"Great Flame Flower!"
"Flame Burst!"
"Explosive Fireball!"
"Heavenly Fire: Fire Pillar!"
In the sky, the Fire God Zhurong and the Sun Prometheus were locked in a scorching exchange of "spitfire." Searing flames collided and erupted, sending waves of heat rippling outward. The gloomy overcast sky was burnt into a vivid crimson, as if the very clouds were set ablaze.
Below, the residents of Whole Cake Island looked up to see the pitch-black sky illuminated as bright as day. The overwhelming heat radiated downward, turning the island, usually as mild as spring, into a sweltering furnace.
On the ground, the tide-like Animate Legion clashed with Big Mom's forces. Shards of stone and mangled steel rained from the heavens as Animate beings and Homies fell by the thousands every passing second. Every street and intersection was littered with the remains of both armies.
On one particular street, Charlotte Opera, the Minister of Whipped Cream, stood covered in his white, viscous fluid. He thrust his hands forward, roaring as he released a torrent of cream that manifested into a towering, dozens-of-meters-tall monster.
"Cream Monster!!!"
The white behemoth collapsed downward, instantly burying a thousand swarming stone knights and stone golems beneath a literal ocean of whipped cream.
Demon Lady Amande looked up, drawing the Meito Shirauo from her waist. She whispered a cold command: "Slow Ballad!"
Amand swung her blade in a slow, deliberate horizontal arc. The resulting slash was a delayed-action ripple of force that cleaved through dozens of Animate beings in an instant. Even the heavy-duty iron knights were sliced in two like butter.
Elsewhere, Oven appeared, dragging a massive long-handled blade. Using his Heat-Heat powers, he heated the polished steel until it glowed a translucent red. He carved through Animate beings like stalks of wheat until he found his target: a silver-skinned, horned demon.
This three-meter-tall silver demon was clearly an elite; its body was forged from a high-grade silver alloy. It let out a cackling laugh as it swung a two-meter executioner's blade, decapitating a King Chess Soldier.
"Die! Heat Slash!!!"
Oven roared in fury. His glowing blade hissed with steam as he brought it down upon the silver demon's head.
"Keke!"
The demon laughed as it swung its executioner's blade upward to meet him.
CLANG—!
The screech of metal on metal tore through the air. In a flash of sparks, Oven's superheated blade sheared straight through the demon's sword and sliced off half its head in a single fluid motion.
From the prior fighting, Oven knew that these constructs had to have their heads pulverized to truly "die," so he went straight for the kill.
Planting his foot on the now-motionless silver demon, Oven looked toward the giant-sized Smoothie in the distance and shouted, "Smoothie! Let's go reinforce Mama!"
BOOM—!
A massive wave of sword energy erupted from Smoothie's position, soaring into the sky and clearing a vast swath of Animate beings.
"Understood!" Smoothie replied, resting her longsword on her shoulder with a grim nod.
Shortly after, Oven and Smoothie located Daifuku and a heavily wounded Cracker. Together, they made their way toward Big Mom's battlefield.
…
On the other side of the war, Charlotte Linlin held Napoleon in one hand and clutched Zeus in the other. She unleashed terrifying arcs of sword energy and blinding bolts of lightning, single-handedly battling Aeridar and Enel.
Big Mom lived up to her title as a Yonko. Her experience in group combat was immense. Even though Aeridar's current strength was not inferior to her own, and he had Enel's assistance, they could not gain the upper hand.
Big Mom was skillfully using Zeus's lightning to specifically intercept and cancel out Enel's attacks, significantly neutralizing his direct threat to her. Simultaneously, using her Elbaf swordsmanship and her monstrous physical body, she traded blows with Aeridar without yielding an inch.
"Spear of Elbaf: Ikoku!!!"
Charlotte Linlin's eyes bulged with rage. She swung Napoleon, unleashing a massive, cylindrical shockwave of pink sword energy at Aeridar. This pinnacle of Giant-style swordsmanship, wielded by a monster of her caliber, was a strike that surpassed the level of a Great Swordsman.
"Get back!" Aeridar shouted, soaring upward to evade.
Enel was just as fast, moving dozens of meters in a single stride.
RUMBLE—!
In the next moment, the world seemed to dim. Every building in the path of the pink shockwave was erased. The terrifying wind pressure accompanying the strike tore a kilometer-long semicircular trench into the earth. The strike sliced through half the island before exploding into the sea, kicking up a tsunami thousands of meters high.
"RAAAAH!"
Aeridar dove from the sky, his fist blackened with hardened Armament Haki as he swung downward with everything he had.
CLANG—!
Charlotte Linlin thrust her giant sword forward, piercing the very air. The tip of the blade met Aeridar's fist with a deafening boom. A visible shockwave of air pressure erupted, accompanied by a dozen streaks of red and black lightning, the discharge of Conqueror's Haki clashing. The gale-force winds shredded the ground, sending cracks spider-webbing across the battlefield.
"You damned old hag, just die already!"
Enel, standing on the ground in his gargantuan lightning form, let out a muffled roar. He threw a punch through the air, discharging a massive pillar of lightning.
"Zeus!"
Linlin shouted savagely. She swung her left hand, which gripped Zeus, releasing several counter-bolts that collided with Enel's lightning.
KABOOM—!
Thunder roared in mid-air. Blinding light and thousands of lightning "snakes" danced across the ruins, obliterating whatever structures remained nearby.
Suddenly, the ground began to ripple. Over a dozen massive, sticky cylinders of mochi shot out of the earth, coated in invisible Armament Haki. They closed in on Enel from all directions.
Enel reacted instantly. "Crap! It's Katakuri!"
Looking at the encroaching mochi pillars, Enel knew that in his current giant form, he wouldn't be able to dodge.
Bzzzt—!
Enel's body "shrank" instantly, condensing into a single bolt of lightning that zipped through the gaps between the mochi pillars to escape the trap.
"Die!"
A bolt of lightning flickered behind Katakuri, rapidly taking human shape. The first part to materialize was Enel's right arm, clutching a golden trident. He lunged forward, aiming to pierce Katakuri's back with lethal intent.
In that split second, Katakuri acted as if he had known exactly what was coming. His chest liquefied into mochi, opening a hollow hole that allowed the golden trident to pass harmlessly through his body.
"Willow Mochi!!!"
Katakuri growled, whipping his right hand backward. It transformed into long, cord-like strands of yellowish-white mochi that lashed out and ensnared Enel.
"Nani?!"
Enel panicked. These mochi "ropes" were infused with Armament Haki, allowing them to seize his elemental body, while the natural stickiness of the mochi glued him in place.
"Edged Mochi!!!"
Katakuri spun around, his arm hardening into a blue-black, squared-off shape. He drove his fist straight into Enel's face.
WHAM—!
A shockwave swept the area. Enel's face caved in from the force of the blow. He was sent flying backward like a black blur, hurtling over a hundred meters before crashing into the ruins of a building, kicking up a massive pillar of dust and smoke.