# Chapter 680: Soul Incantation
"Bang!"
Stussy landed, crashing onto the ground not far from the venue. She wasn't injured, having used Paper Drawing Martial Body to cushion the impact.
However, Katakuri's hand was still gripping her ankle.
Gritting her teeth, Stussy reached into her bag, pulled out a dagger, and swung it toward Katakuri's wrist.
Perhaps intimidated by this action, Katakuri's hand suddenly released her ankle and retracted. Stussy's heart filled with joy as she tried to stand and continue fleeing, but suddenly found herself covered by a massive shadow.
Looking up, Stussy's face turned pale, because before her stood Big Mom's enormous body...
"Stu...ssy!" Big Mom's face and forehead were covered with bulging veins. Above her head, Zeus and Prometheus were no longer in their usual cute forms. These two masses of energy—one lightning, one fire—were now violently swirling around Big Mom's body, both wearing ferocious expressions.
"Lin...Linlin! Listen to me explain!" Stussy cried out in terror, still trying to salvage the situation.
But Big Mom's rage was not without reason. The theft of the Poneglyph rubbing was only one reason. Another was that discovering Stussy, a longtime friend, was actually the culprit and a CP intelligence agent filled Big Mom with a tremendous sense of betrayal!
This meant that for so long, every move of the Big Mom Pirates had been under the surveillance of the World Government!
This was an unforgivable crime!
So Big Mom didn't listen to Stussy's excuses at all. Her terrifyingly large face leaned close to Stussy's eyes, her ferocious gaze fixed on Stussy as she spoke word by word: "Life... Or... Treat!?"
Having spent so much time with Big Mom, how could Stussy not know what those words meant? Life or treat—this was Big Mom's Soul Incantation!
Stussy desperately tried to force herself to calm down, but Big Mom's powerful aura was constantly assaulting her. She knew she couldn't be afraid—once afraid, it was over—but looking at Big Mom's terrifying face, she couldn't stop her heart from trembling.
Just then, in everyone's eyes, a mist-like substance suddenly emerged from Stussy's body. This ethereal mist, like a gauze garment, abruptly rose from her form.
Stussy had failed. She couldn't resist her inner fear of Big Mom. The longer she had been in contact with her, the more she knew how terrifying Big Mom truly was. So when Big Mom used her Soul Incantation to interrogate Stussy, her soul immediately surfaced.
"Save... save me!!" Stussy fell to the ground in terror, her hand reaching toward the direction of the guests, her eyes searching for Arest's figure.
She could only hope now that Arest, the newly appointed Marine Admiral, would step in to rescue her.
However, to her disappointment, Arest's figure had disappeared!
Before Stussy could react, Big Mom's fan-like hand swung violently, grabbed the soul mist emerging from Stussy's body, and yanked it hard, tearing it away from Stussy's body!
Stussy's body instantly froze. Her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed limply to the ground, lifeless from that moment on.
In her rage, Big Mom had taken all of her remaining lifespan. Without that lifespan, there was no life force. Big Mom had directly killed Stussy!
This Queen of the Pleasure District, who controlled most of the red-light district businesses in the underworld, probably never imagined that this tea party trip would end with her dying so easily on Whole Cake Island...
Feld and the others, who had witnessed Big Mom's entire killing process, felt a chill run down their spines at the sight of Stussy's death, a sense of shared sorrow. But at the same time, they also felt relieved.
Damn it, that old woman Stussy was actually a World Government intelligence agent! And we've been friends with her for so many years! That means our underworld business has been under World Government control all along!
No, we need to thoroughly investigate our subordinates when we get back. Who knows how many more of these pervasive World Government intelligence agents are still hidden...
After personally killing Stussy, Big Mom's rage finally subsided somewhat. She turned to Ian and asked, "Ian, who's the other one!?"
Indeed, although Stussy had been exposed, she was only one of last night's criminals. There was still an accomplice who hadn't been discovered.
"The other one is..." Ian was about to turn and look for Arest's figure. He had long noticed the exchange between Arest and Stussy. If there was an accomplice, it was undoubtedly Arest.
However, at that moment, a dangerous sensation suddenly hit him. Without thinking, Ian stepped forward, twisted his body, and simultaneously drew the Thousand Cherry Blossoms blade from his waist, swinging it backward in an arc!
Clang! A loud sound rang out as Ian's blade collided with a strange dagger!
This dagger was strange because it was incredibly thin—so thin that looking at it from the edge, it was almost invisible! Besides being coated with black Armament Haki on the surface, it emitted a faint red glow from within.
The one attacking Ian was naturally Arest. Somehow, he had silently left his original position and appeared behind Ian. Even Katakuri, who had been keeping his Observation Haki active, hadn't detected his movement.
His killing intent was as if completely hidden. Only at the moment he struck at Ian did the killing intent leak out, allowing Ian to detect it just in time.
Although Ian reacted quickly enough to block Arest's dagger thrust, it was only a feint. The dagger in Arest's right hand had no real force behind it. As Ian's blade deflected it, Arest's left hand shot out with unimaginable speed, swiping across Ian's abdomen!
Ian sensed something was wrong and retreated, but Arest's claw still caught him.
What surprised Ian was that the Armament Haki attached to Arest's hand was unimaginably strong, directly breaking through Ian's abdominal Haki defense and leaving four claw marks on his body!
The wounds weren't deep, but they were bleeding, accompanied by a burning pain.
"Damn it! Who exactly are you!?" Ian said irritably, checking the wound on his abdomen. He had originally thought that since Arest was Stussy's companion, he might be another CP member. These World Government intelligence agents might be formidable, but in Ian's view, they weren't that impressive. They were more skilled at infiltration, assassination, and intelligence gathering—their actual combat strength wasn't necessarily that high.
In his impression, even CP9's Rob Lucci was considered top-tier combat power within CP. But if you could put it that way, Ian's current strength could beat dozens of Rob Lucci!
However, after this exchange with Arest, Ian realized his misconception. The Armament Haki protection on his abdomen, though not at full strength, had been easily broken through by Arest, injuring his body. Such powerful Haki ability could absolutely not belong to a CP intelligence agent!
Their exchange lasted only an instant. By the time everyone reacted, Big Mom looked at Arest in disbelief, her voice trembling as she said, "A...Arest Father, how could it be you!?"
Because they were pirates, the priests of the Big Mom Pirates were all fake. True church believers generally wouldn't associate with pirates. So in the past, when the children of the Big Mom Pirates got married, the priests officiating the weddings were mostly kidnapped or impersonated by their own crew members.
Thus, Arest, as a true priest, held special significance for Big Mom. Now, discovering that Arest was the second culprit, Big Mom felt as if her faith had collapsed.
Why? Shouldn't Father Arest be a good person like Sister Carmel? Why is this happening!?
Under everyone's gaze, Arest smiled faintly and said, "Linlin, there's something I forgot to tell you. I'm no longer a priest now. I'm a Marine Admiral selected through the World Government's civilian recruitment plan! Father Arest should now be called White Wolf Arest..."
As soon as these words were spoken, the scene fell into dead silence. Including Ian, everyone was so shocked their jaws nearly hit the floor!
A... Marine Admiral!?
A Marine Admiral had appeared on Whole Cake Island, on the territory of one of the Four Emperors!?