—Broadcast—
Ever since the girl revealed her Mangekyō Sharingan, Admiral Kisame had chosen to keep his eyes firmly shut, relying entirely on sensory perception to navigate the battlefield. From his particularly cautious behavior, observers could deduce this wasn't the first time Hoshigaki Kisame had encountered the Uchiha clan—and that previous experience had been traumatic enough to warrant immediate defensive measures.
"Your clan truly represents monstrous evolution," Kisame remarked, his voice carrying grudging respect despite the closed-eye disadvantage. "Every member can develop radically different abilities through those cursed eyes. Fortunately, in the era I originated from, the Uchiha clan had already withdrawn from history's stage entirely. Their extinction prevented catastrophes your bloodline would have inevitably caused."
Hoshigaki Kisame detected the dramatic changes occurring within Charlotte Smoothie's physiology. He ignored her nearly kilometer-tall body—physical size meant nothing against certain techniques—and focused instead on sensing the Sweet Commander's internal aura composition. The sheer complexity proved genuinely confusing, layers of distinct spiritual pressure overlapping in ways that shouldn't be physiologically possible.
Kisame could identify at least one thousand different individual Haki signatures compressed within Charlotte Smoothie's expanded form. Each distinct aura originated from a completely independent person somewhere in the world. The girl who'd suddenly appeared could actually combine all of them together into a singular vessel—describing her as merely a "monster" seemed inadequate to capture the technique's horrifying implications.
The Haki radiating from the female Sweet Commander's body pores in concentrated waves—if truly quantified based on volume alone—would qualify its bearer for at least Rear Admiral rank within the Marine hierarchy. She'd become a walking repository of stolen power, a human battery charged by thousands of unwilling donors.
"You ignorant fish-man, die for me!" Charlotte Smoothie's voice boomed across the mirror world, her vocal cords proportionally enlarged to match her colossal scale. She relied on overwhelming physical advantage, lifting her foot—as large as a Marine battleship—and stomping toward Kisame's position. The Sweet Commander intended to crush the Admiral into paste as casually as stepping on an insect.
Feeling a shadow large enough to eclipse the sun looming overhead, Hoshigaki Kisame displayed no particular alarm. After all, Charlotte Smoothie represented a hybrid of long-leg tribe and human genetics—she'd never learned any of the giant tribe's specialized combat techniques that made their enormous size genuinely threatening.
Though this deficiency couldn't be blamed entirely on Charlotte Smoothie herself. The fault traced directly to her mother Charlotte Linlin. If Big Mom hadn't caused catastrophic disaster in Elbaf during childhood—the incident involving Mother Carmel's mysterious disappearance—then establishing diplomatic relations with the giant tribe would have remained possible. But that bridge had burned decades ago, leaving the Big Mom Pirates without access to giant-specific martial arts.
"Water Style: Hidden Mist Technique!"
After forming hand seals with practiced speed, Kisame expelled thick black mist from his mouth. The supernatural fog spread throughout the entire mirror dimension within seconds, reducing visibility to less than half a meter in all directions. The oppressive darkness swallowed everything, transforming the battlefield into a sensory nightmare.
When Charlotte Smoothie's massive foot descended with earth-shaking force, it struck nothing solid. Hoshigaki Kisame had vanished into the concealing mist before everyone's eyes, his disappearance making all present combatants extremely alert. Fighting an opponent you couldn't see represented tactical hell.
"You coward!" The female Sweet Commander's voice echoed through the black fog, frustration evident in her tone. "Come out and fight me face-to-face if you dare!"
Charlotte Smoothie dragged the oversized sword that had expanded alongside her body, swinging the massive blade randomly through the mist. She attempted to locate Kisame's hiding place through brute force area denial, but each swing cut only fog.
"Something's wrong with this mist," Charlotte Hikaru called out urgently, her young voice carrying across the obscured battlefield. "I can't see through it with my eyes."
The Sharingan, like advanced Observation Haki, proved incapable of penetrating the layers of supernatural black fog saturating the environment. This water-style ninjutsu had been specifically developed to counter visual perception—even the legendary Rinnegan couldn't pierce its concealment under certain conditions.
Jinbe's face had turned deathly pale from excessive blood loss, his broken ribs and Samehada's wound combining to push him toward shock. He could only rely on iron willpower to maintain consciousness, positioning himself protectively before Charlotte Brûlée despite his catastrophic injuries. In this dangerous situation, he absolutely couldn't allow the mirror-world specialist to be harmed—she represented their only guaranteed escape route.
"Watch your back!" Charlotte Brûlée suddenly screamed, her voice cutting through the oppressive silence.
As possessor of the Mira Mira no Mi, she could sense every reflective surface within the mirror world—and the mirror embedded in the ground directly behind her sister Hikaru suddenly reflected an approaching figure where none had existed moments before.
A heavy sword covered in vicious black spikes descended toward the girl's skull without the slightest mercy. Hoshigaki Kisame exploited the tremendous water molecules saturating the mist, unilaterally creating water clones at any location throughout the mirror dimension. More importantly, he could swap positions between his true body and water clones instantaneously—perfect substitution that rendered tracking his actual location impossible.
To ensure absolute killing efficiency, Kisame had chosen to attack personally rather than risk failure through clone proxies. He intended to eliminate the girl named Hikaru in a single decisive strike, removing the greatest threat before she could deploy additional Sharingan techniques.
What happened next defied audience expectations completely. No blood splattered across reflective surfaces. No brain matter exploded from catastrophic trauma. The living blade called Samehada encountered mysterious resistance when it reached within one centimeter of the girl's body—an invisible barrier that halted the weapon's descent as though it had struck reinforced steel.
"Could it be... you've also mastered that technique?" Kisame's voice emerged strangled, his usual composure fracturing into genuine horror.
The fish-man had lost complete control over his facial expression. Not only did shock register plainly across his features, but cold sweat formed near his temples despite the mist's moisture. His worst suspicions confirmed themselves before his closed eyes.
A skeletal humanoid construct formed entirely from crimson energy enveloped Charlotte Hikaru from crown to feet, materializing in the space between heartbeats. She'd deliberately made sounds during the dangerous approach to expose her position to Hoshigaki Kisame, baiting him into attacking so she could reveal this defensive capability.
"It seems you possess extensive knowledge about my eyes," Charlotte Hikaru observed, her childish voice carrying unexpected steel. "That's unfortunate for you—it means you understand exactly how outmatched you are."
Although the red skeletal construct remained incomplete—lacking muscle tissue, organs, or armored plating—its defensive capabilities proved sufficient to withstand most assassination attempts in this world. Breaking through Charlotte Hikaru's Susanoo barrier in a single strike would require at least a top-tier Ancient Zoan Devil Fruit user operating at full power.
The thick black fog gradually dissipated as Kisame released the technique, revealing Hikaru's heroic figure in complete detail. The five-year-old girl stood protected within a twenty-meter-tall crimson skeleton, one of the Uchiha clan's most feared abilities.
Susanoo—the materialization of the user's fighting spirit, an absolute defense granted only to those who awakened Mangekyō Sharingan in both eyes.
"You can manifest Susanoo's incomplete form," Kisame acknowledged, genuine respect entering his voice despite the tactical disadvantage. "That qualifies you to negotiate with me as equals. I only want Jinbe this time—capturing him represents my sole mission objective. If you agree to this condition, we can cease hostilities immediately."
The instant Hoshigaki Kisame finished speaking, two water clones materialized behind Jinbe and Charlotte Brûlée with predatory speed. They seized both captives from behind, establishing lethal positioning—one wrong move and throats would be opened, necks snapped, bodies destroyed. This represented the Admiral's negotiating leverage. If diplomatic resolution failed, Kisame didn't mind executing both hostages without hesitation.
"We absolutely cannot agree to his terms!" Charlotte Smoothie protested immediately, though her voice had grown noticeably weaker as her body continued shrinking. "He injured Katakuri so much. We can't let this bastard escape without consequences!"
The female Sweet Commander genuinely believed she could subdue a Marine Admiral through borrowed external power. However, she failed to recognize that even enlarged and empowered, she didn't generate sufficient interest from Hoshigaki Kisame to warrant serious combat engagement.
Additionally, as bearer of the Shibo Shibo no Mi who'd absorbed tremendous water volumes, Charlotte Smoothie could no longer maintain her thousand-meter-tall transformation. Her body size decreased proportionally at speeds visible to naked observation, shrinking from colossal titan back toward merely oversized human. Without continuous supply from Eight Thousand Spears replenishing her reserves, a weak combatant remained weak regardless of temporary enhancements—she lacked even basic qualifications to participate in high-level negotiations.
Charlotte Hikaru glanced toward Charlotte Katakuri lying motionless on the blood-soaked ground, his breathing so shallow it barely registered. If battle continued dragging on indefinitely, her beloved brother might die from accumulated trauma before medical intervention became possible. This represented an outcome the girl absolutely couldn't accept. Having grown up surrounded by genuine family affection—a rarity among Charlotte Linlin's enormous brood—she refused to watch everything familiar shatter before her eyes.
She could only direct an apologetic look toward the seriously injured Sea Knight Jinbe, silently begging forgiveness for what she was about to do. Faced with choosing between family members and outsiders, she selected protecting loved ones who'd shared her daily life.
"Jinbe can be surrendered to you," Charlotte Hikaru stated, each word costing visible effort. "But you must promise not to harm my sister Brûlée. Otherwise I will hunt you across every ocean until you pay appropriate price for betrayal."
The crimson Susanoo skeleton surrounding her form sensed the user's negative emotions—rage, grief, helpless fury—and roared toward Hoshigaki Kisame's direction. The sound carried weight beyond mere vocalization, spiritual pressure made audible as warning.
After hearing this answer, Jinbe's tense body finally relaxed despite the water clone's grip threatening instant death. He didn't particularly care about his personal fate anymore. He simply wanted to prevent additional harm to the Big Mom Pirates, who'd shown him hospitality despite his outsider status. So what if he went to Still Water Prison with Admiral Kisame? At least Charlotte Katakuri might survive to see another dawn.
Hoshigaki Kisame nodded once, acknowledging the agreement. The water clone restraining Charlotte Brûlée dissipated harmlessly, releasing the terrified woman. The clone holding Jinbe maintained its grip, ensuring compliance.
"A wise decision," Kisame remarked. "The strong do what they will. The weak suffer what they must. Today you learned that lesson without losing everything. Consider it educational."
Charlotte Hikaru's Susanoo trembled with suppressed rage, the skeletal construct's eye sockets burning with crimson light. But she held position, watching helplessly as Kisame prepared to extract his prisoner from the mirror world.
The negotiation concluded with brutal pragmatism—justice sacrificed on the altar of survival, honor surrendered to preserve family.
This was the New Marine's vision of order: absolute, merciless, and utterly effective.