"Straight into the soul?" Surprise flashed in Valthior's eyes. Then he said, "Looks like you finally developed your fruit ability into something useful…"
To be honest, Valthior had always felt that Charlotte Linlin's development of the Soul-Soul Fruit was far too crude.
Aside from the Soul Pocus, which could forcibly strengthen herself and greatly increase her overall combat power—a genuinely good method—the rest of her Homies and similar tricks all seemed rather weak to Valthior.
Against weaker opponents, they were indeed overwhelming.
But in a fight between top powerhouses, Homies were almost useless.
Look at techniques like Heavenly Fire or Indra.
Did they do anything when they struck Garp head-on?
It could be said that they did nothing at all.
In the end, it was because the strength of Haki at that level was simply too absurd.
Many abilities that only touched the surface became meaningless.
This was not only true for Charlotte Linlin. In fact, many ability users on the sea were the same, and Valthior himself was no exception. Many of his freezing techniques looked flashy and powerful, but during his fierce battle with Garp, their effect had been minimal.
Fortunately, his ice could still provide some restraint and control.
But in the end, what mattered most was still the enhancement his Mythical Zoan gave to his body—the powerful improvement to strength, stamina, and overall ability. That was what truly decided victory and defeat.
On the contrary, those extremely simple abilities had a very clear advantage in this regard.
Whitebeard's quakes, for example, was simple and pure—extreme destructive force. You either blocked it, or you died.
There was nothing fancy about it at all.
As for Shiki's techniques like Lion's Threat: Imperial Earth Bind., they were also meaningless against true powerhouses. What made him truly strong were the two swords in his hands, along with his ability to throw overwhelming force at people whenever he wanted—pulling entire islands down one after another onto your face—and his mobility, which could be called unmatched on the sea.
Because of that, Valthior did not think the Soul-Soul Fruit was all that powerful. If one had to talk about top-tier abilities, Mythical Zoans and those pure, direct powers were still the real ones to look at.
"I also think I relied too much on my natural talent. So it is not too late for me to start properly developing this ability now, is it?" Charlotte Linlin raised a brow.
She did not refute Valthior's words.
Clearly, after the beating she had taken on Cake Island, she had also realized this point and had gained a different approach to developing her ability compared with the original story.
As soon as she finished speaking, she wasted no more words. She pushed off with her feet and charged forward again. Her fist, carrying soul power, swung out.
Valthior's Sharingan spun rapidly. His dynamic vision sharpened at high speed, and together with Observation Haki, he instantly saw through Charlotte Linlin's movement. His foot slid lightly, and his powerful body bent with incredible flexibility. Using the strength of his waist, he smoothly avoided the punch aimed straight at his face.
At the same time, his right hook had already risen, ready to strike Charlotte Linlin beneath the arm.
But just then, a Demolition Gust came cutting in, forcefully interrupting Valthior's movement and making him retreat half a step.
Clearly, Kaido had made his move.
The two had obviously practiced this.
The moment Demolition Gust sliced through the air, Charlotte Linlin changed her move with perfect coordination. As she drove an elbow toward Valthior, a ghostly green soul halo also appeared around her elbow.
At this moment, there was no time to think.
Valthior raised his arm, precisely intercepting Charlotte Linlin's elbow strike.
"Whispers of the Dead!" Charlotte Linlin shouted the instant her elbow crashed against Valthior's arm.
In a flash, the soul flames suddenly flared.
For an instant, it was as if a flood of countless dying whispers began washing over Valthior's consciousness. In that moment, he seemed to see countless Homies whose lives had been taken, wailing in pain. He saw the chaotic thoughts of the citizens of Totto Land whose souls had been collected as tax.
With a bang, the elbow strike knocked Valthior's arm aside, then smashed hard into his chest.
Charlotte Linlin's monstrous strength erupted and directly sent Valthior flying.
After that brief confusion of consciousness, Valthior immediately regained clarity.
The moment his feet landed, he steadied himself. He reached up and covered his chest, feeling the power of that elbow. The corner of his mouth twitched twice.
"As long as you hit me, you can disturb my consciousness and stop me from defending—forcing me to take your full-power strike? That is pretty good…"
"How is it? The killing move I prepared especially for you is not bad, is it?" Charlotte Linlin sneered. "It is pure, chaotic soul energy injected into your body. Even Haki has a hard time defending against it!"
Intelligence was extremely important.
Clearly, Charlotte Linlin had taken Valthior very seriously and made many preparations before this battle. Valthior, however, had been too arrogant. He had looked at Charlotte Linlin with his old impression of her, causing him to fail to predict that she had hidden a move like this.
But…
How did that saying go?
Only the weak needed to rack their brains, search for every possible chance to win, defeat the strong while weak, and create legends.
The strong only needed to do one thing—
Remain strong.
"Even Haki has a hard time defending against it?" Valthior could not help laughing when he heard this. "I clearly just taught Kaido this lesson, so why are you not listening either, Linlin? When you say Haki has a hard time defending against something—that only means the Haki is not strong enough!"
The instant his voice fell, Valthior threw both arms back. The muscles across his chest bulged, stretching the fabric over them to its limit.
Immediately after, he shouted, "Battle Preservation Fist—Release!"
Over the past few months, he had been training the Battle Preservation Fist sent by his nephew, Doflamingo, storing a vast reserve of stamina within the "Ki" of his body.
At this moment, it all erupted.
As that stamina surged forth, another streak of crimson blood ran from Valthior's eye.
It was Besshi Hachiman.
It converted stamina into spiritual power at an absurd speed.
And spiritual power—
Was Haki.
Only Haki stood above all.
A deep-blue Susanoo armor materialized out of thin air, completely protecting Valthior within it. Immediately after, his massive hybrid body filled the seemingly hollow Susanoo entirely, turning it into Majestic Attire.
Then, an unmatched wild Conqueror's Haki pressed directly toward Charlotte Linlin.
At this moment, Valthior resembled a titanic giant as he strode toward Charlotte Linlin, his tone radiating pure arrogance: "Come on. Use that killing move you are so proud of again. Let's see if it can break through my Majestic Attire!"
"Chaotic Soul Torrent…"
A dazzling soul halo bloomed in Charlotte Linlin's palm. Then, like an energy beam, it shot toward Valthior.
But that seemingly vast and chaotic torrent, filled with dead whispers and wandering souls, had not even reached Valthior before the Majestic Attire formed by Susanoo raised its hand and split it apart with one axe, scattering it into nothing.
"Conqueror's Haki represents a king found only once in a million people, and my Conqueror's Haki is rarer still! If you want to use these small-fry souls to wash away my Haki, you'd better go gather the lives of ten million people first, Linlin!!!"
As Valthior's words fell, he brought the axe down hard.
Facing this mountain-crushing strike, Charlotte Linlin did not dare take it head-on. Standing on Zeus, she flew backward at extreme speed.
The next second, the battle axe struck the ice.
The overwhelming force instantly shattered the glacier, spreading a crack more than ten kilometers long all the way to the edge of the sea.
"Playtime's over. If you two want to become my rivals, you're at least ten years too early!" Valthior raised his battle axe and laughed toward the sky.
"Bolo Breath!" Without another word, Kaido opened his mouth and released a blast of scorching breath.
Valthior raised his left arm forward. In an instant, a round shield appeared out of thin air on the empty Susanoo arm, accurately blocking the Bolo Breath.
With Kaido's current Bolo Breath, he could not break through Valthior's defense at all.
"Spear of Elbaf: Cursed Spirit!"
Charlotte Linlin roared. As Zeus came to a stop beneath her, surging soul power appeared on her left arm. It shifted from ghostly green to a dense gold, then merged with Elbaf's ultimate technique and blasted toward Valthior from a distance.
At the same time, after firing Bolo Breath, Kaido shouted. His body rapidly expanded, and in the blink of an eye, he became a giant dragon dancing through the sky. Then Demolition Gust turned into countless sharp slashes and flew toward Valthior again.
"Playtime? Do not get too arrogant, Valthior!"
But in the next second, the powerful Spear of Elbaf: Cursed Spirit abruptly vanished from the air under Valthior's Sharingan gaze.
One good move could carry you everywhere.
It did not matter whether plenty of people already knew about Four Seasons. Knowing about it and defending against it were two completely different things.
Kaido had just suffered from this move. Seeing it again, he cursed inwardly. Swinging his dragon tail and riding his Flame Clouds, he immediately dodged aside, afraid that Valthior would unleash Linlin's killing move in the next instant.
But at that moment, Valthior's Majestic Armor: Susanoo rapidly expanded.
In an instant, it became taller than an Ancient Giant. It grabbed Kaido's dragon tail and violently swung him down, yanking Kaido from the sky and smashing him into the ice.
Then, a surging beam of freezing current erupted from the horn on Valthior's forehead and poured into the area where Charlotte Linlin stood below.
There was no need for precise aim.
The freezing beam was already dozens of meters wide. After striking the area, it quickly spread outward. The bitter cold seemed ready to freeze all things. Layers of ice flowers piled up, and in the blink of an eye, a jagged iceberg covered in ice spikes appeared before Susanoo.
After that, Valthior's Sharingan spun, and he said softly, "Four Seasons: Cursed Spirit."
Charlotte Linlin's full-power strike from earlier suddenly appeared in front of the iceberg and slammed into it hard.
A blast of frost mist spread over a thousand meters, covering and hiding the figures of Charlotte Linlin, Kaido, and Valthior.
A moment later—
Faintly, from within the hazy ice fog, Valthior's calm voice rang out.
"What kind of Emperors did you two say you wanted to become again?"
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