his wounds, the damage hadn't truly disappeared.
Releasing his physical limiters had already pushed his body to the brink, and on top of that, he had unleashed dozens of devastating "Collapse fist" while still in his sealed state.
"Collapse fist" was a technique that involved storing up force and then releasing it in an explosive strike. Normally, Rossinante's control was sufficient to avoid self-harm. But with his limiters removed and his strength massively amplified, he couldn't control the power, and the concentrated bursts damaged him even further.
Rossinante had once carved a "danger line" into his Injury Seal—a warning threshold for his own injuries. He had always avoided crossing that line.
Because if he ever did, and the Injury Seal were fully removed at that moment, it would mean instant death.
He treasured his life too much. No matter how powerful his fruit or his healing seal seemed, there were far too many strange Devil Fruit abilities in the world. He couldn't shake the fear that one day, something might nullify his power.
That's why he had always stayed in control.
But after this fight, the sealed injuries within the Injury Seal had already far exceeded his warning threshold.
To reduce the burden, Rossinante partially opened the seal, allowing some of the injuries to resurface on his body so his natural healing could bring the total injury level back below the line.
"Your Majesty, Jack and the others have returned!"
Binz entered to report.
Now Rossinante's chief of guards, Binz had taken over frontline security duties. Meanwhile, Froster had been appointed Minister of the Kingdom to handle Jeromeo's internal affairs.
Rossinante wanted to be king—but not a king bogged down by paperwork. So he left the kingdom's governance almost entirely in Froster's hands.
Soon, Jack and his group entered with a cluster of others behind them.
"You look like a wreck, Your Majesty,"
Jack said with a smirk, clearly enjoying Rossinante's battered appearance.
"Well, it was Katakuri of the BIG MOM Pirates. Hard not to end up like this,"
Rossinante replied calmly.
The moment Jack and the others heard the names "BIG MOM" and "Katakuri," their expressions shifted to astonishment and unease.
They hadn't expected the enemy to be the BIG MOM Pirates. And based on Rossinante's words, he had defeated Katakuri—the second strongest under BIG MOM, with a bounty of 800 million.
"You're back late. Did something delay you?"
Rossinante asked casually.
"Your Majesty, we ran into this guy on our way back. He figured out we were pressed for time and tried to stall us, so we had no choice but to beat him down before returning."
Jack remained silent with a snort, while Bass stepped forward and answered, tossing a bloodied and mangled figure onto the floor.
The man was beaten to a pulp, every inch of him bruised and battered. His hands were bound in Seastone shackles, yet his gaze toward Rossinante was still filled with fury and defiance.
"Oh? Is that so? You all worked hard, then. So who's this?"
Rossinante didn't scold them—just asked plainly.
"This is Railman, Captain of the Blast Corps Pirates. His bounty is 640 million. He's a Blast Blast Fruit user and an extremely tough fighter with solid martial skills. We had to grind him down bit by bit to finally take him out,"
Bass said proudly.
"Tch. Four against one—nothing to brag about. And no matter how hard I hit, your injuries kept healing. That's cheating!"
Railman spat in anger.
He had assumed that his explosive powers could at least wear them down—but instead, he was the one worn out and defeated.
"You want to have the same ability they do?"
Rossinante approached Railman.
"Then I'll give it to you."
He placed a hand on Railman's body, and a surge of powerful, eerie silence flooded into him.
Railman didn't know what it was—but instinctively, he knew it was bad. He tried to resist, but in his current state—severely injured and shackled with Seastone—he couldn't fight back at all.
After unlocking his body's self-limiters in the previous battle, Rossinante's Devil Fruit powers had grown stronger. Where it once took a full tea's time to apply the "Silent Seal," now it only took a few minutes—about half the original time.
"Hahaha! Railman, with that Silent Seal carved into you, you'll have the same near-immortal body we do. From now on, you're one of us!"
Bass laughed gleefully.
As he laughed, Railman watched his injuries vanish before his eyes.
Rossinante waved his hand, and a subordinate stepped forward to remove the Seastone cuffs.
"Now then... let's talk properly."
Rossinante said coldly.
"Serve me, or die."
Railman stood up—and suddenly threw a punch straight at Rossinante.