"What a hard fist! What monstrous strength!"
Aeridar looked appalled, clearly feeling the pain and the monstrous, terrifying force transmitted through his knuckles.
It was important to note that while Aeridar had not used Armament Haki, he had employed the power of the Impact-Impact Fruit. Big Mom, on the other hand, hadn't used Armament Haki either, relying entirely on raw physical strength. A fist of this hardness and power was the stuff of monsters.
"You damned brat!"
Seeing her punch blocked, Charlotte Linlin's inner fury intensified. Zeus, the thundercloud, flew in to hold her up, and Prometheus, the sun, coiled around her fist. As she swung, it spewed massive torrents of scorching flame toward the man in front of her.
"Air Wall!"
Aeridar's expression hardened. He rapidly retreated backward, slamming his palm into the air.
BANG!
His palm seemed to strike something solid. The powerful impact force traveled through the void, compressing the air to form an invisible Air Wall. The searing flames that rushed forward hit this barrier, breaking apart and dissipating into scattered embers.
BOOM!
The next moment, Aeridar suddenly dodged to the side again, followed immediately by several bolts of lightning that struck down from the sky, instantly charring several large trees in the Seducing Woods below, leaving trails of faint smoke.
"Run!"
"It's Zeus-sama's lightning!"
"Mama is here too! We'll get caught in the crossfire!"
The flowers, plants, and trees of the Seducing Woods, which were virtually living beings, screamed in terror. They scattered wildly, creating a large, instantly cleared flat space below.
"Hand over the soufflé! AAAAHHH—"
Charlotte Linlin threw back her head and roared furiously, the colossal sound wave carrying a deafening acoustic blast.
"That's a sound attack!"
Aeridar's face changed. He quickly covered his ears and instantly flashed away to distance himself.
Hoo… hoo… hoo…
Massive amounts of flame rained down from the sky. The heat rolled in waves, covering the ground like a rain of fire—a true harbinger of the apocalypse.
Rumble… Rumble…
Dozens of lightning strikes descended from the high-altitude storm clouds, likewise covering a wide area, seemingly intent on destroying everything.
"Damn it! Impact Wave!"
Facing such wide-ranging attacks, Aeridar's expression was grave. He punched upward, pushing against the empty air.
Whoosh!
The powerful impact force acted upon the void. The air immediately became chaotic, forming a visible, colossal Impact Wave under the strong pressure. It instantly dispersed a large volume of the flames, and even disrupted the descending lightning. If not for Zeus's constant maintenance, even the high-altitude storm clouds would have been nearly blown away.
"Get down here!"
Charlotte Linlin leaped off Zeus's body. Her massive fist, wrapped in a large amount of flame and electrical charge, slammed violently toward Aeridar.
"Shinra Tensei!"
Aeridar pressed his hands together. His coat fluttered as an invisible, fierce shockwave erupted from his body.
BOOM!
Flames and electric arcs danced in the air. Charlotte Linlin's fist suddenly stopped about ten meters from Aeridar, as if it had hit a steel-hard air barrier. Visible air ripples spread outward in circles.
"Kukk…"
Aeridar's face was flushed, and the veins on his forehead bulged. He seemed to be straining against an immense power, and his body, hovering in the air, was starting to drop bit by bit.
"GET DOWN!!"
Charlotte Linlin roared, doubling her strength.
"YOU GET OUT OF THE WAY!"
Aeridar glared fiercely at Big Mom. The outward-exerted impact force abruptly intensified.
BOOOOM!!!
A ring of air shockwaves immediately spread out. The flames and lightning dissipated into scattered sparks in the air.
Aeridar plummeted rapidly. In one or two breaths, his feet slammed heavily onto the ground below. A terrifying force erupted.
With a huge, deafening roar, the ground immediately buckled and collapsed. Thick cracks spread rapidly outward like a spiderweb. Large slabs of earth jutted upward, and the surrounding ground shook violently. A terrifying blast of air swept through the entire Seducing Woods like a hurricane, snapping countless trees and even tearing many out by the roots.
At the same time, Charlotte Linlin's massive body was also launched backward and upward. Her speed was extremely fast, turning her into a giant black blur. Even though Zeus quickly caught her, it couldn't completely halt the powerful momentum of her violent recoil.
"That kind of power... she really is a monster!"
Aeridar, whose feet were numb, gasped for breath. A look of horror crossed his face. Merely relying on her own power, coupled with the abilities of Zeus and Prometheus, was enough to unleash this kind of crushing strength. It was truly terrifying!
A thousand meters up in the sky, Zeus's desperate effort finally brought the recoiling Big Mom to a stop.
"Brat! How DARE you!!"
Charlotte Linlin's eyes were blood-red, her expression as horrifying as a demon. Drops of saliva, containing potent corrosive power, rained down.
At this moment, on the outskirts of the Seducing Woods, the executives and soldiers of the Big Mom Pirates gradually gathered. Everyone watched the two combatants high in the sky in shock. Their internal horror was magnified after the astounding hurricane-force wind blast. They never imagined that this young man, barely thirty, could engage in a confrontation with their mother, the great Yonko, and fight almost to a standstill. It was unheard of and unbelievable.
"That guy... he can actually fight Mama to a draw! How strong is he...?" Cracker looked up, somewhat stunned.
"Impossible! This is impossible!" Mont-d'Or first gasped in shock, then shouted with jealousy, "Mama can't possibly lose! That bastard is just a fresh-faced brat! He's nowhere near Mama's level!"
Gazing at the sky, Katakuri's eyes narrowed slightly. He tightly gripped the trident in his hand. As the man with an undefeated record, lauded as the Charlotte Family's greatest masterpiece, this was the first time he had ever felt a flicker of envy toward a young man under thirty.
"He's truly incredible! That brat, who was once hailed as the strongest rookie, has actually reached this level!" Perospero exclaimed. Though he didn't believe Aeridar could defeat Mama, the strength he was currently demonstrating meant that within the entire Big Mom Pirates, only Charlotte Katakuri, his brother, could hope to clash with him.
"Is... is he really less than thirty?" A woman with long purple hair, the appearance of an old hag, and a long scar on her face trembled.
She was Charlotte Brûlée, the 8th Daughter of the Charlotte Family. As the user of the Mirror-Mirror Fruit, she was an auxiliary-type executive and naturally didn't possess much combat power, so her reaction to such a battle was quite poor.
"As expected of Arlan's captain, he's strong. This is the first time I've seen his power with my own eyes. No wonder Arlan wasn't willing to switch sides!" The super-long-legged Smoothie slowly walked up, her eyes narrowed as she gazed at Aeridar, who had landed in the middle of the Seducing Woods.
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