The energy pierced through the clouds, and sunlight angled downward through the dancing dust. The particles hung suspended in the beams, lending an almost serene quality to the devastation. Enel collapsed to the ground — truly, there was not a shred of strength left in his body.
Even breathing felt exhausting, and his right arm hung completely useless at his side.
That single attack had consumed nearly all of his power and had almost sunk Whole Cake Island entirely. Had the final burst of energy not discharged skyward, the island would have been punched clean through.
The others had little left either, sprawled out in every direction across the battlefield, staring up at the sky. "Did we win?" Buggy thought to himself.
Enel's technique had been devastating — nearly on par with Ren's Muken no Itto. But the gap between them remained enormous.
Enel could manage that attack once and was nearly dead afterward, whereas Ren could deliver both Muken no Itto and Muken no Okuto without such consequences.
That was the difference. Ren could execute the technique casually and then follow it with another, while Enel was finished the moment he committed to it.
"Can someone carry me up there?" Shanks called out from nearby, his voice strained. His Griffin had carved through Big Mom's arm, and his Haki was badly overdrawn.
He and Buggy would recover after a few restful hours, but Enel would likely need two full weeks.
In truth, the fact that Enel's arm had not been completely destroyed was only thanks to the Bomb-Bomb Fruit's protection — at that range, he should have been blown to pieces, or worse, scattered like confetti with no hope of reassembly.
The rule that bomb users could not be harmed by their own explosions had saved his life, though the near-miss was a sobering reminder of just how close he had come.
"Have your own crew carry you," Buggy replied, too spent to move an inch. "This old Buggy isn't going anywhere. Ha ha ha ha!" Despite everything, he could not contain his laughter.
"Ha ha ha!" "Shut up, you red-nosed bastard — you're insufferable!" Doflamingo cursed from a distance, but Buggy ignored him entirely. The clown was simply too elated, and who could blame him? They had defeated Big Mom.
"The legend has ended — at our hands!" The words hung in the air, and despite their aching, battered bodies, pride swelled in each of them. The era they had once spoken of was becoming reality. The status of an uncrowned king of the New World — how could anyone not feel elated?
"…Why is the long-eared one so quiet? He isn't dead, is he?" Doflamingo suddenly asked. The others looked toward Enel — but instead of him, they saw a towering black silhouette standing upright amid the thick dust.
In an instant, every heart in the group clenched tight. "Big Mom! She's still alive?! That monster!" The massive shadow moved slowly, deliberately forward, each heavy footfall landing like a blow against their chests.
The monster. She had endured that apocalyptic blast and still had the strength to stand. This was dire.
Buggy glanced at the others — they were all flat on their backs, utterly spent. Even if they struggled to their feet, they could not muster any technique worth a damn. As for Enel, the fool had already lost consciousness.
Big Mom emerged from the dust at last. The towering woman was charred black from head to toe, resembling a coal miner fresh from the pits.
Her eyes had lost all their whites, and her movements were unsteady — like an automaton drained of its soul, driven forward by nothing but numb momentum.
Her condition was clearly catastrophic, but Buggy and the others did not dare show weakness.
They forced themselves upright, though their heads felt as though they had been filled with lead, while their feet seemed to float beneath them.
Big Mom opened her mouth, producing a slurred, barely audible sound. The moment her lips parted, thick black smoke billowed outward — as though a clogged chimney had been cleared all at once.
She staggered forward, each step heavy and uneven, while black smoke poured from her mouth in dense, rolling waves.
Another consciousness seemed to be pressing against the inside of her skull, fighting for control.
The group held their breath, unable to look away for even a moment. Then Big Mom's eyes sharpened, her vacant gaze regaining a flicker of awareness.
"You… little brats…" Buggy clenched his fist, Shanks tightened his grip on Griffin, and Doflamingo struggled to rise but collapsed back down, unable to stand.
A gust of wind swept across the ruins, stirring the dust into spirals. Every soul in the group felt their hearts climb into their throats. Big Mom raised her arm — as if to strike.
But at the very instant before she could act, a dark green slash cleaved through the smoke and dust like dawn breaking through storm clouds. The air split with a violent crack, and a massive wound opened across Big Mom's body.
It ran from her right shoulder all the way down to her left hip, and blood erupted like a dam burst wide open. Big Mom screamed, her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed — unconscious, finally and completely.
Dracule Mihawk slowly exhaled, the cross-shaped greatsword resting in his grip. In the preceding battle, he had begun to grasp the principle of internal destruction. In that desperate moment, he had simply tried — and to his own surprise, it worked.
It delivered the final blow. Not that Mihawk was extraordinarily powerful in his current state; rather, Big Mom's Haki had been utterly depleted.
Even a steel balloon, battered by so many attacks, eventually crumbles — and that was what allowed Mihawk's slash to serve as the final straw.
Buggy, Shanks, and Doflamingo finally allowed themselves to exhale. This was truly over.
There would be no more Big Mom Pirates — only the Buggy Pirates, the Red Hair Pirates, and the Donquixote family. Mihawk and Crocodile, operating independently, had no territory of their own.
Once this conflict concluded, their pirate alliance would dissolve, and each would go their separate way.
Of course, defeating Big Mom did not guarantee they could simply inherit her dominion. The Marines, Inazuma, the Whitebeard Pirates, and the remnants of Big Mom's forces would all compete in the ensuing scramble for power.
The territory up for grabs was vast and rich, and every faction with the strength to seize it would be making its move. What each of them ultimately achieved would depend entirely on their own strength — and the alliances they chose to forge or abandon in the days ahead.
[
Dear Readers,
I hope you are doing well. I am writing to you today because things have become genuinely difficult, and I need to be honest about where I stand.
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