Chapter 697: Even Jumping into the Yellow River Can't Wash This Clean
Ian now just wanted to spread his hands and say, "How awkward..."
He certainly didn't want to witness such an eyesore of a scene, but Prometheus clearly had limited ability to absorb Ian's black demon realm flames, failing to block them all for Big Mom.
When Big Mom was younger, she might have been beautiful and pretty at some point, but that was all in the past. Now, Big Mom was synonymous with flabby fat, and when that lump of fat was covered in blisters, it became unbearable to look at.
"Block it! Zeus, you guys block it quickly!" Ian turned his head away while shouting at Zeus and the others.
Zeus obediently complied, and seeing that Big Mom's state was indeed unsightly, it flew to her waist, wrapping around her lower body and forming a large cloud pair of shorts. However, Prometheus, having absorbed Ian's flames, had turned into a massive fireball and couldn't cover her like Zeus could.
Instead, it charged at Ian, intending to self-destruct once more.
"Tch! Such a hassle!" Ian activated before it could reach him, thrusting Thousand Cherry Blossoms back into its sheath at his waist. With his now-free hand, he plunged it directly into the fireball that was Prometheus's body!
When Ian pulled his hand back, he had actually pulled out a soul light orb from within Prometheus's body!
The moment the soul light orb was extracted, Prometheus's entire volume shrank significantly, as if deflating.
Prometheus and the other two high-level Homies had all been infused with Big Mom's soul. Now, with Ian's soul extraction, he was essentially pulling out Big Mom's soul. However, since Prometheus existed by relying on Big Mom's soul, losing a portion of it effectively downgraded it.
Ian didn't linger. He directly crushed the soul light orb in his hand, and then he saw Big Mom, who had been grimacing in pain from the blisters all over her body, suddenly clutch her head with both hands and let out a scream!
As a Soul-Soul Fruit user, Big Mom could freely split her soul. Although she had infused these souls into Prometheus and the others, the separated souls were still connected to her own. By crushing this soul light orb, Ian had effectively annihilated that portion of Big Mom's soul.
Ian's single soul extraction could only take one-tenth of the current total soul amount. The soul infused into Prometheus's body likely wasn't that much to begin with, so the loss to Big Mom's soul wasn't significant. But still, such a soul loss equated to a loss of vitality, meaning Big Mom had been wounded once again.
"I see!" Ian quickly grasped this connection and grabbed Prometheus again, plunging his hand in once more!
Another soul light orb was pulled out, smaller than the first, but Prometheus's volume shrank again in response. Big Mom's current state was too disgusting, and Ian didn't want to get close to attack her directly. Fortunately, Prometheus and the others were still around, and the effect was the same.
Crush! When the second soul light orb was annihilated in Ian's hand, Big Mom's second scream rang out. However, to Ian's surprise, this time Big Mom directly unleashed a soul scream!
It was an enormous, bizarre sound, accompanied by Big Mom's Conqueror's Haki power, sweeping across the entire Skypiea in an instant!
In that moment, Ian felt like his eardrums were about to burst. He guessed that his consecutive wounds to Big Mom's soul, combined with the earlier high temperature of the Black Dragon Wave, had finally hurt her badly.
Like a child, Big Mom would let out such screams when sad, and similarly, when the pain became unbearable, she would wail loudly!
It was just that no one had ever been able to hurt her before, until she met Ian...
Ian instinctively had to release Prometheus and cover his ears with both hands to withstand the soul scream. Prometheus, having escaped Ian's grasp, hurriedly fled back to Big Mom's side.
Then, a shocking scene unfolded. Just as Prometheus fled back to Big Mom, she suddenly stopped her soul scream, reached out with her large hand, and grabbed Prometheus's body.
Ian had just noticed the scream had stopped and lowered his hands when he saw Big Mom grab Prometheus, open her drooling mouth wide, and bite toward it.
Prometheus screamed, "Mama! Mama, it's me! I..."
Before it could finish, Prometheus was swallowed whole by Big Mom!
Seeing this, Ian was utterly dumbfounded!
What is she doing? Why did she eat Prometheus? Has her craving disorder reached the point where she can't even distinguish between food and non-food?
Although Prometheus was a Homie, its true form was still a ball of flame. For Big Mom to swallow it like that, was she planning to eat fire?
However, after swallowing Prometheus, something strange happened. The blisters on Big Mom's body suddenly improved significantly, with most of them disappearing!
It was only then that Ian understood. She hadn't eaten Prometheus out of indiscriminate hunger. Instead, Big Mom had sensed her own soul damage and instinctively sought to replenish it. Prometheus's soul was a part she had separated, and since it had just fled back to her side, so close, Big Mom naturally chose to reclaim it first.
"Pfft!" After swallowing Prometheus, Big Mom opened her mouth and spat out a ball of flame, which quickly dissipated in the air. That was undoubtedly Prometheus's original body. Once Big Mom reclaimed her soul, Prometheus ceased to exist.
"Prometheus!?"
Zeus and Napoleon, watching this up close, were stunned. When they had first been infused with souls, they gained their own personalities, essentially becoming living beings. Now, their longtime companion had been eaten by Big Mom in one gulp. That was like her directly devouring a person! The thought made Zeus and Napoleon shudder uncontrollably.
Even Ian couldn't help but shiver. Prometheus, who had just loyally fought for Big Mom, was gone in an instant. He wondered if it would still be so loyal to Big Mom if it had known it would end up dissipating like this...
After reclaiming Prometheus's soul, Big Mom's injuries healed somewhat. But no matter how you calculated it, she was still missing a portion of her total soul. This sense of soul loss was unpleasant. If he had to describe it, it would probably be emptiness, loneliness, and coldness. Combined with the remaining blisters still burning painfully, Big Mom quickly turned her gaze to Zeus, who was wrapped around her waist!
"N-no, Mama!" Zeus saw the ferocious and chaotic look in Big Mom's eyes and realized something was wrong. Just as it tried to flee, Big Mom grabbed it.
"What... what is she doing!?"
Just as Ian was staring blankly at Big Mom's actions, Law's voice came from behind. Ian turned around and saw Law with the same expression of seeing a ghost, staring dumbfounded at Big Mom.
He had followed Ian's orders and run to the island's kitchen, finding some snacks that Matthew had made and left there. These were regular supplies and easy to find, so it didn't take long for him to gather a large pile. However, just as he ran out of the kitchen, he was nearly knocked over by a sharp scream.
Fortunately, the sound didn't last long and faded. Worried that something had gone wrong in Ian's fight with Big Mom, Law quickly brought the large bag of snacks back.
But he never expected to see such a scene upon arrival...
At that moment, Big Mom was topless, her large, sagging chest making Law start to question his own existence the moment he saw it!
Despite his childhood hatred and experiences making him indifferent to women, he would never admit that the Big Mom before him was a woman!
If he didn't hold onto that thought, he felt his worldview would be shattered, leading him to lose all interest in women forever and retreat into a life of tranquility...
But even more shocking was yet to come. When Law arrived, it was exactly when Big Mom began tearing at Zeus's body and stuffing it into her mouth!
Law's mind felt like it had been violated. Big Mom being topless wasn't enough; now she was even eating her own shorts!?
Was she planning to completely liberate herself or something...?
Law stared blankly at Ian, the meaning in his gaze easy to understand.
Captain, during the time I was away, what kind of heinous things did you do to Big Mom!?
Ian: "..."