At the same time, Katakuri seized the opportunity to launch his own offensive. "Bastard! Don't think you can hurt my brother! Mochi Thrust!" His right arm instantly transformed into flowing mochi, completely enveloping the trident. Then, his entire arm began to rotate at high speed, piercing straight toward Albert's head with a sharp, air-rending sound.
Faced with this lethal strike, even Albert didn't dare to be careless. His upper body suddenly liquified, turning into flowing liquid metal, deftly evading Katakuri's attack. The liquid metal re-coalesced in mid-air, and Albert instantly reappeared right in front of Katakuri.
"Leg Blade Slash!"
Albert's right leg morphed instantly into a sharp longsword, slashing toward Katakuri's waist with a cold gleam. The blade flashed, and Katakuri's body was bisected.
"Hmm?" Albert sensed something amiss immediately, his form vanishing from the spot.
The moment he disappeared, a fist sheathed in jet-black Busoshoku Haki smashed down heavily on the ice where he had just stood. With a thunderous BOOM, the hard ice surface was cratered with a spiderweb of cracks several meters in diameter.
"A Special Paramecia?" Albert reformed his shape not far away, a look of genuine surprise appearing on his metallic face for the first time. He stared at Katakuri's body as it seamlessly fused back together, a flicker of interest in his eyes.
"Bastard! Don't think you're the only one with a special ability! Brother Katakuri's Mochi Mochi no Mi is also a Special Paramecia!" Oven roared from the side, his fists turning crimson red once more.
"Why waste words on him, Oven? Attack together!" Daifuku shouted, manipulating the lamp genie to launch another attack.
The blue genie swung its longsword, forming a pincer attack with Oven's Heat Fist, both striking toward Albert.
Elsewhere on the battlefield, the sounds of slaughter rose and fell. Queen brandished his longsword, rampaging through the enemy lines. Every swing of his massive frame stirred up a whirlwind of bloodshed; enemies around him were cut down as easily as wheat. Blood stained the ice red, but a ferocious grin remained plastered on Queen's face.
"Bastard! Don't go too far, you monster!" The Ninth Division Commander, Edwin, roared in fury. Having witnessed his subordinates fall one after another, he could no longer contain himself and charged forward. His silver-white longsword sliced through the air, aiming straight for Queen's vitals.
With a sharp CLANG, Queen easily blocked the attack. He narrowed his eyes, sizing up his opponent, then showed a look of impatience. "You're not my target! Get the hell out of my way!" With that, he erupted with power. An astonishing force burst from his longsword, directly blasting Edwin back several steps.
Edwin staggered as he steadied himself, only to find Queen had already turned and left, completely ignoring his existence. This blatant contempt fueled his rage. Just as he was about to give chase, two figures suddenly blocked his path.
"Don't go bothering our Beasts Pirates All-Star!" Cedric and Perick said in unison. Facing a formidable enemy with a 340 million Berry bounty, neither dared to be careless. They immediately activated their Devil Fruit powers.
Cedric's body began to swell and transform, turning into a four-meter-tall wolf-man in the blink of an eye. His fur stood on end, and his sharp claws gleamed coldly in the sunlight. Perick transformed into a massive rhinoceros beetle over three meters tall, his hard carapace shining with a metallic luster.
"Zoan Type Devil Fruits..." Edwin narrowed his eyes, discarding any notion of underestimating them. While ordinary model Zoan Fruits weren't particularly rare, the physical enhancements they provided were very real. He tightened his grip on his longsword and adopted a fighting stance.
Meanwhile, Queen had finally pinpointed his target for this operation—the Golden Lion Pirates' Fifth Division Commander, Sack. This user of the Paramecia Type Atsu Atsu no Mi, with a bounty of 600 million Berries, was directing the battle. His signature red cloak snapped sharply in the cold wind.
"Bastard! Finally caught up to you!" Queen roared excitedly, swinging his longsword at Sack without another word. This specially made blade gleamed coldly in the sun, its edge still stained with blood from earlier fights.
Sack reacted with extreme speed, turning to block while sneering coldly. "You're in such a hurry to die? Fine, I'll oblige!" Surprisingly, the subordinates around him didn't rush to his aid upon seeing this. Instead, they scattered in all directions, faces filled with terror.
"Run! Captain Sack is about to go berserk!" the pirates screamed in panic, some even dropping their weapons.
Before Queen could process this, a wave of scorching heat slammed into him. Sack's body began to glow with an eerie crimson red. The air around him distorted from the intense heat, and the ice beneath his feet started to steam. Queen's longsword hadn't even touched him before the blade began to soften and warp, its metal surface taking on an unnatural red hue.
"Hot! Hot! Hot! So damn hot!" Queen shrieked, stumbling backward several meters across the ice. He looked down at his ruined longsword, an expression of disbelief on his face.
Only then did he understand why those pirates had fled. The high temperatures Sack was releasing were simply terrifying. The ice melted rapidly under the heat, but the resulting water didn't even have time to flow before it evaporated directly into steam, creating a hazy mist. The entire battlefield descended into brief chaos due to this sudden, intense heat; combatants on both sides involuntarily paused their actions.
Queen wiped the sweat from his face, glaring at Sack. "Not bad for the Fifth Division Commander of the Golden Lion Pirates. You've got some skill." His voice held a note of approval, but his eyes grew increasingly murderous.
"You're from the Beasts Pirates, right? Don't blame me when you die here today. Blame Kaido of the Beasts for sending you to your deaths," Sack replied coldly, crossing his arms. The waves of heat around him made his figure seem distorted.
"Mmmhahaha! Are you trying to make me die laughing? You think you can finish me off?" Queen burst into loud laughter upon hearing this, but a murderous glint flashed in his eyes. "I was only planning to mess around a bit. But since you're so clueless about your own limits, I'll send you straight to hell."
Before his words had even finished echoing, Queen's body began a startling transformation. Seven ferocious snake heads suddenly sprouted from the back of his corpulent neck, each one hissing and flicking its forked tongue. One of the heads opened its maw wide, aiming at Sack. An intensely cold beam of light began to coalesce within its mouth, causing the surrounding temperature to plummet instantly.
"Convergence Freeze Beam!"
The snake head fired a pale-white beam of light, striking Sack with pinpoint accuracy. Wherever the beam passed, the moisture in the air instantly crystallized into fine ice particles.
BOOM!
Amidst the tremendous roar, the thick smoke generated by the beam completely enveloped Sack.