Chapter 96 – The Conqueror Clash
The seas around Totto Land churned with unnatural violence. Waves rose high enough to scrape the heavens, colliding against one another like mountains shattering. The sky above split into unnatural patches of black clouds and golden light, as if the heavens themselves were being torn apart. It wasn't the weather. It wasn't coincidence.
It was Conqueror's Haki.
Two monstrous wills slammed against each other, grinding the air itself into fragments.
On the western coast of Whole Cake Island, Big Mom towered, her enormous figure wrapped in the power of her soul-infused homies—Napoleon, Hera, and Prometheus circling her like celestial beasts. Her cackle carried across the battlefield, rattling weaker pirates into unconsciousness.
"MAMA!! You dare stand against me here, red-haired brat? You think you can play at being Emperor when you're still suckling from Roger's ghost?!"
On the opposite shore, calmly drawing his blade, stood Shanks.
His red cloak snapped in the storm, his one good eye gleaming beneath auburn hair that glowed like fire in the dark. His stance was relaxed, almost casual, but the air around him was suffocating. Each breath carried the weight of a man who had inherited the dreams of the Pirate King.
"Linlin," Shanks said softly, his voice barely audible over the storm, yet somehow it carried through the air. "You've taken too much from this sea. Souls, freedom, children's laughter—everything is just food to you."
He raised Gryphon, his massive saber, the blade humming with black lightning.
"Tonight, I cut that greed short."
The ground cracked beneath his feet as his Conqueror's Haki surged—raw, unshakable, refined into a razor's edge.
For the first time in decades, Big Mom's grin faltered.
---
They moved at once.
Shanks blurred, his sword cutting a red arc across the battlefield. Big Mom roared, swinging Napoleonto , homie sword glowing with a firestorm of Hera's lightning and Prometheus' blazing sun.
BOOOOOOOM!!!
The island quaked. The ocean split. For miles, the sea flattened as if two gods had declared war on creation itself.
Pirates from both Red Hair and Big Mom's crew were hurled into the air, clutching their heads as the sheer collision of wills crushed them.
"Wha—what is this pressure?! I—I can't breathe!" A lower-ranked Big Mom pirate dropped to his knees, bleeding from the nose.
From the Red Hair's side, a younger crewmember gritted his teeth. "That's… the clash of Emperors."
Ben Beckman, standing coolly with his rifle aimed, barked a command. "Hold formation! If you falter now, you'll drown in their Haki before the fight even begins!"
His voice grounded them, pulling them back from the brink of collapse.
---
Big Mom pressed forward, her laughter returning.
"MAMA! Nice spirit, brat! But do you think that clean little Haki of yours can break a MONSTER like me?!"
She swung Napoleon down, the force splitting the ground like an earthquake. Lava-like fire spewed from the blade, licking across the battlefield.
Shanks deflected with Gryphon, sparks flying as black lightning danced between the blades. His arm trembled—not from weakness, but from sheer kinetic force colliding against him.
"She's… heavy," Shanks muttered, his teeth clenched. "But weight can be cut."
He slid forward, twisting his blade at the last second. The strike redirected Napoleon's massive swing into the ground, where it carved a canyon through the island. Big Mom's eyes widened a fraction before Shanks' saber flashed upward, slicing across her shoulder.
Blood sprayed.
The impossible had happened. Big Mom bled.
The battlefield froze. Even her children, Smoothie and Perospero watching from afar, gawked in disbelief.
"Impossible," Perospero muttered. "Mama's skin is harder than steel… no blade has pierced her in decades…"
Shanks exhaled, his single eye calm as the storm raged behind him. "Every armor has a seam. Every monster has a weakness."
Big Mom's laughter turned manic. She didn't recoil, didn't retreat. Instead, she licked the blood off her shoulder, eyes glowing with hunger.
"MAMA~MA!! Finally!! A meal worth chewing!!"
Her aura surged. Hera and Prometheus fused into Napoleon, creating a titanic burning sword infused with stormlight.
"I'll take your soul, red-haired brat, and feed it to my children!"
---
While gods clashed above, the battlefield below erupted.
Ben Beckman vs Smoothie.
The towering Sweet Commander swung her massive blade, releasing waves of compressed liquid that slashed through stone. Ben countered with calm precision, every bullet fired from his rifle coated in Armament Haki, ricocheting with perfect angles. He wasn't as flashy as Shanks, but every move pinned Smoothie down like a chess grandmaster cornering his opponent.
"You Red Hairs fight dirty," Smoothie spat, blocking three bullets at once.
Beckman smirked. "And you Big Mom Pirates fight loud."
---
Lucky Roux vs Oven.
The rotund commander clashed against Charlotte Oven, their fists colliding like cannon fire. Despite his jovial nature, Lucky Roux's strength was monstrous as he leach punch a thunderclap.
"Don't underestimate the first mate to Shanks!" he roared, headbutting Oven so hard the man's forehead cracked open.
---
Yasopp vs Perospero.
The sniper duel spanned the rooftops. Yasopp's shots were silent, precise, never wasted. Perospero countered with candy constructs, forming massive walls and arrows. The two moved with terrifying speed, their duel shaping the very skyline.
"Your son's in the East Blue, isn't he?" Perospero taunted. "Do you think he'll even live long enough to see your bounty?"
Yasopp's face darkened, his reply sharp as his bullet. "He'll stop Bigmom as he will counter it and surpass it."
---
Chaos Across Totto Land.
The island shook with countless clashes of pirates screaming, cannons firing, lightning splitting across the horizon. But all eyes, whether ally or enemy, were drawn to the main stage.
-------
Big Mom charged, her burning sword tearing apart the ground, her monstrous body crashing forward with unstoppable momentum.
"SOUL POCUS!!!" she bellowed, her soul-ripping aura flooding the battlefield. Weaker fighters collapsed instantly, their souls almost sucked from their bodies.
Shanks closed his eye, his breathing steady. For a moment, he saw the past.
Roger's back, broad and unbreakable, standing against the entire world.
The smile of his captain, the laughter of a man who had conquered the seas.
"You left the torch to us," Shanks whispered. "I'll carry it further."
His Conqueror's Haki exploded outward but not wild, but honed to a blade's edge. It didn't scream; it sang.
Shanks stepped forward, his movements precise, his blade a blur of red and black lightning. Each swing forced Big Mom backward, her monstrous strength met with speed and sharpness beyond reason.
The clash peaked. Shanks' blade cut across Big Mom's torso, sending her sprawling into the rubble of her own palace.
For the first time in decades, Big Mom screamed
Aahhhh
Not in laughter, but in pain.
---
But pain only fueled her mania. Big Mom rose, blood dripping down her massive form, her eyes burning with inhuman hunger.
"SOULS!!! I NEED SOULS!!!"
The ground around her cracked as she ripped life force from dozens of her own subordinates, devouring their lifespan to restore herself. Their screams filled the air, silenced in seconds as their bodies shriveled into husks.
Her form grew more monstrous, her sword now a writhing abomination of flame and storm.
"Shanks!!! I'll devour everything you love!!!"
Shanks' eye narrowed, his grip tightening on Gryphon. His aura didn't waver, even as he transformed himself into a demon.
He tilted his head, a faint smile tugging his lips.
"Then I'll cut down a demon."
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NARRATOR
The chapter ends with the two titans clashing once more, the heavens splitting, the seas roaring in protest.
"The world had rarely seen such a battle—a true clash of Emperors."