Chapter 117: 117. Lightning Vs Mochi
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As if responding to Katakuri's sudden shift in focus, the rest of the crew instinctively turned to look behind them.
Within seconds, colossal waves surged once more from the sea.
The next moment, a leisurely passenger ship emerged directly from beneath the waves.
It bore no pirate flag, but a red sakura was prominently engraved on either side of the vessel.
Neptune, who had remained respectful moments ago, now wore a grave expression.
Katakuri, his face set with stern resolve, stared at the ship.
That's a ship from Wanokuni
More than that, it carried the man who had humiliated Totto Land and his mother during the war of shame.
"Fly... Flying Admiral!!!"
The subdued pirates on the battlefield, along with even the seasoned crew aboard Big Mom's ship, began trembling in fear.
The man known as the "Flying Admiral," like Whitebeard, was recognized across the seas as someone with the power to destroy the world itself.
"Big brother Katakuri!"
"Smoothie, get away!"
Before Smoothie could respond, Katakuri's voice was stern and resolute. "Mama's plan has already failed with this man's arrival."
But before he could say more, Katakuri's body tensed as he assumed a defensive stance.
A sudden bolt of terrifying lightning erupted from the passenger ship, streaking through the air with incredible speed and devastating power, aimed directly at him.
Katakuri recognized the force behind the strike—it was Yamato, Thunder Ace of the Royal Court, one of Wanokuni's new-generation powerhouses.
Gritting his teeth, Katakuri raised his weapon, Mogura, from his wrist and swung it toward the oncoming mace crackling with thunder.
As their weapons collided, a violent release of Conqueror's Haki exploded outward.
Invisible yet palpable waves of force rippled through the air, spreading at a staggering speed.
Smoothie, who stood closest to Katakuri, felt as though she had been pummeled by a hundred fists all at once. Her head throbbed, her vision blurred, and her legs gave out beneath her, nearly causing her to collapse.
Where the two auras clashed, streaks of black and red lightning streaked through the air. The ground cracked beneath them, fractures spreading rapidly in every direction.
The Fish-Man soldiers watching from the sidelines, along with pirates attempting to flee, suddenly froze. Without warning, their eyes rolled back, and they collapsed, unconscious.
"This is... Conqueror's Haki!"
Smoothie gritted her teeth and bit down on her lip to steady herself, her face drained of blood. She stared in disbelief at the two figures locked in combat.
It wasn't just her brother Katakuri—Yamato, despite their youth, had Conqueror's Haki that reached terrifying heights!
"Smoothie! Get everyone moving toward Brûlée!"
Katakuri's sharp command snapped Smoothie out of her daze. She realized their next move: they couldn't fight against them without their mother present. Thankfully, they had brought Brûlée with them for quick escapes.
Amid the intense clash of Conqueror's Haki, Yamato's charge was stalled as the surrounding decks under Katakuri's feet began to shift.
Through his awakened powers, the wooden planks transformed into enormous black masses of mochi. The glutinous constructs lunged forward, roaring toward Yamato with frightening speed.
However, Yamato dodged with ease, their form flickering away in a burst of lightning.
At the same time, violent bolts of thunder crackled and surged from Yamato's body, lashing out furiously toward the massive glutinous spheres fortified with Armament Haki.
Zzzrrrtt!
The sound of crackling electricity filled the air as the Haki-infused glutinous masses were obliterated, shattering into fragments of wood and debris, reverting to their original form as ship remnants.
Katakuri's expression hardened, his heart gripped with shock.
Not only was Yamato's Conqueror's Haki on par with his own, but her Armament Haki had reached an equally terrifying level!
"Peerless Donuts!"
Katakuri's voice rang out as doughnut-shaped formations of mochi appeared in the air behind him. From the glutinous rings, massive arms covered in thick, jet-black Armament Haki extended, slamming toward Yamato with explosive speed and unerring precision.
Each strike came down like a violent storm.
As Yamato prepared to evade using her lightning-enhanced mobility, she realized something was off—an attack was already waiting in the path of her dodge.
Katakuri was using Future Sight, his Observation Haki reading and countering her every move before she could make it.
Seeing no other option, Yamato raised her arms, bracing herself to clash head-on with the onslaught.
Around her, dense clusters of black iron sand floated upward, compressing immense currents of lightning energy. With a sharp crackle, the elements were unleashed like electromagnetic projectiles, bombarding the glutinous arms in a flurry of devastating strikes.
The collision created a sharp whistling sound, tearing through the air as arcs of lightning tore apart the decks of Big Mom's flagship.
Dazzling bursts of light illuminated the battlefield as Katakuri continued to swing rapidly, his Observation Haki working overtime. He seamlessly regenerated the mochi arms, repairing the damage inflicted by Yamato's ferocious thunderous assault.
The chaotic battle raged on—a ferocious display of power and skill in just a few short minutes since Yamato's arrival at Fish-Man Island.
Even as he fought, Katakuri could feel the shift beneath his feet. The ship he stood on was beginning to rise unnaturally, and the sea itself sank downward, as if being pressed into submission by a massive force.
It was unmistakable.
The Flying Admiral was making his move.
"Katakuri-nii!"
Brûlée's urgent cry snapped him back to focus. Combined with the future he had glimpsed through his Observation Haki, he knew their course of action was clear.
No hesitation remained.
After neutralizing another wave of Yamato's electromagnetic attacks, Katakuri made his move. He abandoned the ship, molding it into a towering wall of mochi to serve as a temporary barrier.
In the same instant, his body shifted, twisting into a serpent-like form as he used his Mochi Mochi powers to slither at blinding speed toward a floating mirror.
'Just reach the mirror!'
With a swift touch, Katakuri disappeared into the reflective surface, vanishing from Fish-Man Island's chaotic battlefield entirely.
In the aftermath of the fight, Yamato's eyes flicked to the shattered mirror lying on the ground. She couldn't hide her surprise.
"He escaped? What kind of ability was that?"
Robin, who had arrived alongside Alex, calmly explained, "Charlotte Brûlée. A Mirror-Mirror Fruit user. Her powers allow her to traverse and manipulate the Mirror World."
Alex landed beside Yamato, his shimmering flower-like wings fading as he observed the scene with a grim expression.
"I didn't think they'd have this level of preparation."
Alex really didn't expect this.
But it doesn't matter.
Anyway, it won't be long before the fall of Charlotte Linlin.