"Katakuri…" Sakazuki muttered darkly, his face like thunder as he watched the figure emerge from the swirling black portal.
Indeed, stepping from the dark rift was none other than Charlotte Katakuri, once one of the Sweet Commanders of the Big Mom Pirates, second son of Linlin herself. Now, he stood as the so-called "Vice Captain" of the Gray Kingdom—though the quotation marks still lingered, a sign that not everyone had come to terms with that title.
"Well, it's clear now—you've thrown your lot in with Rosinante," Aokiji said, his tone calm but eyes sharp. "I wonder what expression Big Mom would have if she found out…"
"With her temperament?" Sakazuki sneered. "She'd probably disown him on the spot—that'd be considered merciful, even."
Katakuri ignored their banter. His gaze passed over them, locking onto the towering glacier that entombed Rosinante. His eyes narrowed.
"So this is all you amount to now?" he muttered, looking at the icy prison.
"You might be needing a new captain again soon," Aokiji quipped.
"Well, you've had a few already—shouldn't be a problem," Sakazuki added with a mocking grin.
Katakuri shot them a sidelong glance, impassive as ever, and started walking toward the ice mountain.
"Ice Lance—Twin Spears!" Two sharp ice spears blasted from Aokiji's hands, piercing Katakuri's body with chilling force—but he didn't stop walking.
"Tch… What a pain. A Special Paramecia that mimics a Logia…" Aokiji commented.
"Elemental transformation is a Logia specialty. You paying royalties for that imitation, faker?" Sakazuki growled as he charged forward, arm ablaze with magma, launching his signature move—Great Eruption.
"I'm a pirate," Katakuri replied flatly, summoning a massive fist larger than a giant's, sheathed in black Armament Haki. "Since when have pirates paid fees?"
"Boom!" The fists collided with a thunderous crash. Shockwaves rippled through the air, shaking the already fragile Ohara.
"Pirates really are all about 'borrowing' what they like!" Aokiji shouted from behind Katakuri, unleashing Ice Pheasant Beak, a massive icy construct that shot toward his back.
But Katakuri had already moved.
As if he had seen it coming, he slipped out of the way just before the attack landed. With Katakuri gone, Sakazuki's flaming attack shot forward unabated, clashing violently with Aokiji's ice—a collision of magma and frost that detonated like a bomb in the heavens.
Ohara, already on the brink of collapse, trembled and cracked even more violently.
"You really are both Admirals now," Katakuri said, calmly eyeing them.
"You dodged fast," Sakazuki growled.
"As Vice Admiral Garp said, your Observation Haki can glimpse the future…" Aokiji said grimly.
After the war in the Kingdom of Joromia, intel about Katakuri's future-sensing Haki had reached even the highest echelons of the Navy. Though many had doubted such power could exist in someone so young, Garp's word carried weight—even if Sakazuki himself hadn't fully believed it.
But now, after testing Katakuri's reactions again and again, he could no longer deny it.
From Aokiji's twin spears to their pincer assault—every move had been anticipated, dodged, or parried. Katakuri truly could see a few seconds ahead in time.
"Looks like my secret's out," Katakuri said nonchalantly. He threw a punch, and dozens of mochi fists, each wrapped in Haki, surged toward Sakazuki and Aokiji like a stampede.
He wasn't fazed by his abilities being exposed. For two years now, he had been obsessed with the art of the Mind Net on Skypiea. From version 1.0 to 7.0, and now to 9.0, he had refined his Observation Haki to an extreme.
Even if his enemies knew of his ability now, it no longer mattered—they simply couldn't keep up with him.
"Retreat!" Sakazuki and Aokiji leapt back as the barrage of fists followed, unrelenting.
"Meteor Volcano!" Sakazuki roared, both arms erupting in lava as dozens of magma fists hurtled toward the sky before raining down on Katakuri in a hellish storm.
"Haah!" Katakuri dodged with fluid ease. The barrage looked apocalyptic, but not a single strike touched him.
"Ice Age!" Aokiji appeared behind him, freezing the very air as he blocked Katakuri's retreat. A wall of frost rushed forth, sealing off escape.
"Two Admirals at once… Maybe I'm still pushing it," Katakuri said under his breath. "But I'm not dying today."
In his mind's eye—clear as day—he saw the future. The glacier cracking. A tremendous force erupting from within. The total destruction of Ohara. The warships caught in the blast. All of it.
Crack—! The frozen mountain began to split.
"No! He must not break free!" Aokiji immediately shifted his attack, turning his Ice Age back toward the glacier.
"You're pure evil—time to end you!" Sakazuki snarled, redirecting his Meteor Volcano toward the cracking mountain.
Then—
"Release—Limit Breaker!"
A voice boomed from within the ice, and in the next instant, a cataclysmic force exploded outward, colliding with magma and ice alike.
The opposing powers clashed for a heartbeat—before that unfathomable energy tore through everything in its way like a blade through paper.
And then it detonated.
The world shook.
Everything—absolutely everything—was consumed.
The ancient land of Ohara… erased from existence in one breath.
Even the Navy warships stationed offshore were caught in the devastating blast, swallowed by the fury of a power that defied the gods.