Chapter 693: Just a Slaughter
"Thunder Dragon!!"
Enel swung his staff, striking the drums on his back, unleashing a dragon-shaped bolt of lightning that sent Charlotte Oven and Charlotte Daifuku flying away in an instant.
Cracker managed to block the lightning with his biscuit armor, but Crocodile suddenly appeared beside him, pressing a hand onto that armor!
The once-hard biscuits, under Crocodile's desert erosion, instantly lost what little moisture they had, unable to maintain their form any longer, crumbling into sandy flour that pattered down...
Mr. 1 clashed with the Ghost Lady Amande—one wielding the famed blade White Fish, the other with blades all over her body—sparks flying everywhere.
Charlotte Opera was trying to use his cream to smother Dorry, but Dorry, catching the sweet scent of the cream, opened his huge mouth and frantically devoured the cream as fast as Opera produced it, eating as much as was made...
Sardine felt a strong aversion to Charlotte Compote, who resembled Big Mom, so he immediately sought her out, swinging his massive greatsword down at her.
Zeke faced off against Charlotte Galette, the Butter Minister, but seemed to be losing...
Charlotte Brûlée had vanished, apparently chasing after Caesar...
As for Smoothie, she seemed to have run into a huge problem, because her opponents were Reiju, Robin, and Konenai—a battle of four women, terrifying beyond measure!
On the outskirts of the battlefield, the Fire Tank Pirates, led by Capone Bege, were holding back the continuous stream of Big Mom Pirates reinforcements rushing to the fight. Capone Bege transformed into a fortress castle, extending several cannons from his body and firing into the crowd, while Vito, the weird gunman, cackled and kept shooting with his black revolver. Nearby, three Pacifistas stood together, firing lasers from their palms or mouths, wherever they hit, explosions and flames erupted...
The war with the Big Mom Pirates had instantly reached a fever pitch. On the Dragon Hunter Pirates' side, some could defeat their opponents, while others were being suppressed and losing. For now, it was impossible to tell which side had the upper hand.
Ian, meanwhile, had arrived before Katakuri. Mont-d'Or, crouching in front of Katakuri, was about to open a newly summoned book to drag Ian into his book world, but Ian pointed his sword at him. A pitch-black disk, following a bizarre flight path, struck the book directly. The next second, Mont-d'Or's book emitted a sound like shattering glass and dissolved into countless fragments.
His book was essentially a space, and after colliding with Ian's Black Particle, which also possessed spatial abilities, Mont-d'Or immediately suffered backlash from his power, spitting out a mouthful of blood and falling backward.
Ian kicked the injured Mont-d'Or away and stood before Katakuri. Katakuri was still lying on the ground, the blood pooling beneath him staining Ian's shoes red. He coughed up two mouthfuls of blood, looking up at Ian from the ground. He already knew what Ian was going to do and said bitterly, "I... I never thought... we were all... fooled by you... You actually... let yourself have... the chance to... step up by trampling on the Big Mom Pirates!"
Ian shrugged and said, "You're wrong. The opportunity appeared the moment your Big Mom Pirates set their sights on me!"
"That's... right!" Katakuri laughed weakly. "Mom... shouldn't have... sent you that invitation... The invitation... invited a... Grim Reaper!"
With that, Katakuri shifted his gaze from Ian to the sky and said, "This is... good too. I've always been called the man who looks down on the earth by my brothers and sisters, but now... I finally have a day to look up at the sky..."
"..." Ian said nothing. In the midst of this clamorous battlefield, it seemed that only the spot where he and Katakuri stood had a moment of peace.
"Can I... ask you... one thing?" Katakuri said, staring at the sky without moving.
"Go ahead!" Ian nodded. "But if it's about sparing your brothers and sisters, don't bother saying it."
"Don't worry, it's not... that!" Katakuri said. "As a pirate, I'll... die at the hands of an enemy... sooner or later! I've never doubted that. I just want to say... give me one clean cut! Bleeding like this... hurts a lot!"
Ian said nothing, only nodded, raised the Black Wing Demon in his right hand, and stabbed it straight into Katakuri's heart!
Katakuri's body trembled, then went completely limp, and he slowly closed his eyes...
With that, this man with a bounty of 1 billion Berry, the pillar of the Big Mom Pirates, had finally fallen!
Ian turned away, not sparing another glance at Katakuri's corpse, and charged back into the battlefield.
Swinging his blade, screams, blood—nothing to do with justice, nothing to do with anything else. This was just a slaughter between pirates!
Katakuri was dead. With Ian, the top combatant of the Dragon Hunter Pirates, now freed up, the fate of the Big Mom Pirates was easy to imagine. Let's set this battle aside for now and turn our attention to the sky island, Barron Gray Terminal.
At the edge of the Barron Sky Island, hovering above Whole Cake Island, stood a figure.
It was Trafalgar Law. His expression was grim. His nodachi hung at his waist, one hand holding a telescope as he peered down from the island's edge, while the other hand held a small Den Den Mushi, speaking into it continuously.
When the Dragon Hunter Pirates had descended on Whole Cake Island earlier, Law had wanted to go with them, but Waldo had kept him behind, claiming he needed help with something.
Also left behind was Urouge. But what Law and Urouge hadn't expected was that Waldo wanted them to help calibrate the Sky-Based Thunder Stone Cannon!
That was why Law's expression was so sour now. Couldn't he just have grabbed any two people for this? Why did it have to be him and Urouge specifically?
He wanted to fight the Big Mom Pirates, one of the Four Emperors!
Annoyed as he was, since he was stuck here, Law followed Waldo's instructions, standing at the island's edge to visually estimate targets so Waldo could calibrate the Sky-Based Thunder Stone Cannon.
As for Urouge, he was even more frustrated than Law, because he was stuck doing the grunt work, slowly moving the incredibly massive and heavy Thunder Stone Cannon for Waldo.
The experimental Sky-Based Thunder Stone Cannon was positioned directly beneath the sky island. It was fifteen meters long, piercing through the clouds, with only the muzzle exposed in the cloud layer. The cannon's angle was perpendicular to the sea below, and while it could be adjusted, the range of motion was very small.
The Big Mom Pirates had a massive number of personnel. Law's task now was to find the most densely packed areas of people, so the cannon could fire effectively. Since charging the Sky-Based Thunder Stone Cannon took at least thirty minutes, it could probably only fire a few times, so they needed to target the spots with the highest concentration of enemies.
Law held the telescope, looking down at Whole Cake Island, and continuously reported coordinates via the small Den Den Mushi using the method Waldo had taught him. Waldo received Law's reports, performed calculations, and then had Urouge adjust the cannon's angle.
From Law's current vantage point, the scene on Whole Cake Island was spectacular. The island was packed with Big Mom Pirates members, surging from all directions toward the castle. At the castle, explosions and flames kept erupting, indicating fierce fighting.
Law had no idea how powerful the Sky-Based Thunder Stone Cannon was, but he doubted it could take out so many people with a single shot.
However, as Law was observing, he suddenly caught a massive figure through his telescope!
"Huh!? Is that... Big Mom!?" Law quickly adjusted the telescope's focus, looking carefully, and confirmed he wasn't seeing things.
At that moment, Big Mom had Perospero sitting on her shoulder. Under Perospero's guidance, she was walking forward in a daze, drool dripping onto the ground as she went. The powerful saliva corroded the ground along the way, causing wisps of smoke to rise.
Above her head, a thundercloud and a flame cloud floated closely, following her...
Although Perospero was deceiving Big Mom, leading her in circles around the island, he was drenched in sweat, his expression growing more and more tense.
He didn't know when the hastily made wedding cake would be finished. The longer he delayed, the greater the chance that Big Mom would kill him with her own hands...
But what he didn't know was that he and Big Mom had already been spotted by Law in the sky.
The moment he spotted Big Mom, Law's mind immediately started working. He noticed that Big Mom and Perospero seemed to be gradually approaching the range of the Sky-Based Thunder Stone Cannon...