The Big Mom Pirates were in chaos.
Without ships, reinforcements were impossible. The forces currently on Whole Cake Island were all they had.
"Damn it... how deep have they infiltrated?!" Perospero hissed, hiding in the ruins of the chateau. "Katakuri... Smoothie... Cracker... they've all fallen."
His Transponder Snail rang again. Another death report. Oven was gone.
"Impossible... Oven too?" Perospero's face twisted in fear.
He grabbed a special snail. "This is Perospero! All remaining forces, converge on the Chateau! Swim if you have to! Protect Mama at all costs!"
He raised his Candy Cane, aiming at a figure watching the battle from a high wall.
Bang.
A candy bullet, hardened with Haki, shot towards Rosalyne's head.
Fwoosh.
Before it could hit, a wisp of crimson flame incinerated it.
Rosalyne turned, her silver eyes locking onto Perospero. She vanished.
In the next instant, she was standing in front of him. The stone beneath her boots was already molten.
"Hey, little boy. Did you just aim a toy gun at me?" she asked, her voice dripping with boredom. "I wanted to watch the show a little longer, but if you're in a hurry to die... I can oblige."
"Fast!" Perospero gasped.
But he was the eldest son for a reason. "Candy Wall!"
A massive wave of syrup erupted, aiming to encase her.
"Got you!"
But as he turned to shout orders, a wave of heat hit his back. It wasn't just hot; it was infernal.
The syrup wall wasn't just melting; it was boiling away into nothingness.
He turned back. The woman with white hair was gone. In her place stood the Crimson Witch of Flame.
Liquid fire flowed from her body like a gown. Butterflies of ember danced around her.
"Are you a child?" Rosalyne scoffed. "Playing with candy... how boring."
She raised a finger.
BOOM.
A pillar of hellfire erupted. Perospero's Candy Cane vaporized. He summoned another wall, two meters thick, reinforced with Haki.
It melted in a second.
"Leave my brother alone!"
A genie-like figure emerged from the smoke, wielding a massive halberd. Charlotte Daifuku and his Hoya.
The genie slashed, a blow capable of splitting ships.
But as it entered Rosalyne's domain of fire, the genie's face twisted in agony. It withered, shrinking back into the lamp.
"What?!" Daifuku stared in disbelief. His genie was invincible!
"Little boy... that thing is a spirit, isn't it?" Rosalyne laughed cruelly. "In my hell... all spirits burn."
Her fire targeted the soul. It was the natural predator of the Soru Soru no Mi's creations.
"She counters Mama's power!" Custard screamed. "We have to stop her! Everyone, attack!"
Dozens of officers swarmed Rosalyne. Bullets, cannonballs, swords.
But as they entered the radius of her Hellfire Butterfly, they simply dissolved.
Perospero, realizing he was outmatched, made a tactical decision. "You guys hold her! I'll find the other one!"
He turned and ran towards the lightning flashes in the distance. Fire counters candy, but lightning... lightning I can handle! Candy is an insulator!
He found Lisa surrounded by chess soldiers.
"Galette! What's her power?"
"Lightning! Just lightning!"
"Perfect!" Perospero laughed. "Candy Armor! Candy Maiden!"
He encased his soldiers in hardened syrup armor. "Lightning can't hurt us now! Kill her!"
A giant candy monster formed, looming over Lisa.
Lisa sighed, adjusting her hat. "Oh dear. You think my power is just electricity?"
Her green eyes turned a deep, glowing violet.
"Awaken... Sea of Roses."
Crack.
Black lightning erupted from the ground, not from the sky. But it didn't just strike; it bloomed.
Hundreds of lightning-formed roses sprouted instantly, turning the battlefield into a deadly garden.
The candy armor didn't melt; it shattered. The black lightning bypassed insulation, attacking the molecular structure directly.
"This... this isn't normal lightning!" Perospero screamed as the roses wrapped around his legs.
"It's the Witch's Curse," Lisa whispered.
A dragon of purple lightning formed behind her, roaring. It dove into the candy monster, obliterating it instantly.
The shockwave swept through the square, electrocuting Perospero, Galette, and every soldier present.
Lisa floated down, producing a small wooden box. As the souls of the defeated pirates rose from their bodies, she collected them.
"For the Soul-Box," she noted.
...
In the center of the island, Big Mom felt it.
Her children's voices... vanishing. Her Homies... dying.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"
She let out a scream of pure, soul-shaking rage.
"Life or Slave!"
The Soul Pocus wave hit Beidou, forcing her back.
"Damn... this old hag is loud!" Beidou grunted, planting her feet.
But then, the island changed.
The flowers, the trees, the ground itself—everything that had been given a soul by Big Mom—began to wither.
Motes of light flew from every corner of Totto Land, rushing towards the Emperor.
She was reclaiming her souls.
"You dare kill my children?! You dare steal my souls?!"
Big Mom's body began to swell. Her muscles expanded, her size doubling, then tripling. She grew into a titan, powered by the life force of an entire nation.
"I will use a year of my own life... to crush you all!"
She bit her own arm, infusing her soul directly into her body.
Soul Pocus: Gigantification.
She stood a hundred meters tall, a true monster of the New World.
Nami, watching from the distance, fainted on the spot.
"We're dead," Chopper wept. "We're actually dead."
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