—Real World—
Admiral Kisame had annihilated Charlotte Cracker in seconds with a single technique. This was a pirate carrying a bounty approaching one billion—one of the three Sweet Commanders of the Big Mom Pirates—yet the man couldn't survive even a single exchange.
When the high-ranking officers at Marineford Marine Headquarters witnessed Hoshigaki Kisame's overwhelming strength, joy spread across their faces like sunrise breaking through storm clouds. It turned out that fish-men could reach such monstrous levels of power. Kisame operated on a completely different plane of existence compared to Sea Knight Jinbe—the gap between them resembled the distance between earth and sky.
The only personnel sweating profusely were the Marine intelligence officers. The Sky Screen had once again proven these analysts to be incompetent failures who couldn't execute even the most basic intelligence gathering. The photograph on Charlotte Cracker's wanted poster had been completely wrong, and the Marine had been continuously fooled by the Sweet Commander's deception for years.
The Fleet Admiral felt profound dissatisfaction with his intelligence division's performance. This represented yet another humiliating mistake exposed by the Sky Screen's revelations. If this information became public knowledge, pirates across the seas would mock the Marine endlessly. Had the previous intelligence chief not just stepped down from his position, Sengoku would have reorganized the entire intelligence apparatus to purge however many parasites had infected the system.
Inadequate intelligence work indirectly undermined the Marine's authority and operational effectiveness. So many new figures appeared in the Sky Screen broadcasts without any corresponding files in the Marine's databases. Rather than suspecting problems with the mysterious Sky Screen itself, the Marine's top brass directed their fury at their own colleagues, suspecting individuals who should have been above reproach, expressing bitter disappointment with the intelligence division's catastrophic failures.
A single piece of ambiguous or incorrect information could kill countless personnel at critical moments. If a Vice Admiral were dispatched to face Charlotte Cracker based on faulty intelligence, they would be seeking death. Without methods to counter his infinite army of Biscuit Soldiers, no quantity of conventional combatants could overcome the Sweet Commander's numerical advantage.
The Marine possessed its own systemic problems. A serious power gap plagued the organization's hierarchy. The three Admirals stood at the forefront holding the line against chaos. The two elderly veterans Sengoku and Garp served as institutional pillars who wouldn't deploy casually for routine operations. Zephyr had aged considerably, his strength declining seriously enough that he'd been relegated to second-line training duties.
The Vice Admirals occupying the tier below these legends became noticeably weaker. Whether they could display their expected combat capabilities when confronting large-scale pirate organizations remained genuinely debatable. Vice Admirals Gion and Tokikake still counted as outstanding compared to their peers, but even they possessed clear limitations.
"The fish-men actually produced a character like Hoshigaki Kisame," Sakazuki muttered, genuine admiration coloring his normally harsh voice as he watched the replay of Kisame drowning Charlotte Cracker beneath manufactured tsunamis. "We usually underestimate this entire race. With such massive water currents erupting from his mouth, he definitely ranks among the absolute strongest. Artoria made an extraordinarily profitable deal recruiting him to the Marine."
The Admiral's mind turned to comparative analysis. Was the water-style technique Kisame performed also ninjutsu? Did it operate on the same principles as Uchiha Madara's fire-based techniques? Ninjutsu represented genuinely magical existence—creating elemental attribute damage without consuming Devil Fruits, remaining unaffected by the standard weaknesses that plagued fruit users.
"Fortunately, Hoshigaki Kisame will stand on the side of justice in the future," Vice Admiral Tsuru observed, her sharp eyes studying the devastated island washed clean by the tsunami. "Otherwise I cannot imagine the catastrophe if we became his enemies at sea."
This wise elderly woman gazed at the submerged landmass, running tactical calculations through her experienced mind. If the Marine's largest battleship replaced that island, it would be destroyed instantly and sent to the ocean floor under such water-based ninjutsu's overwhelming assault. No conventional vessel could withstand that level of elemental devastation.
Vice Admiral Tsuru had always harbored a particular question about the nature of ninjutsu: what energy source produced fire-style and water-style techniques? Did they operate on the same fundamental principles as Devil Fruit abilities? Did using the corresponding techniques merely consume physical stamina?
If Kisame deployed water ninjutsu in a desert environment, could he still create the situation demonstrated here? The Kingdom of Alabasta suffered from severe water scarcity. If water composition could be controlled and generated ex nihilo, the fish-man Admiral could genuinely benefit civilian populations on a massive scale—transforming wastelands into agricultural paradises through sheer technique application.
"In the future timeline, Jinbe and Hoshigaki Kisame have made contact," Kuzan remarked quietly, his voice carrying melancholy undertones. "It's genuinely tragic that two members of the same species stand on opposite sides of this conflict."
The Admiral admired Kisame's unwavering decisiveness. After accepting orders from the Fleet Admiral, he didn't hesitate to take concrete action, expressing firm support for Marine justice even when it meant capturing an outstanding fellow tribesman like Jinbe.
By contrast, when dealing with former colleagues, Admiral Aokiji had chosen to release the giant Saul to survive at sea, allowing the Demon Child Robin to escape again and again. This kind of sentimental mercy had earned Kuzan considerable criticism within the Marine system. Most of the institutional authority had gradually been seized by Sakazuki, whose uncompromising approach to Absolute Justice resonated more strongly with rank-and-file personnel.
While the Marine engaged in constant self-reflection at Marineford, Cake Island erupted into barely controlled chaos. The children of Charlotte Linlin who lived there all felt mounting danger. Admiral Kisame's single technique had stripped Charlotte Cracker of all combat effectiveness—the psychological impact on the Big Mom Pirates proved devastating.
"How can we possibly defeat this monster?" Charlotte Cracker sat among his brothers and sisters in the family's great hall, staring at his own despairing face displayed on the Sky Screen. "Hoshigaki Kisame completely hard-counters my fruit ability. No wonder we couldn't save Jinbe."
Watching his future self's utter humiliation broadcast to the entire world, the proud middle-aged man lost considerable composure. The arrogance he'd nurtured within his heart for decades had been completely washed away by Kisame's casual water technique. There are always stronger people above you—but the gap between himself and truly top-tier combatants exceeded the distance between humans and dogs. The realization crushed something fundamental in his spirit.
"That scale of water ninjutsu doesn't only counter your Bisu Bisu no Mi," Charlotte Katakuri interjected, taking the lead in articulating uncomfortable truths. His voice carried grim certainty. "Any brothers and sisters on this island who possess Devil Fruit abilities will have zero chance of victory against Hoshigaki Kisame. We can only hope his close-combat capabilities prove weaker than his ninjutsu—though I doubt we'll be that fortunate."
The strongest Sweet Commander spoke discouraging words because he somewhat understood now why Sea Knight Jinbe had displayed such nervousness. Being humble before one's own kinsman stemmed from acknowledging the catastrophic disparity in strength. No amount of pride could bridge a gap that fundamental.
However, the information the Sky Screen possessed proved disturbingly detailed. Even the special characteristics of his Mochi Mochi no Mi—a Special Paramecia that behaved like a Logia—appeared in the character notes with clinical precision. As long as individuals appeared in the broadcast, the Sky Screen exposed them completely. No secrets remained hidden from its omniscient perspective.
This realization paradoxically deepened Charlotte Katakuri's trust in the Sky Screen's authenticity. Something that knew this much, that violated privacy this thoroughly, had to be genuine rather than fabricated propaganda.
Leaking the Devil Fruit abilities of the Big Mom Pirates' three Sweet Commanders definitely didn't benefit the Yonko organization strategically. Once a secret became known to everyone in the world, it ceased being a secret—it became a tactical liability that enemies could exploit through targeted counter-strategies.
Charlotte Linlin herself didn't particularly care about Kisame's monstrous strength. She focused far more intensely on her future daughter—the mysterious girl who would apparently help turn the tide during the confrontation. Why hadn't this daughter appeared in the broadcast yet? What kind of child could contribute meaningfully to Totto Land's vast extended family?
"It's so annoying!" The massive woman's voice rose to a frustrated shout, her mood deteriorating rapidly. "Why hasn't my daughter shown up yet? I want to see my daughter! I want to see my daughter right now!"
Big Mom's violent emotional fluctuations made her children tremble with visceral terror, each one fearing she might deploy her Soru Soru no Mi again—the Soul-Soul Fruit's incredible ability to extract lifespan from those experiencing fear. The technique proved horrifying beyond description, and some of her own children had died from this casual power usage during previous emotional outbursts.
As a caring and perceptive daughter, Charlotte Smoothie understood that only delicious food could reliably soothe her mother's volatile temper. The power of her Shibo Shibo no Mi revealed its utility in this precise moment. She had prepared fresh juice squeezed from various creatures in advance specifically for such situations.
After offering the beverage to her mother with both hands and appropriate deference, Charlotte Linlin drained the entire container in a single massive gulp. This represented a completely new juice she'd never tasted before—the flavor profile proved genuinely refreshing. With this culinary distraction, Big Mom's dangerous mood finally stabilized, the murderous pressure lifting from the room like fog burning away under sunlight.
The children gathered around her breathed collective sighs of relief, tension draining from shoulders that had been tensed for violence. Their mother's moody and pathological personality represented a critical factor seriously restricting the Big Mom Pirates' organizational development. They'd attempted various treatments over the years, but nothing worked. The frequency of their mother's food craving outbreaks continued increasing gradually, and everything in Totto Land developed in increasingly concerning directions.
The Big Mom Pirates existed because of Charlotte Linlin. The Big Mom Pirates would also eventually fail because of Charlotte Linlin.
Her children understood this paradox with depressing clarity, trapped in a family structure that granted them power while simultaneously guaranteeing eventual catastrophic collapse. They were passengers on a sinking ship, watching the waterline rise with glacial inevitability, powerless to change course.
On the Sky Screen, Kisame continued his inexorable advance toward Cake Island, and the future moved forward whether they were ready or not.