On the battlefield surging with blood mist, Charlotte Linlin's roar shook the heavens.
Rhett picked his ear—this woman was really loud: "Stop screaming. If you're upset, go find one of your ex-husbands to cheer you up."
Strictly speaking, Charlotte Linlin wasn't a giant. At 8.8 meters tall, she was among the tallest of humans, but adult giants stood at least 12 meters. So Linlin didn't belong to the giant race.
She swung Napoleon, her Conqueror's Haki sweeping like a storm, trying to disperse the surrounding blood mist. But the mist seemed alive—even when scattered, it instantly reformed, always clinging to her.
"Mamamama! You brat, hiding your head and showing your tail!" Linlin cackled, swinging her greatsword to cut an approaching blood dragon in half.
But the severed dragon didn't dissipate. Instead, it broke into countless smaller blood threads. Linlin had just entered the battlefield, and the quality of her Armament Haki was extremely high.
"Brat, it's useless. My body is indestructible."
"Useless? Don't flatter yourself." Rhett's voice came from all directions. "Let's take our time, you and me. A hunter needs patience, after all."
Linlin's pupils contracted. She spun around, swinging her greatsword at the source of the voice. But her blade only briefly parted the mist—Rhett's figure had long since vanished.
"Damn it!" She stomped in fury, the ground cracking instantly, the shockwave dispersing the surrounding blood mist for a moment.
Rhett: Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor couldn't disperse it, and you can?!
In that flash of an instant, she caught an unusual fluctuation—Rhett's figure flickered briefly in the mist.
"Got you!" Linlin cackled, her left hand grabbing toward the fluctuation.
But her palm passed through the mist, catching nothing. Rhett's voice sounded again, this time right next to her: "What makes you think your Observation Haki can catch me?"
"Stab!" The Black Tide Greatsword pierced from behind, scraping against metal, leaving a wound neither shallow nor deep.
Linlin roared and spun around, swinging her sword, but Rhett had already withdrawn, leaving only a trail of low laughter.
"Your movements are too slow, Charlotte Linlin." Rhett's figure flickered in and out of the mist. "Not enough! A few more cuts."
"Don't get cocky, brat!" Linlin's eyes were bloodshot. She raised Napoleon high, lightning and flames both coiling around the blade.
"Fire from Heaven: Thunderstorm!"
A massive sword beam of lightning and fire slashed toward the blood mist.
But to no avail.
Charlotte Linlin: "Prometheus, burn them to ash!"
Prometheus: "Me? Burn endless blood mist? Damn, it's my first time being a Homiz. Am I supposed to back down from this?"
More blood mist surged from all directions, filling the gaps.
"Useless," Rhett's voice came from near and far. "This mist is my domain. I am its sole master."
Linlin's breathing grew heavier. She realized she was being drawn into a war of attrition.
Rhett's mist continuously absorbed her stamina. Even though her Armament Haki was strong enough, as long as she was still breathing, she could feel her energy draining. She also had to divert some of her focus to use Armament Haki to expel the mist from her body.
But her attacks couldn't truly harm him. The blood threads burrowing into her body were eroding her will, distorting the scene before her eyes.
Ordinary Logia fruits only worked against opponents who couldn't use Armament Haki.
But Rhett treated every opponent who couldn't unleash large-scale destruction equally, regardless of whether they knew Armament Haki. When Rhett thought about it, the fruit ability that could counter him belonged to Dragon—but Dragon called him teacher, and Dragon couldn't even beat him.
Aokiji? He could take him down with one hand. Yeah. Because Rhett was strong enough, he had forcibly eliminated the weakness. Oh, what a "shame."
"Mother... why did you abandon us?" Suddenly, the sobbing of her children sounded in her ears.
Linlin shook her head violently, trying to dispel the illusion: "Get lost! This isn't real!"
"Isn't it?" Rhett's voice was like a demon's whisper. "Then why... are you afraid to look them in the eyes?"
She swung her greatsword wildly, slashing the illusions to pieces. If you measured the sanity of One Piece characters on a scale, Charlotte Linlin was clearly the worst—because she was literally "crazy."
Rhett watched Charlotte Linlin from within the mist: "How many more times can you break through?"
His figure finally appeared. He stood not far away, the Black Tide Greatsword pointing at the ground, a hint of pity in his eyes: "Charlotte Linlin, what's wrong? Haven't seen you in a few days, and you've fallen this far?"
"Shut up!" Linlin roared as she charged at him, her greatsword swinging down with world-ending force.
Rhett didn't dodge. He simply raised his left hand: "Mist God Style: Blood Bind."
"Swish!" Countless blood threads shot up from the ground, instantly tangling Linlin's limbs. Her movement stalled, her greatsword frozen mid-air. Though she struggled fiercely, the blood threads only tightened, even piercing her skin and greedily sucking her strength.
"Damn it...!" For the first time, a flicker of panic appeared in Linlin's eyes. In their last battle, her Iron Balloon body had seemed to naturally counter everything Rhett did.
Rhett: Our last fight was nearly ten years ago, and you're comparing growth rates with me? I've got cheats. Your talent isn't worth a single hair on God Valley's head. God Valley rules. I admit, my insults forty years ago were a bit loud.
Linlin's lips suddenly curled into a twisted grin: "Mamamama... Brat, you think this is over?"
Her body tensed, her skin glowing with an eerie red light: "I am... BIG MOM!"
"BOOM!" Terrifying soul energy erupted from within her, shattering every blood thread. Rhett was forced back, a flicker of surprise in his eyes: "She can still unleash power like this..."
"Fire from Heaven: Fireball."
She操控ed Prometheus high into the air, spraying a rain of fireballs downward. It indeed evaporated some of the thick blood mist. But turning droplets into vapor doesn't make mist stop being mist.
Linlin's aura became completely狂暴. Her eyes turned crimson. Napoleon was infused with a massive amount of soul power, transforming into a giant blade burning with ghostly blue flames: "Die, brat!"
"Fire from Heaven: Soul Annihilation Slash!"
The moment the greatsword fell, space itself seemed to tear. Rhett's form instantly liquefied into mist, disappearing from the spot. If you can't lock onto Rhett's figure, what are you going to hit?
Where the sword beam passed, the ground was carved with a bottomless chasm, and a distant mountain was split in two.
"Can you dodge it?!" Linlin cackled, swinging her greatsword repeatedly. Countless sword beams wove into a net, covering the entire battlefield.
Rhett's figure weaved rapidly through the mist.
"...She's completely lost it," Rhett muttered. "That's perfect."
His original plan had been to wear down Linlin's will gradually through a war of attrition, but her berserk state had far exceeded expectations. Right now, Linlin had completely abandoned defense, every strike a suicidal charge.
"Heh heh, just what I wanted..." Rhett took a deep breath. The blood mist on the Black Tide Greatsword suddenly contracted, condensing into a pitch-black layer of Armament Haki.