"Run! Run for your lives!"
"This is a battle between monsters!"
"If we get caught in it... we'll die!!"
"It's over! Whole Cake Island is finished!"
Screams, panic, and sheer terror... The island's inhabitants fled in a frenzied stampede, desperate to escape the shores of Whole Cake Island. Even the sentient Homies and Animate beings instinctively steered clear of the devastation wrought by the clash between Aeridar and Big Mom.
Meanwhile, Smoothie and the other high-ranking officers of the Big Mom Pirates stood helplessly at the edge of the battlefield, paralyzed. None dared to intervene in a collision of such titanic scale.
"What do we do? A fight of that magnitude..." Smoothie's form shrank back to its original size as she gripped her longsword, clearly hesitating. "I don't have the strength to jump into that."
Due to her history with Arlan, she had never been keen on making an enemy of the Chris Pirates. Now, witnessing a battle capable of literal world-ending destruction, she was more than happy to avoid a direct confrontation with the "Golden Ring" Aeridar.
"Smoothie!"
Daifuku, Oven, and the others looked at her in shock. They hadn't expected one of the Three Sweet Commanders to be the first to suggest backing down.
"Smoothie is right!"
Perospero suddenly appeared behind his siblings, his long tongue flickering and his expression grim. "That battle is strictly Yonko-level. Mama will handle Golden Ring Aeridar herself. If we go over there now, we'll only get in her way!"
The officers breathed a sigh of relief at Perospero's arrival, finding their focus once more.
"Perospero-nii!"
"What's the plan then?"
"We can't just stand here and watch!"
Perospero looked around at his siblings, twirling his candy cane in the air before issuing his orders. "We split into two groups. Smoothie, Oven, Moscato, take the others and clear out the Chris Pirates' Animate Legion. We need to minimize our losses!"
"Daifuku and I will reinforce Katakuri. We'll look for an opening to take down 'God' Enel!"
He didn't claim victory was certain. Enel possessed the Logia-type Rumble-Rumble Fruit; his speed rivaled Admiral Kizaru, and his raw power made him a target that wouldn't fall easily.
"Great plan! We'll do exactly as Perospero-nii says!"
"No problem. We'll wipe out those damn Animate constructs first!"
"We can't touch Mama's fight, but we can definitely handle Enel!"
The officers nodded in agreement, preparing to move.
However, before they could take a single step, the sky suddenly flared with a brilliant light. Lightning erupted within the dark clouds, and a massive pillar of thunder descended from the heavens.
The officers gasped in horror, scattering in all directions or activating their abilities to defend themselves.
BOOM—!
A thunderous roar echoed as the pillar of lightning struck, boring straight through the earth. The ground shook violently, kicking up a colossal wave of dust and debris that choked the air.
"Cough... cough..."
"Was that... Zeus?"
"Zeus's lightning shouldn't be that powerful, should it?!"
As the dust began to settle, a series of coughs broke the silence. A scorched crater, over five meters in diameter, lay smoking in the center of the road. While none of the Big Mom officers were killed or severely wounded, many were left disheveled or nursing minor injuries.
"That wasn't Zeus. It was Enel!" Smoothie gazed toward the direction where Katakuri and Enel were fighting, her voice heavy. "That man's Observation Haki, combined with the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, is enough to cover an entire island. He's been eavesdropping on everything we just said!"
"Are you serious?! Observation Haki covering a whole island?!" Moscato looked at Smoothie in disbelief.
"No wonder he calls himself a 'God.' With his Haki covering the island, everyone's every move is under his perception!" Oven clicked his tongue, impressed despite himself. "In a way, he really is omniscient, just like a deity!"
Daifuku's expression was solemn. "What now? Our plan is out in the open."
"It doesn't matter!" Perospero waved a hand, a predatory grin splitting his face. "The Chris Pirates only seem to have brought two people: Golden Ring Aeridar and Enel! Mama has Aeridar. We have Enel! No matter what their plan is, we have the numbers. We'll simply overwhelm him!"
The others realized he was right. Strategy was just a way to use power more efficiently, but against only two enemies on their own home turf, the Big Mom Pirates could simply win through sheer force of numbers.
…
While Perospero's group split up, two "giant fireballs" were still locked in a fierce struggle in the sky.
A battle between two beings composed entirely of fire was, in many ways, an exercise in futility. Since both possessed a passive "Fire Immunity," their attacks often ended up simply refueling one another.
After a long stalemate, Prometheus was nearly bursting with rage.
"Damn you! I'll kill you!"
"Incarnation of Fire: Gigantification!!!"
Prometheus's body suddenly swelled, the ambient temperature skyrocketing until the air felt like the depths of hell. In an instant, it transformed into a "mini-sun" nearly a hundred meters in diameter, radiating terrifying heat.
Seeing this, Zhurong merely laughed. "Hahaha! You think getting big is a trick? I can do that too, and I can turn into a human!"
Zhurong gave a savage grin. His fireball body expanded rapidly, stretching out to form limbs and a head. He grew into a humanoid fire giant, towering even higher than a normal Giant. The temperature rose yet again, the very air warping under the extreme heat.
"I am… the Fire God Zhurong!!!"
The fire giant roared at the sky, as if announcing his arrival to the world.
The people on the island watched in awe: a massive fireball like a small sun on one side, and a towering humanoid fire god on the other. The heat was so intense that the buildings made of sweets began to melt and drip like wax.
"I'll crush you!" Prometheus roared, his massive form rolling forward with crushing momentum.
"I haven't had a fight this good in ages! Behold, Sword of the Fire God!"
Zhurong reached out, and a massive amount of white-hot flames converged in his palm, solidifying into a giant, tangible cruciform sword. White flames flickered along the edges of the blade.
Zhurong raised the sword high with both hands and brought it down in a devastating overhead strike.
BOOM—!
A wave of fire erupted as the white-hot heat exploded. Prometheus's sun-like body was split straight down the middle, cleaved in two by Zhurong's single strike.