Understanding his current predicament, Wilder knew he had to strike first and seize the initiative, keeping control of the battle firmly in his hands. The moment Katakuri finished speaking, he moved.
BOOM!
A massive amount of swamp erupted from him, forming into fist-sized cannonballs that shot outwards.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
A dense barrage of swamp cannonballs flew in all directions, with the majority concentrated on Katakuri and Smoothie.
As the cannonballs approached, Katakuri and Smoothie stood their ground, their expressions impassive.
"Is this all you have?" Katakuri asked, casually raising his right hand. A large amount of white mochi secreted from it, instantly forming a hard wall in front of them.
SPLAT! SPLAT! SPLAT! The swamp cannonballs hit the mochi wall and burst, but the wall itself remained completely unscathed.
"This won't be enough," Katakuri said coolly.
"Amazing! As expected of Lord Katakuri!"
"Lord Katakuri is invincible!"
"Kill him! Hahaha!"
Seeing this, the surrounding soldiers erupted in excited cheers, their faces filled with elation.
Wilder's expression grew slightly grim, his mind racing as he inwardly frowned.
It's too hard. That mochi defense is even tougher than Cracker's biscuits. An attack of this level can't break through.
At this thought, Wilder stopped wasting his energy and ceased firing the swamp cannonballs.
His gaze fell on Katakuri, his eyes narrowing. It seems a direct, close-quarters assault is the only way.
The decision made, Wilder didn't hesitate. His body flickered, and he vanished.
So fast!
Katakuri's expression changed slightly at Wilder's speed, but he quickly calmed down. Before anyone could see what was happening, he had raised his hand, and a stream of mochi shot out, forming a fist that punched forward.
BOOM!
At that moment, Wilder, who had just appeared in front of Katakuri, felt his eyes widen slightly. His reaction is incredible! Is it his Observation Haki?
In an instant, Wilder, who had been planning to strike Katakuri directly, saw the approaching mochi fist and knew he couldn't be careless. He pushed off the ground, instantly changing direction, intending to circle around and take Katakuri's head from behind.
But just as he completed the maneuver, his expression changed again. A dark shadow was rapidly approaching from his side.
Damn it!
Wilder had no time to dodge. He could only cross his arms in front of him to block. He felt as if he had been hit by a train. A numbing sensation shot through his arms, and his body was sent flying backward even faster than he had arrived.
In mid-air, Wilder's body elementalized, scattering into a swamp to disperse the impact and the damage from the impending crash.
Even so, when the mass of swamp hit a wall at that speed, it still caused it to collapse.
Gurgle!
Wilder's body re-formed, his eyes now icy cold, but more than that, they were filled with his usual calm and rationality.
It's no good. Their coordination is seamless. A close-combat approach is even more unreliable.
From that brief exchange, Wilder already knew that even with his enhanced body and greatly improved abilities, trying to kill one of them while they were working together was incredibly difficult, if not impossible.
These two were Big Mom's top two fighters, and currently the strongest. Their power far surpassed that of a Vice Admiral. They could even hold their own against an Admiral for a time.
How could such people be easy to deal with?
One of them was already a handful, let alone two at the same time.
After that test, Wilder realized he had greatly underestimated their combined strength.
It wasn't a simple matter of one plus one equals two. Their coordination, as seen in just those two moves, was practically flawless. Wilder had to admit that in a close-quarters fight, he couldn't break through, and might even suffer a great loss.
At this thought, Wilder's brow furrowed tightly. This was going to be difficult.
He had originally thought he could quickly clip one of Big Mom's wings and gain an advantage for his side. But now, the tables had turned. He had gone from being the hunter to the hunted.
Wilder could clearly see their intention: to team up and take him out quickly. Once he was gone, Morass would have no one who could stand against two Sweet Commanders.
At that point, their strongest fighters would be tied up dealing with Big Mom's assault.
The remaining, weaker members would be like fish on a chopping block.
Wilder would not allow that to happen. In this situation, if he abandoned the idea of a close-quarters fight, then the only remaining option for a ranged attack was his swamp ability.
Ranged attacks…
Wilder frowned. He knew without even trying that this approach was unlikely to succeed, unless he used an ability like Assimilation. But with Katakuri present, the chances of success were slim.
And Wilder understood the most important problem: the offensive capabilities of his swamp itself.
Unlike other substances, the terror of the swamp lay in its ability to trap, entangle, and suffocate. In terms of pure offensive power, it couldn't compare to Katakuri's mochi.
This wasn't a difference in the power of their Devil Fruits, but because Katakuri had developed his Mochi-Mochi Fruit ability to a profound level.
In his hands, the simple substance of mochi had become a versatile weapon, capable of both offense and defense. Even Wilder had to admit that in this regard, apart from his own commendable defensive applications, he had not developed the offensive potential of the swamp itself as well as Katakuri had with his mochi.
Whether in terms of hardness or other aspects, the simplest example was what had just happened: his swamp had splattered against the mochi wall, while the wall remained unscathed.
That said it all.
Wilder knew that this was because the offensive power and structural stability of his swamp were far inferior to the mochi. It could even be said that his swamp itself lacked significant offensive power. Therefore, in a situation like this, his weakness was exposed.
Of course, this was only speaking in relative terms. While his swamp's offensive power was low, it was still formidable against anyone not at Katakuri's level. And its other applications were incredibly powerful. If he were facing an ordinary Vice Admiral, the attack just now would have left them in a sorry state.
But unfortunately, his opponent was Katakuri, a well-rounded and powerful fighter.
His defense, close-combat skills, and ranged attacks were all incredibly strong.
And with his terrifying Observation Haki, it was unrealistic to think he could be injured with simple attacks.
It seems I'll have to look for an opportunity…
Wilder's eyes half-closed. He knew that in this situation, rashly using any ability or making any move would likely be a waste of effort.
It would be better to fight and stall them. By tying up Big Mom's two strongest fighters on his own, he would be relieving the pressure on his allies.
In fact, in this situation, if his side could seize the opportunity he was creating for them, they might be able to gain the upper hand—a significant one.
Wilder smiled. He suddenly felt less anxious. Yes, as long as he could hold off Katakuri and Smoothie, the situation would be close to his ideal scenario.
And if it was just a matter of stalling, Wilder was very confident. In fact, with this new mindset, he felt no pressure at all.
Although his initial goal was to clip Big Mom's strongest wings, even just one would have been enough.
But if he could tie up both of them on his own, then his side would definitely come out ahead.
And with this new strategy, Katakuri and Smoothie, who had been planning to finish him off quickly, might become anxious if their attacks were ineffective for a prolonged period. When that happened, his opportunity would come.
When people get anxious, they are more likely to make mistakes. If he could seize on a mistake, his original goal might still be achievable.
And there was another possibility.
After a prolonged, fruitless attack, they might see that the situation was not good, and one of them might choose to leave to help the others. For Wilder, that would be even better.
Because if it was just one of them, then he would be back to his original goal: to quickly eliminate that one person, and then… go to help the others, or, go straight for Big Mom.
As Wilder was thinking this, the two of them had no intention of giving him a moment's rest. This time, they took the initiative.
BOOM!
A large mass of mochi coated in Armament Haki shot toward Wilder without warning. It was so fast that all that could be seen was a black shadow flashing by. In the blink of an eye, the mochi, now in the shape of a giant foot, was right in front of him.
There was no doubt that a blow like this would be devastating.
Faced with this incredibly fast attack, Wilder's expression changed. He pushed off the ground and shot backward.
In the nick of time, the giant mochi foot swept past less than ten centimeters from his face and slammed into a nearby building, causing it to collapse in a cloud of dust.
CRACK!
The moment Wilder's feet touched the ground, his Observation Haki sensed a large hand coming from behind. An extreme sense of danger made his scalp tingle. Without a second thought, he ducked. The hand passed over his head.
But in the next instant, the danger returned. The moment he ducked, Wilder knew something was wrong. His expression changed, but it was too late. Katakuri's mochi fist had appeared behind him at some point. In this situation, it was impossible to dodge.
But fortunately, after experiencing their coordinated attacks twice now, Wilder had adapted to this style of fighting. In addition, his enhanced reflexes and Observation Haki had become more synchronized in the course of the battle, working together more smoothly.
At the critical moment, Wilder knew exactly how to react.
Just as the black, Armament-coated mochi fist was about to hit him, Wilder's body suddenly dissolved into a swamp. Then, a step ahead of the impact, he was sent flying in all directions by the force of the approaching blow.
SPLAT! SPLAT!
Puddles of swamp were scattered all over the ruins. Seeing this, the Totto Land soldiers let out a triumphant roar. "Ooh!"
"Haha! As expected of Lord Katakuri and Lady Smoothie! That guy was beaten into a pulp!"
"Did you see that? He didn't even have a chance to fight back!"
"That's right! Under Lord Katakuri and Lady Smoothie's attacks, he can only run around like a rat!"
"Hahaha!"
The surrounding soldiers all cheered excitedly, their eyes filled with adoration for Smoothie and Katakuri, their words full of contempt for Wilder.
"Hell's Thrust!"
But in the next moment, a low voice reached their ears. In the next instant, from the ruins, sharp spikes shot up from the ground, piercing through the rubble and stones.
The expressions on the soldiers' faces instantly froze.
Katakuri and Smoothie's faces changed. Without the slightest hesitation, they both leaped away.
SHLICK!
In the next instant, where they had been standing, countless spikes erupted from the stone, instantly turning the ground into a forest of spikes.
The stone they had been standing on was shattered by the spikes.
But the spikes were still rising from the ground. Some of them were dozens of meters high, incredibly thick, their tips glowing with a dark light, radiating a terrifying destructive power.
This scene left the soldiers below stunned, their mouths agape.
SHLICK!
At a certain moment, a spike shot up from under the feet of one of the soldiers, instantly impaling him.
"Get out of here!" Katakuri, who had leaped out of the attack's range, saw this, and his pupils constricted, his heart pounding.
But he was too late.
The soldiers had never imagined that the battle would reach them. They had only been watching the dense forest of spikes rising from the ruins, shocked by the scene, but they had no idea that the range of the spikes was gradually expanding.
By the time they realized it, it was too late.
SHLICK! SHLICK! SHLICK!
Suddenly, the ground was like a hundred flowers blooming at once. Countless spikes shot up. In an instant, the spikes were the stems, and on them grew beautiful, vivid, crimson flowers of blood.
"Aah!" Screams filled the air. And with the screams, more and more of the vivid blood flowers bloomed. In the blink of an eye, it was like a hundred flowers blooming at once, a sea of crimson.
Not a single soldier survived.
As the screams grew weaker and finally faded away, Katakuri and Smoothie, watching from a distance, saw their eyes turn red.
"WIL! DER!"