The sky remained split.
Red and black lightning arced between the parted clouds. The Haki barrier between the boy and the Emperor groaned under the sheer spiritual weight of their wills.
The stalemate lasted for three heartbeats.
Then, the pressure snapped. The invisible bubble of colliding Haki exploded outward. The recoil threw them both backward.
Big Mom landed heavily on the marble floor. Her boots crushed the stone tiles into white powder. She slid back five paces, digging her heels in to stop her momentum.
Luffy flew through the air. He flipped backward, landing lightly on his feet atop the ruined third tier of the wedding cake. He did not sink into the sponge. He balanced perfectly on the frosting.
Silence ruled the destroyed banquet hall. The wind blew sugar dust across the empty tables.
Big Mom stood up straight. She cracked her massive knuckles. She looked at the boy standing on her cake.
"You block well, Straw Hat," Big Mom rumbled. A terrifying grin stretched across her face. "But a single clash means nothing."
Luffy grinned back. He rolled his right shoulder and cracked his neck.
Luffy dropped off the cake. He fell twenty feet, landing on the floorboards with a heavy thud. He stood casually, his arms loose at his sides.
"Come on, Big Lady," Luffy challenged. He waved his hand, beckoning her forward.
Big Mom's eyes narrowed.
She charged.
For a woman of her massive size, she moved with terrifying speed. She crossed the banquet hall in a single stride. She drew her right arm back and simply used her raw, monstrous strength.
She threw a straight punch aimed directly at Luffy's chest. The fist was larger than his entire torso.
Luffy planted his feet firmly on the ground. He raised both arms, crossing them in an X-block in front of his chest.
BANG.
The giant fist struck Luffy's crossed arms.
A shockwave ripped through the floor. The marble tiles shattered outward in a spiderweb pattern. The wind from the punch blew the surrounding chairs into the walls.
Luffy's boots dug deep trenches into the stone. He slid backward two feet.
He caught the punch with his frame.
Big Mom blinked in surprise. Her fist pressed against his arms. It felt like punching a solid mountain of iron.
Lowering his arms instantly, Luffy stepped inside her guard.
He twisted his hips. He pulled his right fist back. He threw a simple, devastating uppercut squarely into Big Mom's stomach.
The punch lacked Haki, but it carried the training of the Marine Hero.
The blow lifted Big Mom two inches off the ground. The air rushed out of her lungs in a sharp gasp.
Before she could land, Luffy spun on his heel. He delivered a heavy roundhouse kick to her side. The kick sent the massive Emperor skidding across the floor. She crashed through a table filled with champagne glasses.
The crystal shattered loudly. The Emperor rolled, caught her balance, and stood up among the broken glass.
She wiped a drop of spilled champagne from her cheek. Her grin vanished.
"You hit hard," Big Mom growled.
"My grandpa hits harder," Luffy laughed, bouncing lightly on his toes.
While the titans brawled in the center of the room, chaos erupted along the perimeter.
Recovering from the initial Haki blast, the Charlotte family commanders mobilized. They drew weapons, wiping frosting and dust from their clothes. Dozens of heavily armed chess soldiers poured into the hall through the shattered doorways.
Standing around their ruined dining table, the Straw Hat women and the reindeer formed a tight defensive circle.
"Don't let them surround us!" Nami yelled.
Spinning her Clima-Tact rapidly, the navigator summoned a cluster of dark clouds above the charging chess soldiers. She thrust the polearm forward. A blinding bolt of lightning struck the marble floor, launching five armored guards into the air.
Stepping past the falling guards, Charlotte Oven heated his massive hands until they glowed bright orange. The heat warped the air around him.
"I will melt you down to the bone!" Oven roared, swinging a burning fist toward Nami.
A silver blur intercepted the strike.
Twirling her Vibranium spear, Vivi caught Oven's burning fist on the metal shaft. The spear absorbed the impact effortlessly. Heat washed over the princess, but the metal did not bend or conduct the burn.
Using the spear as a lever, Vivi vaulted into the air. She kicked Oven squarely in the jaw with both boots, knocking the massive man backward.
"Your heat means nothing to this metal," Vivi stated, landing gracefully and dropping back into a fighting stance.
Bounding over Vivi's head, Carrot leaped directly into the fray.
The rabbit mink slipped her hands into the custom metal gauntlets. Sparks of blue Electro danced across the metal knuckles. Landing in the middle of a squad of advancing biscuit soldiers, Carrot unleashed a flurry of rapid punches.
The electrified gauntlets shattered the hard cracker shields. Biscuit crumbs exploded outward as Carrot spun, kicking a tall guard into a chocolate pillar.
"Garlic! Carrot! Parsley!" Carrot cheered happily, treating the battle like a grand game.
Holding the left flank, Chopper shifted into Kung Fu Point.
The reindeer let out a high-pitched battle cry. Moving with incredible fluidity, Chopper deflected sword strikes with open palms and countered with rapid, heavy punches to the gut. When a group of gun-wielding homies took aim at him, Chopper shifted into Guard Point. A massive sphere of fur expanded outward, catching the bullets harmlessly in the thick coat.
Ducking behind an overturned table, Bonney watched a squad of elite homies charging her position.
Leaping over the table, Bonney slapped her bare hands against the chests of the first three attackers.
The magic of her Devil Fruit took hold instantly.
Armor clattered loosely to the floor. Spears dropped from shrinking hands. The three fierce guards transformed into crying, babbling toddlers trapped inside oversized boots.
Stepping over the crying children, Bonney kicked a fourth guard in the knee. "Don't mess with my mealtime!"
Sitting calmly in exact center of this defensive perimeter, the clone of Ben poured itself another cup of tea. It ignored the lightning, the shattered biscuits, and the crying toddlers.
"This tea is getting cold," the clone complained in a flat, monotone voice.
Across the hall, Charlotte Katakuri stood still.
The Sweet Commander closed his eyes. His advanced Observation Haki pierced the immediate future. He looked three seconds ahead. He saw the Straw Hat crew holding their ground. He saw the rabbit mink breaking through the lines and the group pushing toward the exits, threatening to tear the entire chateau apart.
Opening his eyes, Katakuri moved to intercept them.
His right arm transformed into thick, sticky mochi. He shaped the substance into a massive, hardened trident. Kicking off the floor, he launched himself across the room, aiming to impale the navigator and break the defensive circle in a single strike.
He never reached them.
A blur of white intercepted him mid-air.
Flames roared. A dress shoe coated in bright orange fire crashed against the hardened mochi trident.
Sparks rained down over the banquet tables. The force of the collision pushed Katakuri back, forcing the Sweet Commander to land on his feet.
Sanji landed a few yards away. The cook kept his flaming leg raised, his hands resting casually in his pockets.
"Where do you think you're going?" Sanji asked, exhaling a cloud of cigarette smoke.
Katakuri narrowed his eyes. The scarf covering his mouth shifted slightly. "You dodged my jellybean at the altar. Now you intercept my strike. Your Observation Haki is sharp, Vinsmoke."
"My name is Sanji," the cook corrected coldly. "And I don't need to look into the future to know you aren't touching my crew."
"We will see," Katakuri challenged.
The Sweet Commander lunged again. He unleashed a barrage of rapid, hardened mochi punches.
Sanji met him blow for blow. The cook moved with blinding speed, using his Black Leg style to parry the heavy strikes. Flaming kicks clashed against blackened mochi. The two fighters blurred across the floor, engaged in a high-speed duel of prediction and reaction. Every time Katakuri altered his attack based on a future vision, Sanji moved fast enough to counter the adjustment naturally.
Back in the center of the hall, the main event escalated.
Big Mom raised her right hand. A small sun floated above her palm. Prometheus. The living fireball grew rapidly, expanding to the size of a carriage.
"Prometheus!" Big Mom commanded. "Burn him!"
The giant fireball opened its mouth and roared. It shot forward, leaving a trail of scorched air behind it. A massive wave of orange fire engulfed the center of the room.
Luffy reached down. He grabbed the edge of a long, heavy oak dining table. He flipped the entire table upward with one hand.
The table intercepted the fireball. The wood splintered and burned instantly, but it created a momentary shield.
Behind the burning table, Luffy pumped his legs.
Gear Second.
Steam erupted from his skin. His blood flow accelerated. His skin turned a faint shade of pink.
Luffy vanished.
The burning table crashed to the floor. The fire washed over empty space.
Big Mom looked around quickly. Her eyes darted left and right.
"Above you!"
Big Mom looked up.
Luffy hovered near the ceiling. He pulled his right arm back. It stretched thirty feet into the air like a whip.
"Gomu Gomu no..."
Luffy threw the punch downward.
"Jet Pistol!"
The rubber fist broke the sound barrier. It struck Big Mom directly on the top of her head. The impact drove her boots deep into the floorboards.
She grunted, shaking the blow off instantly. She reached up with her left hand, grabbing Luffy's stretched arm before he could retract it.
Her grip felt like a steel vice.
"Got you," Big Mom sneered.
She yanked her arm downward. She pulled Luffy from the ceiling like a kite on a string. She spun her body, using his own momentum against him.
She threw him across the banquet hall.
Luffy flew like a bullet. He crashed through a row of thick, candy-cane pillars. He smashed through a chocolate wall and flew out of the main hall and crashed into the grand foyer, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake.
Dust and powdered sugar filled the air.
Big Mom stomped forward. She walked through the hole in the chocolate wall.
"Is that all?!" Big Mom yelled into the dust. "You boast about becoming the Pirate King, but you fight like a child!"
A shadow moved in the dust cloud.
Luffy walked back through the hole in the wall. He wiped a piece of chocolate frosting off his cheek and licked his thumb.
"The walls taste good here," Luffy commented cheerfully.
Big Mom roared in anger. She raised her left hand. A dark, thunderous cloud floated above her palm. Zeus.
"Zeus!" Big Mom shouted. "Strike him down!"
The dark cloud expanded. Sparks of blue and white lightning danced across its surface.
A massive bolt of lightning tore from the cloud. It struck the ground where Luffy stood. The explosion blinded the guests. The marble floor melted into slag.
The light faded.
Luffy stood in the center of the melted crater. Smoke rose from his clothes. The rubber insulated him from the electrical discharge.
He tilted his head, picking his ear with his pinky finger.
"That tickled," Luffy said.
Big Mom ground her teeth together. The boy was immune to lightning. He hit like a battleship and bounced back from being thrown through walls.
"Napoleon!" Big Mom yelled.
She reached up and grabbed the large bicorne hat resting on her head.
The hat opened a pair of eyes. It opened a mouth filled with sharp teeth. Big Mom pulled the hat downward. The fabric shifted, hardened, and extended.
In a second, Big Mom held a massive, broad-bladed sword. The blade gleamed with a deadly, polished edge.
"Let's see you bounce back from this!" Big Mom declared.
She gripped the hilt with both hands and raised the giant sword high above her shoulder.
She swung it downward.
She did not aim directly at Luffy. She aimed at the floor in front of him.
Elbaf Spear: Ikoku Sovereignty!
A massive, compressed shockwave of pure destruction fired from the blade. It carved a trench through the center of the chateau and ripped the floorboards up. The flying slash moved toward Luffy, obliterating everything in its path.
Luffy stopped smiling.
He bit his right thumb. He blew a massive amount of air directly into his bones.
His right arm inflated. It grew to the size of a giant's limb. The sheer mass of the arm dwarfed his actual body.
He coated the entire giant arm in dense, black Armament Haki.
"Gear Third!" Luffy shouted.
He opened his massive, blackened hand.
He stepped forward and caught the flying slash.
The blade of compressed air struck the palm of his giant hand.
Sparks flew wildly. The wind ripped through the room, blowing the heavy velvet curtains off the walls. Luffy's boots dug deep into the floor, carving two long trenches as the force of the attack pushed him backward.
He slid ten feet. Twenty feet.
Luffy gritted his teeth. He squeezed his giant fingers inward. He clamped his Haki-coated hand around the edges of the flying slash.
He planted his back foot. He stopped sliding.
With a loud roar, Luffy twisted his wrist. He crushed his fingers together.
The flying slash shattered. The compressed air broke apart like glass, exploding harmlessly into a gust of strong wind.
Big Mom lowered her sword and rested it against the floor.
She stared at the boy. He stood at the end of the ruined hallway, his massive black arm slowly deflating back to its normal size. Steam rolled off his body.
He had stopped her signature attack with his bare hands.
Luffy rolled his shoulders. He cracked his knuckles again and looked down the ruined corridor at the Emperor.
"You have a big sword," Luffy noted casually.
Big Mom did not laugh. The amusement vanished from her eyes completely. She finally understood the threat standing before her. The boy was not a boastful rookie. He possessed the haki and combat instinct of a true monster.
They had just traded blows. They had traded lightning, fire, and steel.
They were only testing the waters. Neither had used their full strength. Neither had pushed past their baseline limits.
The real fight had not even started.