After seeing Dreamland Island break through the clouds and slowly emerge above Cake Island on the live broadcast…
"No way... You're kidding, right?" Perospero's voice was practically shaking. "When did they..."
But he never finished the sentence.
Because at that exact moment…
"ROAR!"
Accompanied by a harsh growl, the sound of a blade and flames tearing through the air came from behind him. The Phantom Beast Yazi, carrying a giant blade in its jaws, had already launched its slash.
Clang!
But in the next instant, Smoothie, having absorbed massive amounts of water and enlarged her body, stepped in front of Yazi. Sword and giant blade collided against each other. Flames and water crashed against each other.
"Perospero, there's no time to think about that!" Straining as she wrestled against Yazi's strength, Smoothie shouted, "Can't you see it? Those creatures from Dreamland Island can counter the Homies!"
"This isn't a raid. It's a carefully prepared war!" Her voice was heavy.
Perospero froze for a moment. Then, he finally looked around at the battlefield.
The Homies were locked in fierce combat against the Phantom Dream Legions. Knights wreathed in flames charged straight into armies of chess soldiers. Flame Giants formed from Immortal Spirit Fire worked together with Wind Sprites surrounded by raging winds, continuously sweeping away the Guard Tower Homies. All kinds of Homies and countless varieties of Phantom Beasts were tearing into one another.
And honestly, after the change that had come over Big Mom, the Homies that reflected their master's altered personality had become unbelievably vicious. They bit with their mouths, hacked with weapons, and would even stab through their own allies if it meant killing an enemy.
But it was meaningless.
Bang!
Not far away, Perospero watched a Flame Giant get crazily chopped in half by a Queen Homie.
"Hey! Who messed up the coordination just now? That was way too slow!"
"Quit complaining! This is our chance!"
The Immortal Spirit Fires that made up the giant shouted among themselves. Then, the giant's split body instantly regenerated.
Fwoosh!
It grabbed the Queen Homie and clenched its hand, setting her ablaze.
Ordinarily, that wouldn't have been a problem. Perospero knew very well that Queen Homies were among the highest-ranking Homies. While they couldn't compare to the three Homies personally created from Big Mom's own soul, they still possessed powerful regenerative abilities and were extremely difficult to kill.
But now, the Queen Homie wasn't regenerating at all. The soul that made up its body seemed to let out a silent scream before being directly ripped out by the Flame Giant.
"Got another one!" The Flame Giant casually tossed the soul into its own body. Then, the Immortal Spirit Fires inside somehow produced a mirror and stuffed the soul straight into it.
At that moment, Perospero immediately realized Smoothie was right. The enemy clearly had prepared methods specifically designed to deal with Homies.
The battles raging throughout Totto Land weren't sudden attacks triggered by Big Mom's actions. This was a war that had been planned long in advance. And the purpose of all that preparation was...
"Even if the assassination failed, they could still make sure neither we nor the Homies could provide support... so they could kill Mother?"
Perospero's sharp mind instantly grasped the key point. He didn't know how many enemies there were. He didn't know how they were suppressing the Homies. But he knew one thing, when the enemy had obviously prepared everything beforehand, following their script was the worst thing he could do.
The enemy was trying to completely isolate Cake Island. Their real target was Big Mom herself.
So he needed to contact the ports immediately, no, not just the ports. Without hesitation, he pulled out a batch of Den Den Mushi.
"Maximum Sweetness Alert! All ships at every port are to set sail for Cake Island immediately, before those monsters reach you and destroy the fleet! Protect Mother's safety at all costs!" Perospero shouted into the command Den Den Mushi.
Yes. This was the correct decision. Even though battles were raging across every island, he still ordered reinforcements to Cake Island. Because only there was the battlefield the enemy had truly chosen.
And as soon as he gave the order,
"Reinforcements? Right now? But our situation here…"
"This is the Chocolate Island port, Lord Perospero! We'll set sail immediately!"
"This is Fragrance Island. We'll depart at once as well."
Responses came in one after another. But right then,
BOOM!
Perospero distinctly heard thunder. He instinctively looked up. Then, he saw bolts of lightning suddenly crashing down from the thick clouds overhead. And he didn't even need to look closely to know exactly where that gigantic pillar of lightning had struck.
That was the direction of Chocolate Island's port.
At the same time, the Den Den Mushi in Perospero's hand that represented the Chocolate Island port abruptly disconnected, leaving only a busy signal.
And that wasn't all.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The next moment, Perospero heard thunder rolling one after another. It came from distant points across the sea.
"Cheese Island... Biscuit Island... and Nut Island..."
And every time thunder sounded, another Den Den Mushi in his hand would immediately go dead. His expression completely froze. Of course he knew what that meant.
"The ships at all the islands' ports... don't tell me they've all..." he said in disbelief. Then, he suddenly seemed to realize something and bit down hard on his tongue. "So that was it? Getting us to activate the Maximum Sweetness Alert in advance and gather all the ships at the ports ahead of time... was all for this?"
It was obvious. The enemy possessed some kind of ability that could destroy ships from a great distance. And when combined with the fact that Cracker had unexpectedly spoken up in support of the proposal during the Charlotte Family's internal meeting, the answer was clear.
Everything had been a conspiracy from the very beginning.
"A lightning-based ability..." Perospero looked up at the unusually thick clouds that had covered the sky since morning. For a brief moment, it felt as though he could see some enormous shadow looming above the clouds, covering all of Totto Land.
"No... it's not time to give up yet!" A moment later, Perospero gritted his teeth again. As the strategist of the Big Mom Pirates, he couldn't tolerate being played so thoroughly. This was Totto Land. He still had options.
"Even if our ships are gone, the guests still have theirs..." Muttering to himself, he picked up another Den Den Mushi.
"Pekoms! Notify all the guests attending the Tea Party, along with the Homies and combatants sent to escort them. Cake Island has been attacked by the Twelve Zodiac! Tell them to turn around and provide support immediately! I repeat, return at once! The sea restrictions from the Maximum Sweetness Alert will be lifted for them. I'll have the Sea Current Homies, "
As soon as the call connected, he began shouting instructions without pause. But,
"Perospero... it's useless." Katakuri's voice suddenly came from nearby.
"Hm?" Perospero turned his head.
He saw Katakuri wave a hand, sending a giant mochi fist crashing into the Stone Oni in front of him and forcing it back. Then, without even looking, he swept his trident, already coated in jet-black Armament Haki, across an apparently empty space beside him.
The next instant,
Clang!
The Five-Tailed Leopard's enormous body, moving so fast it was invisible to the naked eye, appeared there along with its razor-sharp claws.
Crackle!
Claws and trident collided, sending sparks flying.
"Didn't you notice?" Katakuri's voice was grave. Even for the second-in-command of the Big Mom Pirates, fighting these two monsters at once was enough to put him under tremendous pressure. "There's been no wind on the sea for quite a while now."
As he spoke, it was as though he had once again seen the future.
"The guests can't get in anymore. The entire Totto Land has already been sealed off. We... can't send support to Mother anymore."
What he said sounded discouraging, but his tone was calm. Just as he said, acknowledging reality and recognizing the strength of one's opponent was not shameful. On the contrary, only those who understand their own shortcomings can continue to grow stronger. And Katakuri was undoubtedly one of the truly strong. So he had already accepted reality.
"Wh-What?" Perospero, who had only just managed to get back on his feet, froze.
But immediately afterward, he realized that Katakuri was right. It wasn't just the thick cloud cover. At some point, all sea breeze around Chocolate Island had completely vanished. And now that he thought about it, the scouting Homies beneath Totto Land's waters and the Sea Current Homies responsible for controlling the currents hadn't reported anything for quite some time either.
In fact, if he looked toward the distant horizon, he could clearly see that the sea surrounding all of Totto Land had somehow changed completely. Across the horizon, enormous shapes were rising and falling with the waves.
"What is that...?" Perospero's eyes widened. As Big Mom's eldest son who had sailed with her for many years, he naturally knew what those things on the horizon were.
And the reply coming through the Den Den Mushi immediately confirmed both his guess and Katakuri's earlier conclusion.
"We can't get into Totto Land, Lord Perospero! The entire sea is covered in storms, tsunamis, and waterspouts! We have no way through, hey! Watch out! The ship's going to capsize!"
"The ships of the Dark Emperors can't get in either. We've all been blocked..."
That's right. Just as Perospero had seen, the things covering the distant horizon were gigantic storms and tsunamis.
But,
"How can there be tsunamis? Mother didn't erase the Sea Current Homies..." Perospero couldn't understand it.
"There aren't any Homies left, Lord Perospero... All the scouting Homies in the sea were wiped out. By... by the monster in the sky..."
"In the sky?" Perospero asked instinctively.
"Yeah, the sky... There's... there's a dragon up there! GRAAAH!"
…
At the same time, in the waters outside Totto Land,
Holding a Den Den Mushi, wearing sunglasses, and letting out a lion-like roar, the lion mink Pekoms felt his fur stand on end almost instinctively. Because just as he had said, before him was the most terrifying storm he had ever seen.
The sky was pressed low by churning black clouds, as if they were about to touch the sea itself. Countless enormous waterspouts twisted across the ocean. Lightning continuously crashed down from the heavens. Tsunamis rose from the sea like mountain ranges and collided with one another. And this horrifying weather stretched as far as Pekoms could see, all the way to the edge of the horizon.
"The sails! The sails!"
"Another one of the Shipping King's ships got swept away!"
"Can't be helped! They're cargo ships here for the Tea Party, not warships! Besides, even warships would be overturned by a storm like this!"
"Retreat! Retreat! Retreat!"
The ship Pekoms was aboard, the Queen Mama Chanter, was the flagship of the Big Mom Pirates. It was also a Ship Homie, one of the finest vessels for sailing the seas. Yet even this ship was crying out in terror and completely unable to advance normally through the storm. If other Homies and the surrounding fleets hadn't been helping fend off the nearby winds and lightning, they would have sunk long ago.
Just as Pekoms had said, the sea had gone mad. No one could enter from any direction.
"Hohoho! This is... incredible Big News!"
Yet aboard this chaotic and frightened ship, camera flashes continued to burst nonstop. "Big News" Morgans was gripping a camera and furiously pressing the shutter. Even as lightning exploded into the sea nearby, he didn't waver in the slightest. His face was filled with nothing but excitement.
His gaze was fixed on the center of the sky, where the lightning was densest and the clouds churned most violently. In fact, all of Totto Land's abnormal weather seemed to originate from that very location.
Above the clouds was a colossal vortex. And within that vortex, a gigantic creature circled through the sky.
It was a crimson dragon. Every graceful, slow movement of its immense body altered the weather itself, and the effects continued spreading across the surrounding seas. Without exaggeration, anyone who made their living on the ocean would feel an instinctive urge to kneel in worship upon seeing it.
"The Twelve Zodiac attacking Big Mom, what exactly is going on? Who wins? Who dies?" Morgans muttered nonstop. "And a monster exactly like Kaido is only one member of the Twelve Zodiac? Looks like the whole world has seriously underestimated you people."
He practically wanted to fly straight into Totto Land himself. Not to help Big Mom fight the Twelve Zodiac, but just to get the story firsthand.
Naturally, his excessive excitement prompted repeated attempts by the World Economy News Paper staff to calm him down. Setting aside the raging storm around them, the Homies nearby would be more than enough trouble if they got angry.
But at that moment,
Click.
Among the crowd, a beautiful woman carrying a handbag quietly pressed the shutter of a small camera as well. She was one of the Six Emperors of the Underworld, the Queen of the Pleasure District, Stussy.
And beyond that...
"Hello." Holding a miniature Den Den Mushi, her lips remained still while a faint voice emerged from her stomach through ventriloquism. "I found them. They're in Totto Land. You can have him come over now. I don't know how many are here. I can only see one from my position..."
As she spoke, her eyes turned toward the crimson divine dragon in the sky.
"The Twelve Zodiac, Shinryu," she spoke softly. "So, is there anything you need me to do?"
"No need, Stussy." An elderly voice came from the other end of the Den Den Mushi. "Just make sure you stay safe."
There was even a trace of anticipation in that voice.
"This is the stage of the Twelve Zodiac. This is the stage of the New Age. All we need to do is wait."
Author's Note:
In the original story, Big Mom and Kaido are dead. Oda explicitly confirmed in an interview that they died. The reason he didn't show their bodies was to allow figures of the old era like Big Mom and Kaido to exit the stage with dignity.
As a side note, although the Big Mom in this story is currently dominated by Sister Carmel, she is still fundamentally Big Mom herself. You can think of it as their souls having fused together. Everything they experienced was experienced jointly; it's just that the Sister Carmel portion of the soul has a different personality from Linlin. Their combat ability, battle experience, and mastery over the body are all the same.
(End of Chapter)
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