Come On! You're Close To Sucking My Soul! (3/5)

The grand hall of Cake Castle buzzed with excitement as Finn appeared, his mere presence drawing every gaze toward him. His immortal aura radiated through the room.

"So handsome!!" Charlotte Pudding exclaimed, her eyes sparkling, even the third eye on her forehead fluttering open as if it couldn't bear to miss the sight.

"This man..." murmured Charlotte Smoothie, her usually stoic demeanor faltering as she took him in. For a brief moment, she lingered on his figure, entranced.

Charlotte Flampe, overcome with excitement, stomped her feet and waved her fists wildly. "My heart! It's like it's beating for the first time!"

Meanwhile, Charlotte Garrett licked her lips, her eyes glinting with mischief. "I have to get this man!"

Suddenly, a voice boomed through the room, like thunder ripping through the air, snapping everyone back to reality. "Who are you?" The voice belonged to none other than Charlotte Linlin, Big Mom herself.

Her commanding presence shook the room, her soul powers unmatched. Despite Finn's extraordinary looks, Charlotte Linlin's soul remained unphased. She wasn't one to be swayed by appearances, unlike her daughters.

Finn smiled inwardly, relieved. The last thing he wanted was an "old, terrifying powerhouse" like Big Mom chasing after him romantically.

"I'm the Sword Fairy," Finn replied calmly, his voice cutting through the tension.

The women in the room swooned again, unable to contain their excitement.

"Sword Fairy? Is that some new recruit of Whitebeard's?" Lucky God Lu Feld muttered through his cigar, his brows furrowed. He racked his brain, but there was no information on anyone called the Sword Fairy.

Big News Morgans, always on the lookout for a headline, grinned widely. "This is gonna make a great story!" He turned to the woman beside him, a sharp-eyed informant named Stussy. "Know anything about this guy?"

Stussy, still recovering from the overwhelming presence of Finn, shook her head. "No, not a single record of him."

Morgans' eyes widened. "Even you don't know who he is?" Stussy's intelligence was top-tier, and her inability to dig up anything on Finn was a shock.

"Kid, what race are you?" Charlotte Linlin asked suddenly, her voice cutting through the whispers.

Finn paused. He had to be careful. Big Mom had a notorious reputation for collecting rare races through marriage. If he claimed to be something exotic, she might try to capture him for breeding purposes. A chill ran down his spine at the thought.

"I'm just a normal human," he replied coolly.

"Ordinary human?" Big Mom's face twisted into a snarl. "If that's true, there's no reason to keep you alive!"

She threw down a massive spinning wheel, its surface etched with grim fates. "But I'll give you a chance. Spin the wheel. If you survive, I'll let you go."

The crowd went silent. Everyone knew the game Big Mom was playing. The "good" options on the wheel were deadly, stripping victims of decades of life, if not more. No one could survive long after such a spin.

Finn glanced at the wheel, a smirk playing on his lips. He calmly reached out and moved the pointer to 100 years of life lost. "How about this? 100 years. Quite the lucky number, don't you think?"

The room erupted in whispers, disbelief written on the faces of the Charlotte family.

"Did he seriously just choose 100 years?"

"Is he mad?"

Charlotte Linlin herself was momentarily taken aback. She had expected Finn to beg for mercy, but his arrogance threw her off balance. Her amusement quickly turned to irritation.

"Fine," she growled, "I'll take 100 years of your life. And if you haven't lived that long, well, you'll die right now."

A sinister grin spread across her face as she raised her hand. The air around Finn thickened as her soul powers enveloped him. In an instant, her invisible grip reached for his very essence.

Pudding gasped, her third eye brimming with tears. "Is he really going to die?"

"Why does it have to end like this?" Flampe muttered, biting her lip in frustration.

But as Big Mom's soul-grabbing hand made contact with Finn, her expression shifted from triumph to confusion. No soul energy was drawn. It was as though she had grabbed at thin air.

"What's going on?" someone in the crowd whispered.

Big Mom's face darkened. She reached out again, this time with more force. Still, nothing happened.

"Is Mom's ability not working?" the family members began to murmur amongst themselves.

Finn's lips curled into a smirk. He had been immune to her soul-grasping powers all along. But a thought crossed his mind. What if he let her attempt to steal some of his boundless lifespan?

"System, can I temporarily disable my soul resistance to her power?" Finn mentally asked.

"Yes, Host. Shall I deactivate it?" the system responded.

"Do it."

With the resistance temporarily disabled, Finn looked Big Mom in the eye, his voice dripping with provocation. "Go ahead. Take it. Let's see if you can handle my soul."

Charlotte Linlin's expression darkened as she prepared for one final attempt, oblivious to the overwhelming force she was about to unleash upon herself.