Totto Land, Jam Island.
The island was currently surrounded by a large number of Double White Alliance warships. Countless pirates were frantically attempting to storm the beaches, with cannonballs, bullets, and explosives flying everywhere. The beaches and ports were filled with figures locked in combat.
Rayleigh held a flintlock pistol, calmly and elegantly blowing out a pirate's brains with a single shot. He then shambled forward with the surrounding pirates.
"Charge in! Big Mom and the others are inside! Kill a commander and you'll get double the bounty money!" a pirate captain roared, raising his sword.
Pirates were inherently a bunch of desperate criminals, and with the war underway and the atmosphere set, everyone was seeing red. When the pirate captain roared, a massive number of pirates charged forward recklessly. Meanwhile, the Pirate Alliance forces of the Big Mom Pirates and the Beasts Pirates were being pushed back.
As the fighting dragged into the night, the Double White Alliance finally managed to seize the beaches and ports. However, the battle was far from over. After securing the landing points, continuous waves of pirate forces began landing on Jam Island. The entire island was engulfed in flames, and the sound of cannons and gunfire drowned out the silence of the night.
Rayleigh shot and killed another pirate, but before he could reload, a tall, muscular Big Mom Pirate roared and slashed down at Rayleigh with his sword. Rayleigh sighed inwardly. Armament Haki instantly coiled around his weapon, and he struck back with the butt of the rifle, instantly smashing in the giant's head.
The fighting had now moved into the urban areas of Jam Island. Rayleigh looked around and spotted a dark alleyway nearby. He raised his hand, shot another pirate dead, and quickly darted into the alley, leaning against the wall. He casually pulled out a small flask, took a sip of liquor, then fished a cigarette out of his pocket, lit it, and contentedly exhaled a puff of smoke.
Just as Rayleigh was hiding here, drinking and enjoying the spectacle, a colossal shockwave suddenly erupted from the center of Jam Island, annihilating everything in its path. A large number of pirates were flung into the air and rapidly disintegrated into a bloody mist that hung in the air.
Surprise flashed in Rayleigh's eyes, and then he frowned slightly, instantly extending his Observation Haki to survey the situation.
"Charlotte Linlin?" Soon, the surprise in Rayleigh's eyes intensified. Although there were rumors before the battle on Jam Island that Charlotte Linlin and others were on the island, in reality, every battle that broke out during this period was preceded by rumors that Kaido or Charlotte Linlin were on the opposing fleet or island. Since they never showed up, Rayleigh hadn't taken the rumors seriously. But this time, it was clearly true!
"I knew that move looked familiar. Was that Hakoku?" Rayleigh murmured to himself.
At the same time, the clamor on the battlefield rapidly died down, then abruptly exploded again.
"Big Mom!"
"It's Big Mom!!! Quick, call for reinforcements!"
"We finally found her!"
These were the shouts of the pirates firmly aligned with Whitebeard and Smoker's alliance. Concurrently, a large number of fence-sitters, bought by Smoker to help, shouted in panic, "Run! It's Charlotte Linlin, the monster!"
"We're going to die!"
"How can we fight someone like that?"
"Whitebeard? Where is Whitebeard? Only he can do this!"
As Rayleigh observed the chaotic scene, a pair of eyes suddenly opened on the wall behind him, followed by a human face growing out of it, snapping at Rayleigh as if trying to devour him whole.
However, before the wall could succeed, Rayleigh swiftly counter-slashed, cutting the entire wall in two.
"A Homie?" Rayleigh whispered.
Sure enough, in the next second, a massive number of Homies poured out of the breached Jam Island. This was the military force Charlotte Linlin had secretly planted on the island. Aided by Charlotte Linlin's terrifying presence, the numerous Homies and the remaining Pirate Alliance forces rapidly launched a counter-attack, pushing the Double White Alliance pirates back repeatedly!
On the battlefield, Jozu and Marco were reorganizing the scattered forces.
"Has the message been sent back to Pops?" Marco asked quickly.
"It has. Just hold on a little longer. Pops and the others will definitely arrive before dawn!" Jozu said calmly.
Marco said no more. He pushed off the ground, his figure flying into the air and instantly turning into a streak of azure flame.
However, before Marco could fly high, a trident shot out from a distance, piercing straight through Marco's chest and forcibly knocking him out of the sky.
"Cough..." Marco spat out a mouthful of blood.
But this man was known as the Phoenix. He climbed up from the ground, pulled the trident that had passed through his chest and back out, and threw it aside. The ordinarily fatal wound on his chest was engulfed in a blue flame, and in the blink of an eye, it was completely healed. Even the bloodstain at the corner of his mouth vanished as it turned into flame.
"Marco the Phoenix. Your reputation is well deserved," Katakuri's towering figure emerged from behind a gigantic Homie not far away.
"Katakuri the Perfect Man, is it?" Marco said, a slight smile on his lips.
"The Perfect Man..." Katakuri murmured softly, the image of Diarmuid flashing in his mind. That man had called him the same thing back then. The result was his complete defeat.
Before he could speak, with a loud bang, a muscular figure flew back from a distance and slammed into the ground. In the darkness, it was hard to see clearly, but the figure was a heavily bearded man wearing armor, like a general.
"What immense strength!" the general-like figure climbed to his feet.
Katakuri had already recognized him: his younger brother, a Sweet Commander, Cracker the Thousand Arms. Cracker's chest armor was now shattered, but biscuit crumbs were quickly repairing the armor.
Katakuri wasn't worried. Others didn't know, but he did: his brother was very powerful, and as long as the exterior of his general-like figure hadn't been shattered, revealing his true form, he hadn't yet gotten serious...
"Marco, are you alright?" Jozu's robust figure approached from a distance, his entire arm sparkling like a diamond. It was clear that Jozu was the one who had punched Cracker earlier.
"The moment you flew off, someone tried to sneak attack me. I wonder who it was? Turns out it's one of Big Mom's Sweet Commanders? Not very impressive," Jozu mocked, looking at Katakuri and Cracker in the distance.
Marco, engulfed in blue flames, said seriously, "At least this one feels pretty tough to deal with..."
Meanwhile, Katakuri spoke, "Mama's orders are to eliminate their top fighting commanders before the old man Whitebeard gets here. Cracker, which one do you want?"
"Aniki..." Cracker was very respectful towards Katakuri and responded before looking at Jozu. "Diamond Jozu can be left to me!"
"Are you sure? His defense even impressed Mama," Katakuri said.
"I will give it my all," Cracker replied seriously.
"Is that so? Then I'll leave it to you," Katakuri said softly.
As soon as he spoke, Cracker clapped his hands together, instantly forming two biscuit soldiers which charged toward Jozu. At the same time, he himself rushed out, swinging his blade, Pretzel.
Jozu glanced at Marco and said gravely, "Just hold out until dawn."
"Don't worry. I can fight him for ten days!" Marco said confidently.
However, the moment Marco finished speaking, Katakuri shot a bullet from his finger, hitting Marco square in the head.
"Damn it!" Marco roared, charging toward Katakuri with half his head missing. He was fully recovered after just two steps.
It wasn't just Marco and Jozu who were caught in a bitter fight. In fact, a large number of Big Mom Pirate commanders and Whitebeard Pirate Division Commanders were engaged in chaotic battles all over the island. But clearly, the Whitebeard Pirates were on the defensive, because Charlotte Linlin was hiding on this island!
"What kind of trash are you to shout so loudly in front of me?" Charlotte Linlin held a muscular figure in her hand, squeezing him like an inflatable toy. She wore a pink nightgown and looked much more bloated than the last time, having completely lost the charm of her youth and turning into an old hag.
"Let me go!" The muscular man in her grasp slashed fiercely at Charlotte Linlin's arm. The slash carried a powerful Haki, but even so, the blade failed to break Charlotte Linlin's skin.
"Captain Atmos!" A Whitebeard Pirate subordinate roared and leapt up, slashing at Charlotte Linlin.
Like swatting a fly, Charlotte Linlin backhanded the subordinate, instantly knocking the pirate from the air. Despite it being a casual move, the pirate's entire skeleton was broken, his internal organs were a mess, and he coughed up blood and died!
The burly pirate currently gripped in Charlotte Linlin's hand was none other than the Commander of the 13th Division of the Whitebeard Pirates, "Water Buffalo" Atmos!
He had exchanged only a few blows with Charlotte Linlin before she captured him alive. The difference in strength between the two was clearly an insurmountable chasm.
"Let... me... go!" Atmos roared, his muscles rippling constantly, trying to break free from Charlotte Linlin's grasp. His nickname, "Water Buffalo," was due to his immense, bull-like strength.
But the strength he prided himself on was nothing in Charlotte Linlin's eyes. Even as he struggled desperately, Charlotte Linlin paid him no mind. Instead, her gaze was fixed on the distance, seemingly searching for someone.
"Strange... I clearly felt an intense sense of danger, which is why I rushed here. There should be a powerful expert in this location. Why can't I find him now?" Charlotte Linlin looked somewhat confused. After unleashing Hakoku, she clearly sensed someone observing her, so she quickly rushed over, only to run into Atmos?
Why had the person who gave her that sense of danger disappeared? Who was it? Whitebeard?
Meanwhile, the culprit, that old reprobate Rayleigh, had retreated to the beach, found a pile of dead bodies, and was resting there, pretending to be dead...
Failing to find Rayleigh, Charlotte Linlin felt faintly uneasy. Coupled with Atmos's strenuous efforts to break free from her grasp, when Charlotte Linlin finally regained her focus, a look of anger crossed her face. She abruptly squeezed her hand.
With a loud crack, Atmos's bones were instantly crushed. The man looked as if he was being squeezed to the point of exploding, bleeding from all his orifices. He glared at Charlotte Linlin but died without uttering another word.
The esteemed Commander of the 13th Division of the Whitebeard Pirates was as fragile as an ant when facing a truly top-tier expert like Charlotte Linlin.
"Boring!" Charlotte Linlin casually threw Atmos's corpse onto the ground.