The explosion, which destroyed most of the city center, left a massive crater and a long trench cutting through the ground. Thick dust still hung in the air, obscuring the view of anyone trying to see the aftermath of the impact.
At the far end of the devastated trench, the remaining ruins of the castle tower trembled slightly.
Crash!
A massive chunk of rock was hurled into the air. Charlotte Linlin rose from behind the rubble. Her pale red dress was torn in several places. She roughly wiped the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand, leaving a red bloodstain that stood in stark contrast against her skin.
For a normal human, enduring a combination of a flaming sword strike and a giant fist coated in Weapon Haki would shatter their internal organs. But for the "Steel Balloon," it was only enough to make her bleed from the corner of her lip.
However, for Charlotte Linlin, whose ego was as massive as a giant, that single drop of blood was an insult.
"MAMAMAMAMA! YOU DARE MAKE ME BLEED, YOU BRAT?!" roared Charlotte Linlin. Her eyes, previously filled with lust, now turned fiery red, brimming with murderous intent.
"Zeus! Prometheus! Napoleon!"
Her three personal Homies responded to their master's call with shrill screams. Zeus's thundercloud dove downward, landing right beneath Charlotte Linlin's feet and lifting the giant woman into the air. At the same moment, Prometheus's small sun shot forward and fused into the blade of Napoleon's sword in Charlotte Linlin's right hand, causing the sword to blaze with a ferocious fire.
Not stopping there, Charlotte Linlin extended her left hand. The remaining energy of Zeus's lightning struck and coiled around her left arm, forming a high-voltage lightning gauntlet.
With a speed utterly implausible for a body of that size, Charlotte Linlin shot over Zeus, slicing through the air straight toward Quentin Seven.
Seeing Charlotte Linlin charging toward him, Seven's red eyes narrowed.
"Die!" roared Charlotte Linlin, swinging the blazing Napoleon toward Seven's body, while her lightning-clad left fist followed from his blind spot.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
The colossal fiery slash and the lightning fist struck Seven squarely. However, a strange sight unfolded.
No blood. No torn flesh. Charlotte Linlin's deadly weapon and fist simply passed right through Seven's body, as if the man were nothing but a shadow.
Charlotte Linlin's eyes widened. She had imbued her attack with a thick layer of Weapon Haki, yet her attack hadn't even touched her opponent!
Before Charlotte Linlin could grasp the mechanism behind the phenomenon, a strange spiral ripple appeared in the air right behind her back. Seven used 'Kamui' to teleport from the point of attack to the enemy's blind spot in a matter of seconds.
Seven appeared, swinging the blue-flame sword Matatabi straight at Charlotte Linlin's neck.
Clang!
Charlotte Linlin's mind reacted. She twisted her body and blocked Seven's slash with Napoleon. Sparks flew wildly through the air.
However, Charlotte Linlin had forgotten that Seven wasn't fighting alone.
Just as their swords locked, the space to Seven's left shook violently. Dark purple giant bones burst out of his body, forming Susanoo's left arm. The colossal arm clenched tightly, coated in densely packed Weapon Haki, and punched Charlotte Linlin's jaw from point-blank range.
Baaam!
Charlotte Linlin's face was violently flung aside. Her body was hurled off Zeus, streaking like a meteor that swept away the remaining rows of buildings in the royal capital, before finally coming to a stop after shattering a rocky cliff on the island's edge.
The battle didn't end there. Realizing his opponent was a monster with terrifying physical resilience, Seven held nothing back.
A massive surge of dark purple aura erupted from his body. Purple bones emerged, woven together by veins and energy muscles, forming a colossal humanoid figure standing thirty meters tall. Susanoo Humanoid. The purple energy armor then turned black, coated in high-level Weapon Haki to maximize its durability.
At the same time, Charlotte Linlin shot back from the ruins with a roar that shook the sky.
A colossal close-range battle erupted. The Haki-armored purple Susanoo brutally exchanged blows and slashes with Charlotte Linlin, who was cloaked in fire and lightning. Explosion after explosion continued to level the land.
One hour. Two hours. Three hours passed.
The battle had transformed the island's topography into a barren wasteland filled with magma craters, raging fires, and thunderstorms.
Sweat drenched Seven's forehead. Using Haki-coated Susanoo and constantly maintaining Kamui was draining his energy massively.
On the other hand, Charlotte Linlin's breath was also beginning to weaken; her body was covered in burns and bruises from Susanoo's punches.
The two monsters leaped backward simultaneously, putting about a hundred meters between them.
Charlotte Linlin raised Napoleon high above her head. Every muscle in her body tensed. An incredibly brutal Haki surged forth—not merely Armament Haki. Reddish-black lightning began to dance around the blade of her flaming sword.
Realizing the deadly attack his opponent was preparing, Seven didn't stand idly by. The giant sword in his right hand—Susanoo's—was raised to shoulder height. Chakra and Haki surged into the blade's tip. And from within Seven's body, the radiance of a king's resolve erupted outward.
Bzzzt!
Dense, dark red lightning coiled around Seven's Susanoo sword. Conqueror's Haki Infusion. The air across the entire island trembled, straining under the pressure of the two Haoshoku Haki forced into the weapon.
"IKOKU SOVEREIGNTY!" roared Charlotte Linlin, swinging her sword with all her might, unleashing a massive cylindrical shockwave capable of obliterating everything.
On the other side, the colossal Susanoo sword, coiled in crimson-black lightning, slashed straight forward, meeting the destructive wave without hesitation.
The two ultimate attacks, both imbued with Conqueror's Haki, finally collided in the center of the already devastated land.
The sky seemed to split apart. The deafening noise vanished for a split second, replaced by an extraordinarily massive shockwave that swept away everything still standing on the island. The tornado created by the collision of Conqueror's Haki hurled ships in the harbor and toppled trees.
And across the island, both the pirate crew and lower- and mid-ranking Navy soldiers immediately rolled their eyes back, collapsed unconscious, unable to withstand the pressure shockwave emanating from the center of the island.