Click—
At the center of ten warships, the circular, resilient mochi barrier gradually shattered. Katakuri, looking grim, was half-crouched on the ground, shielding Robin and his badly injured younger sister Pudding behind him.
The desperate screams of the Cake Island residents put him in an extremely foul mood, and Big Mom’s soul-shattering shriek cutting off made him even more worried.
“Are there enemies over by Mama too? How did these bastards even manage to sneak onto Cake Island?!”
The next moment, he got his answer.
Behind Gunzi and Chilingom Saint, whom he had blasted away, the air suddenly split open, and a door appeared out of thin air.
A burly man with bull-horn-like hair stuck his head out and respectfully asked, “Lord Gunzi Palace, Lord Chilingom Saint, should we temporarily withdraw?”
This was CP9 member Bruno. Because he had the Door-Door Fruit, which allowed him to traverse space, he had been temporarily recruited by the Holy Knights to open a “convenient door” for their invasion of Whole Cake Island!
“Too slow. Couldn’t you get us out of here before that guy showed up?” Chilingom Saint complained after taking a punch, then stepped into the portal, and Gunzi followed without hesitation.
The portal closed, and the three vanished.
Katakuri wanted to stop them, but what he sensed with his Observation Haki left him no time.
Two tall navy figures had appeared in front of him. Unlike those faceless navy soldiers, these two had clear features and powerful auras that made Katakuri feel threatened!
One had a lazy expression and thick black curls, while the other stood straight with a stern face, neat sideburns, and a natural air of authority.
They were the two faces most vivid in Robin’s nightmares: the young Aokiji and Akainu!
“Nico Robin, you can still move, right?” Katakuri said in a low voice. “Take Pudding somewhere safe. Her safety is in your hands.”
Robin’s face went pale. The nightmare replay shattered her defenses. She felt as if she had become that eight-year-old girl again, and Cake Island had become Ohara, about to be destroyed under a rain of shells.
“Nico Robin!”
Katakuri’s shout finally snapped her back a little. Looking at the gravely injured, unconscious Pudding, she gritted her teeth, hoisted her up, and staggered away.
The warfare continued to intensify.
Big Mom’s children reacted quickly, sending reinforcements to all parts of the battlefield.
The Buster Call that had once destroyed Ohara, now targeting Whole Cake Island, apart from inflicting massive damage in the initial surprise attack, did not seem to be performing as effectively as expected.
The Aokiji and Akainu materialized by Chilingom Saint were far from their actual vice admiral-level strength, and they could not even fully replicate their Devil Fruit abilities. They were suppressed by Katakuri alone.
By the time core combat power of the Big Mom Pirates such as Smoker and Cracker arrived, one warship after another was destroyed by them.
In another corner of Cake Island, a peaceful area untouched by warfare, Gunzi, Chilingom, and another burly, elderly-looking Holy Knight named Somaz sat around a table, leisurely enjoying a meal.
Bruno busied himself attending to the three.
What they were eating looked like Cake Island’s special desserts, but in fact, it was matter manifested from Chilingom’s imagination.
The taste was no worse than real sweets, yet produced no calories, filling them with a sense of bliss.
“Mm~ I’ve long heard that Cake Island’s desserts are the finest on the seas. I finally have the opportunity to try them,” Somaz said, wiping cream from the corner of his mouth.
Gunzi’s cheeks were puffed out as she ate, and Chilingom, nodding off as he ate, nearly buried his head into the cake several times, mumbling, “The leader is tangled up with Charlotte Linlin, and here we are relaxing like this. Is that really okay?”
“What does it matter? This is the plan the leader came up with,” Somaz said. “Mm~ your nightmare seems just about resolved, Chilingom Saint. Time to get to work.”
“That was fast. Creating a nightmare on this scale is really draining,” Chilingom complained, then activated his ability once more.
Whoosh, whoosh—
At the center of the battlefield, the Aokiji and Akainu facing Katakuri suddenly vanished, followed by the ten damaged, ruined warships.
It was as if everything had been a nightmare, with only the disaster-scarred landscape left by the bombardment proving what had truly happened.
Smoker pulled back the longsword that had cleaved through empty air after losing its target. Scanning the area, she said, “Has the enemy’s ability reached its limit? Katakuri! Mama seems to be in trouble, and the place where those two navy officers were held has also been attacked. What do we do?”
Katakuri did not answer. What his Observation Haki showed him left him in disbelief.
“Everyone on guard! Fall back!”
Rumble—
The warships suddenly reappeared on the ground! As if respawned and reset, the warships they had just destroyed disappeared briefly, only to appear once more!
The damage was repaired, the scars erased.
The thick cannons on the warships, and even the thousands of demon-like elite marines, all reappeared on deck in perfect condition!
Many members of the Big Mom Pirates were caught off guard and were crushed and heavily injured by the warships.
Even those who managed to retreat in time felt their morale plunge at the sight of these unkillable enemies—how was this possible?
What kind of monstrous ability was this?!
Did they have to take out the Devil Fruit user directly?
But… Katakuri glanced at the surging, fully restored Aokiji and Akainu leaping at him again. I cannot break away!
In a corner of the ruins, Robin held the unconscious Charlotte Pudding in her arms. Feeling the tremors of the Buster Call warships’ arrival, she stared blankly.
The past she thought she could finally leave behind surged chaotically into her mind.
Has nothing really changed?
Even with an alliance of three emperors, even here in Charlotte Linlin’s own territory, am I still unable to escape the World Government’s hunt?
No matter where I go on these seas, there will always be enemies I cannot shake, and I will keep bringing disaster to everyone around me!
“Mama, Doctor, Saul… maybe this really is the end. I do not want to run anymore. If fate wants me to die today, I will accept it calmly. I am sorry…”
She broke down, sobbing.
Rumble—a wave of heat suddenly lifted the strands of hair at her forehead.
It was not the simultaneous volley of the warships’ guns.
It was a purer flame!
Startled, she turned her head, and saw an enormous, indescribable pillar of blazing white fire fall like a divine spear of judgment hurled from beyond the clouds, crashing straight down. Its precision was suffocating, yet its immensity filled her entire field of vision!
Those giant steel warships, massive enough to crush Candy Mountain, were fragile before that blazing pillar, like wax figures cast into a steel furnace. They did not melt; the moment they were touched, they were sublimated directly from solid into searing vapor.
The flame did not burn chaotically, but manifested as something holy, an almost absolute purification. The members of the Big Mom Pirates shrouded in the flames felt no burning, only warmth!
The fire lasted only a few seconds, and when that blazing white curtain suddenly contracted and vanished into formlessness, the sky returned to its original color, appearing even clearer.
The ten Dream Demon warships were erased from existence, just like when Chilingom had previously dispelled his ability, vanishing like phantoms!
A figure descended from the searing sky.
The Big Mom Pirates stood stunned for a few seconds, then let out a collective sigh of relief. Katakuri also exhaled.
“Back just in time.”
Guan Yi landed in front of tear-streaked Robin and fired off three questions in a row, straight to the soul: “You are crying? Being dramatic again? Have you decided you do not want to live?”
Robin froze. Her grief and joy tangled so badly they would not come out right. For some reason, she suddenly remembered the unfinished bet she had with Pudding and lowered her head to look at Pudding in her arms.
Looks like I lost, Pudding.
But in the struggle against fate, maybe we can win!
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