Just as the vanguard Nakiri sisters set foot on the first island, someone suddenly attacked.
Two giant fists descended from the sky. The fists were coated in dense Armament Haki and came down with howling winds, like two meteors crashing toward the sisters' heads.
Erina and Alice simultaneously changed expressions.
There was no time to dodge. It was clear their opponent was far stronger than them.
But Saeko and Reze, who were accompanying them, were no pushovers.
Saeko's hand was already on the hilt of the Shodai Kitetsu.
A flash of blade light appeared.
The first slash split the two heavy fists cleanly in half from the middle, the cuts as smooth as a mirror. The halves fell to the ground with a dull, heavy thud.
Saeko sheathed her sword and asked coldly, "Who?"
The smoke and dust cleared.
An exceptionally tall, lanky man stood on the rubble not far away.
He wore a black punk-style coat and a white scarf that covered the lower half of his face.
His purple hedgehog hair swayed slightly in the wind, his eyes sharp as blades.
Charlotte Katakuri.
The right-hand man of the Big Mom Pirates, a monster with a bounty exceeding one billion.
"I didn't expect to encounter such a skilled opponent right away."
Saeko said admiringly.
Katakuri stood before everyone with the aura of a one-man fortress: "I won't let you advance another step."
Saeko remained silent, simply drawing the Shodai Kitetsu from her waist. The blade gleamed coldly in the sunlight.
Wispy strands of black aura… top-level Armament Haki coiled around the blade.
Reze, meanwhile, raised her hand to the ring on her collar, preparing to transform. After more than a decade of training, combined with the fear-amplifying effect of so many people in the One Piece World, once she released the Bomb Devil's form, she could sink this island immediately.
At that moment, the Nakano quintuplets and the Fujiwara sisters also stepped forward.
Hisako told Erina and the others to go on ahead, since their goal was the Soul-Soul Fruit.
Erina thought this made sense and said, "Then we'll leave this place to everyone."
With that, Erina took Saeko's hand and prepared to leave first.
However, Katakuri immediately activated his Mochi-Mochi Fruit ability. His arm transformed into sticky mochi, stretching like a white python toward Erina and Saeko at incredible speed, its trajectory nearly imperceptible.
"Your opponent is over here."
At that critical moment, Nino struck.
She wielded a pair of red folding fans, their edges burning with orange-red flames. Her body began to move.
"Dragon Flame Dance!"
Nino's body spun like a serpent of fire, the fans tracing elegant arcs through the air.
Orange-red flames surged from her dancing form, coalescing into a roaring fire dragon that lunged at Katakuri's mochi arm.
The flames seared the mochi, producing a sizzling sound.
Under the intense heat, the mochi rapidly hardened, cracked, and lost its elasticity, breaking apart like dried mud.
Katakuri's pupils contracted slightly.
His ability did not like fire.
"Interesting."
Katakuri actively severed the mochi arm that had hardened from the flames. The stump smoked but immediately grew a new arm.
Nino stopped dancing and hid her crimson lips behind a fan, smiling at Katakuri.
"You've got some nerve. Knowing who we are, you still dare to come out and fight?"
Katakuri remained silent, merely resuming his combat stance.
"If I don't stop you, then who will?"
Upon hearing this, the women felt a bit of respect for this man who was as tall as a bamboo pole.
After all, since leaving the East Blue, all the pirates they'd encountered were useless trash. It was rare to meet someone with backbone.
Nino looked Katakuri up and down, her gaze falling on his black leather coat and white scarf, a hint of admiration in her eyes.
"That outfit of yours is pretty nice. I want to find something like that for Makoto-kun to wear someday."
Nino had always liked this kind of 'bad boy' style and thought it would look good on Makoto.
Her sisters were speechless.
They had always teased Nino about her aesthetic sense. They had thought a high school girl might have such thoughts, and that would be understandable, but she still hadn't changed after all these years.
She was in her thirties now, yet still the same.
But that was normal.
Although they had spent many years in the One Piece World, most of that time was under Makoto's protection. They had rarely faced life-and-death crises, so their personalities hadn't changed drastically.
Katakuri didn't give Nino another chance to speak.
His body suddenly expanded. Starting from his arms, mochi poured out like a living creature, covering his body surface.
Within a second, his arms became giant mochi limbs, several times thicker than before. The fists were coated in thick, glossy black Armament Haki.
"Mochi Bullet!"
His fists shot out like cannonballs, so fast they tore through the air with a sharp crack.
Nino's expression changed. She crossed her fans in front of her, flames forming a wall of fire on their surface.
Boom—!
The fists slammed into the fire wall, producing a deafening crash.
Flames scattered, and mochi fragments flew.
Nino was pushed backward several meters by the enormous impact, her feet carving two deep trenches in the ground beneath her.
Her arms went numb, and the base of her thumbs ached.
"This guy... is really strong..."
Nino gritted her teeth, sweat beading on her forehead.
Katakuri didn't give her a chance to breathe.
The second punch followed immediately, faster and heavier than the first.
Nino twisted to dodge while swinging a fan, sending a crescent-shaped flame blade toward Katakuri's neck.
"Butterfly Fan!"
Sparks flew.
Katakuri tilted his head to evade. The fire blade grazed his cheek and left a charred mark on the building behind him.
"Your fire does have an effect against me. Unfortunately, your personal strength is too weak."
Katakuri's voice was calm, so calm it was almost cold.
His Observation Haki had already predicted all of Nino's next moves.
The angles at which she would swing her fans, her movement paths, the direction of her flames… everything was within his prediction.
This was Observation Haki at the level of Future Sight.
He didn't even need to use it to suppress Nino.
He had activated his Observation Haki mainly to guard against the onlookers like Chika.
Nino launched over a dozen consecutive attacks. Flames filled the sky, burning the surrounding buildings into ruins.
But not a single attack managed to touch Katakuri's body.
"Damn it..."
Nino's breathing grew ragged.
Her Mera-Mera Fruit had an effect against Katakuri's Mochi-Mochi Fruit, but the gap in their abilities was too large.
She had only recently begun developing her fruit, while Katakuri had been dominating the Emperor crew for decades.