—Broadcast—
After Charlotte Katakuri had been deceived by water clones twice in succession, the man finally understood with crushing certainty that from the moment this one-on-one match began, Hoshigaki Kisame had never taken him seriously as a threat.
"Water clones are sufficient to deal with you." ×8
The residual moisture scattered across the mirror world's floor gradually condensed into eight distinct figures, each one a perfect replica of Hoshigaki Kisame. They spoke in unison with synchronized timing, their voices overlapping to create an unsettling chorus that shocked everyone present.
Charlotte Katakuri activated his Devil Fruit ability in response, raising one leg high before multiplying the limb through mochi generation. In an instant, eight legs sprouted from his lower body, each one wrapped entirely in black Armament Haki that gleamed like obsidian armor.
The Mochi Mochi no Mi possessed considerable flexibility alongside its adhesive properties. His eight split legs attacked the water clones from different angles simultaneously, creating a coordinated assault designed to overwhelm through geometric superiority.
Eight legs versus eight opponents—perfectly matched numerically. But Charlotte Katakuri's attack proved completely ineffective. The eight water clones used their chests to absorb the Armament Haki-enhanced kicks without sustaining damage. Without Conqueror's Haki infusion providing superior penetrative force, breaking through water clone defenses remained impossible.
After restraining the Sweet Commander's offense, the eight water clones simultaneously formed hand seals with perfect synchronization. "Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!" ×8
Despite the absence of any nearby lake or water source, the eight water clones each sprayed a massive water dragon from their mouths. The eight serpentine constructs, each stretching nearly one hundred meters in length, converged on Charlotte Katakuri from all directions simultaneously—an inescapable cage of liquid violence.
Never underestimate nature's fundamental forces. Never underestimate the destructive power of water and fire when wielded with murderous intent. Eight water dragons tore at Charlotte Katakuri's body with predatory savagery, inflicting catastrophic wounds across his entire frame within seconds. The crushing pressure forced seawater down his throat until his stomach distended painfully.
After the eight water dragons finally dissipated back into formless liquid, Charlotte Katakuri's body bore horrific damage. The white scarf he'd worn to conceal his mouth had been torn to shreds under the technique's overwhelming force, exposing the truth he'd hidden so carefully throughout his life.
His mouth—grotesquely wide, filled with sharp fangs arranged in uneven rows, more monster than man—lay bare for all to witness.
Charlotte Smoothie stared at the battlefield with profound disbelief. Could this Admiral also be a Devil Fruit user? Controlling water with such casual ease transcended anything fish-men should naturally command. This represented something fundamentally different from racial ability.
"When did fish-men gain cloning capabilities?" she muttered, her analytical mind struggling to categorize what she witnessed. "He actually used water to create perfect duplicates. Ordinary Armament Haki cannot harm them whatsoever."
Although she ranked as the least combat-focused among the Sweet Commanders, Charlotte Smoothie still possessed sufficient battle experience to recognize the tactical implications.
Tears welled in Charlotte Brûlée's eyes as she watched her beloved brother force himself upright despite catastrophic injuries, straightening his strong back through sheer willpower. The woman's heart broke watching him suffer.
Charlotte Katakuri subconsciously touched his exposed mouth, realizing with burning shame that his ugly deformity—the twisted teeth and monstrous jaw he'd concealed since childhood—had been revealed to outsiders. The humiliation ignited fury that burned hotter than his physical pain.
His two younger sisters felt their hearts shatter witnessing this moment. Brother Katakuri had sacrificed everything for this family, bearing burdens that should have been distributed among all the Charlotte children. He couldn't fall here. He wouldn't fall before outsiders who dared invade their home.
After enduring eight consecutive Water Dragon Bullets, Charlotte Katakuri had reached the absolute limits of his endurance. The fact that he could still stand genuinely surprised Hoshigaki Kisame. The Admiral hadn't expected this man to persevere to such extremes.
"Your perseverance amazes me," Kisame acknowledged, genuine respect coloring his voice. "But you selected the wrong opponent today. Against me, determination alone cannot bridge this gap."
After the eight water clones dissipated voluntarily, Hoshigaki Kisame's true body finally emerged from concealment within the moisture-saturated air. The fish-man had lost interest in the cat-and-mouse game—and with Yonko Big Mom potentially about to intervene, he couldn't afford to prolong this confrontation further.
His hands rose to form seals again, then slammed both palms against the mirror world's distorted floor. A black ninjutsu barrier erupted across the surface, expanding outward in concentric circles. Large-scale water-based ninjutsu manifested in the space above their heads.
"Water Style: Thousand Shark Technique!"
Massive water ripples appeared near the black barrier's perimeter, distorting reality itself. Then water sharks began emerging one after another—each construct measuring tens of meters in length, each possessing the apex predator's natural hunting characteristics. Smelling the blood coating Charlotte Katakuri from dozens of wounds, thousands upon thousands of water sharks surged forward in a feeding frenzy.
When Charlotte Katakuri witnessed such an apocalyptic sight, even the strongest Sweet Commander couldn't prevent his jaw from dropping slightly in shock. At this moment, he truly comprehended the catastrophic gap in power between himself and Hoshigaki Kisame.
The difference wasn't merely quantitative. This represented a fundamental tier separation—like comparing a skilled swordsman to a natural disaster.
At this moment balanced on the knife's edge between life and death, the man refused to surrender passively. Charlotte Katakuri decided to gamble everything on one final desperate assault. He transformed both arms into mochi, applying full compression and extreme heat until the substance reached critical temperature. With flame boost providing additional propulsion, his arms launched like rocket-propelled projectiles.
"Grilled Mochi!"
The technique involved repeating this process continuously—creating new mochi arms, superheating them to combustible temperatures, then firing them in rapid succession. Charlotte Katakuri attempted to leverage quantity advantage to compensate for the catastrophic quality deficit.
Every two grilled mochi projectiles could crush and detonate a single water shark. When the attacks collided, they generated enormous quantities of water vapor that saturated the mirror space's atmosphere, causing humidity to rise dramatically.
However, the water sharks' numbers exceeded imagination. Thousands rushed forward too rapidly, providing zero time for Charlotte Katakuri to manufacture sufficient grilled mochi ammunition. His production rate couldn't match their assault speed.
The first water shark clamped its jaws around the man's right leg and refused to release despite his struggles. The second shark bit his left leg with equal tenacity. The third latched onto his right shoulder. The fourth shark engulfed his head entirely...
With the intervention of one water creature after another, although Charlotte Katakuri had hardened his entire body with full-coverage Armament Haki, he still couldn't escape the fate of being devoured alive. His flesh and blood scattered across the mirror space in spreading crimson blooms as the water sharks savored their prey with mechanical efficiency.
Charlotte Smoothie and Charlotte Brûlée could no longer remain passive observers. Watching their brother being eaten alive before their eyes proved too horrific, too unbearably cruel. The two sisters surged forward to intervene despite the suicidal futility.
But at this critical moment, the seriously injured Sea Knight Jinbe awakened from semi-consciousness. He suddenly wrapped both arms around the two women from behind, restraining them physically despite his own catastrophic condition. He absolutely couldn't allow these comparatively weak individuals to join combat so carelessly.
Blood still trickling from the corner of his mouth, Jinbe spoke in a voice rendered weak by broken ribs and internal bleeding: "Don't go. Don't interfere. You'll simply die meaninglessly if you approach that battlefield. Hoshigaki Kisame only acknowledges the Marine Admiral's mission parameters in his mind. He will kill anyone who obstructs mission completion without hesitation or remorse."
Not only did the fish-man's warning fail to deter them, it intensified their desperation. Charlotte Smoothie directly activated her Shibo Shibo no Mi ability, attempting to squeeze the portions of Jinbe's body touching her into extracted juice. As a Sweet Commander herself, she needed to help another Sweet Commander—even if they had to die together, they would die as family.
Despite his body being systematically devoured by ravenous water constructs, Charlotte Katakuri remained silent in the face of such unimaginable agony. He simply resisted with everything remaining in his arsenal, prolonging his survival however possible. By this point, he'd already lost both hands and both feet to the sharks' mechanical feeding.
Blood fountained from the stumps where his limbs had been severed. Bone shards gleamed white against the spreading crimson. Yet still he made no sound—refused to scream, refused to beg, refused to give his enemy the satisfaction.
While Hoshigaki Kisame observed the water sharks methodically dismantling his opponent, the Admiral detected a sudden change in the mirror space's composition. An outsider had been transported into this dimension by Charlotte Brûlée's ability. Had the Yonko herself finally entered the battlefield?
But the aura approaching didn't match Charlotte Linlin's monstrous spiritual pressure.
"Sending a little girl in here to die?" Kisame remarked, genuine puzzlement coloring his voice.
He could sense the presence of an underage female through his enhanced perception. The girl possessed long black hair reaching her waist, secured with a brown headband that kept the dark strands from obscuring her vision. She wore a tight blue windbreaker that emphasized athletic build rather than emphasizing curves. Despite her youth, she radiated maturity and a cool temperament that transcended her apparent age. This was someone who'd suffered extensively, who carried profound hatred like a familiar burden.
Most strikingly, her eyes—pitch black with distinctive tomoe patterns rotating slowly around dilated pupils—marked her as something that absolutely should not exist in this world.
A bloodline that had been extinct for unknown centuries.
Charlotte Hikaru stepped forward, Sharingan spinning with predatory focus, and the mirror world's distorted reflections suddenly seemed far less certain.
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