Owen's iron head, enhanced by Armament Haki, continued to accelerate through the air, aiming dead on at Cracker.
The whistling force of the strike startled Cracker so much that each of his claps left blazing afterimages. In an instant, colossal biscuit walls erupted around him, rising sky‑high to form near‑impenetrable barriers, each wall several meters tall and astonishingly thick.
Yet even these immense defenses crumbled like sand before Owen's iron head. The impact shattered the barriers as if struck by an avalanche, and the unstoppable blow finally struck Cracker, sending him rocketing backward toward Linlin.
Fortune favored him only slightly, for the cushioning biscuit walls, though shattered, had softened the blow just enough to prevent death. Linlin reached out with her massive hand and brought it down to block Cracker's fall.
Cracker rolled to a stop, clutching a charred black object in his arms that could barely be recognized as a human head.
Before Linlin could erupt in fury, Lloyd, standing in the distance, had already lifted Owen's headless body with one hand and hurled it toward the garden. With the unnatural grace of a surfer on a board, he then leapt and landed upon the fast‑moving corpse.
Everyone stared in stunned disbelief as Lloyd descended from the sky, stepping onto Owen's inert form.
Roger frowned sharply, eyes narrowed on Lloyd.
"It's you again. Persistent as ever."
Lloyd shrugged, his voice casual.
"You won't see me after you're dead, anyway."
Linlin's children recognized the body beneath Lloyd's feet by its clothing, build, and features — it was the missing Owen. As a Heat‑Heat Fruit user, he was now utterly cold.
Buggy, having laboriously reassembled himself, finally staggered over to Shanks' side, feeling only slightly safer now.
Linlin casually dropped the unconscious Cracker to the ground, eyes fixed on Lloyd. Recognition dawned.
"Indeed, you are that brat from God Valley!"
She had seen Lloyd's photos countless times in newspapers. The moment she saw his face now, memories of God Valley flooded back — especially the time when Lloyd had denied her the Paw‑Paw Fruit. What fate played cruel tricks, to see the ant‑like boy from then become an Admiral now.
Lloyd smiled slightly, opening his palm. A dark vortex materialized, instantly pulling in Cracker, whom Linlin had just discarded.
For a stunned moment, Linlin stared in disbelief.
Before she could react, Lloyd's hand made a crisp sound. In one motion, he twisted off Cracker's head, then casually tossed it backward. The head rolled to rest at Shanks' feet.
Shanks had been staring blankly at Lloyd's retreating back — only when Cracker's head came to rest before him did he snap back to attention.
Buggy beside him was first startled, and then remembering the torment Cracker had inflicted upon him, rage exploded in his chest. He stomped the severed head with ferocity, grinding it again and again.
Shanks ignored Buggy's manic outburst, about to speak, but was interrupted by Linlin's scream.
"Bastard! How dare you kill Cracker right before my eyes?"
Linlin was truly beside herself with rage. She had expected Lloyd to act, but never with such brutality — no warning, no pause, just lethal action against an unconscious enemy. It was unlike anything she had ever seen from an Admiral.
Livid, she raised her hand and called out with a furious roar. Prometheus merged with her hair, igniting into roaring flames, while Zeus shifted into a pitch‑black thundercloud above Lloyd's head.
Holding Napoleon aflame, she leapt forward with blazing ferocity.
"Blade of the Mother Flame!"
A torrential sea of fire erupted around her sword, instantly engulfing Lloyd. The very air warped under the intolerable heat.
Linlin's children watched with cruel smiles.
"Die, Navy! Turn to ash in Mom's wrath!"
The Roger Pirates looked on without fear. They had seen Lloyd's strength before and knew well how deadly he was.
Whether this inferno could even harm him was unknown.
But then the smiles froze across the Big Mom Pirates' faces. All eyes widened at the lone black figure shimmering in the heart of the firestorm.
Lloyd walked out of the towering flames with silent calm, hands in his pockets. He pulled a cigarette from his pocket and casually extended it into the surrounding blaze to light it, then brought it to his mouth, dragging deeply and exhaling a long plume of smoke with a relaxed expression.
This posture stood as a devastating affront to the Big Mom Pirates, a definitive mockery of their rage.
Linlin, disbelieving, hurled more massive fireballs at Lloyd. Each strike landed without effect. He stood unscathed — flames rolling off him like rain from stone.
It was not just invulnerability, but true immunity. Lloyd's Lunarian bloodline made him utterly unaffected by fire, bathing in flames as if it were nothing more than a cool breeze.
Seeing this, Linlin trembled with fury, teeth grinding, veins bulging on her forearm as she gripped Napoleon. The flames around her died down as she took a breath and swung her sword in a powerful arc.
A massive wave of thick purple sword energy burst forth from Napoleon, tearing through the air with crackling force. The roar of its passage was sharp and piercing.
Conqueror's Haki!
Lloyd's expression finally grew serious as the Demon Blade Muramasa appeared in his hand. In response, he unleashed a blade of pitch‑black sword energy.
The two forces collided in a spectacle of clashing power. In the end, Linlin's purple sword energy dissipated first.
Her expression shifted in disbelief as Lloyd raised Napoleon's residual black energy aside with ease.
Lloyd's swordsmanship and mastery of Haki stunned Linlin.
Watching his youthful face beneath the smoke and fire, she felt a sudden, humiliating realization — all her years of pride, all the power she believed she possessed, and yet here stood someone who surpassed her effortlessly.
Even her greatest hope, Katakuri, could not compare to Lloyd. In sheer strength, skill, and presence — Lloyd stood apart, even above her and Roger, because he held dominion over both Swordsmanship and Conqueror's Haki at a level few could rival.
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