"You!"
"Rosen."
Charlotte Linlin glared at him, her fury palpable. She couldn't win a fight, and she certainly couldn't win a war of words.
"Call me cunning. Call me a sly fox," Rosen stated, his voice devoid of emotion. "The fact is—you've lost."
He struck the final blow with those words, shattering her pride like lightning. The anger on Linlin's face vanished, replaced by a look of utter defeat. Rosen wasn't surprised.
After all, Charlotte Linlin's path had been far too easy.
She became an Emperor without struggle, without setbacks, without ever tasting defeat. She didn't need to train. She didn't need to learn. She simply ate, drank, and birthed children until she naturally grew into one of the Four Emperors.
Even Rosen, with his extraordinary aptitude, attended the Naval Academy and interned at Impel Down for months.
Luffy and Rayleigh spent years mastering Haki.
But Linlin? She never trained. Never learned. Despite possessing the greatest natural talent in the pirate world, she became an Emperor effortlessly.
Smooth sailing.
Which was why her spirit was weaker than Shiki's, far inferior to Kaido's, and less than Edward Newgate or Gol D. Roger.
All those legendary pirates tasted defeat, fled in humiliation, and shed tears before becoming kings.
Linlin never did.
That was why, when Edward Newgate and Shiki fell frozen in ice, her mind completely collapsed.
"Gah! Gaah! Gaah! Gaah!"
"Even with Shiki, Whitebeard, and I teaming up... we still lost?"
She lowered her head, face contorted, fists clenched.
"Why?"
"Why did the world create someone like you?"
"Why did you choose the Marines?"
Linlin raised her head, staring at Rosen with complex emotions—defeat, obsession, madness.
"If you were a pirate, even if I lost to you, at least I'd know if ONE PIECE exists! What's buried there!"
To most pirates, ONE PIECE transcended treasure. It represented dreams.
For Linlin, it meant establishing a kingdom where all races lived together, equal in size, dining at the same table. A dream she could never achieve in her lifetime, so she pinned it on Roger's legacy.
And now, she was about to lose that chance forever.
"Time's up."
Rosen watched silently until the four steps required to activate Daiguren Hyōrinmaru were complete. He slowly raised the ice blade, pointing it at Linlin.
"Gaah! Gaah! Gaah! Gaah!"
"Aren't you even a little tempted by ONE PIECE, Rosen?"
"I'm not interested."
Rosen met her gaze, each word clear.
"Why?!"
"It's legendary! If you get it, you can do anything—even replace the World Government!"
"Whether it's replacing the World Government or anything else," Rosen shook his head, "whatever I want to do, I can do it. Just with my Zanpakutō."
He paused, letting the words sink in.
"I am invincible. Why would I need ONE PIECE?"
Those words struck Linlin like a black blade coated in Conqueror's Haki, piercing her heart. Her body trembled.
"Invincible..."
She let out a dark, admiring laugh.
"I've never seen anyone so powerful. If there's truly an invincible being in the pirate world, it must be you, Rosen."
She offered no resistance, standing rooted as she awaited her fate.
Swoosh.
From head to toe, she froze solid—like Shiki and Edward Newgate, transformed into an ice sculpture.
World's Strongest Man.
Golden Lion.
A born destroyer.
Rosen glanced at the three ice sculptures, then turned away.
His Bankai, Daiguren Hyōrinmaru, wielded by his Haki mastery, surpassed even an Emperor's power. If Gol D. Roger or Rocks D. Xebec were resurrected and frozen, they could never break free.
Only Joy Boy, with his perfected Nikka form and the strongest Conqueror's Haki of the old era, might have stood a chance.
Perhaps Im, as well—but Rosen had never fought him.
"The Four Emperors... the legendary pirates... they're all too weak."
Rosen sheathed his Zanpakutō and walked away without looking back.
---
Meanwhile, Another Battlefield
Marine vs. Marine. All fought with bloodshot eyes—from low-ranking soldiers to Admirals.
Take the battle between Sakazuki and the Sweet Commanders. Moments ago, Charlotte Snack had been buried under a mountain of magma.
Now only Katakuri, Smoothie, and Cracker remained, fighting desperately.
"Sakazuki!"
Charlotte Katakuri's eyes bloodied at the thought of Snack's death. Yet his composure remained unbroken. He activated his Mochi Mochi Fruit Awakening. The ice beneath his feet transformed into massive mochi balls, rising into dozens of giant arms hardened with Armament Haki.
"Mochi Balls Chant!"
Katakuri gripped his trident and thrust his other hand forward.
Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—whoosh!
Dozens of Haki-infused mochi fists shot out like giant lasers, weaving a net that pressed down on Sakazuki.
"Juice Giant!"
While Katakuri attacked, Charlotte Smoothie grabbed several pirate corpses, absorbing their fluids. Her Paramecia-type Juice-Juice Fruit transformed her from a long-legged tribeswoman into a near-giant form with the strength of a true giant.
"Wrath!"
Smoothie swung her swords, Haki swirling around the blackened blades. A massive slashing wave—like an enraged dragon—tore through the ice, colliding with Katakuri's fist net and hurtling toward Sakazuki.
"Biscuit Soldiers!"
Charlotte Cracker clapped his hands. Biscuit soldiers materialized from thin air, shields in their left hands, swords in their right, charging in a mighty army.
Faced with the combined assault of the Big Mom Pirates' strongest members, Sakazuki remained unfazed.
His entire body glowed crimson, entering magma state. He didn't use wide-range attacks like Meteor Volcano or Great Eruption. Instead, he coated himself in Armament Haki—rivaling Garp's—and shot forward like a volcanic eruption.
His speed wasn't as fast as Kizaru's light, but it was far more overwhelming and imposing.
Before he even arrived, the violent aura shattered the pirates' fighting spirit.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The three attacked fiercely. Katakuri's fist net reached Sakazuki first, but every punch missed. They pierced only ice, not even touching the hem of his Justice Coat.
With Future Vision Observation Haki, pre-emptive elementalization, and magma eruption speed, Sakazuki slipped through the net like a serpent.
During the dodge, he casually launched magma pillars in all directions, piercing and burning other Big Mom Pirates firing at him.
"Not a single hit landed..."
"This monster submits to Rosen... No wonder Mom, Whitebeard, and Shiki had to team up to fight him."
Katakuri felt a chill. The overwhelming pressure from the Admiral's leader made him realize the terror of Rosen for the first time.
Through battling Sakazuki, he understood Admiral-level power—and the abyssal gap between them and Rosen.
—-