Chapter 18

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Chapter 18: The Warm-Up Is Over!

The four combatants were sent flying backward without any opportunity to maneuver, their bodies breaking the air as they were hurled tens of meters into the sky before crashing to the ground. They rolled several times, their power dissipating, and the armored hues encasing their insides nearly shattered their organs and bones. This left the four of them struggling to rise, bleeding from seven orifices. Only Katakuri maintained a faint sense of consciousness.

In just an instant, all four major cadres of the Charlotte family were defeated.

"Weak," Kaido remarked with a hint of disappointment, noting that no one in the Charlotte family, except for BigMom, was up to the task. His own Beasts Pirates cadres could at least take a beating. He then grabbed his mace and headed in the direction his BigMom had fled, curious about the plays she might have left.

A kilometer away, BigMom exerted all her might to reach her destination. She stretched her palm into her waist and abdomen, summoning a white circle of light. With a pained expression, she slowly extracted a fragment and cast it skyward. She watched as her soul fragments merged into the thunderclouds and called out to her new Homie, "Hera!"

"In! Mom~~" came the reply as the thunderclouds condensed into a female voice and flew back toward BigMom. Hera's face, unlike Zeus's, bore an even closer resemblance to BigMom herself, complete with exquisite eye makeup. This was the female Homie that Prometheus had envisaged.

BigMom then uplifted her right hand and exclaimed, "Soul harvest!" All the living Homies on the 34 islands reverted to their original forms in terror. Innumerable white souls flowed toward Prometheus in BigMom's hands, restoring his original form after a brief harvest.

"Resurrection!" Prometheus cried out joyfully before he eagerly sidled up to Hera. Fawning over her, he said, "Hello beautiful! I knew at first glance that we would make a great match!"

"Is that so? But don't get ahead of yourself. I simply follow my mother's commands," Hera replied. The two Homies bantered while even Napoleon couldn't resist joining the fray.

"Enough! It's noisy!" BigMom interjected. She had just regained physical strength by absorbing excess soul energy. However, she remained on edge. She had not anticipated Katakuri would hold off the attackers for long, so the prolonged absence of Kaido raised her suspicions. Searching her surroundings, she found no trace of him and wondered what was happening elsewhere.

Suddenly, a voice from above said, "Are you looking for me?" Shocked, BigMom looked up to see Kaido, in human form, effortlessly floating! She understood almost instantly that Kaido had breached the layers of defense and arrived directly at Cake Island without his dragon form's bulk but retaining the power of flight—an agility surpassing even that of birds. Kaido's ability to fly was not mentioned in her intelligence reports. Realization dawned on her regarding the true potential of the fruit, but regret was useless at that moment.

BigMom directed Prometheus to shield Napoleon, and the two united their formidable soul power, transforming the sword. It grew larger, darker, and sprouted three additional barbs. Napoleon erupted, "I haven't used my full strength in a long time!" Flames enveloped BigMom's body, rose high, and flickered into a fiery cloak behind her. Hera enlarged, her body crackling with thunder and lightning at the ready.

As BigMom ascended on Hera, her strength-bolstered confidence was palpable. She addressed Kaido with the power of someone not to be underestimated, "Kaido! What about my dear sons? What have you done with them?" She rose slowly, the fiery blade in hand and the thundercloud above, ready for the challenge.

"Oh? I just told them to die..."

"Isn't that you?"

Kaido suddenly realized BigMom was being brutally honest. When defeat seemed inevitable, she sought someone to help her flee. Once her strength returned, she was quick to act tough. But whom could she bluff? 

"Is it..." BigMom paused briefly, her voice low, yet now she was quite relaxed. She gazed at her foe and chuckled confidently, "Mama~ I will send you to join them in death, making their demise worthwhile."

She then waved her large knife, with flames surging and expanding upon it, and infused Conqueror's Haki.

"Blade Mother's Flame!"

Kaido lifted his mace to deflect the blade, and, although a torrent of flames struck his body, they were ineffective and merely warmed him slightly.

"Mom!"

Hera's lightning joined in, trying to damage Kaido with dual elements, but it still couldn't penetrate his iron-hard skin.

The pink Slash Wave was unleashed once again, remarkably different from the first strike. Enhanced by two elements and Conqueror's, its potency had significantly increased. This was what finally made Kaido feel challenged.

Responding in kind, he swung his club, releasing a fierce burst of air, "Thunder Bagua!"

The clash of the two powerful Slash Waves caused an immediate explosion, creating a massive sphere of airflow that engulfed them both. The shockwave spread far and wide, lifting the ground to form an enormous spherical crater. BigMom's mount, Hera, wobbled, and Prometheus struggled to maintain its form, while Kaido alone stood firm in the sky, solid as a tower.

After the disturbance settled, BigMom regained her composure. It dawned on her that Kaido was far more formidable than she expected.

Kaido then remarked, "That wasn't a bad strike, let's call it a warm-up. Time to step up my game."

He then soared into the sky, closing the distance to BigMom, and swung his iron rod, now wrapped in Emission and Conqueror's Haki, with mountain-crushing force.

Bracing herself, BigMom clenched her teeth and attempted to counter, channeling all her power into a downward slash with her knife. Flame! Thunder! Armament Haki! Conqueror's Haki! Giant's techniques!

Yet, she faced an insurmountable power.

The sound of bones cracking rang out as BigMom was sent reeling backward from the mighty collision, her round body squashed into a sphere, tumbling through the air. Hera swiftly caught her before she hit the ground, yet the remains of such force pushed them back several meters.

When BigMom staggered off Hera once again, her right arm was broken and twisted. A shiver ran down her spine—Kaido's strength terrified her!

He appeared before her like an immoveable mountain, instilling an overwhelming sense of helplessness. Even her innate power, which she took pride in, had been dwarfed by Kaido.

This reminded her of the bygone era of Rocks. It was that crushing pressure, more monstrous than any monster, that enabled Rocks to amass such a following.

"Kaido... Do you aspire to be like Rocks too?"

BigMom, recalling how Kaido's Conqueror's Haki overwhelmed her, asked with a troubled look. She didn't expect him to sneer dismissively, as if underrating the former captain, and replied with a mocking laugh.

"Rocks? Who wants to be a loser?"

"I'm going to achieve something that hasn't been done in 800 years!"

Something undreamt of for 800 years...

The thought left BigMom stunned and filled with dread. She realized why her Conqueror's Haki paled in comparison to Kaido's. He must be plotting to overthrow the World Government!